On this day, November 29, in 1967, Robert S. McNamara announced that he would resign as Secretary of Defense and become president of the World Bank, where he would remain until 1981.

McNamara served from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1960, he had become the first president of Ford Motor Company from outside the Ford family.

After his election in 1960, President-elect John F. Kennedy first offered the post of Secretary of Defense to former secretary Robert A. Lovett; Lovett declined but recommended McNamara. Kennedy then sent Sargent Shriver to approach McNamara regarding either the Treasury or the Defense cabinet post less than five weeks after McNamara had become president at Ford. McNamara immediately rejected the Treasury position but eventually accepted Kennedy’s invitation to serve as Secretary of Defense. (Wikipedia)

See portraits of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Sargent Shriver.

See Sittings related to Ford Motor Company.