Lewis Sorley

Lewis Stone "Bob" Sorley III (August 3, 1934 – September 25, 2024) was an American intelligence analyst and military historian. His books about the U.S. war in Vietnam, in which he served as an officer, have been highly influential in government circles.

Background Lewis Sorley was born in 1934, in West Point, New York, the son and grandson of officers in the United States Army who were both also West Point graduates. Sorley became an Eagle Scout in San Antonio, Texas, in 1950 and was presented the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in 2009. He received his high school education at Texas Military Institute, where he is listed as a distinguished graduate, and was admitted to the United States Military Academy, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in military engineering in 1956.

Career From August to December 1956, he attended Armor Officer Basic Course, Fort Knox, Kentucky. In January 1957, he attended Parachute and Jumpmaster Courses, Fort Benning, Georgia. From February through October he was assigned to Company H, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Meade, Maryland as a reconnaissance platoon leader. Then he was promoted to company commander. Many military officers were sympathetic to his argument, while some historians still dismissed the notion that the United States was ever in a position to win. He lived in Potomac, Maryland, for many years, but in 2019 moved to a retirement home in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he died on September 25, 2024, at the age of 90. Outstanding Alumnus, Army War College Distinguished Eagle Scout Distinguished Writing Award, Army Historical Foundation Goodpaster Prize, American Veterans Center Trefry Prize, Army Historical Foundation Gold Medallion, Order of St. George, United States Armor Association Distinguished Book Award, Army Historical Foundation Peterson Prize, Best Scholarly Article on American Military History Distinguished Graduate, Texas Military Institute Executive Director Emeritus of the Association of Military Colleges and Schools of the United States Interviewed for Ken Burns's series The Vietnam War

Faculty appointments Gottwald Visiting Professor of Leadership and Ethics, Virginia Military Institute (Spring 2009) Adjunct Professor, Defense Intelligence College (1988) and Virginia Tech (1980) Program Director, Department of Military Planng and Strategy, US Army War College (1973–1975) Visiting Lecturer, University of Virginia (1970), The George Washington University (1969), and the University of Rhode Island (1967–1968) Instructor and assistant professor, United States Military Academy (1963–1966)

Selected works Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. Sorley, Lewis, editor. The Vietnam War: An Assessment by South Vietnam's Generals. Lubbock, Tex: Texas Tech University Press, 2010. Honor Bright: History and Origins of the West Point Honor Code and System. Columbus: McGraw Hill, 2008. Vietnam Chronicles: the Abrams Tapes, 1968–1972. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2004. A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam. Orlando: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. Honorable Warrior: General Harold K. Johnson and the Ethics of Command. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1999. Thunderbolt: General Creighton Abrams and the Army of His Times. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992. Arms Transfers Under Nixon: A Policy Analysis. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1981