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{{short description|United States Army general (1914–1974)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}{{Use American English|date=December 2024}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2017}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Creighton Abrams Jr.
| image = GEN Creighton W. Abrams.
| alt =
| caption
| nickname =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1914|9|15|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Springfield, Massachusetts]],
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1974|9|4|1914|9|14|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Walter Reed General Hospital]], [[Washington, D.C.]],
| placeofburial = [[Arlington National Cemetery]]
| allegiance = United States
| branch = [[United States Army]]
| serviceyears = 1936–1974
| rank = [[General (United States)|General]]
| unit =
| commands = [[Chief of Staff of the United States Army]]<br />[[Military Assistance Command, Vietnam]]<br />[[V Corps (United States)|V Corps]]<br />[[3rd Armored Division (United States)|3rd Armored Division]]<br />[[2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment]]<br />[[63rd Armor Regiment]]<br />[[37th Armor Regiment (United States)|Combat Command B]], [[4th Armored Division (United States)|4th Armored Division]]<br />[[37th Armor Regiment (United States)|37th Tank Battalion]]
| battles = [[World War II]]<br />[[Korean War]]<br />[[Vietnam War]]
| awards = [[Distinguished Service Cross (United States)|Distinguished Service Cross]] (2) <br />[[Defense Distinguished Service Medal]] (2) <br />[[Army Distinguished Service Medal]] (5)<br />[[Air Force Distinguished Service Medal]]<br />[[Silver Star]] (2) <br />[[Legion of Merit]] (2) <br />[[Bronze Star Medal]]<br />[[Joint Service Commendation Medal]]
| relations = Brigadier General Creighton W. Abrams III (son)<br />General [[John N. Abrams]] (son)<br />General [[Robert B. Abrams]] (son)
| laterwork =
}}
'''Creighton Williams Abrams Jr.''' (
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.
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==Military career==
===Early career===
Abrams graduated from the [[United States Military Academy]] at West Point in the Class of 1936, ranking 185th of 276 in the class.<ref>''[[Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography]]''; [[Trevor N. Dupuy]], Curt Johnson, David L. Bongard; [[HarperCollins]] 1992</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/18/us/bruce-palmer-jr-87-led-forces-in-vietnam.html|last=Stout|first=David|authorlink=David Stout|title=Bruce Palmer Jr., 87; Led Forces in Vietnam|date=2000-10-18|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|page=23}}</ref> His classmates included [[Benjamin O. Davis Jr.]] and [[William Westmoreland]]. He served with the [[1st Cavalry Division (United States)|1st Cavalry Division]] from 1936 to 1940, being promoted to [[first lieutenant#United States|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 (United States)|1st Armored Division]] in 1940.
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During [[World War II]], Abrams served in the [[4th Armored Division (United States)|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 (United States)|major]] (February 1942), [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]] (September 1942), and [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] (April 1945). Abrams was promoted to lieutenant colonel
During much of this time, the 4th Armored Division, led by the 37th Tank Battalion, was the spearhead for General [[George S. Patton]]'s [[United States Army Central|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 (United States)|Distinguished Service Cross]] for extraordinary heroism, on 20 September
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 [[Wehrmacht|German]] entrenchments surrounding [[Bastogne]] and the [[101st Airborne Division]] during the Battle of the Bulge. In April 1945, he was promoted to temporary [[Colonel (United States)|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 (magazine)|Life]]''.
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Abrams commanded the [[63rd Armor Regiment|63rd Tank Battalion]], part of the [[1st Infantry Division (United States)|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 [[United States Army War College|Army War College]] in 1953.
===Staff assignments and division command===
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 (United States)|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 (United States)|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 [[Racial segregation|segregated]] [[University of Mississippi]].<ref name=Scheips>{{cite book|last=Scheips|first=Paul|title=The Role of Federal Military Forces in Domestic Disorders, 1945–1992|publisher=US Army Center of Military History|year=2005|isbn=9781517253783|url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/030/30-20/CMH_Pub_30-20.pdf}}{{PD-notice}}</ref>{{rp|88–92}}
He performed a similar role in May 1963 during the [[Birmingham campaign|civil rights protests]] in [[Birmingham, Alabama]].<ref name=Scheips/>{{rp|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 [[United States Strike Command|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".<ref name=Scheips/>{{rp|142}}
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He was promoted to [[lieutenant general (United States)|lieutenant general]] and commanded [[V Corps (United States)|V Corps]] in Europe (1963–1964).
