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Former US Defense Secretary McNamara dies
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-06 23:06

WASHINGTON: Former Defense Secretary of the United States Robert McNamara, the architect of US involvement in the Vietnam War, died in his sleep at his home on Monday, his wife Diana said. He was 93.

Former US Defense Secretary McNamara dies
Former US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara speaks at a presentation of a documentary about his life in government at the University of California Berkeley campus in this January 4, 2004 file photo. McNamara died on Monday aged 93. [Agencies]

McNamara, who had become increasingly frail after falling and cracking a vertebrae last year, died at about 5:30 a.m. EDT (0930 GMT), his wife said.

"His age just caught up with him," she told Reuters. "He was not ill. He died peacefully in his sleep."

McNamara was defense secretary for seven years from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.

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