McNamara at War




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ClassGraphic During the Kennedy and Johnson administrations Robert McNamara was arguably the best and the brightest among the best and the brightest. He was one of the most admired, brilliant, and accomplished men of his generation. And yet, he will forever be associated with the tragedy of the Vietnam War. In their recent biography, McNamara at War:  A New History (Norton, 2025), brothers Philip and William Taubman bring us a fresh, compelling and nuanced account of McNamara. We learn that, despite his very public support for the war in 1966 and 1967, he had privately concluded as early as late 1965 that the war was unwinnable. Why then did he stay on? He served until 1968 when he resigned, or perhaps was fired, to accept the position of president of the World Bank. Join us as we explore the life of this man who seems to appear to us as a haunted, tormented ghost from the 20th century, warning us of the dangers of assuming the role of the US government is to control a world we do not fully understand, that does not want to submit to our will, and does not believe in our supremacy.
 

Class Details

14 Session(s)
Weekly - Tue

Location
Wieboldt Hall

Instructor
Multiple

Tuition:  $0.00

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Schedule Information

Date(s) Class Days Times Location Instructor(s)
9/8/2026 - 12/8/2026 Weekly - Tue 09:45 AM - 11:45 AM Chicago, Wieboldt Hall  Map Dan Burns  ; Rosemary O'Shea