Fog of War Documentary

Autograph manuscript on ruled paper, 5 pages (11 x 8 1/2 in.; 279 x 216 mm) rectos only, n,p,, n.d. [ca. 2003], being McNamara's  crib notes in question and answer format in preparation for his interview for the documentary.

McNamara's prepares for his interview  for the film The Fog of War, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2003. The documentary covers such important events as World War II, the Vietnam War, the  Cuban Missile Crisis, and many others that McNamara witnessed himself. In a crabbed hand, the eighty-five-year old former Secretary of Defense wrote down this series of six pivotal  questions and responses regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis such as why the United States insisted on the removal of the missiles in Cuba (McNamara cites the basic principles of the Monroe Doctrine). He explains that JFK chose quarantine (i.e., the blockade) rather than invasion because the latter action almost certainly would have provoked Soviet retaliation. If the blockade failed, McNamara states that JFK would have exerted pressure on Kruschev and "gone as far as to remove the Jupiter missiles from Turkey" provided the Soviet Union stood down and removed the missiles from Cuba.

The title of the documentary is a reference to the military phrase "fog of war," a concept of battlefield uncertainty during the fighting. McNamara concludes his notes by commenting: " ...major errors of judgment on both sides; 4 example ... they blvd they [the missiles] could be introduced secretly; we blvd they would not retaliate to a military strike. Fog of war: misinformation; misjudgment; & miscalculation. During several hrs of an Ex. Comm. mtg on Sat 10/27 JFK repeated over & over again I do not want to take this nation to war because of a dispute over missiles ..." 

The filmmaker, Errol Morris, drew his inspiration from McNamara's book (with James G. Blight), Wilson's Ghost: Reducing the Risk of Conflict, Killing, and Catastrophe in the 21st Century (2001). McNamara's interview, along with archival footage, offers a close look at international security and the international relations of the U.S., and insight into why certain conflicts occur. The film also incorporates the eleven crucial lessons that can be learned from these conflicts which  McNamara's presented in his apologia, In Retrospect, the Tragedies and Lessons of Vietnam (see Lot 109).