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William Westmoreland

 
Military History Companion: Gen William Westmoreland

Westmoreland, Gen William (1914-2005), commander of US forces in Vietnam during the build-up of 1964-8. Echoing Secretary of Defense McNamara's policy of treating soldiers like inputs of industrial production, he measured success in tons of ordnance delivered and ‘body counts’. He was blamed for the institutional failure of an army characterized by ‘ticket-punching’, in which combat command was regarded as one of several necessary credits for promotion, not as the military raison d'être.

During WW II he commanded a battalion of artillery in North Africa and Sicily and was a divisional staff officer in North-West Europe. He commanded an airborne brigade in the Korean war, and subsequently an airborne division and corps. In 1957 he became the youngest major general in the army and in 1961 he was appointed superintendent of West Point, where he had been captain of cadets.

In Indochina he judged that the South Vietnamese army was too rotten to redeem and recommended ‘Americanizing’ the war. Like the rest of the military hierarchy, he was convinced that technology and firepower rendered the old rules for irregular warfare obsolete. Within a framework of battalion-sized ‘search and destroy’ sweeps, he pioneered the development of helicopter-borne forces and of airlifting artillery to detached fire bases, beyond the range of which only the special forces were permitted to patrol. In combination with a historic US tendency to regard infantry as the bottom of the barrel, these tactics led to the demoralization of the bulk of the forces under his command.

The bankruptcy of this approach was revealed when he permitted a false analogy between the siege of the Marine fire base at Khe Sanh and the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu to dominate his thoughts before, during, and after the country-wide Tet offensive. His successor Abrams belatedly encouraged company-sized patrols while concentrating on orthodox population control and implemented ‘Vietnamization’, a face-saving attempt to revitalize the South Vietnamese army, by now worse than ever and hopelessly dependent on departing US firepower.

Westmoreland retired in 1972 as army COS. In 1984 he sued for libel after CBS News accused him of lying about enemy troop strength in 1967. Faced with the network's superior firepower he withdrew the suit, not before reviving debate about whether the USA lost the war politically or militarily. That he still believed the two could be considered separately does much to explain the failure of overall US policy in Vietnam.

— Hugh Bicheno

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US Military History Companion: William C. Westmoreland
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(1914–2005), U.S. general

One of the most controversial figures in American military history, William Westmoreland, by his own appraisal, was “the most vilified man in America” during the 1970s. A military leader of the U.S. buildup in the Republic of South Vietnam from 1964 until 1968, the general exuded confidence, only to undergo a devastating Communist attack during the 1968 Tet Offensive. Critics cited this attack as reason to withdraw U.S. forces and proof that Westmoreland had followed a failed strategy.

Born in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, and graduated from West Point in 1936, Westmoreland held Field Artillery assignments until World War II. Promoted to lieutenant colonel, he participated in the North Africa Campaign in 1942, landed in Sicily in 1943, and landed on the Normandy coast in 1944. Westmoreland gained a reputation for superb staff work and sound battle leadership during the war.

After the war, Westmoreland joined the infantry, became a paratrooper in 1946, and commanded the only U.S. airborne infantry regiment to participate in the Korean War. After attending an advanced management program at Harvard University, he commanded the 101st Airborne, (1958–60) and served as Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy (1960–63), after which he took command of the XVIII Airborne Corps. Westmoreland's era of high notoriety began when, as a full general, he was assigned to head the United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) in 1964, an ad visory and support effort to the South Vietnamese Army. He saw that the infusion of increasing numbers of North Vietnamese troop units into the small Southeast Asian country was transforming a guerrilla war into a stand‐up contest between conventionally organized regulars. Convinced that U.S. forces would have to enter the war as offensive units, Secretary of Defense Robert S. MacNamara and President Lyndon B. Johnson received a proposal from Westmoreland that would have the new U.S. Army airmobile force, the 1st Cavalry Division, cut the Communist line of communications by establishing mobile bases in the Laotian Panhandle. Rebuffed and faced with the task of defending all of South Vietnam, Westmoreland devised a scheme of “search and destroy” offensive missions by U.S. forces to locate, engage, and defeat Communist forces in South Vietnam. Following the surprise Tet Offensive (1968) by the Communists and the erosion of American support, despite its defeat, Westmoreland was succeeded in Vietnam by Gen. Creighton Abrams.

