| As the U.S. plunged into the Vietnam War in the mid-1960s and the anti-war movement gained force, many top advisers to President Kennedy and President Johnson faced dissent over the war from their children, and in some cases their wives. Cabinet members Robert McNamara, Dean Rusk and Stewart Udall, as well as CIA Chief William Colby and National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy all had children who came of age during the anti-war movement. Shaken by the atrocities abroad and the impact of the draft at home, many of their sons actively demonstrated against the war. Some like Richard Rusk, a then-student at Cornell University, tried to dissuade their fathers from sending additional troops. Others like Craig McNamara, who became an anti-war protester and developed ulcers that he attributed to his angst over the war, were unable to broach the subject with their fathers in any depth.;Through first-person interviews with the sons, as well as Robert McNamara and Stewart Udall, I discovered that the fathers were rarely influenced by their sons' anti-war views at the height of the Vietnam War---and often dismissed their opinions as uninformed or irrelevant. The literature shows little evidence that the generational divide had a direct impact on the conduct of the war until the majority of Americans turned against U.S. involvement. But each father and son struggled to find their moral compass in the midst of a war that tainted everyone involved. While the sons wrestled with questions about whether to serve and whether they could defend their fathers' actions, the fathers tried to salvage their moral sensibilities as they were blamed for the deaths of American soldiers and Vietnamese civilians. Over time, three of the decision-makers came to the conclusion that the war was either immoral or a strategic mistake. Two, Rusk and Colby, acknowledged tactical errors but never admitted it was a mistake. Ultimately, some fathers and sons were able to reconcile their opposing views; others were never able to broker that peace. The debate between the generations had lasting---and sometimes painful---consequences for each family relationship. |
