Honorable Warrior: General Harold K Johnson and the Ethics of Command

Sorley presents a wide-ranging and thoroughly researched biography of the Chief of Staff of the US Army during the worst years of US involvement in Vietnam, 1964–68. Johnson survived the Bataan Death March in 1942 and was a deeply moral, highly intelligent and compassionate soldier. He fundamentally disagreed with the US Administration’s conduct of the war, and wrestled with the idea of ‘resignation in protest’ that, towards the end of his life, he came to believe he should have done. The book charts the dilemmas of senior command in an unpopular, losing war and investigates the moral and ethical challenges this offers.