Returning to the United States in 1968, Westmoreland became chief of staff of the army and retired in 1972. After an unsuccessful run for the governorship of South Carolina in 1974, he became embroiled in a failed 1985 suit against CBS for portraying himself and his staff as falsifying enemy strength and casualty reports during the Vietnam War.

[See also Westmoreland v. CBS.]

Bibliography

  • William C. Westmoreland, A Soldier Reports, 1976.
  • Samuel Zaffiri, Westmoreland: A Biography of General William C. Westmoreland, 1994
US Military Dictionary: William Childs Westmoreland
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Westmoreland, William Childs (1914-2005) U.S. Army officer. Born in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, William C. Westmoreland graduated from West Point in 1936 with a commission in the field artillery. He had a distinguished combat record. In World War II, he commanded a field artillery battalion in North Africa and Sicily, and became chief of staff of the 9th Infantry Division in Normandy. He commanded the 187th Regimental Combat Team in the Korean War, earning promotion to brigadier general there in 1952. He led the 101st Airborne Division before becoming superintendent of West Point in 1960. After that he took over the XVIII Airborne Corps and was promoted to lieutenant general. In 1964 he was designated to command U.S. Military Assistance Command in South Vietnam, and another star followed. For the next four years he supervised the expansion of American combat forces in Vietnam to a strength of over 500, 000, relying on heavy firepower and “search and destroy” tactics to try to draw out and destroy an elusive guerrilla foe. After defeating the enemy's surprise Tet Offensive in early 1968, Westmoreland became chief of staff of the army in July, a post he held until retiring four years later. He has spent much effort since then defending his reputation from critics who blame him for various aspects of American failure in Vietnam, including taking CBS to court for libel.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Biography: William Childs Westmoreland
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William Childs Westmoreland (born 1914) was commander of all American forces in the Vietnam War from 1964 until 1968, when he became chief of staff of the U.S. Army.

By the time the political and military situation in South Vietnam had become almost chaotic West-moreland had risen to the rank of general. He had acquired a reputation for efficiency and was a protegé of General Maxwell D. Taylor, a leading proponent of the "Flexible Response" and the popular counterinsurgency strategies of the Kennedy administration.

In early 1964 President Lyndon Johnson sent West-moreland to Saigon as deputy commander, U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. Within a few months, at the rank of full general, he succeeded to command American forces assisting the Republic of Vietnam in its war against the Communist Viet Cong insurgents. Westmoreland's assumption of command coincided with a decisive change in the nature of the conflict. The Viet Cong began shifting from small-scale guerrilla warfare to larger, more conventional attacks. Beginning early in 1965, regular North Vietnamese army units came south down the Ho Chi Minh Trail to reinforce the insurgents. In the same period the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson further escalated the conflict, first with a limited bombing campaign against North Vietnam and then by introducing U.S. combat forces into South Vietnam.

Westmoreland did not determine overall American strategy and had no control over most of the air war against North Vietnam. He did direct American operations within South Vietnam. He attempted to carry out a balanced campaign of attacks on enemy regular units and their bases on the one hand, and assistance to the South Vietnamese in pacification and population security on the other. Many observers, however, criticized him for emphasizing the first part of the strategy at the expense of the second. His name became associated with tactics of "search and destroy." In February 1968 the Viet Cong launched their Tet offensive. Although Westmoreland, with considerable reason, regarded the outcome as an allied victory, this display of enemy strength convinced much of the American public that the war was a failure. President Johnson then turned toward de-escalation and negotiation. In the aftermath of Tet in July 1968, Westmoreland returned to Washington to become chief of staff of the army.

