Westmoreland, William (1914–2005)

Commander of the U.S. forces in Vietnam from 1964 to 1968. General William Westmoreland was a key architect of the U.S. military strategy in Vietnam and a consistent advocate for a greater commitment from Washington. He oversaw the buildup of U.S. ground troops in Vietnam beginning in 1965.

Son of a textile plant manager in South Carolina, Westmoreland graduated from West Point in 1936, winning the coveted John J. Pershing sword for leadership and military proficiency. During World War II, he commanded artillery battalions in Sicily and North Africa. During 10 months of front-line combat, he suffered from malaria, and a land mine blew a truck out from under him (and fortunately left him almost unhurt).

Westmoreland volunteered for the Korean War in 1952, in which he was in command of the 187th Regimental Combat Team. In 1960, after becoming the Army's youngest major general at age 42, he was named superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he expanded the facilities and increased enrollment from 2,500 to 4,000. In 1964, he was sent to Saigon, South Vietnam as deputy to General Paul Harkins. By midyear, when Harkins returned to the United States, Westmoreland became head of the Military Assistance Command (MACV) and received a fourth star.

Westmoreland was the top U.S. adviser to South Vietnamese armed forces and the commander of about 6,000 U.S. advisers attached to the Vietnamese units. He commanded U.S. forces in Vietnam as they gradually expanded from a few thousand to more than half a million. Westmoreland continuously requested more ground troops for Vietnam. In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson refused to send more troops and finally recalled Westmoreland after he successfully stopped the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive. Westmoreland was replaced by General Creighton W. Abrams.

Back in Washington, Westmoreland served as U.S. Army chief of staff. His biggest challenge was to withdraw the troops from Vietnam and redeploy them for duty in other regions of the world. General Westmoreland retired in 1972.