The Fog of War

Robert S. McNamara rises from humble origins to the heights of political power as the controversial Secretary of Defense (1961-1968) in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations during the height of the Vietnam War. Witness to and participant in the crippling Depression of the 1930s, the industrialization of the war years, the development of air power warfare, and the creation of a new American meritocracy, the idealist sees his dreams challenged by the ambiguous role he played in history, from the firebombing of 100,000 Japanese civilians in 1945 Tokyo to averting nuclear catastrophe in the Cuban Missile Crisis and the devastating effects of the Vietnam War.