Ex-Defense Secretary Robert McNamara Dies

In the Kennedy administration, McNamara was involved in two key global moments: the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis 18 months later. But those, one terrible and one triumphant, moments, were oft overshadowed by his involvement in the Vietnam War.

Before taking office as secretary of defense in 1961, Robert McNamara was president of Ford. He served 7 years in as Defense Secretary, longer than anyone else since the job's creation in 1947. His role in the escalation of the conflict in Vietnam eventually led to the Vietnam War being called "McNamara's War."

For 13 years after he left the Pentagon in 1968, he was president of the World Bank. After his retirement from the bank in 1981, he maintained a schedule as director or consultant to many public and private organizations.

McNamara is survived by his second wife Diana, who he married in 2004, and his three children: Craig McNamara, and Kathleen McNamara and Margaret Pastor. According to reports, McNamara had been in failing health for some time, and died early Monday morning.