Abrams was on the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine three times in ten years: 1961 (
===Vietnam War===
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Abrams was promoted to [[General (United States)|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
''[[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."<ref>{{cite book|last=Hammond|first=William|title=The U.S. Army in Vietnam Public Affairs The Military and the Media, 1968–1973|publisher=U.S. Army Center of Military History|year=1996|url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/091/91-2/CMH_Pub_91-2-B.pdf|isbn=978-1946411037|page=24}}{{PD-notice}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Daddis|first=Gregory|title=Withdrawal: Reassessing America's Final Years in Vietnam|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2017|isbn=978-0190691103}}</ref>
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,
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."<ref>[http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB123/Box%2029,%20File%202,%20Kissinger%20%96%20President%20Dec%209,%201970%208,45%20pm%20%200.pdf Mr. Kissinger/The President (tape)]</ref> 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 4 May
===Chief of Staff===
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Abrams was appointed [[Chief of Staff of the United States Army]] by Nixon in June 1972.<ref name=atjgtab>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YO9LAAAAIBAJ&pg=6864%2C1902645 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=(Spokane, Washington) |agency=Associated Press |title=Army's top job goes to Abrams |date=June 21, 1972 |page=1}}</ref> He was not confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] until October, due to political repercussions involving accusations of [[John D. Lavelle#Lavelle Affair|unauthorized bombings of North Vietnam]].<ref name=Hammond/>{{rp|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
{{blockquote|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
==Personal life==
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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://3ad.com/history/cold.war/abrams.htm |title=Maj.Gen. Creighton Abrams - 3rd Armored Div. Commander 1960-62 |access-date=2014-02-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140218050756/http://3ad.com/history/cold.war/abrams.htm |archive-date=2014-02-18 }}</ref> Abrams married Julia Berthe Harvey {{nowrap|(1915–2003)}} in 1936. She founded the army group of [[Arlington Ladies]] and devoted time to humanitarian causes.<ref name="MSNBC">{{cite web|last=O'Neill|first=Helen|title=Special lady for each Arlington soldier-Volunteers honor troops and make sure none is buried alone|date=29 May 2010 |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/37416579|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206054801/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/37416579/|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 6, 2013|publisher=[[NBC News]].com|access-date=30 May 2010}}</ref>
The Abramses had three sons and three daughters. All three sons became Army general officers
Abrams converted to [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] during his time in Vietnam. He was raised as [[Methodist Protestant Church|Methodist Protestant]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Sorley |date=May 30, 2013 |title=The Way of the Soldier: Remembering General Creighton Abrams |url=https://www.fpri.org/article/2013/05/the-way-of-the-soldier-remembering-general-creighton-abrams/ |access-date=October 7, 2020 |website=Foreign Policy Research Institute |language=en-US}}</ref>
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;Foreign decorations and awards
His foreign awards and decorations include:<ref>{{citation |last=Empric |first=Bruce E. |title=Uncommon Allies: U.S. Army Recipients of Soviet Military Decorations in World War II |publisher=Teufelsberg Press |page=107 |year=2024 |isbn=979-8-3444-6807-5}}</ref>
{|
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|ribbon=POL Order Wojny Ojczyźnianej 2kl BAR.svg|106px}} [[Order of the Patriotic War|Order of the Patriotic War Second Class]] ([[Soviet Union]])
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|ribbon=Czechoslovak War Cross 1939-1945 Bar.png|width=106}} [[Czechoslovak War Cross 1939–1945]] ([[Czechoslovakia]])
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==References==
{{Portal|Biography
{{Refbegin}}
* Sorley, Lewis. ''Thunderbolt: General Creighton Abrams and the army of his time''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992. {{ISBN|0-671-70115-0}}
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[[Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery]]
[[Category:Joint Chiefs of Staff]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Springfield, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Tank commanders]]
[[Category:United States Army Chiefs of Staff]]
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[[Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Military Merit (South Korea)]]
[[Category:Order of National Security Merit members]]
[[Category:Recipients of the National Order of Vietnam]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
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