Challenge: POTUS Robert McNamara (R-MI)

RogueBeaver Strikes Again!

Re nightmares: you could at least wait for a possible POTUS Karl Rove TL. ;) But I'm very patient. Coming back to my OP: one possibility discussed in 1963 was moving McNamara to Foggy Bottom and Bobby to the Pentagon. There are few men who that building despised more than the two Roberts in the Kennedy Administration. Apart from Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Rummy.
I confess I'm in ignorance about some of this. Jimmy Carter? Was it his supreme micromanagement? I'd agree to that. Bill Clinton? The dress? Yup, that too. I haven't spent the last decade on Mars, so I know about Rummy.:D
 
Where Have We Heard This Before?

UT2020: McNamara was relieved of his Pentagon post primarily not because of incompetence, but because he became disloyal by late 1967, and LBJ knew it. We all know how LBJ felt on the subject of disloyalty. I think the taped campaign clip was the icing on the cake. Fortunately, LBJ's reaction is not preserved for posterity.
All that counts is loyalty. Nothing else matters. The more things change...:rolleyes:
 
Bill Clinton cut funding. Remember Helms said in 1994: "he'll need a bodyguard if he shows up around here" (Fort Bragg). Carter's foreign policy made him the object of contempt. McNamara was hated for the reasons mentioned earlier. As for Robert Kennedy: besides not having the relevant experience or quals, he liked to tame bureaucracies with all the *tender mercies* of Rahm Emanuel. Not to mention an emphasis on COIN and flexible response.
 
How Did You Know?

Actually, I saw a documentary that provided an answer you might not like. But in any case, that's not the point. I'm more worried about you at this moment.

Do you want some pills or something? There's some veins on your head twitching. ;)
I grew up listening to the government telling me they knew what they were doing and they had everything under control. I have no memory of life before the Vietnam War. In fact, my earliest memories of life coincide about around Tonkin. From my perspective, the war was always just THERE. Like seasons. Things like Tet Offensive and Vietnamization made no impression on my young mind at all. I do remember all the protesting, but my biggest impression of the protests was that they were making no difference at all. The WAR candidates were winning the White House! That's '68, '72, and if I looked it up '64(both). So it actually seemed to me that I would have to go myself. I know that's ridiculous, but I'm taking about a boy 4-12 years old. So yes, on the subject of McNamara, my veins DO start twitching. For damned good reason.:mad:


PS. If indeed he did come up with the night raid idea, I'll give him kudos for that.:eek:
 
UT: RFK would also likely have continued Vietnamization as well, but with a full US troop withdrawal. LBJ actually "forgave" McNamara, which was the only time someone was pardoned for the Unforgivable Sin.
 
Hm...

Johnson picks McNamara as his running mate in 1968, then goes on to win re-election over Richard Nixon. He subsequently suffers a heart attack in 1970, putting McNamara into the Oval Office.

Viola. It's probably not too realistic, but that's about the best I can think of, in this situation. :p
 
McNamara strolls into the oval office, shoots LBJ, delcares himself President, and for maybe a minute or so, he claims to be POTUS before being shot or dragged away in chains..:rolleyes:
 
McNamara was on LBJ's VP short list in '64, putting him in the hypothetical driver's seat for 1968.

Now you need to find a way for him to beat anyone the Republicans put up in '68. Good luck: you'll need it! :p
 
Douglas: We're forgetting that McNamara was a registered Republican. ;) Unless McNamara pulls a Specter in 1967, the Dems won't nominate him. "I believe that liberals, the bosses, and the labor people would revolt if I tried to cram Bob down their throat."- LBJ, July 1964
 
Douglas: We're forgetting that McNamara was a registered Republican. ;) Unless McNamara pulls a Specter in 1967, the Dems won't nominate him. "I believe that liberals, the bosses, and the labor people would revolt if I tried to cram Bob down their throat."- LBJ, July 1964

Like I said, you're going to need help. :p

You need Vietnam to turn into a bigger brouhaha right before the 1964 DNC, to make McNamara more palatable.

Then you need 1968 help on the order of RFK and possibly McCarthy disappearing, making it a McNamara vs. McGovern fight in Chicago. Enjoy.

Finally, you need the election to get thrown to the house by Wallace, because there's no way in hell McNamara is picking up 270 electoral votes in November 1968.

You know, it might be easier to just have him be the last man standing in a Cuban Missile Crisis gone hot. ;)
 
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