The Aspen Institute mourns the passing of Lifetime Trustee Robert S. McNamara. The former US Secretary of Defense and World Bank President died in Washington, DC on Monday, July 6. He had a long connection to the Aspen Institute and to Aspen, Colorado. A devout skier and mountain climbing enthusiast, McNamara had been coming to Aspen since 1947 and supported the work of the Institute as well as other non-profits in the area. Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson said “Robert McNamara was the epitome of ‘the best and the brightest,’ both because of his analytic intelligence and, unfortunately, because he was an example of the tragic irony implied by that phrase — that the cold and analytic calculations that the ‘best and brightest’ made during the Vietnam War were not accompanied by enough wisdom, humility and common sense. Mr. McNamara became involved at the Aspen Institute as a participant and board member, and during his years here he reflected on and wrote about his mistakes — as well as the contributions he had made.”
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