After briefly serving as Ford's president, McNamara accepted appointment as Secretary of Defense. These ' Whiz Kids' helped reform Ford with modern planning, organization, and management control systems. After the war, Henry Ford II hired McNamara and a group of other Army Air Force veterans to work for Ford Motor Company.

He was born in San Francisco, California, graduated from UC Berkeley and Harvard Business School and served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. McNamara was responsible for the institution of systems analysis in public policy, which developed into the discipline known today as policy analysis. He played a major role in escalating the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. Robert Strange McNamara ( / ˈ m æ k n ə m ær ə/) (J– July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F.

Army Air Forces Office of Statistical Control