Craig McNamara has written a memoir of his life with his father, defense secretary Robert McNamara: Because Our Fathers Lied: A Memoir of Truth and Family, from Vietnam to Today.
30 Facts About Craig McNamara
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Craig McNamara is the only son of three children of the former United States Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara and Margaret McNamara.
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Craig McNamara's father was shocked to discover that his teenage son had hung the American flag upside down in his bedroom, as Craig maintained that he was ashamed of America because of his father's actions as Defense Secretary.
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Craig McNamara recalled that his father exploded in rage when he saw the American flag hanging upside down, and was even more angry when he discovered that Craig McNamara had the flag of the National Liberation Front, better known as the Viet Cong, hanging in his room.
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Craig McNamara served as part of a mock court that convicted Nixon of war crimes for ordering the Cambodian invasion, which was followed up by a bout of window breaking and other property damage on the Stanford campus.
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Craig McNamara was involved in demonstrations against the Cambodian invasion, and by his own admission smashed windows on the campus in protest, saying he felt very angry about the invasion of Cambodia.
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The historian Melvin Small described Craig McNamara as leading an "especially destructive rampage" at Stanford that caused much property damage.
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In 1972, Robert Craig McNamara, who had become the president of the World Bank after being fired as Defense Secretary in 1967, visited Santiago to meet Allende to discuss loans made from the World Bank to Chile.
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At the time, as part of the "destabilization" campaign against Chile, Robert Craig McNamara had come under immense pressure from Nixon to end World Bank loans to Chile.
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Craig McNamara believes that his father resisted this pressure, but was opposed to Allende's policy of nationalizing various industries in Chile.
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Much to disappointment of his son, the elder Craig McNamara ended all World Bank loans to Chile.
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Craig McNamara was in Santiago at the time his father met with Allende, but the rift between father and son was such that the two did not meet.
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In 1973, Craig McNamara visited the United States where over the course of a dinner, he became caught up in an argument with Katharine Graham, the owner of The Washington Post newspaper and his father over Chile.
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The younger Craig McNamara insisted that the Nixon administration was trying to overthrow Allende because he was a Marxist while both the elder Craig McNamara and Graham insisted that there was no such policy on the part of the United States.
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Craig McNamara chose not to return to Chile and instead enrolled in a course at the University of California, Davis to study agriculture.
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In 1974, Robert Craig McNamara again visited Santiago to meet General Pinochet and announced that the World Bank would resume making loans to Chile.
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Craig McNamara was so outraged that he decided to fly to Washington to confront his father, recalling that he told him over a phone call that: "You can't do this-you always say the World Bank is not a political institution, but financing Pinochet clearly would be".
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Craig McNamara felt that his father was being disingenuous in his claim that he had to refuse loans to Chile under Allende because the nationalizations of the copper mining companies was an "economic" matter that was within the remit of the World Bank, but he could make loans to Chile under Pinochet because human rights abuses were a "political" matter outside of the World Bank's remit.
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Craig McNamara graduated from Davis in 1976 with a degree in plant and soil science.
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Craig McNamara has been recognized for his outstanding agricultural work and commitment to ensuring a healthy, sustainable food system for California and the nation.
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Craig and Julie McNamara are the founders of the FARMS Program, a partnership that started in 1993, joining Sierra Orchards, UC Davis, the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom and the Yolo County Resource Conservation District.
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In 2007, Craig McNamara was asked in an interview why the walnut trees on his farm seemed so small, sickly and weak.
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Craig McNamara concluded: "There are no organic methods to control these nematodes and because we did not want to fumigate the soil with methyl bromide before planting, we accept the reduced yield".
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Craig McNamara is an exception; most farmers in California apply methyl bromide to their soil before planting their crops in the spring, making it common for the soil to be covered with tarps to limit the amount of methyl bromide that can escape into the air.
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When it was suggested that he use genetic engineering to alter his walnut trees to keep them safe from the nematodes without using methyl bromide, Craig McNamara seemed hesitant, saying: "I don't know what to think about GE".
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Craig McNamara has served on the State Board of Food and Agriculture since 2002.
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Craig McNamara is working to ensure that the goals of Ag Vision 2030 are met.
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Craig McNamara is passionate about sharing his knowledge of sustainable agriculture and leadership with the world around him.
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Craig McNamara is a graduate of the California Agricultural Leadership Program and a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum.
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Craig McNamara is the recipient of several awards including the Leopold Conservation Award, the California Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award, the UC Davis Award of Distinction and Outstanding Alumnus Award.