As chief of staff, Westmoreland faced a difficult task. He had to extricate the army from Vietnam, reorient it toward the future, and make the transition from the draft to an all-volunteer service, all in a period of virulent anti-military sentiment. Although hampered by his own identification with an unpopular war, Westmoreland contributed much toward the post-Vietnam rebuilding of the army. He also championed his service's cause by extensive public speaking, despite antiwar and anti-military heckling and abuse.

Westmoreland retired as chief of staff on June 30, 1972. After that he made his home in South Carolina and continued an active public career. In 1974 he sought the Republican nomination for governor but was decisively defeated in the primary election. The controversies of the Vietnam War continued to follow him. In a January 1982 television documentary, "The Uncounted Enemy, " the Columbia Broadcasting System accused Westmoreland of manipulating figures on enemy strength to deceive President Johnson concerning progress in the war. In response, Westmoreland sued CBS for libel. The case ended in February 1985 in an out-of-court settlement which left the factual issues unresolved and both sides claiming victory.

Further Reading

The earliest full-length biography of Westmoreland is the highly favorable one by Ernest B. Furgerson, Westmoreland: The Inevitable General (1968). Westmoreland tells the story of his command in Vietnam in A Soldier Reports (1976). His strategy is sharply criticized by David Halberstam in The Best and the Brightest (1972). Gen. Bruce Palmer, Jr., in The Twenty-Five Year War: America's Military Role in Vietnam (1984) also analyzes and is critical of Westmoreland's conduct of operations. Don Kowet in A Matter of Honor (1984) tells the story of the CBS controversy, as does Renata Adler in Reckless Disregard: Westmoreland v. CBS et al.; Sharon v. TIME (1986). The crucial Tet offensive is recounted in Don Oberdorfer's Tet! (1971).

In 1994, Vietnam veteran Samuel Zaffiri published a biography, Westmoreland: A Biography of General William C. Westmoreland. A book reviewer stated that the book offered "a fair hearing for a man who has been alternately overlooked and maligned by history." Articles of interest can be found in the New York Times (January 25, 1991; September 30, 1990; and November 28, 1988) and the Los Angeles Times (April 22, 1991 and March 25, 1991).

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: William Childs Westmoreland
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Westmoreland, William Childs, 1914-2005, U.S. general, b. Spartanburg co., S.C. He graduated from West Point in 1936 and fought with distinction in North Africa and Europe during World War II and later (1952-53) in Korea. After serving (1960-64) as superintendent of West Point, Westmoreland attained (1964) the rank of general and commanded (1964-68) U.S. military forces in Vietnam (see Vietnam War). He then assumed the position of army chief of staff, which he held until his retirement in 1972. In 1974 he was defeated in the Republican primary election for governor of South Carolina.

Bibliography

See his memoirs, A Soldier Reports (1976); biography by S. Zaffiri (1994).

Wikipedia: William Westmoreland
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William Childs Westmoreland
March 26, 1914(1914-03-26) – July 18, 2005 (aged 91)
Gen William C Westmoreland.jpg
Nickname Westy
Place of birth Spartanburg County, South Carolina
Place of death Charleston, South Carolina
Place of burial West Point Cemetery
Allegiance United States United States of America
Service/branch United States Army
Years of service 1936 - 1972
Rank US-O10 insignia.svg General
Commands held 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment
187th Regimental Combat Team

Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy
XVIII Airborne Corps
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
Chief of Staff of the United States Army

Battles/wars World War II
Korean War
Vietnam War
Awards Distinguished Service Medal (3)
Legion of Merit (3)
Bronze Star (2)
Air Medal (10)

William Childs Westmoreland (March 26, 1914 – July 18, 2005) was an American General who commanded American military operations in the Vietnam War at its peak from 1964 to 1968, with the Tet Offensive. He had adopted a strategy of attrition against the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army. He later served as U.S. Army Chief of Staff from 1968 to 1972. In 1976, he published his memoirs, A Soldier Reports.

