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

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

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

I don't take criticism lying down.
William Westmoreland

I don't think I have been loved by my troops, but I think I have been respected.
William Westmoreland

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

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

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

In the end, we lost IndoChina to the communists. But we did not lose Southeast Asia.
William Westmoreland

It became very clear that Hanoi was in effect strategically running the Viet Cong operation.
William Westmoreland


It's the first war we've ever fought on the television screen and the first war that our country ever fought where the media had full reign.
William Westmoreland

Militarily, we succeeded in Vietnam. We won every engagement we were involved in out there.
William Westmoreland

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

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

Television is an instrument which can paralyze this country.
William Westmoreland

The last man in the world who should have been criticized was the American soldier. They should have criticized me.
William Westmoreland

The military don't start wars. Politicians start wars.
William Westmoreland

The military lead turbulent lives, but they are people like everybody else.
William Westmoreland

The Vietnam memorial is a masterpiece. The names of the dead are listed there, chronologically. Just the names.
William Westmoreland

Vietnam was the first war ever fought without any censorship. Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.
William Westmoreland