On this date fifty years ago- Monday June 10, 1968 U.S. General Creighton Abrams succeeded General William Westmoreland as the commander of military operations in Vietnam. Westmoreland’s tactics were search and destroy. Abrams changed things up- stressing pacification. American troops under his command would decrease from 543,000 to 49,000 as his vietnamization took hold. Where as Westmoreland is viewed in some quarters as a big failure there are those who believe that if Abrams had been given command earlier in the war that things could have turned out a lot differently.
Creighton Abrams was named U.S. Army Chief of Staff in 1972 a position he held until his death in 1974 of complications after having a lung removed due to cancer- he was 59. The M1 Abrams tank is named for him. Abrams had three sons and all three became U.S. Army generals.
slicethelife 
“given command earlier in the war that things could have turned out a lot differently.”
We were not going to win that war against those people no matter what the strategy or who commanded. What would winning mean anyway ? Keeping a corrupt government in the south with no support of the majority of its people ?
That is what some historians say- that wasn’t my quote! it was a bad idea from day 1.
Yes, I know. 7 did not return from my high school class of ’67. I will curse LBJ from beyond my grave.
Have you seen the Ken Burns series? Very well done. Yes thousands died because politicians didn’t want to have ‘defeat’ on their resume.