The Fog of War Quotes

The Fog of War is a television program that was first aired in 1970 . The Fog of War stopped airing in 1970.

It features Errol Morris as producer, Philip Glass in charge of musical score, and Robert Chappell (interviews) as head of cinematography.

The Fog of War is recorded in English and originally aired in United States. Each episode of The Fog of War is 107 minutes long. The Fog of War is distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.

The Fog of War Quotes

• (Robert McNamara) "It's almost impossible for our people today to put themselves back into that period"
• (Robert McNamara) ". In my seven years as Secretary, we came within a hair's breadth of war with the Soviet Union on three different occasions. Twenty-four hours a day, three-hundred sixty-five days a year, for seven years as Secretary of Defense, I lived the Cold War. During the Kennedy Administration, they designed a one-hundred Megaton bomb. It was tested in the atmosphere; I remember this."

• (Interviewer) "After you left the Johnson administration, why didn't you speak out against the Vietnam War?"
• (Robert McNamara) "I'm not going to say any more than I have. These are the kinds of questions that get me into trouble. You don't know what I know about how inflammatory my words can appear. A lot of people misunderstand the war, misunderstand me. A lot of people think I'm a son of a bitch."

• (Robert McNamara) "I said, "I must have got the translation wrong." So I asked him 3 questions. One- did you know there were nuclear warheads in Cuba? Two- would you have recommended to Khrushchev to use nuclear missiles in the event of an American invasion of Cuba? And three- what would have happened to Cuba? He said, "One- I knew the missiles were there. Two- I would not have recommended it, I did recommend it. And three- we would have been totally obliterated"."

• (Robert McNamara) "Is this chart at a reasonable height for you? Or do you want it lowered? All right. Earlier tonight; first let me ask the TV, are you ready? All set?"

• (Robert McNamara) "Had I responded, I would have said, "I know what many of you are thinking. You are thinking this man is duplicitous, you are thinking that he has held things close to his chest, you are thinking that he did not respond fully to the desires and wishes of the American people. And I want to tell you you're wrong. Of course he had personal idiosyncrasies, no question about it. He didn't accept all the advice he was given. On several occasions his associates advised him to be more forthcoming. He wasn't. People didn't understand at that time there were recommendations and pressures that would carry the risk of war with China. And carry the risk of nuclear war. And he was determined to prevent it. I am arguing that he had a reason, in his mind, for doing what he did.""

• (Robert McNamara) ""We and you ought not pull on the ends of a rope in which you have tied the knots of war. Because the more the two of us pull the tighter the knot will be tied. And then it will be necessary to cut that knot, and what that would mean is not for me to explain to you. I have participated in two wars and know that war ends when it has rolled through cities and villages, everywhere sowing death and destruction. For such is the logic of war. If people do not display wisdom they will clash like blind moles and then mutual annihilation will commence.""

• (Robert McNamara) "If we can't persuade nations with comparable values of the merits of our cause, we'd better reexamine our reasoning."

• (Robert McNamara) "I'm not so naive or simplistic to believe we can eliminate war. We're not going to change human nature any time soon. It isn't that we aren't rational. We are rational. But reason has limits. There's a quote from T.S. Eliot that I just love: "We shall not cease from exploring, and at the end of our exploration, we will return to where we started, and know the place for the first time." Now that's in a sense where I'm beginning to be."

• (Robert McNamara) "They said "the main problem is packaging." They said "you buy eggs and you know how eggs come in a carton?""
• (Robert McNamara) "So Cornell said "they don't break because they're packaged properly. Now if we package people in cars the same way, we could reduce the breakage.""

• (Robert McNamara) "My deputy and I brought the Five Chiefs"
• (Robert McNamara) "over and we sat down with Kennedy."
• (Robert McNamara) "And he said, "Gentlemen, we won. I don't want you ever to say it, but you know we won, I know we won.""
• (Robert McNamara) "LeMay said, "Won hell -- we lost -- we should go in and -- wipe 'em out today.""

• (Robert McNamara) "I was on the island of Guam in his"
• (Robert McNamara) "command in March 1945. In that single night, we burned to death one hundred thousand Japanese civilians in Tokyo. Men, women and children."
• (Interviewer) "Were you aware this was going to happen?"
• (Robert McNamara) "Well, I was part of a mechanism that, in a sense, recommended it."

• (Robert McNamara) "I think the human race needs to think more about killing. How much evil must we do in order to do good?"

• (Interviewer) "Is it the feeling that you're damned if you do, and if you don't, no matter what?"
• (Robert McNamara) "Yeah, yeah, that's right. And I'd rather be damned if I don't."

• (John F. Kennedy) "We're not going to get these missiles out of Cuba, probably, anyway -- by negotiation."
• (Unnamed) "I don't agree, Mr. President. I think there's still a chance --"
• (John F. Kennedy) "That he'll back down?"
• (Unnamed) "The important thing for Khrushchev, it seems to me, is to be able to say, "I saved Cuba, I stopped an invasion"."

• (Robert McNamara) "In the end, it was luck. We were this close to nuclear war, and luck prevented it."

• (Lyndon Johnson) "Nobody really understands what it is out there."
• (Lyndon Johnson) "And they're asking questions and saying why don't we do more. Well, I think this: You can have more war, or you can have more appeasement. But we don't want more of either."

• (Robert McNamara) "Lesson #2: The indefinite combination of human fallibility and nuclear weapons will lead to the destruction of nations."

Add or Update Quotes

If you have a quote to add or change and want to let us know, please fill in the form below. Include the time in the film/video if possible so we can find it.