Contents

Early career

William Westmoreland was born in Spartanburg County, South Carolina in 1914. His upper class family was involved in the banking and textile industries. Westmoreland, an Eagle Scout at Troop 1 and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and Silver Buffalo from the Boy Scouts of America as an adult, entered West Point in 1932 after one year at The Citadel. Westmoreland was a member of a distinguished class at West Point in which his classmates included Creighton Abrams who replaced him in 1968, and Benjamin O. Davis Jr.; he graduated as first captain - the highest rank - and received the Pershing Sword, given to the most able cadet.[1][2] His initial motive for entering was "(to) see the world." Following graduation in 1936 he became an artillery officer and served in several different commands, taking part in combat operations in Tunisia, Sicily, France and Germany, and reaching the ranks of lieutenant colonel and subsequently colonel during combat operations in Europe during World War II. Westmoreland always balanced a reputation as a stern taskmaster with that of an officer who cared about his men and took a great interest in their welfare. One called him "the most caring officer, for soldiers, that I have ever known". He was also a graduate of Harvard Business School. Westmoreland was a new type of officer, better educated than his predecessors and more managerial in outlook. As Stanley Karnow noted, "Westy was a corporation executive in uniform." [3]

During World War II, his battalion was selected to be the artillery support for the 82nd Airborne Division. By war’s end, he was serving as the chief of staff of the 9th Infantry Division.

Regimental and divisional commands

Westmoreland's World War II experience with the 82nd Airborne led to his being asked by General James M. Gavin to join the 82nd as a regimental commander after the war, which was the beginning of his professional association with airborne and airmobile troops. He served with the 82nd Airborne for four years and during the Korean War he commanded the 187th Regimental Combat Team.

In late 1953 Westmoreland was promoted brigadier general and spent the next 5 years at The Pentagon. At age 42, in 1956, he became the youngest major general in the Army. In 1958 he assumed command of the 101st Airborne Division. He started the concept of Recondo training in the division, later bringing the concept elsewhere in the Army. In 1960 he became superintendent of West Point, and in 1963 became commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps.

Vietnam

Herbert Elmer Abrams' portrait of General Westmoreland

In June 1964, he became deputy commander of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), assuming command from General Paul D. Harkins. As the head of the MACV he was known for highly publicized, positive assessments of US military prospects in Vietnam. However, as time went on, the strengthening of North Vietnamese combat forces in the South led to regular requests for increases in US troop strength, from 16,000 when he arrived to its peak of 535,000 in 1968 when he was promoted to Army Chief of Staff.

On April 28, 1967, Westmoreland addressed a joint session of Congress. "In evaluating the enemy strategy," he said, "It is evident to me that he believes our Achilles heel is our resolve ... Your continued strong support is vital to the success of our mission ... Backed at home by resolve, confidence, patience, determination and continued support, we will prevail in Vietnam over the Communist aggressor!"

The 29-minute speech was interrupted nineteen times by applause but Congressional and popular support for the war thereafter continued to decline.

Under Westmoreland's leadership, the United States "won every battle."[4] The turning point of the war was the 1968 Tet Offensive, in which Communist forces, having staged a diversion at the Battle of Khe Sanh, attacked cities and towns throughout South Vietnam. US and South Vietnamese troops successfully fought off the attacks, and the Communist forces took heavy losses, but the ferocity of the assault shook public confidence in Westmoreland's previous assurances about the state of the war. Political debate and public opinion led the Johnson administration to limit further increases in US troops in Vietnam. When news of the My Lai Massacre broke, Westmoreland resisted pressure from the Nixon administration for a cover-up,[citation needed] and pressed for a full and impartial investigation by William R. Peers.

