United States Army general (1914?1974)
Creighton Williams Abrams Jr.
(September 15, 1914 ? September 4, 1974) was a
United States Army
general
who commanded military operations in the
Vietnam War
from 1968 to 1972.
[1]
[2]
He was then
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
from 1972 until his death in 1974.
[1]
[2]
In 1980, the United States Army named its then new
main battle tank
, the
M1 Abrams
, after him. The
IG Farben building
in Germany was also named after Abrams from 1975 to 1995.
Military career
[
edit
]
Early career
[
edit
]
Abrams graduated from the
United States Military Academy
at West Point in the Class of 1936, ranking 185th of 276 in the class.
[3]
[4]
His classmates included
Benjamin O. Davis Jr.
and
William Westmoreland
. He served with the
1st Cavalry Division
from 1936 to 1940, being promoted to
first lieutenant
in 1939 and temporary captain in 1940.
Abrams became an armor officer early in the development of that branch and served as a tank company commander in the
1st Armored Division
in 1940.
World War II
[
edit
]
During
World War II
, Abrams served in the
4th Armored Division
, initially as regimental
adjutant
(June 1941 ? June 1942),
battalion
commander (July 1942 ? March 1943), and
regiment
executive officer (March?September 1943) with the
37th Armor Regiment
. In September 1943, a reorganization of the division redesignated the 37th Armor Regiment to the 37th Tank Battalion, which Abrams commanded. He commanded
Combat Command
B of the division during the
Battle of the Bulge
.
During this time Abrams was promoted to the temporary ranks of
major
(February 1942),
lieutenant colonel
(September 1942), and
colonel
(April 1945). Abrams was promoted to lieutenant colonel at age 27 years, 11 months.
During much of this time, the 4th Armored Division, led by the 37th Tank Battalion, was the spearhead for General
George S. Patton
's
Third Army
. Abrams was well known as an aggressive armor commander. By using his qualities as a leader and by consistently exploiting the relatively small advantages of speed and reliability of his vehicles, he managed to defeat German forces that had the advantage of superior armor and superior guns. He was twice decorated with the
Distinguished Service Cross
for extraordinary heroism, on September 20 and December 26, 1944. General George Patton said of him: "I'm supposed to be the best tank commander in the Army, but I have one peer?Abe Abrams. He's the world champion."
[5]
Frequently the spearhead of the Third Army during World War II, Abrams was one of the leaders in the relief effort that broke up the
German
entrenchments surrounding
Bastogne
and the
101st Airborne Division
during the Battle of the Bulge. In April 1945, he was promoted to temporary
colonel
but reverted to lieutenant colonel during the post-war demobilization. On April 23, 1945,
Will Lang Jr.
wrote a biography of Abrams called "Colonel Abe" for
Life
.
Interbellum and Korean War
[
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]
Following the war, Abrams served on the Army General Staff (1945?1946), as head of the department of tactics at the Armored School,
Fort Knox
(1946?1948), and graduated from the
Command and General Staff College
at
Fort Leavenworth
(1949).
Abrams commanded the
63rd Tank Battalion
, part of the
1st Infantry Division
, in Europe (1949?1951). He was again promoted to colonel and commanded the
2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment
(1951?1952). These units were important assignments due to the
Cold War
concern for potential invasion of western Europe by the Soviet Union. He then attended and graduated from the
Army War College
in 1953.
Because of Abrams's service in Europe and his War College tour, he joined the Korean War late. In South Korea (1953?1954), he successively served as chief of staff of the
I
,
X
, and
IX Corps
.
Staff assignments and division command
[
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]
Upon Abrams' return from Korea, he served as Chief of Staff of the Armor Center,
Fort Knox
(1954?1956). He was promoted to
brigadier general
and appointed deputy chief of staff for reserve components at the Pentagon (1956?1959). He was assistant division commander of
3rd Armored Division
(1959?1960) and then commanded the division (1960?1962) upon his promotion to major general. He was transferred to the Pentagon as deputy Chief of Staff for Operations (1962?1963) and during this time he served as representative of the Army Chief of Staff overseeing the armed forces deployed to support the enrollment of
James Meredith
at the
segregated
University of Mississippi
.
[6]
: 88?92
He performed a similar role in May 1963 during the
civil rights protests
in
Birmingham, Alabama
.
