Feb. 19, 1962 - Senator Barry Goldwater praised Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara today as “one of the best Secretaries of Defense ever — an IBM machine with legs.” The Arizona Republican said Mr. McNamara had set up an “excellent” budget system in drawing up his $50 billion defense budget. The Senator did not refer to Mr. McNamara’s recent troubles with a Senate committee over refusing to disclose the names of Pentagon censors who made specific changes in speeches by military officers. Mr. Goldwater, addressing students and faculty members at the University of Buffalo, said he would have given naval and air support to last year’s abortive invasion of Cuba. But he said he believed the economic embargo of Cuba recently announced by the U.S. would be the undoing of Premier Fidel Castro.
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