Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

The Greatest Generation, having faced the Great Depression and fought World War II with a clear goal and responsible leadership, ended up enduring a generational divide with their Baby Boom children, because their continuing trust in American political leadership did not erode as quickly as their children’s did during the 1960s. The Vietnam War’s lies, deaths, destruction and deteriorated goals, arriving at the same time as political assassinations and the ongoing cultural violence in reaction to a seemingly simple plea for racial equality, undermined many a family’s intergenerational communications. Prior to serving as secretary of defense in JFK’s cabinet of “the best and the brightest,” Robert McNamara was a skilled executive who had helped turn around the Ford Motor Company. Craig, his youngest child and only son, came of age in the political tumult and upheaval of the late 1960s and took part in anti-war demonstrations in direct conflict with his father’s policies. Then he traveled by motorcycle across C