Westmoreland was convinced that the Vietnamese communists could be destroyed by fighting a war of attrition that, theoretically, would render the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese unable to fight. His war strategy was marked by heavy use of artillery and airpower and repeated attempts to engage the communists in large-unit battles, and thereby exploit the anti-communists' vastly superior firepower and technology. However, the NVA and the Viet Cong were able to dictate the pace of attrition to fit their own goals: by continuing to fight a guerrilla war and avoiding large-unit battles, they denied the Americans the chance to fight the kind of war they were best at, and they ensured that attrition would wear the Americans faster than it would wear down the NVA and Viet Cong.[citation needed] Westmoreland repeatedly rebuffed or suppressed attempts by John Paul Vann and Lew Walt to shift to a "pacification" strategy[4] Westmoreland had little appreciation of the patience of the American people within his time frame to somehow convince Johnson to approve widening the war into Cambodia and Laos in order to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail. He was unable to use the absolutist stance, "we can't win unless we expand the war" [into Cambodia and Laos]. Instead he focused on "positive indicators" which ultimately turned worthless when the Tet Offensive occurred, since all his pronouncements of "positive indicators" didn't hint at the possibility of such a last gasp dramatic event. Tet outmaneuvered all of Westmoreland's pronouncements on "positive indicators" in the minds of the American public.[citation needed] Although the communists were severely depleted by their heavy defeat at Khe Sanh when their conventional assaults were battered by American firepower, as well as tens of thousands of deaths in the Tet Offensive, American political opinion and the panic engendered the communist surprise sapped US support for the war, even though the events of early 1968 put the US and South Vietnam into a much stronger military position.

Post-Vietnam

Westmoreland was replaced by General Creighton Abrams in June 1968, the decision being announced shortly after the Tet Offensive. Although the decision had been made in late-1967, this was widely seen in the media as a punishment for being caught off-guard by the communist assault. Westmoreland served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1968 to 1972, then retired from the Army. Many military historians have pointed out that Westmoreland became Chief of Staff at the worst time in history with regard to the Army. Guiding the Army as it transitioned to an all-volunteer force, he issued many directives to try to make Army life better and more palatable for America's youth, e.g. allowing soldiers to wear sideburns and drink beer in the mess hall. However, many hard-liners scorned these as too liberal. Westmoreland ran unsuccessfully for Governor of South Carolina in 1974. He published his autobiography the following year. Westmoreland later served on a task force to improve educational standards in the state of South Carolina. He was mentioned in a Time magazine article as a potential candidate for the 1968 Republican nomination.[5]

Westmoreland v. CBS: The Uncounted Enemy

Mike Wallace interviewed Westmoreland for the CBS special The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception. The documentary, shown on January 23, 1982 and prepared largely by CBS producer George Crile III, alleged that Westmoreland and others had deliberately underestimated Viet Cong troop strength during 1967 in order to maintain US troop morale and domestic support for the war. Westmoreland filed a lawsuit against CBS.

In Westmoreland v. CBS, Westmoreland sued Wallace and CBS for libel, and a lengthy legal process began. After the trial was in progress, Westmoreland suddenly settled with CBS for an apology, no more than CBS had originally offered. Some contend that Judge Leval's instructions to the jury over what constituted "actual malice" to prove libel convinced Westmoreland's lawyers that he was certain to lose.[6][7] Others point out that the settlement occurred after two of Westmoreland's former intelligence officers, Major General Joseph McChristian and Colonel Gains Hawkins, testified to the accuracy of the substantive allegations of the broadcast, which were that Westmoreland ordered changes in intelligence reports on Viet Cong troop strengths for political reasons. Disagreement about the appropriateness of some of the journalistic methods of Mike Wallace in particular persist.[8]

A deposition by McChristian indicates that his organization developed improved intelligence on the number of irregular Viet Cong combatants shortly before he left Vietnam on a regularly scheduled rotation. The numbers troubled Westmoreland, who feared that the press would not understand them. He did not order them changed but instead did not include the information in reporting to Washington, which in his view was a decision that the data were not appropriate to report.

Based on later analysis of the information from all sides, it appears clear that Westmoreland could not sustain a libel suit because CBS's principal allegation was that he had caused intelligence officers to suppress facts. Westmoreland's anger was caused by the implication of the broadcast that his intent was fraudulent and that he ordered others to lie.

