Joseph Stilwell General Joseph W. Stilwell Award. A reference to Stilwell was made in the 1995 film "Outbreak." During a discussion between Morgan Freeman and Donald Sutherland, Sutherland makes the remark that, "FDR stopped Stilwell from going into Indochina, he caused the Vietnam War." Stilwell's nickname was 'Vinegar Joe' which was the name used by a British Blues Band formed in 1971 with members Robert Palmer and Elkie Brooks providing the vocals. Their third album was called "Six Star General" after Stilwell and has his name printed across the back cover. Streets in Marina, California, Kendall Park, New Jersey and the Presidio
Joseph Stilwell China, 1911-45", Barbara Tuchman wrote that Stilwell was sacrificed as a political expedient because of his inability to get along with his allies in the theater. Some historians, such as David Halberstam in his final book, "", have theorized that Roosevelt was concerned that Chiang would sign a separate peace with Japan, which would free many Japanese divisions to fight elsewhere, and that Roosevelt wanted to placate Chiang. The power struggle over the China Theater that emerged between Stilwell, Chennault, and Chiang reflected the American political divisions of the time. A very different interpretation of events suggests that Stilwell, pressing