Poetry

In fact, however, the image of a president battling bureaucrats on nearly equal terms applies only to those who have not tried to master their servants, or proved inept at it. It certainly does not apply to FDR or JFK—or even to Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton. Nearly a half-century ago, Kennedy’s defense secretary, Robert McNamara, bequeathed an organizational structure—an elite, and a culture—that dominates the armed forces as well as the thinking about them; none of his succes-

Mr, Codevilla is a visiting professor of politics and a Madison fellow at Princeton University.

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Edward R. Hamilton

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In fact, however, the image of a president battling bureaucrats on nearly equal terms applies only to those who have not tried to master their servants, or proved inept at it. It certainly does not apply to FDR or JFK—or even to Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton. Nearly a half-century ago, Kennedy’s defense secretary, Robert McNamara, bequeathed an organizational structure—an elite, and a culture—that dominates the armed forces as well as the thinking about them; none of his succes-

Mr, Codevilla is a visiting professor of politics and a Madison fellow at Princeton University.