During the acrimonious trial, Mike Wallace was hospitalized for depression, and despite the legal conflict separating the two, Westmoreland and his wife sent him flowers. Wallace's memoir is generally sympathetic to Westmoreland, although he makes it clear he disagreed with him on issues surrounding the Vietnam War and the Nixon Administration's policies in Southeast Asia.

Views

In a 1998 interview for George magazine, Westmoreland criticized the battlefield prowess of his opponent North Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap. "Of course, he [Giap] was a formidable adversary," Westmoreland told correspondent W. Thomas Smith, Jr. "Let me also say that Giap was trained in small-unit, guerrilla tactics, but he persisted in waging a big-unit war with terrible losses to his own men. By his own admission, by early 1969, I think, he had lost, what, a half million soldiers? He reported this. Now such a disregard for human life may make a formidable adversary, but it does not make a military genius. An American commander losing men like that would hardly have lasted more than a few weeks."

In the 1974 film Hearts and Minds, Westmoreland opined that "The Oriental doesn't put the same high price on life as does a Westerner...We value life and human dignity. They don't care about life and human dignity."

Through the end of his life, he maintained that the United States did not lose the war in Vietnam; he stated instead that "our country did not fulfill its commitment to South Vietnam. By virtue of Vietnam, the U.S. held the line for 10 years and stopped the dominoes from falling."

Among the many honors he received during his service, Westmoreland was awarded four Distinguished Service Medals, the Bronze Star, the Presidential Unit Citation, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Master Parachutist Badge and numerous foreign decorations.

Despite the controversy of Vietnam and the CBS suit, Westmoreland was nonetheless hailed as a popular and beloved commander by many of those under his command. One of the highlights of his life was leading a large parade in Chicago in 1986 that honored the Vietnam veterans. Many of the men proudly wore badges inscribed "WESTY'S WARRIORS".

Personal life

In 1947, he married Katherine (Kitsy) Stevens Van Deusen. They had three children: two daughters Katherine Westmoreland, and Margaret Westmoreland; and one son named James Ripley Westmoreland. William Westmoreland died on July 18, 2005 at the age of 91 at the Bishop Gadsden retirement home in Charleston, South Carolina.

Westmoreland's brother-in-law, Lt. Col. Frederick Van Deusen, was killed in combat in Vietnam on July 7, 1968, just hours after Westmoreland was sworn in as Army Chief of Staff.[9]

On July 23, 2005, he was buried at the West Point Cemetery, United States Military Academy.

Dates of rank

Awards and decorations

General Westmoreland earned the following U.S. and foreign decorations and awards:

U.S. personal military decorations

U.S. military badges, tabs and patches

Foreign decorations and awards

U.S. military unit awards

Foreign unit awards

Foreign badges, decorations and patches

See also

References

  • Stanley Karnow, Vietnam: A History (New York, NY, Penguin, 1991)
  • Tom Mascaro, The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception (Chicago, IL, The Museum of Broadcast Communications)
  • W. Thomas Smith Jr., An old soldier sounds off: General Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam until 1968, talks of war and General Giap (New York, N.Y., George, November 1998)
  • General William C. Westmoreland, A Soldier Reports (Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1976)
  • Mike Wallace with Gary Paul Gates, Between You and Me (N.Y., Hyperion, 2005)

External links

General:

News of his death:

Military offices
Preceded by
Garrison Holt Davidson
Superintendents of the United States Military Academy
1960–1963
Succeeded by
James Benjamin Lampert
Preceded by
Paul D. Harkins
Commander, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
1964–1968
Succeeded by
Creighton Abrams
Preceded by
Harold K. Johnson
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
1968–1972
Succeeded by
Bruce Palmer, Jr.
(Acting)
Honorary titles
Preceded by
Lyndon Johnson
Time's Man of the Year
1965
Succeeded by
The Generation Twenty-Five and Under

 
 

 

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