On Board : My Life in the Navy, Government, and Business

In this memoir, Paul Ignatius, a former secretary of the Navy and past president of the Washington Post, provides insights into significant events of the twentieth century—and he was a direct participant in many of them. The book includes vivid personal recollections of Robert McNamara, Clark Clifford, Cyrus Vance, Gen. Creighton Abrams, Adm. Thomas Moorer, and many others. He recounts high moments when Medals of Honor were bestowed, the low moment when USS Pueblo was captured by the North Koreans, and perplexing moments over whether to praise or damn Adm. Hyman Rickover. The Pentagon Papers case, the illegal strike of the air traffic controllers and efforts to deregulate the airlines, the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s, and President Carter’s attempt to lessen U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil are among the many other critical events covered here.  

Ignatius also offers intimate glimpses into his family life, including when his college-aged children were utterly opposed to the Vietnam War, and his Armenian heritage, complete with memories of his grandfather’s poems of freedom that ultimately forced him to leave his ancestral home. In one of the final chapters, Ignatius reflects on a full life and identifies the civil rights movement and efforts to gain equality for women as among those events of lasting importance.