WASHINGTON - Former Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara died Monday, according to his wife. He was 93.

McNamara died at 5:30 a.m. at his home, his wife Diana told The Associated Press. She said he had been in failing health for some time.

McNamara served as secretary of defense during the Vietnam war under presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

Known as a policymaker with a fixation for statistical analysis, McNamara was recruited to run the Pentagon by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 from the presidency of the Ford Motor Co. He stayed seven years, longer than anyone since the job's creation in 1947.
     
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