[6]
: 139?41
Following these roles Abrams demanded a more coherent policy for the swift employment of Federal forces domestically. In May 1963, the Joint Chiefs formalized those arrangements with the
Strike Command
instructed to be prepared "to move ready, deployable, tailored Army forces ranging in size from a reinforced company to a maximum force of 15,000 personnel".
[6]
: 142
He was promoted to
lieutenant general
and commanded
V Corps
in Europe (1963?1964).
Abrams was on the cover of
Time
magazine three times in ten years: 1961 (October 13),
[7]
1968 (April 19),
[8]
and 1971 (February 15).
[9]
Vietnam War
[
edit
]
Abrams was promoted to
general
in 1964 and appointed
Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army
. He was seriously considered as a candidate for chief of staff. Due to concerns about the conduct of the Vietnam War, he was appointed as deputy to his West Point classmate, General
William Westmoreland
, commander of the
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
(MACV), in May 1967.
Abrams succeeded Westmoreland as
COMUSMACV
on June 10, 1968. His tenure of command was not marked by the public optimism of his predecessors, who were prone to press conferences and public statements.
Lewis Sorley
asserted that in contrast to Westmoreland, Abrams implemented counterinsurgency tactics that focused on winning the
hearts and minds
of the Vietnamese rural population. A joint military-civilian organization named
Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support
under CIA official
William Colby
carried out the hearts and minds programs. According to a colonel cited in
Men's Journal
, there was more continuity than change in Vietnam after Abrams succeeded Westmoreland.
[a]
Newsweek
magazine at the time of Abrams' appointment observed that its sources within the
Lyndon Johnson
administration had spoken at length with Abrams in the past, and had come away convinced that the general would make few changes. The magazine quoted an unidentified military analyst to the effect that, "All this talk of dropping search-and destroy operations in favor of clear-and-hold is just a lot of bull."
[11]
None of the strategy papers produced by Abrams on assuming command of MACV indicated the need for any change in U.S. strategy and U.S. forces continued large-scale operations to engage
People's Army of Vietnam
(PAVN) main force units including the
Battle of Hamburger Hill
in May 1969.
[12]
From 1969, the Vietnam War increasingly became a conventional war between the military forces of South Vietnam and North Vietnam. Following the election of President
Richard Nixon
, Abrams began implementing the Nixon Administration's
Vietnamization
policy to decrease U.S. involvement in Vietnam. With this new goal, Abrams decreased American troop strength from a peak of 543,000 in early 1969 to 49,000 in June 1972.
The South Vietnamese forces with aerial support from the U.S. repelled the PAVN conventional
Easter Offensive
in 1972. The prolonged efforts and expense of the war had by then exhausted much of the American public and political support. Abrams disdained most of the politicians with whom he was forced to deal, in particular
Robert McNamara
and
McGeorge Bundy
, and had an even lower opinion of defense contractors, whom he accused of war profiteering.
Abrams was in charge of the
Cambodian Incursion
in 1970. President Nixon seemed to hold Abrams in high regard, and often relied on his advice. In a tape-recorded conversation between Nixon and National Security Advisor
Henry Kissinger
on December 9, 1970, Nixon told Kissinger about Abrams' thoughts on intervention in Cambodia that: "If Abrams strongly recommends it we will do it."
[13]
Troop levels in Vietnam eventually reached 25,000 in January 1973, at the time of the four power
Paris Peace Accords
. Although it occurred before he assumed total command, Abrams bore the brunt of fallout from the
My Lai massacre
in March 1968.
Nixon grew increasingly dissatisfied with Abrams' performance during
Operation Lam Son 719
and had debated for some time whether to recall Abrams. On May 4, 1972, a little more than a month after the onset of the Easter Offensive, Nixon resolved to replace Abrams with his former deputy General
Frederick Weyand
, but the decision was not publicly announced until June 20, 1972.
[14]
: 568
Chief of Staff
[
edit
]
Abrams was appointed
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
by Nixon in June 1972.
[15]
He was not confirmed by the
United States Senate
until October, due to political repercussions involving accusations of
unauthorized bombings of North Vietnam
.
[14]
: 576
It has also been reported that Congress had delayed the confirmation to question the administration's war in Cambodia. During this time, Abrams began the transition to the all-volunteer army, also known as
Project VOLAR
.
