Craig McNamara grew up in the chaotic and volatile political landscape of the late 1960s in the United States. His father, Robert McNamara, was the Secretary of Defense under President John F. Kennedy and the architect of the Vietnam War. He participated in anti-war activities, and his whole life was torn between his family's love and the never-ending question: Why did my father do that? No matter what he did, when he went to school, when he moved to a place far from the United States, when he pursued agriculture... those hauntings never left him. And his family's story is also common to many families in the United States, where what happened in Vietnam tore relatives apart.
Craig McNamara had been planning to write a memoir , Because Our Fathers Lied, for a long time, before his father passed away in 2009. But the opportunity came 10 years later, when he enrolled in an advanced course at Stanford University's DCI Institute. He took a creative writing course with the strong hope of writing a memoir. This book is said to record his journey of trying to face the truth about the Vietnam War from the 1960s to the present, and continuing the journey for the rest of his life.
Craig McNamara’s life was a constant struggle, between his love for his biological father, who, although busy, was not without moments, climbing mountains and camping with him, but at the same time, he understood that he was responsible for the painful war. On the one hand, he had to bear his father’s legacy; on the other hand, whether he wanted it or not, thanks to his father and family, he had been favored in life, exempted from military service, and helped when choosing to start a business.
He didn't really know about his father's work, because his father rarely shared about it in the family, so he was constantly searching for information about the war, opinions from all sides, veterans, journalists, filmmakers, anti-war activists, people with similar circumstances... and he also went to Vietnam himself to meet people who had experienced the war or suffered the consequences from it.
In 1995, when Robert McNamara visited Vietnam, Craig McNamara offered to go with him, but his father refused. Nearly 20 years later, he went to Vietnam himself, to Hanoi , to meet the son of General Vo Nguyen Giap and experience the pace of life in this city. He also went to Hue, to see the remains of McNamara's electronic fence. He also went to Saigon and entered the house that was once the private residence of Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., the US ambassador to South Vietnam during the early years of US involvement. With a self-hired guide on that first visit to Vietnam, he rode a motorbike, ate on the sidewalk, and felt the vitality of a peaceful country.
Most recently, in 2025, with the desire to find his own answers, to understand those who experienced the war, and to contribute to healing the wounds of war, Craig McNamara visited Vietnam again. He accepted to appear in a special film produced by VTV called The Duel of Wills .
He and the VTV film crew traveled to 6 provinces and cities, revisiting places associated with Robert McNamara during the war such as Da Nang beach, McNamara electronic fence, Ta Con airport, B1 Hong Phuoc base... He also visited the site of the My Lai massacre, Truong Son cemetery and talked with veterans and victims of Agent Orange.
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/ra-mat-hoi-ky-cua-con-trai-cuu-bo-truong-quoc-phong-my-robert-mcnamara-post798036.html
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