This critically acclaimed movie by filmmaker Errol Morris examines issues of war and peace
in the 20th century through the lens of one of the century’s pivotal figures. Robert S.
McNamara offers his account of the century just past, as he remembers participating in it, as
well as his reflections on its meaning for the 21st century. Delivered with the conviction and
intensity that marked his years as defense secretary for presidents Kennedy and Johnson,
McNamara’s message compels us to pay attention to our own roles in
the 21st century.
Lesson 1: Empathize with your enemy
1. What is empathy?
2. In The Fog of War, McNamara says that empathy was present in the Cuban missile crisis
but absent in Vietnam. What examples of empathy, or lack of empathy, does McNamara
mention for each case? What does McNamara believe the consequences are in each case?
Cuba
Example of Empathy:
Consequences:
Vietnam
Example of Empathy:
Consequences:
3. How might empathy affect decision-making?
4. McNamara states in the movie that rationality will fail us. Do you think that empathy might also fail us?
5. What are the implications of this?
Lesson 2: Rationality will not save us
“At the end we lucked out. It was luck that prevented nuclear war.... Rational individuals came that close
to total destruction of their societies. And that danger exists today. The major lesson of the Cuban missile crisis is this: the indefinite combination of human fallibility and nuclear weapons will destroy nations.”
1. How dangerous do you think the Cuban missile crisis was? Why?
2. How do you think McNamara’s experience in the Cuban missile crisis contributed to his views
on nuclear weapons?
Lesson 3: Theres something beyond one’s self.
1. If the administration had foreseen how long and costly the war would be, do you think that
it would have chosen the same means to obtain congressional support and legal authority?
Lesson 4: Maximize efficiency
“War is hell!” That was the declaration of General William Tecumseh Sherman in early 1865 as he surveyed the devastation brought by his 60,000 Union troops to the people of Georgia during the closing months of the Civil War. War raises agonizing moral questions. When a democratic society goes to war, the decisions made and actions taken are not just the responsibility of those in authority, but are the collective responsibility of the people. Once war has begun, few Americans would question that bringing the conflict to a speedy conclusion is a justifiable goal, or end. The moral difficulty comes in deciding which military actions, or means, should be employed to attain a worthy end. McNamara talks about this
issue during The Fog of War.
1. Do morals have a place in war?
2. What do you think McNamara means by “proportionality?”
3. Does proportionality matter more or less depending on whether you win or lose a war?
Below is a list of potential bombing targets for your air force. Your assignment is to consider each of the targets in terms of its military significance and moral implications. Your task is to decide whether the means of aerial bombardment are justified by the ends, or goals. Rate each potential target on a scale of 1 (completely unjustified) to 10 (completely justified). Explain your reasoning for each rating.
POTENTIAL TARGET RATING
1. Enemy troops in the field ______
Reason for rating:
2. Military training camps ______
Reason for rating:
3. Factories (in cities) producing ______
military supplies Reason for rating:
4. Homes of civilians working in ______
military factories Reason for rating:
5. Food supplies for the military ______
Reason for rating:
6. Food supplies for civilians ______
Reason for rating:
7. Military hospitals ______
Reason for rating:
8. Residential neighborhoods ______
of major cities. Reason for rating:
9. Trains and ships carrying troops ______
Reason for rating:
10. Trains and ships carrying both ______
civilians and troops. Reason for rating:
11. High schools ______
Reason for rating:
12. Universities involved in military-related ______
research. Reason for rating:
Lesson 5: Proportionality should be a guideline in war
In the film, The Fog of War, Robert McNamara asks the viewer several questions.
• How much evil must we do in order to do good? We have certain ideals, certain responsibilities. Recognize that at times you will have to engage in evil, but minimize it.
• I think the issue is, in order to win a war should you kill 100,000 people in one night, by firebombing or any other way? LeMay’s answer would be clearly “Yes.”
• McNamara, do you mean to say that instead of killing 100,000, burning to death 100,000 Japanese civilians in that one night, we should have burned to death a lesser number or none? And then had our soldiers cross the beaches in Tokyo and been slaughtered in the tens of thousands? Is that what you’re proposing? Is that moral?Is that wise?
1. What do you think? Do you believe that the context of killing matters? For example, might it be moral toburn to death 100,000 Japanese during the Second World War, but not in another specific case?
2. What does McNamara mean by “evil?”
3. What do you think he means by “good?”
4. What are the responsibilities that McNamara refers to?
Lesson 6: Get the Data
1. What do you think of the following issues raised by McNamara in the film:
a. Norman Morrison, a Quaker, killed himself on the Pentagon grounds in protest of the
Vietnam War. After his death his wife stated, “Human beings must stop killing other
human beings.” In the film McNamara claims, “That’s a belief that I shared. I shared it
then and believe it even more strongly today.”
b. In the film McNamara states, “How much evil must we do in order to do good? We
have certain ideals, certain responsibilities. Recognize that at times you will have to
engage in evil, but minimize it.”
2. What lessons for Americans today do you see in the Vietnam War experience?
3. Are there any relations between Vietnam and our current war in Iraq and Afghanistan? What are they? (List at least two)
Lesson 7: Belief and Seeing are often both wrong.
IMAGES
Film is not only about people and events. It is also about images and how they are used. Teletype
clicking across the screen, numbers falling from the skies over Japan, declassified documents,
and dominoes tumbling across a map. These are just a few of the images used in The Fog of War.
1. How does the filmmaker use the images of numbers fluttering down onto an aerial
photograph of Tokyo?
2. Were there other similar images used in the film? What was the
message conveyed?
3. When Morris shows dominoes cascading across the map of Southeast Asia and later erecting
themselves again as he runs the film in reverse, what is his message?
4. How does this image relate to the “Domino Theory” that was widely accepted as a reason for continuing the war in Vietnam?