'Vietnam-era US defense secy McNamara dead'

Robert McNamara, who served as defense secretary in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and was one of the top architects of the US war in Vietnam, died on Monday, the Washington Post said. He was 93.

Robert McNamara, who served as defense secretary in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and was one of the top architects of the US war in Vietnam, died on Monday, the Washington Post said. He was 93.

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The deeply controversial McNamara, who served as head of the World Bank after stepping down from his Pentagon post at the height of the Vietnam war, died at home in his sleep, the daily reported.

He also had a brief but storied career as an executive at Ford, where as one of the automaker's "Whiz Kids" he rose rapidly through the ranks, in 1960 becoming its first president outside the Ford family.