Bright Skies, Deep History: Walking in the Footsteps of Robert McNamara

Members of our Piedmont Recreation Department’s Walking on Wednesdays group welcomed the opportunity last Wednesday to get out after the recent rains and walk on a sunny, cool morning. There was a strong turnout of 54 walkers and four K-9 best friends on hand at the Exedra at our regular weekly time.

We had walked the Piedmont High School campus the week before during the Holiday break and talked about its history. This week we could visit the story of one of Piedmont High’s most prominent alumni, Robert S. McNamara, who was President Kennedy’s secretary of defense, and go to his childhood home on Annerley Road just over the Oakland/Piedmont city line. At that time Oakland students could attend Piedmont High and Piedmont students also went to Oakland schools. We didn’t get to some of streets on the southern border of the city last year and on the way to McNamara’s home we could also walk them, as well as a hidden path and a back alley.

Before we got started background information about McNamara was shared. He graduated from PHS in 1933 and was one of the school’s brightest pupils. His graduation photo in the school’s “Clan O Log” yearbook included that he was its editor and a member of the student government, the Rigma boys club, the Alpha Clan honor society, Glee Club, Opera, and French Club.

The Depression left his family little money for McNamara’s college education, but he discovered that tuition at the University of California, Berkeley would cost only $52 a year. He graduated from Cal in 1937 with a B.A. in economics with minors in mathematics and philosophy. He also got a master's degree from the Harvard Business School and became an accountant with Price Waterhouse. He later joined Harvard’s faculty.

Off we went in search of the hidden path between the homes at 216 and 220 Wildwood Avenue. The path goes down to an alley between Winsor Avenue, Ranleigh Way, and Harvard Road. We went down Highland and Wildwood Avenues in a long column to the lower section of Wildwood. We found the path, went down its steps, and emerged at the top of a long alley behind the homes. Leigh Sorensen was on the walk and lives in a beautiful ADU behind her Winsor Avenue home. She graciously invited everyone to come inside. Leigh has named it “Winsor Castle” and we agreed it is a palace.

We continued down the alley, enjoying a bamboo forest, an old palm, and sequoia trees in backyards, while crossing the invisible city line into Oakland along the way. Some members of the group had always wanted to go to Harvard, and we took a short walk on it before climbing up Annerley Road. Four houses up the street is Robert McNamara’s childhood home which was having remodeling work done on it. More McNamara history was shared there.

Poor eyesight initially kept McNamara from military service during World War II, but he volunteered to train air force staff and served in the United States Army Air Forces from early 1943 to 1946. During his service, he was a key figure in the Office of Statistical Control, where he used statistical analysis to improve bombing mission planning and logistics for the U.S. military.

After the war, McNamara joined nine of his military colleagues in a team offering management expertise to companies. Henry Ford II hired them and they successfully reorganized Ford Motor. McNamara joined Ford and rose steadily and to become the first non-member of the Ford family to become the company's president. During that time John F Kennedy was elected President, and he offered McNamara his choice of being either Secretary of Treasury or Defense. He chose defense.

During his tenure, McNamara became increasingly embroiled in the Vietnam War. Kennedy believed that America's reputation would be undermined if it seemed unwilling to protect a small Asian nation from communism. By the time of Kennedy's assassination in 1963 he had sent 10,000 American "advisers" to South Vietnam and America became mired deeply in the conflict. McNamara continued to serve President Lyndon Johnson as Secretary of Treasury or Defense. The anti-war movement swelled and protesters began to call the conflict "McNamara's war."

However, McNamara became disenchanted with the war and in May 1967 he expressed his reservations in a confidential memorandum to Johnson. He argued that the war was unwinnable and urged a deescalation by freezing troop levels and ceasing the bombing of North Vietnam. President Johnson rejected McNamara's recommendations, leading to a breakdown in their relationship. McNamara's strategy of deescalation contrasted with the Joint Chiefs of Staff's call for a full-scale military commitment. There was friction within the administration and four weeks later Johnson announced McNamara's election as president of the World Bank and his departure from the Defense Department.

McNamara came to regret his role in the Vietnam War. He expressed this in a 1995 memoir, In Retrospect, and in public statements. He admitted the U.S. had been "terribly wrong," that the war was likely unwinnable, and acknowledged that his belief that a communist victory in Vietnam would lead to the successive collapse of all surrounding governments was "limited and shallow." However, many, including his son felt his regrets were expressed too late and questioned why he didn't speak out sooner.

After sharing this history and taking a photo in front of McNamara’s home, it was time for the walkers to head back. The group went up Annerley to Harvard Road and Prospect Avenue, and through Piedmont Park past Bushy Dell Creek, which was flowing nicely after the rains, to the Exedra.