Digital History

McGeorge Bundy on the cover of TIME Magazine Jun. 25, 1965

McGeorge "Mac" Bundy (March 30, 1919 - September 16, 1996) was Special Assistant for National Security Affairs to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson from 1961-1966, and then headed the Ford Foundation from 1966-1979.

He was one of Kennedy's "wise men," a noted political scientist and academic at Harvard University. He moved into public life in 1960 becoming national security advisor.

He played a crucial role in all of the major foreign policy and defence decisions of the Kennedy and part of the Johnson administration. These included the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and, most controversially, the Vietnam War.

TIME Magazine Jun. 25, 1965

He was a strong proponent for participating in Vietnam early in his tenure. He supported escalating the American involvement and the bombing of North Vietnam. He later came to strongly regret the decision, one of the first administration members to do so. He spent much of the rest of his career trying to understand how he and so many others had made such a terrible mistake.

Along with other government leaders during Vietnam, he has been accused of war crimes.