Omar Nelson Bradley (1893–1981) was an American army officer.
A graduate of the United States Military Academy (West Point,) Bradley served as a general during World War II. He commanded Allied troops in North Africa and Sicily (1943,) then led the land contingent during the Normandy campaign (1944–45,) and finally spearheaded the liberation of France and Germany during the concluding stages of the war.
After World War II, Bradley served as chief of staff of the U.S. Army from 1948 until 49, and chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1949 until 1953.
Bradley was influential in building up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO,) formulating U.S. global defense strategy in the post-war years and committing American troops to the Korean War. His memoirs, A Soldier’s Story, were published in 1951.
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We are given one life, and the decision is our whether to wait for circumstances to make up our mind, or whether to act, and in acting, to live.
—Omar Bradley
Topics: Decisions
We need to learn to set our course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship.
—Omar Bradley
With the monstrous weapons man already has, humanity is in danger of being trapped in this world by its moral adolescents
—Omar Bradley
The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.
—Omar Bradley
Topics: Conscience, Ethics
In war there is no second prize for the runner-up.
—Omar Bradley
Topics: Success
The way to win an atomic war is to make certain it never starts.
—Omar Bradley
Topics: War
I am under no illusion that our present strategy of using means short of total war to achieve our ends and oppose communism is a guarantee that a world war will not be thrust upon us. But a policy of patience and determination without provoking a world war, while we improve our military power, is one which we believe we must continue to follow. Under present circumstances, we have recommended against enlarging the war from Korea to also include Red China. The course of action often described as a limited war with Red China would increase the risk we are taking by engaging too much of our power in an area that is not the critical strategic prize. Red China is not the powerful nation seeking to dominate the world. Frankly, in the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this strategy would involve us in the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy.
—Omar Bradley
I am convinced that the best service a retired general can perform is to turn in his tongue along with his suit, and to mothball his opinions.
—Omar Bradley
Topics: Service
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