Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara dies

Mon Jul 6, 2009 9:33am EDT
 
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WASHINGTON, July 6 (Reuters) - Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, the architect of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, died in his sleep at his home on Monday, his wife Diana said. He was 93.

McNamara, who had become increasingly frail after falling and cracking a vertebrae last year, died at about 5:30 a.m. EDT (0930 GMT), his wife said.

"His age just caught up with him," she told Reuters. "He was not ill. He died peacefully in his sleep."

McNamara was defense secretary for seven years from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.

(Reporting by John Whitesides)



 

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