In January 1974, Abrams directed the formation of a Ranger battalion. The 1st Battalion (Ranger), 75th Infantry, was activated and parachuted into Fort Stewart, Georgia, on July 1; the 2nd Battalion (Ranger), 75th Infantry followed with activation on October 1. The 3rd Battalion, 75th Infantry (Ranger), and Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 75th Infantry (Ranger), received their colors a decade later on October 3, 1984, at Fort Benning, Georgia. The 75th Ranger Regiment was designated in February 1986.
[16]
The modern Ranger battalions owe their existence to Abrams and his charter:
The battalion is to be an elite, light, and the most proficient infantry in the world. A battalion that can do things with its hands and weapons better than anyone. The battalion will contain no 'hoodlums or brigands' and if the battalion is formed from such persons, it will be disbanded. Wherever the battalion goes, it must be apparent that it is the best.
Abrams served as Chief of Staff until his death on September 4, 1974.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Born in
Springfield, Massachusetts
, and raised in the Feeding Hills section of Agawam, he was the son of Nellie Louise (Randall) and Creighton Williams Abrams, a railroad worker.
[17]
Abrams married Julia Berthe Harvey
(1915?2003)
in 1936. She founded the army group of
Arlington Ladies
and devoted time to humanitarian causes.
[18]
The Abramses had three sons and three daughters. All three sons became Army general officers: retired Brigadier General Creighton Williams Abrams III, General
John Nelson Abrams
, and General
Robert Bruce Abrams
. Daughters Noel Bradley, Jeanne Daley, and Elizabeth Doyle all married army officers.
Abrams converted to
Catholicism
during his time in Vietnam. He was raised as
Methodist Protestant
.
[19]
A heavy cigar smoker, Abrams died at age 59, eleven days before his 60th birthday at
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
in Washington, D.C., from complications of surgery to remove a cancerous lung.
[2]
He is buried with his wife Julia in
Arlington National Cemetery
.
[20]
Awards and decorations
[
edit
]
His awards and decorations include:
[21]
[22]
- Foreign decorations and awards
Dates of rank
[
edit
]
Insignia
|
Rank
|
Component
|
Date
|
|
Cadet
|
United States Military Academy
|
July 1, 1932
(
1932-07-01
)
|
|
Second lieutenant
|
Regular Army
|
June 12, 1936
(
1936-06-12
)
|
|
First lieutenant
|
Regular Army
|
June 12, 1939
(
1939-06-12
)
|
|
Captain
|
Army of the United States
|
September 9, 1940
(
1940-09-09
)
|
|
Major
|
Army of the United States
|
February 1, 1942
(
1942-02-01
)
|
|
Lieutenant colonel
|
Army of the United States
|
September 3, 1942
(
1942-09-03
)
|
|
Colonel
|
Army of the United States
|
April 21, 1945
(
1945-04-21
)
|
|
Lieutenant colonel
|
Army of the United States
|
June 1, 1946
(
1946-06-01
)
|
|
Captain
|
Regular Army
|
June 12, 1946
(
1946-06-12
)
|
|
Major
|
Regular Army
|
July 1, 1948
(
1948-07-01
)
[23]
|
|
Colonel
|
Army of the United States
|
June 29, 1951
(
1951-06-29
)
|
|
Lieutenant colonel
|
Regular Army
|
July 7, 1953
(
1953-07-07
)
|
|
Brigadier general
|
Army of the United States
|
February 7, 1956
(
1956-02-07
)
|
|
Major general
|
Army of the United States
|
November 28, 1960
(
1960-11-28
)
|
|
Colonel
|
Regular Army
|
June 12, 1961
(
1961-06-12
)
|
|
Brigadier general
|
Regular Army
|
July 19, 1962
(
1962-07-19
)
|
|
Major general
|
Regular Army
|
May 23, 1963
(
1963-05-23
)
|
|
Lieutenant general
|
Army of the United States
|
August 1, 1963
(
1963-08-01
)
|
|
General
|
Army of the United States
|
September 4, 1964
(
1964-09-04
)
|
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
'That claim touches a nerve when put to
Gian Gentile
. "We don't know how Iraq is going to turn out", he snaps. With that, the colonel returns to his binders. They hold reams of cable communiques from Vietnam war commander General William Westmoreland and his successor, General Creighton Abrams. Westmoreland embodied the traditional approach: a hard-charging, hammer-swinging leader who used search-and-destroy tactics that focused on the enemy. Abrams favored counterinsurgency methods, and focused on winning the hearts and minds of the population. Gentile has stated "People think we were losing in Vietnam, and oh, a better general with better tactics came in and saved the day," he says, waving his arms for emphasis. "Nonsense." That's what led Gentile to dig through antique war correspondence from two dead generals. "There was more continuity than change in Vietnam after Abrams arrived," he says ? people have it backward. And in a way he's right: Westmoreland once declared that the jungles of Vietnam were "no place for either tank or mechanized infantry units." And Abrams ? well, the Army named a tank after the guy." Abrams, Gentile feels, showed up just in time to snatch the scraps of glory.'- quoted from Matthew Teague in Men's Journal
[10]
- ^
French
:
Legion d'honneur - Commandeur
- ^
French
:
Legion d'honneur - Chevalier
- ^
Sometimes spelt
Ulchi
- ^
Sometimes spelt
Taeguk
- ^
Vietnamese
:
Chi?n D?ch B?i Tinh
- Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Army Chief Abrams dies at 59, directed U.S. forces in Vietnam"
.
