The Petraeus saga should remind us that there are two kinds of generals and admirals: self-promoters and performers. Unfortunately, self-promoters not only tend to get ahead more quickly but get more attention from journalists and historians, regardless of whether they deserve it. Meanwhile, those who perform or simply get the job done without burnishing their image tend to get lost in the shuffle.
Everyone remembers General MacArthurâ??s exploits in the Korean War from the Inchon landing to his firing by President Truman for publicly advocating a war with China, but how many know that the real hero in that war and the person who prevented the U.S. from losing the war was General Matthew Ridgway? It was he who tried unsuccessfully to get his fellow generals to stop MacArthurâ??s ill-conceived dash to the Yalu and then took over the war, first as the Commander of the 8th Army and then as the Commander of all United Nations Forces in Korea after MacArthurâ??s firing. When Ridgway assumed command, the Chinese had nearly driven us out of Korea. But it was Ridgeway, with his calm and steady leadership, who enabled us to get a truce that restored the status quo ante and allowed South Korea the opportunity to become the economic powerhouse that it is today. As Army chief of staff, he also persuaded President Eisenhower, over the objection of his fellow chiefs, not to send U.S. ground troops into Vietnam in 1954 to save the French at Dien Bien Phu.
Similarly, everyone remembers General Westmoreland and his strategy of attrition, the five oâ??clock follies, his appearance on the cover of Time magazine, and his address to a joint session of the Congress during his years as commander in Vietnam. But how many remember that it was his successor, General Creighton Abrams, who despite the rapid withdrawal of US forces stabilized the situation enough to allow us to conclude a peace treaty with the North Vietnamese in 1973? While it was not exactly peace with honor, as President Nixon had asserted, it did give South Vietnam the opportunity to control its own destiny.
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