Fulcrum of Power: Essays on the United States Air Force and National Security - World War II, Doolittle, Overlord, Kenney, Arnold, Atomic Bomb, Men Who Made the Air Force, B-36, Cold War, Vietnam

This intriguing USAF book contains thought-provoking essays on the role of the U.S. Air Force in national security issues from World War II through Vietnam to current times. Topics covered include:

World War II * The First Air Staff * Doolittle: Renaissance Man of Aviation * Prelude to War * The Overlord Air Controversy * The Genius of George C. Kenney * General Arnold, the Atomic Bomb, and the Surrender of Japan * The Postwar World * The Quiet Victory * The Strategic World of 1946 * Planning and Organizing the Air Force * Arnold, Eisenhower, and Norstad: The Fight for Air Independence * Men Who Made the Air Force * When the Color Line Ended * Roles and Missions * The Defense Unification Battle, 1947-50 * The Battle of the B-36 * The Quiet Coup of 1949 * The Korean War * Truman's War * The First Five Years of the First 50 * The Cold War * The Blueprint for Cold War Defense * The New Look in Retrospect * Scientists, Politics, and the Bomb * The Uses of History in the Nuclear Age * The War in Southeast Asia * The New American Military * Strategic Superiority and Vietnam * The Vietnam Manipulators * Reprise * The USAF in the Defense Establishment * American Chieftains

In the twentieth century, the impact of flight reached into every corner of American society. However, nowhere has its impact been more dramatic than in the realm of military affairs. Over the past one hundred years, the evolution of military aviation technology has altered the way Americans have looked at national security. The development of military aviation has had an enormous impact upon the battlefield which, in turn, has transformed international politics and the crafting of national security policy. The question of how best to protect the United States against external military threats has come to involve the projection of military power abroad. With the passage of time and accelerated advancement of military aviation technology, the organization and development of air forces have assumed greater urgency and significance. In 1934, James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle noted that "the future security of our nation is dependent upon an adequate air force...this will become increasingly important as the science of aviation advances." Today, the United States Air Force (USAF) is the world's premier air arm. Among major nations, it is also the youngest, having been established in September 1947 in the wake of World War II. During the first half of the twentieth century, as part of the United States Army, the air arm was constantly striving for autonomy. Consequently, the question of how to organize military aviation increasingly occupied the nation's legislators.