William Westmoreland famous quotes

03-24-2025

I do not believe that the men who served in uniform in Vietnam have been given the credit they deserve. It was a difficult war against an unorthodox enemy.
-- William Westmoreland

#War #Believe #Men
War is fear cloaked in courage.
-- William Westmoreland

#Peace #War
The military don't start wars. Politicians start wars.
-- William Westmoreland

#Peace #Fear #War
I've made this statement many times: If I would have to do it over again, I would have made known the forthcoming Tet Offensive.
-- William Westmoreland

#Military #Offensive #Made
In the end, we lost IndoChina to the communists. But we did not lose Southeast Asia.
-- William Westmoreland

#Military #Asia #Communist
Militarily, we succeeded in Vietnam. We won every engagement we were involved in out there.
-- William Westmoreland

#Military #Engagement #Vietnam
The last man in the world who should have been criticized was the American soldier. They should have criticized me.
-- William Westmoreland

#Military #Men #Soldier
This was a type of war that we'd had no experience with before. Some of our policies were kind of trial and error in character.
-- William Westmoreland

#Military #War #Character
I was participating in my own lynching, but the problem was I didn't know what I was being lynched for.
-- William Westmoreland

#Lynching #Problem #Participation
I don't think I have been loved by my troops, but I think I have been respected.
-- William Westmoreland

#Military #Thinking #Troops
We'll blast them back into the stone ages!
-- William Westmoreland

#Peace #War #Age
Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.
-- William Westmoreland

#Confused #Silly #Thinking
The military lead turbulent lives, but they are people like everybody else.
-- William Westmoreland

#Military #People
Television is an instrument which can paralyze this country.
-- William Westmoreland

#Country #Television #Instruments
They're asking women to do impossible things. I don't believe women can carry a pack, live in a foxhole, or go a week without a bath.
-- William Westmoreland

#Women #Believe #Asking
My wife was my greatest asset. I didn't marry her until after World War II, but she has complemented me in every job I've ever had
-- William Westmoreland

#Jobs #War #Wife
When I took command in Vietnam, I gave great emphasis to food and medical care - and to the mail
-- William Westmoreland

#Care #Mail #Vietnam
It became very clear that Hanoi was in effect strategically running the Viet Cong operation.
-- William Westmoreland

#Running #Operations #Hanoi
I haven't yet figured out how I was made first captain, because I was not an outstanding student. I was an adequate student.
-- William Westmoreland

#Adequate #Captains #Firsts
By the end of the summer of 1973 I thought it was virtually impossible for South Vietnam to survive. How in the heck could they?
-- William Westmoreland

#Summer #Vietnam #Impossible
I have no apologies, no regrets. I gave my very best efforts.... I've been hung in effigy. I've been spat upon. You just have to let those things bounce off .
-- William Westmoreland

#Regret #Apology #Effort
We were succeeding. When you looked at specifics, this became a war of attrition. We were winning.
-- William Westmoreland

#War #Winning #Succeed
As the senior commander in Vietnam, I was aware of the potency of public opinion - and I worried about it.
-- William Westmoreland

#Senior #Vietnam #Public Opinion
President Johnson did not want the Vietnam War to broaden. He wanted the North Vietnamese to leave their brothers in the South alone.
-- William Westmoreland

#Brother #War #Military
The Vietnam memorial is a masterpiece. The names of the dead are listed there, chronologically. Just the names.
-- William Westmoreland

#Military #Names #Memorial
When the soldiers came home from Vietnam, there were no parades, no celebrations. So they built the Vietnam Memorial for themselves.
-- William Westmoreland

#Inspiring #Memories #Military
Anytime it was advertised that I was going to be at a particular place, the radicals would be there, the cameras with TV news.
-- William Westmoreland

#Military #Tv News #Would Be
I don't take criticism lying down.
-- William Westmoreland

#Lying #Military #Criticism

You may also like:

Alexander Haig
Former United States Secretary of State
Creighton W. Abrams, Jr.
Military Commander
Curtis LeMay
Military Commander
Dean Rusk
Former United States Secretary of State
Dwight D. Eisenhower
34th U.S. President
Eugene McCarthy
Former United States Senator
Hal Moore
Author
Harry S. Truman
33rd U.S. President
Henry A. Kissinger
Former National Security Advisor
Ho Chi Minh
Political leader
John F. Kennedy
35th U.S. President
Lyndon B. Johnson
36th U.S. President
Nguyen Van Thieu
Military head
Norman Schwarzkopf
Omar N. Bradley
Soldier
Richard M. Nixon
37th U.S. President
Robert McNamara
Former United States Secretary of Defense
Vo Nguyen Giap
Politician
McGeorge Bundy
Nick Turse
Journalist