William Westmoreland Quotes
I don't think I have been loved by my troops, but I think I have been respected.
Westmoreland, William C. Interview. Academy of Achievement, 22 Jun. 1996.
This testimony turned out to be a tactical error. The main purpose of Tojo was to protect Emperor Hirohito from responsibility for the war. See {587277}. But by admitting that he never disobeyed even the Emperor’s wishes, he made it clear that he had implemented the Emperor’s desired policies. Therefore, Hirohito must have been responsible. After this testimony there was some delay and he changed his testimony claiming that once he disobeyed the Emperor when he took the nation to war. Few believed this second version, but it was sufficient to keep Hirohito from being charged—which despite many calls for his trial, General MacArthur also did not want the Emperor brought to account as the institution was making the occupation of Japan very easy.
At the height of the Watergate scandal, the president wanted special prosecutor Archibald Cox fired, because Cox was developing evidence against the president. The attorney general, Elliot Richardson, refused to fire Cox and resigned. The chief of staff then turned to the deputy attorney general, William Ruckelshaus, who also refused and resigned. Finally, the Solicitor General, next in line of authority, agreed to fire the special prosecutor. These events happened on a Saturday night and became known as the “Saturday Night Massacre”. This event persuaded most Americans that Nixon was guilty of felonies and was desperately trying to cover things up. Congress would include “obstruction of justice” in it’s list of crimes that they would have impeached Nixon for had he not resigned.
William Childs Westmoreland was a United States Army general, most notably commander of United States forces during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968. He served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1968 to 1972.
