Robert S. Mcnamara's and President Kennedys Assessment of the War in Vietnam - Paper Example

Both Robert S. McNamara's and President Kennedy assessments revolve around the desire of the Americans Forces to resolve the communist military initiative that would disable peace and democracy in Vietnam. McNamara accepts the challenges at hand, as their enemies were growing stronger every day, regardless of the fact that the Americans forces were bombing their basements and training areas. However, he appreciates that there is hope that one day they would help the Vietnam government to establish stable politician institutions and military forces. The same is true to President Kennedys response.

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In his response to Bobbie Lou, President Kennedy states that when the peace in one country is disrupted, it spreads to other countries and soon becomes a threat to the entire world. As such, the American forces had to see the war in Vietnam to the end in order to regain peace. As Robert McNamara state, there were trying all possible means that would bring peace and reconciliation in Vietnam. First, they fought the enemy only to realize that the enemy was getting stronger and the situation was exacerbating. Then, they attempted the use of pacification and stopped all bombing operations in the North Vietnam as a way of regaining peace. Robert McNamara and President Kennedy had a similar perspective about the war in that their bottom line was to establish peace, stable government, and political institutions and eradicated the communists military in Vietnam.

The assessments of the Vietnam War by Robert McNamara and President Kenned have some notable differences. While the president believes that the American troops are relentlessly fighting and willing to give their lives for the Free Community World, Robert McNamara raises his concern over the declining morale of his personnel due to the restrictions from bombing the enemies who would mercilessly kill them and any other innocent person in Vietnam. Although the purpose of pausing the bombing the North and air operations by the American troops was for the peacemaking, there seemed to be conflicting ideas between leaders as some could not watch the Americans forces die in the face of their enemies. Also, there was is a differing perspective between the two leaders as some people would not understand the reason American troops should withhold the punishment of their enemies and instead pursue peace to establish a program, which would most probably fail in the long run.

Such differences and misunderstanding between the leaders in the battlefield and the leaders back in the country could have had adverse impacts on the American policy in Vietnam. For instance, the fact that McNamara had opted to follow a different route of finding the solution to the war in Vietnam would have been interpreted as failing in the mission and could have been the reason the Communists military successfully managed to kill a great number of the American troops and civilians from the South Vietnam. Though seen as a compromise to the American policy in Vietnam, McNamaras way of solving the war in Vietnam using pacification would have been a great way of saving many lives had it gained the upper hand by both the Vietnamese and the American leaders. After all, the overall objective of the American involvement in a war with the Communists military was to establish peace in the Free Community World.