Design for Survival
New York: Coward-McCann, Inc., 1965. Second Impression [stated]. Hardcover. 22 cm, 255, [1] pages. DJ is in a plastic sleeve. Endpapers soiled. Some page soiling and tape marks. General Thomas Sarsfield Power (June 18, 1905 – December 6, 1970) was a United States Air Force officer who served as commander in chief of the Strategic Air Command. He was an active military flier for more than 30 years. During Operation Crossroads, the 1946 atomic bomb tests, Power was assistant deputy task force commander for air. Power assisted General LeMay, then commander in chief of the Strategic Air Command, in building up SAC. Power was the architect of the Operation Chrome Dome airborne alert program of SAC that ensured that a proportion of the nuclear-armed strategic bombers were always aloft so as to survive a first strike. Power believed that the only effective form of war strategy against enemy nations was Mutually Assured Destruction. Power emphasized bombers, which can be recalled in the event of an error in technical threat detection. Power continued supervision of this strategy, both in the development and deployment of the necessary weaponry, and the willingness to use these weapons in case of impending threat. On the occasion of his retirement, Air Force General Thomas S. Power was permitted (by the Pentagon) to publish this series of essays about how modern warfare had evolved during his career, and directions he thought it might take in the near future. A large portion is dedicated to how military strategy was permanently altered by the the advent of nuclear weapons, and further altered by the development of rockets with intercontinental range. Given its publication just two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, it is not surprising to find General Power preoccupied with the Soviet Union, and how best to engage them as America's most-likely long-term rival. Condition: Very good / fair.
Keywords: Strategic Air Command, SAC, Deterrence, Limited War, Nuclear War, Cold War, Communism, Soviet Union, Nuclear Weapons, Cuban Missile Crisis
[Book #83154]
Price: $45.00