Curtis LeMay Quotes
I think there are many times when it would be most efficient to use nuclear weapons. However, the public opinion in this country and throughout the world throw up their hands in horror when you mention nuclear weapons, just because of the propaganda that's been fed to them.
LeMay, Curtis E. George Wallace Presidential Campaign Press Conference. 3 Oct. 1968, Pittsburgh, PA.
One of the many Goldwater statements that made most Americans believe he was not prudent enough to trust with the nuclear “trigger”, See {622850}.
As the atomic bomb evolved to the hydrogen bomb and the test results were learned by political and military leaders, the perception of the danger became much greater, especially when the Russians and French also developed their nuclear weapons. After that, and Einstein’s predictions about the cost and quantity, leaders in the world all became conscious of the danger of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), most leaders realized that it was impossible see atomic weapons as anything but defense.
Sandia is a company that has gotten almost all their business from the Federal Government for doing research and development of nuclear weapons. Based on this view and others the AEC and the military not only developed small atomic bombs with short range rockets that could be transported in jeeps, but actually developed a 51 lb. atomic bomb that a soldier carried on his back. The idea was for these solders to parachute behind enemy lines, place the bomb near an important enemy facility and escape the critical zone on foot before the bomb exploded. It was never used in combat and receded in interest except for the fact that it proved it was possible for a terrorist suicide bomber on foot to place and explode a nuclear weapon.
LeMay became a pursuit pilot and, while stationed in Hawaii, became one of the first members of the Air Corps to receive specialized training in aerial navigation. In August 1937, as navigator under pilot and commander Caleb V. Haynes on a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, he helped locate the battleship Utah despite being given the wrong coordinates by Navy personnel, in exercises held in misty conditions off California, after which the group of B-17s bombed it with water bombs. For Haynes again, in May 1938 he navigated three B-17s 620 nm (610 miles or 980 km) over the Atlantic Ocean to intercept the Italian liner SS Rex to illustrate the ability of land-based airpower to defend the American coasts. In 1940 he was navigator for Haynes on the prototype Boeing XB-15 heavy bomber, flying a survey from Panama over the Galapagos islands. War brought rapid promotion and increased responsibility.
