Robert Strange McNamara (9 June 1916 to 6 July 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. During the Kennedy administration, McNamara presided over a build-up of US soldiers in South Vietnam. After the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, the number of US soldiers in Vietnam escalated dramatically. In October 1966, McNamara launched Project 100,000, lowering the army IQ standards which allowed 354,000 additional men to be inducted despite almost all being incapable of functioning in any high-stress situation or dangerous environment. McNamara resigned as Secretary of Defense in 1968.
