Editing Robert McNamara (section)

==Early life and career==
Robert McNamara was born in San Francisco, California. His father was Robert James McNamara, sales manager of a wholesale shoe company, and his mother was Clara Nell McNamara (née Strange).{{sfn|Weiner|2009}} His father's family was [[Irish people|Irish]] and, in about 1850, following the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Irish Famine]], had emigrated to the U.S., first to [[Massachusetts]] and later to California.<ref name="bnotes">{{cite web| work=booknotes.org |url=http://www.booknotes.org/Watch/64642-1/Robert+McNamara.aspx |title=In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam (interview) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927022647/http://www.booknotes.org/Watch/64642-1/Robert+McNamara.aspx |archive-date=2012-09-27 | date=23 April 1995 |access-date=31 December 2011}}</ref> He graduated from [[Piedmont High School (California)|Piedmont High School]] in [[Piedmont, California]] in 1933, where he was president of the Rigma Lions boys club<ref>1933 Piedmont High Clan-O-Log</ref> and earned the rank of [[Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)|Eagle Scout]]. McNamara attended the University of California, Berkeley and graduated in 1937 with a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in [[economics]] with minors in [[mathematics]] and [[philosophy]]. He was a member of the [[Phi Gamma Delta]] [[Fraternities and sororities in North America|fraternity]],<ref>{{cite web |work=www.phigam.org |url=http://www.phigam.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=377 |title=Robert McNamara (California at Berkeley 1937) Passes Ad Astra |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225064244/http://www.phigam.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=377 |archive-date=2009-02-25 |date=6 July 2009 |access-date=9 July 2009}}</ref> was elected to [[Phi Beta Kappa]] in his sophomore year, and earned a [[varsity letter]] in [[Rowing (sport)|crew]]. McNamara was an [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps|ROTC]] Cadet in the Golden Bear Battalion at U.C. Berkeley.<ref>{{cite AV media |date=2010-02-17 |title=CalConnect: ROTC |publisher=CalTV |time=1:00 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeMnVTNN1CA&t=1m0s| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211031/HeMnVTNN1CA| archive-date=2021-10-31 | url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref> McNamara was also a member of the UC Berkeley's [[Order of the Golden Bear]], a fellowship of students and leading faculty members formed to promote leadership within the student body. 

In 1937 McNamara took a summer job as a sailor on the SS ''President Hoover''. He was aboard when the Chinese Air Force [[SS President Hoover#Bombed in the Yangtze River|bombed the ship]] near Shanghai Harbor. He was not injured.{{sfn|Morris|2003}}

McNamara then attended [[Harvard Business School]], where he earned a [[Master of Business Administration|M.B.A.]] in 1939. Immediately thereafter, McNamara worked for a year at [[PricewaterhouseCoopers|Price Waterhouse]], a San Francisco [[accounting]] firm. He returned to [[Harvard University|Harvard]] in August 1940 to teach accounting in the Business School and became the institution's highest-paid and youngest [[assistant professor]] at that time.{{sfn|Peck|2014|p=343}}