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Dr. Brian VanDeMark is a historian who has assisted two US Secretaries of Defense with their autobiographies. He teaches history at the US Naval Academy. We spoke about his latest book on decision making by senior leaders during the Vietnam War.
1:16 – Brian talks about how he became interested in writing on the Vietnam War starting from his childhood. He helped former Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford write his autobiography. He taught at the Naval Academy and then helped Robert McNamara with his autobiography.
5:45 – Brian talks about the book and how he organized it. Organizational behavior is one of the things he analyzes in this history.
11:00 – Brian talks about the decision making environments in the White House and the Pentagon.
18:00 – Brian talks about how he determined what the most important turning points of the period were.
26:57 – Brian talks about the materials he used to do his research.
31:44 – Brian explains how he interviewed senior decision makers who had been involved with the Vietnam War.
40:24 – We talk about security measures for public figures then and now.
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Guests: Brian VanDeMark
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, Robert McNamara, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War, Operations Research, leadership