Taylor King

Fog of War vs Vice Thematic Analysis

After watching the Fog of War featuring former secretary of defense, Robert McNamara, one

of the first movies that came to mind due to its similarity was the 2018 film, Vice, which is a

movie based on Dick Cheney’s time as vice president and the events that occurred during the

Bush administration. Both McNamara and Cheney worked under war time presidents and both

were controversial figures due to their ruthless wartime decision making with the power that

they were given. In the public eye, the Vietnam War and war in Iraq do not go over well

because America paid a heavy price for very little to no progress. These wars are generally

viewed as failures because of the poor decision making that went into the wars and these two

men Dick Cheney and Robert McNamara, each played a significant role for the escalation and

misteps that occurred in the wars they served under. For McNamara, it was the Vietnam War

and for Cheney, the War in Iraq. There are a ton of similarities between the events and people

portrayed in the Fog of War and in Vice but one overall theme that is evident throughout the

movie is the theme of power but more specially, the misuse of power.

The Vietnam War is viewed as a humanitarian disaster and was heavily protested against as

direct U.S. involvement increased to dangerous heights in around 1964 and McNamara played a

significant role in the process of starting and escalating the war. It wasn’t until after

McNamara’s time as secretary of defense where he realized that he misused the power he’d

been given for a war that is seen as a humanitarian crisis and a failure for the United States.

As McNamara sits down to give his 11 Lessons in the Fog of War, the theme of misusing power

is evident as he reflects on the events and decision making that went in to making the Vietnam

War what it was. In the film, McNamara recognizes some of the crucial mistakes he made many

1
 Taylor King

years later with his decision making but as he sits down to reflect on the events that took place,

he outlines the power that he and Lyndon B. Johnson had and how they misused it. McNamara

references this in his lesson #9, “In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil”, as he

states that war is inevitable and the U.S. does have to step into certain situations but

McNamara makes it clear that you must do your best to minimize the evils of war by choosing

the right battles to go into and that’s where the misuse of power comes into play because he

and the LBJ administration absolutely did not do this.

Similar to what’s portrayed in the movie Vice, former vice president under George W. Bush,

Dick Cheney, is depicted as misusing the power of the executive branch by acting with an

amount of power that is unusual for what the job description of a typical vice president entails

and doing so in a way that seemed to have a carelessness for American life. Unlike the Fog of

War, the movie Vice doesn’t come from Dick Cheney himself but is a portrayal that’s similar to

the way Cheney acted as vice president. Following the events of 9/11, the direction of the Bush

administration turned to war and Cheney is depicted in the movie as having played a major role

in the foreign policy decision making behind this. It’s certainly not common for vice presidents

to have this kind of say in things but Cheney’s rise to power within the Bush administration

started long before he began the VP job because he already had plenty of experience and

connections in the political by working previously as white house chief of staff in 1975-1977 and

then to secretary of defense from 1989-1993. So from the start, Cheney already had an edge

over the inexperienced George W. Bush in terms of power and connections within the

executive branch. It was from this point on where Cheney, just like McNamara, began to misuse

the power that he had demanded as it became his mission to “expand the executive branch.”

2
 Taylor King

From the movie Vice (and in real life as well), Dick Cheney used the power he had been given to

reduce awareness toward climate change, decrease regulations for big corporations, expand

torture practices, and of course, help start an entire war based on non-credible information.

Just like Robert McNamara outlines the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in the Fog of War, Dick

Cheney used his power to play a significant role in starting the war in Iraq based on the weak

intelligence that Saddam Hussein had been stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and

planning to use them against the United States and our allies. Dick Cheney spread this message

loud and clear to central intelligence and the American public to spark fear into gathering their

support for a war.

The US would later find out that the notion of WMD’s in Iraq was a falsehood and this was

due to weak intelligence and a total misuse of power on Cheney’s part and the Bush

administration, which he seemed to control especially as portrayed in the movie. It’s very

similar to the Gulf of Tonkin incident and how the Vietnam war got started because Robert

McNamara was responsible for radically increasing the number of troops based on this flimsy

incident to start a full-blown war and he recognizes his misuse of power and judgement in the

Fog of War. The events from the Gulf of Tonkin Incident turned out to be only partially true.

After an initial attack by North Vietnamese cruise ships on U.S. forces the alleged August 4th

attacks which, ended up being a miscommunication by U.S. ships due to severe weather in the

area on this day. McNamara immediately called for an investigation to look further into the

situation and what really transpired but ultimately, this led to a decision to turn what was a

initially a flimsy series of events, into a full blown war. McNamara and LBJ had all the power to

escalate a war and they did it based an event that may or may not have even happened and

3
 Taylor King

McNamara’s lack of judgement led to him misusing his power by sending hundreds of

thousands of American troops into Vietnam within the months following the Gulf of Tonkin

incident.

The decision making between the two individuals featured in the Fog of War and in Vice,

Robert McNamara and Dick Cheney, are responsible for starting wars that were not justified

and the consequences for their actions would come at the expense of thousands of American

lives. These powerful wartime politicians both acted recklessly with a great deal of power in

their hands. As the credits role toward the end of the movie Vice, it lists some of the brutal

consequences that occurred as a result from the Iraq War. “4,550 U.S soldiers were killed in the

Iraq war with over 32,325 causalities. Suicide among American service members has increased

31% since 2001.” Not to mention, “more than 600,000 Iraqi civilians died as a result of the

war.” Similarly, as a result of McNamara’s misuse of power, “An estimated 47,434 American

soldiers were killed in battle during the Vietnam War.” (Vietnam Info, 2020). These powerful

wartime politicians both acted recklessly with a lack of credible intelligence in their roles and

this only be attributed to a misuse of power. The carelessness for American life and life in

general that took place in these wars was unacceptable and it’s important to recognize the

magnitude of damage that can occur from the decision making of only a few power individuals

such as Cheney and McNamara. Dick Cheney and Robert McNamara are still seen today as

some of the most ruthless and controversial politicians in American history.

4
 Taylor King

Citations

Vietnam War Casualties - The Vietnam War. (n.d.). Retrieved May 6, 2020, from

https://thevietnamwar.info/vietnam-war-casualties