Why isn't General Curtis LeMay as famous as MacArthur, Bradley, Eisenhower or Patton?

Answer 1

He wasn't a war-time/theatre-front line commander. His claim to fame was keeping us on edge during the Cold War...

Answer 2

Curtis Lemay wasn't a very likable person, though I admire him. Some say he was sociopathic. He was brilliant non the less.

Personally I don't see him as a manager, I see him as a strategist. I don't care if he didn't have any personality or if he was evil, if his plan worked, it worked and I would follow a good plan over a charismatic "leader" any day. My opinion.

Someone said he wasn't in wars? He was a three star general in WW2! He gained 3 ranks in 18 months! Lt. Col. to Major General.

There aren't any Air Force bases named after him either.

Answer 3

Gen. MacArthur for me. The Defense plan on the Phil. that happen during the Jap invasion was not his "plan", his own plan was to pull back all the force to Bataan which is followed later on but it's too late. Patton is indeed a great attacking general, the battle of the bulge was no sense, 101st was already kick the Nazi butts before Patton arrives. MacArthur commanded a lot of "D-days" in the Pacific.

Answer 4

Wow, talk about character assassination. Curtis Lemay was one of the most visionary military leaders in history. He saw the potential for bombers in modern warfare and he worked at making sure our Air Force got what they needed. He did not drop the bomb on Japan, that order came from the White House, that's how our military works. Let's look at the poor Japanese; their Army murdered over a million Chinese at Nanking with bayonets and swords...they killed possibly 20 million Chinese; over 75% of all allied POWS in Japanese hands died, it was only about 10% for the Germans. Now, back to Lemay. He was a strategist, a logistics expert and a remarkable leader. He lead those B-29s on the low level firebomb raids over Japan to make sure that his idea worked. He did not lead from behind. Lemay, unlike politicians, said what was on his mind. If you want to win in North Vietnam, bomb their butts back tot he stone age, it will work, it may not be popular or politically correct, but it will work. BTW, Linebacker II in December of 1972 brought the North Vietnamese to the negotiating table..we were pounding them. Patton was a great battlefield general, he did not see the big picture on politics. But no one can take anything away from that great man. Lemay and Patton were soldiers, not politicians. People who served under both are still proud of it.

Answer 5

MacArthur, Bradley, Eisenhower, Patton: Army, led troops in battle.
LeMay: Air Force, more "manager" than "leader". Same for Hap Arnold.

Answer 6

General LaMay was disliked but most officers of all the services. He was a bit of a bully and and his behavor in the JFK years and the Cuba in 1962 just finshed his career.He did run for Vice-President with George Wallace(who he hated) in 1968. He was dropped from the ticket when he told a group that "Intergation has work in the Miltary,It can work in cillivan live!" He was dropped the next day!.

Answer 7

He did nothing on the same order of magnitude as those four.

Also, because LeMay has a taint of semi-war-criminal about him due to his ingenious idea of loading the second wave with crates of dynamite, in order to maximize the civilian casualties.

Answer 8

Perhaps because his only claim to fame is dropping an atomic bomb on innocent civilians? Oh, and running for vice president with George Wallace.

Answer 9

His military ideas were a little to far out for Americans.

Answer 10

Last name sounds French.