Word: westmorelands
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...lines recall, in which he outbluffed a nest of German army troopers. His record in four years as U.S. commander in Viet Nam indicates that he has not lost the talent. Now he faces a still tougher task. Nominated last week by President Nixon to succeed General William C. Westmoreland as Army Chief of Staff, Abrams, 57, must tackle the job of regenerating the Army in the wake of Viet Nam and, if Nixon has his way, presiding over its conversion to an all-volunteer force...
...Army brass, the belief is strong that Abrams can handle the assignment. Said one general: "Abe will do everything that Westy has started -and that's a lot-but he will do it a little faster. Abe has a way of getting people to move fast." Among those Westmoreland efforts: the creation of a smaller, more professional and more efficient Army; improved race relations; more effective drug controls; and a reduction in rapid command turnovers...
There is no absolute guarantee, however, that Abrams will follow exactly in the path of Westmoreland. In Viet Nam, for example, Abrams moved the Army away from his predecessor's massive search-and-destroy methods to vigorous, small-unit tactics aimed at keeping the enemy off balance. Along with this went heavily increased emphasis on Vietnamization...
...vital to the U.S.-or any democracy -than the supremacy of civilian authority over the military. Limited wars such as Korea and Viet Nam put unusual strain on the bonds of the tradition. In Korea, it cost General Douglas MacArthur his command; in Viet Nam, it led General William Westmoreland to liken his job to fighting with one hand tied behind his back. But until General John Lavelle, Viet Nam had produced no outright defiance of presidential strictures on the conduct...
...basically noncontroversial interim appointment, an Administration had succeeded for the first time in almost 50 years in gaining political control of the FBI. Had Nixon selected a strong, less politically active permanent director-such as Supreme Court Justice Byron White or the Army Chief of Staff, General William Westmoreland-the new man might have preserved a measure of Hooverian independence. But by settling on a temporary director who has such close personal ties to the President, Nixon opened the way, in theory at least, for remote-control direction of the FBI by the White House...