Volume 4, Number 8 · May 20, 1965
Hitting the SAC
By Ronald Steel
Design for Survival
by General Thomas S. Power
Coward-McCann, 255 pp., $5.00
'The 12th of October dawned like any other day for the Strategic Air Command, poised as always to spring into action at a moment's notice.' This is the opening sentence of General Thomas S. Power's Design for Survival, describing how SAC gave Khrushchev the heave-ho and chased the Russians from Cuba. It is a story with overtones of Zorro and even a heartwarming account of 'the little old lady who adopted a B-47 detachment and regularly brought the alert crews home-baked cookies and hot coffee,' but somehow one can't help wondering if there isn't a little more to it than that. Which is pretty much the impression left by this glowing account of how SAC does everything, from cleaning up dirty guerrilla wars to defending the American Way of Life—and would do it even better if only stingy politicians would vote it more money. Written by the man who had his finger on The Button for the past seven years, this book describes how a little more SAC in the arsenal can give us 'peace on our terms' (without saying what the terms are) in the cold war, and 'military victory' (whatever that is) if the button ever gets pushed.
Review, 2045 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |