The assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, shook the Joint Chiefs as much as the country at large and left a void that the new President, Lyndon B. Johnson, moved quickly to fill. To reassure the Nation and to promote stability, he pledged continuity between his administration and Kennedy’s. "I felt from the very first day in office,” he recalled, "that I had to carry on for President Kennedy. I considered myself the caretaker of both his people and his policies.” One of those who stayed on was Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. The dominant figure at the Pentagon before Kennedy’s death, McNamara would exercise even more power and authority during Johnson’s Presidency