Laurence S. Kuter
Encyclopedia
General Laurence Sherman Kuter (May 28, 1905 – November 30, 1979) was a Cold War-era U.S. Air Force general and former commander of NORAD. He was born in Rockford in 1905, and graduated from the United States Military Academy
, West Point, New York on June 14, 1927.
Second Lieutenant Kuter was first assigned to Battery D, 2nd Battalion, 76th Field Artillery
, Presidio of Monterey, California. He was formally assigned all battery officer duties except command. In May 1929 he was accepted for flying training, graduating from flying schools at Brooks
and Kelly Fields, Texas, as a bombardment pilot in June 1930.
He was then assigned as operations officer, 49th Bombardment Squadron, 2nd Bombardment Group, Langley Field, Virginia. One month later Lieutenant Kuter was transferred to the U.S. Army Air Corps. During his assignment at Langley, Lieutenant Kuter placed second in the annual bombing competition of the Army Air Corps.
In August 1933 Lieutenant Kuter moved up as operations officer, 2nd Bombardment Wing, and assistant base operations officer at Langley. During this period he flew alternate wing position with Captain Claire L. Chennault's acrobatic group, "The Men on the Flying Trapeze." This was the first recognized aerial acrobatic team in the military service.
He then was given a leading role in the operational development of the Boeing Y1B-9
twin engine bombers which pioneered high altitude bombing techniques and tactics in the U.S. Air Force.
From February to June 1934, Lieutenant Kuter served as operations officer of the Eastern Zone Army Corps Mail operations. He was the last officer relieved from this duty being held over to write the final report and history. At the conclusion of this assignment he was selected for the Air Corps Tactical School, Maxwell Field
, Alabama. He graduated at the top of his class in the spring of 1935 and was retained at the school as instructor in bombardment aviation and in the employment of air power.
At this time the school was beginning to develop the role of strategic bombing
in future warfare. Prior to this, planning had been directed to defensive and supporting roles. The 10,000-plane Air Force envisioned in Captain Kuter's lectures taxed imaginations at that time.
The ideas born and developed at the school were to play an important part in his next assignment in the Operations and Training Division, War Department
General Staff, Washington, D.C., where he was ordered to duty on July 1, 1939. General George C. Marshall, who became the chief of the War Department General Staff on that day had called for the experimental assignment to the general staff of aviators, young and junior officers and officers who had not attended the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth
, Kansas. Captain Kuter's assignment represented all three phases of this experiment.
Early in 1941 he was a principal factor in several augmentations of the Air Corps. In August 1941, Kuter was brought into the Air War Plans Division
where he was one of the four principal authors of AWPD-1, the basic plan for employment of air power in World War II. This plan was used almost without change through the war, in the form of its incorporation into the Combined Bomber Offensive
. It has been said that there is no other case in military history where a detailed overall plan had been drawn up and adhered to so closely through the organizing, training, fighting and winning of any great war.
In November 1941, Major Kuter was designated assistant secretary, War Department General Staff. After participating as one of a committee of three in the reorganization of the War Department, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on January 5, 1942, and at the recommendation of General George C. Marshall to brigadier general on February 2, 1942. Commanding General of the Army Air Forces Gen. Henry H. Arnold
transferred him in March to Headquarters USAAF as the deputy chief of air staff.
At this time there was extensive public interest expressed in the sudden promotion to temporary brigadier general of an officer who had been a temporary lieutenant colonel for less than 30 days. General Kuter has never served in the active rank of full colonel. His was the first "jump" promotion of an officer as young as 36 since William T. Sherman. The next youngest general officer at that time was 46.
General Kuter was assigned overseas in October 1942 in command of the First Bombardment Wing (later First Bombardment Division), Eighth Air Force
, Brampton Grange, England. When General Kuter assumed command he found four understrength groups of B-17 Flying Fortresses operating separately. He succeeded in welding the individual squadrons and groups into a coordinated fighting force. This was done on the assumption that the largest practicable combat unit over the target at one time would provide more mutual fire support, saving lives and planes, and improve the probability of destroying the objective without having to repeat.
Then in January 1943 General Kuter was transferred to North Africa to command the allied tactical air forces. In February the Royal Air Forces Western Desert Air Force reached Tunisia and was merged with the Allied Support Command from North Africa. General Kuter became the American deputy commander in the newly consolidated Northwestern African Tactical Air Force. During this campaign in Tunisia, new tactical air concepts were generated and Air Corps regulations revised accordingly. The basic changes reflected in them are still the principle doctrinal basis for the present tactical air power concept of the U.S. Air Force.
During the Tunisian campaign, General Henry H. Arnold
, commanding general, Army Air Forces, directed that General Kuter be released from the Mediterranean theater and returned to Washington effective the day General Erwin Rommel
surrendered. So in May 1943 General Kuter returned to Headquarters Army Air Forces to become assistant chief of air staff for plans and combat operations.
During this period, plans for the overall air war offensive for the defeat of Japan reached the stage where it became practicable to organize the U.S. Army Strategic Air Force in the Pacific. This headquarters was set up in the Pentagon under General Arnold's personal and direct command. General Kuter served as General Arnold's chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, plans, in connection with the 20th Air Force and, as it moved into the Pacific Ocean Area, the 8th Air Force. These units later formed the U.S. Army Strategic Air Force, Pacific.
