16 Quotes by Curtis LeMay
General Curtis LeMay was a renowned figure in the United States Air Force, known for his exceptional leadership and instrumental role in shaping American military strategy during the Cold War era. An unyielding advocate of strategic bombing, LeMay was at the forefront of developing and implementing devastating aerial campaigns against enemy targets. His pragmatic and results-driven approach earned him both admirers and critics alike.
LeMay’s tenacity and single-minded pursuit of military superiority were evident during his command of the Strategic Air Command, where he modernized and expanded the country’s nuclear capabilities. While his aggressive methods and controversial decisions sparked debates, no one could deny the significance of his contributions in establishing the USAF as a potent force. Curtis LeMay’s legacy endures as a symbol of military innovation and strategic foresight.
Curtis LeMay Quotes
If you are going to use military force, then you ought to use overwhelming military force. Use too much and deliberately use too much; you’ll save lives, not only your own, but the enemy’s too.
If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting.
There are no innocent civilians, so it doesn’t bother me so much to be killing innocent bystanders.
If we maintain our faith in God, love of freedom, and superior global air power, the future looks good.
My solution to the problem would be to tell [the North Vietnamese Communists] frankly that they’ve got to draw in their horns and stop their aggression or we’re going to bomb them into the Stone Age. And we would shove them back into the Stone Age with Air power or Naval power – not with ground forces.
If we’d lost the war, we’d all have been prosecuted as war criminals.
We went over there and fought the war and eventually burned down every town in North Korea anyway, someway or another, and some in South Korea too. Over a period of three years or so, we killed off – what – twenty percent of the population of Korea as direct casualties of war, or from starvation and exposure?
Don’t like to do anything half-heartedly, even if it is a wicked and self-destructive avocation like smoking cigars
We’re at war with Japan. We were attacked by Japan. Do you want to kill Japanese, or would you rather have Americans killed?
Today, shooting wars are won or lost before they start. If they are fought at all, they would be fought principally to confirm which side had won at the outset.
You’ve got to kill people, and when you’ve killed enough they stop fighting.
My solution to the problem would be to tell the North Vietnamese Communists frankly that they’ve got to drawn in their horns and stop their aggression or we’re going to bomb them into the stone age.
I don’t want to hear of any of you men getting into any fights with the British. But if you do, you’d better not get whipped.
I’d like to see a more aggressive attitude on the part of the United States. That doesn’t mean launching an immediate preventive war.
Killing Japanese didn’t bother me very much at that time… I suppose if I had lost the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal.
Sometime in the future – 25, 50, 75 years hence – what will the situation be like then? By that time the Chinese will have the capability of delivery too.
― Curtis LeMay Quotes
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Tal Gur is an impact-driven creator at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 life goals around the globe. Tal's journey and recent book, The Art of Fully Living, inspired him to found Elevate Society.