New York Times
. Associated Press. September 4, 1974. p. 1.
- ^
a
b
c
"Gen. Abrams dead at 59"
.
Spokesman-Review
. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. September 4, 1974. p. 1.
- ^
Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography
;
Trevor N. Dupuy
, Curt Johnson, David L. Bongard;
HarperCollins
1992
- ^
Stout, David
(2000-10-18).
"Bruce Palmer Jr., 87; Led Forces in Vietnam"
.
The New York Times
. p. 23.
- ^
"Nation: Pattern's Peer"
.
Time
. April 14, 1967. Archived from
the original
on December 15, 2008.
- ^
a
b
c
Scheips, Paul (2005).
The Role of Federal Military Forces in Domestic Disorders, 1945?1992
(PDF)
. US Army Center of Military History.
ISBN
9781517253783
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
"Third Armored's General Abrams"
.
Time
. October 13, 1961. p. (cover).
- ^
"General Creighton Abrams"
.
Time
. April 19, 1968. p. (cover).
- ^
"General Creighton Abrams"
.
Time
. February 15, 1971. p. (cover).
- ^
Teague, Matthew (December 2010).
"Is This Any Way to Fight a War?"
.
Men's Journal
. Archived from
the original
on March 11, 2014.
- ^
Hammond, William (1996).
The U.S. Army in Vietnam Public Affairs The Military and the Media, 1968?1973
(PDF)
. U.S. Army Center of Military History. p. 24.
ISBN
978-1946411037
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
Daddis, Gregory (2017).
Withdrawal: Reassessing America's Final Years in Vietnam
.
Oxford University Press
.
ISBN
978-0190691103
.
- ^
Mr. Kissinger/The President (tape)
- ^
a
b
Hammond, William (1996).
The U.S. Army in Vietnam Public Affairs The Military and the Media 1968?1973
. U.S. Army Center of Military History.
ISBN
978-0160486968
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
"Army's top job goes to Abrams"
.
Spokesman-Review
. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. June 21, 1972. p. 1.
- ^
"Heritage ? United States Army Rangers"
.
United States Army
. Retrieved
12 May
2016
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
"Maj.Gen. Creighton Abrams - 3rd Armored Div. Commander 1960-62"
. Archived from
the original
on 2014-02-18
. Retrieved
2014-02-18
.
- ^
O'Neill, Helen (29 May 2010).
"Special lady for each Arlington soldier-Volunteers honor troops and make sure none is buried alone"
.
NBC News
.com
. Retrieved
30 May
2010
.
- ^
Lewis, Sorley (May 30, 2013).
"The Way of the Soldier: Remembering General Creighton Abrams"
.
Foreign Policy Research Institute
. Retrieved
October 7,
2020
.
- ^
Burial Detail: Abrams, Creighton W (Site 21, Grave S-33)
? ANC Explorer
- ^
"General Orders No. 32"
(PDF)
.
Headquarters Department of the United States Army
. 1974-09-04
. Retrieved
2023-02-06
.
- ^
"Creighton Abrams"
.
Military Times
. Retrieved
2023-02-06
.
- ^
Official Register of Commissioned Officers of the United States Army, 1948
. Vol. I. 1948. p. 7.
References
[
edit
]
- Sorley, Lewis.
Thunderbolt: General Creighton Abrams and the army of his time
. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992.
ISBN
0-671-70115-0
- Sorely, Lewis. "A better war. The unexamined victories and final tragedy of America's last years in Vietnam". Orlando: Harcourt, 1999.
ISBN
978-0-15-100266-5
External links
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]
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