Robert S. McNamara served as the Secretary of Defense under President [[John F. Kennedy]] and later under President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]. He was involved in discussions regarding [[Israel]]'s nuclear program and the sale of advanced U.S. fighter aircraft to [[Israel]]. [[Abraham Feinberg]] directly intervened with McNamara, insisting that the [[United States]] should not interfere with [[Israel]]'s nuclear activities. McNamara cryptically acknowledged the basic problem of [[Israel]]'s existence as a question mark in history, which he understood as a reason for [[Israel]]'s desire for a nuclear bomb.[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 8.