Lyndon Johnson in Healing the Soul of America

On War & Peace: Secretary of Defense called Vietnam "a terrible mistake"

Robert McNamara, who was President Johnson's Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War, wrote in his memoirs that the war was a "terrible mistake." More than 59,000 Americans dead, and 2 million Vietnamese, plus countless other devastated American lives, and it was all "a terrible mistake." McNamara also mentioned that he, and others who planned and directed that war, had no knowledge or understanding of the religion, language philosophy, or character of the people of Vietnam--and no one to teach them, even if they wanted to learn.

There is an inestimable human tragedy stuck to this nation as a result of that war, a significant aspect of which is the ever-more-frayed bond of trust between the American people and our government.

The Vietnam War Memorial is a uniquely powerful place because it is emotionally true. It doesn't lie. It pictures the war as a huge black gash across our landscape, which it is. It helps us grieve for who we were as a nation before that war so wounded us.

Source: Healing the Soul of America, by Marianne Williamson, p.101 Jul 24, 2018

The above quotations are from Healing the Soul of America 20th Anniversary Edition by Marianne Williamson. Click here for other excerpts from Healing the Soul of America 20th Anniversary Edition by Marianne Williamson. Click here for other excerpts by Lyndon Johnson. Click here for a profile of Lyndon Johnson.
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Page last updated: Jun 10, 2019