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Strategic Air Warfare And Nuclear Strategy: The Formulation Of Military Policy In The Truman Administration, 1945-1950, Patrick William Steele

Dissertations (1934 -)

This work analyzes the military decision making within the Truman administration that culminated in the purchases of aircraft and the establishment of a virtual nuclear only strategy. When Harry S. Truman became President in April 1945, the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) was in the formative stage of a firebombing campaign that attempted to burn the Japanese out of the war by targeting the civilian population. Four months later, the use of nuclear bombs ushered in the atomic age and completely altered the military and political decision-making processes within the administration. Despite evidence to the contrary about the efficacy …