In February 1944, General Kuter was promoted to major general. Previous to this, in August 1943 and extending through February 1945, he participated in the series of combined chief of staff conferences at Quebec, Cairo and London. When General Arnold became suddenly and seriously ill, General Kuter was designated as his representative to attend the Yalta and Malta conferences. His experiences in these two conferences are told in detail in his book, "An Airman at Yalta," Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1955.
General Kuter went to the Marianas Islands in May 1945 to become deputy commander of Army Air Forces, Pacific Ocean Area, and to help operate the U.S. Army Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific.
At the conclusion of the war in the Pacific, General Kuter was directed to return to Headquarters U.S. Air Force through Europe. In Paris he was intercepted by an order redirecting him back through the Philippines
, Guam
and Okinawa to assume command of the airlift forces as General Arnold's and General H.L. George's, personal representative in arranging the airlift of General MacArthur and Army forces into Japan. He then returned to the United States.
During the next year General Kuter consolidated three Air Transport Command divisions into the Atlantic Division, ATC, and served as its commander. While in this position, he represented the Air Force of the US-UK Bilateral Air Conference in Bermuda, and participated in negotiating an agreement with Portugal for U.S. Air Force use of Lajes Air Field
in the Azores
.
In September 1946, by presidential order, the general was appointed U.S. representative to the Interim Council of the Provisional International Aviation Organization in Montreal
, Canada. A year later he was reappointed by presidential order as the U.S. Representative to the then permanent International Civil Aviation Organization
. In his appointment he had the personal rank of minister. During this period of the birth of international agreements in aviation, General Kuter participated in major civil aviation conferences in London, Cairo, Lima and Rio de Janeiro.
This experience led President Truman to nominate General Kuter for the chairmanship of the Civil Aeronautics Board. At this time several military figures had recently been appointed to high civilian positions and General Eisenhower was emerging as a possible political figure, Republican or Democrat. The Senate committee refused to confirm the nomination of another military man to such position, and indicated that it would be necessary for General Kuter to resign from the service before accepting the position. General Kuter preferred not to resign from the Air Force and asked that his nomination be withdrawn.
Within a month he was named commander designate of the proposed Military Air Transport Service
in February 1948. This was the first integrated military service. He was primarily responsible for its charter and organization. When MATS was activated four months later General Kuter became its first commander, MATS proved its organizational soundness and its operational capability in its first six months of operations when its global resources were directed into the operation of the Berlin airlift.
Two years later the same global resources of MATS were operating across the Pacific Ocean in support of fighting in Korea. At the same time General Kuter's command brought air evacuation of troops into extensive and effective operation.
He was promoted to lieutenant general in April 1951 and in October of that year was designated deputy chief of staff for personnel, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. In this position General Kuter initiated actions in the Air Force and in cooperation with the personnel chiefs of the other services which culminated four years later in extensive legislation raising pay and otherwise increasing the desirability of a military service career. He held this position until April 1953 when he assumed command of the Air University
, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
As commander, Air University, General Kuter raised the status of the Air Command and Staff School to college level, the Squadron Officer's Course to school level, and brought the Air University closer to its original concept as a university with a university staff and faculty to handle all levels of professional military education in the U.S. Air Force. This concept has been adopted by the Air Forces of several foreign countries.
Lieutenant General Kuter was promoted to full general while in flight at 0001 hours, May 29, 1955, while en route to Tokyo to assume command of the Far East Air Forces.
In this new command, General Kuter immediately found the mobility of air power impeded by the existence of two major commands in the Pacific. His air units were split between the Far East Command with headquarters in Tokyo and the Pacific Command
in Hawaii. He could not move air units from one of these commands to the other without permission of two theater commanders or the Joint Chiefs in Washington. Rapid movement to meet potential air threats is a basic essential of the jet age and General Kuter's long-term recommendations and objections to the divided command system were registered in a formal recommendation to the chief of staff, U.S. Air Force. This study was then used as the U.S. Air Force position before the Joint Chiefs of Staff and led to the consolidation of the two commands and establishment of the present Pacific Command.
When Far East Air Forces was disestablished in this consolidation of command, General Kuter became commander in chief of the newly created Pacific Air Forces on July 1, 1957. Pacific Air Forces is the air arm of Pacific Command. Its headquarters is at Hickam Air Force Base
, Hawaii.
According to declassified pentagon
documents, Kuter was among the Air Force generals advocating the use of nuclear weapons if China
blokaded the Taiwan Strait
in 1958. When President Eisenhower
vetoed this policy, forcing the Air Force to plan for the defense of Taiwan using conventional weapons, Kuter continued to object.
General Kuter was a rated command pilot, combat observer, technical observer and aircraft observer. He has logged more than 8,000 flying hours, including 3,200 hours as a command pilot. Before 1952 he had flown around the world seven times visiting Air Force installations. He retired from the Air Force on July 1, 1962, and died November 30, 1979.
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United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
, West Point, New York on June 14, 1927.
Second Lieutenant Kuter was first assigned to Battery D, 2nd Battalion, 76th Field Artillery
76th Field Artillery Regiment (United States)
The 76th Field Artillery Regiment is an Field Artillery regiment of the United States Army. first Constituted 1916 in the Regular Army.-Lineage:Constituted 1 July 1916 in the Regular Army as the 18th Cavalry...
, Presidio of Monterey, California. He was formally assigned all battery officer duties except command. In May 1929 he was accepted for flying training, graduating from flying schools at Brooks
Brooks City-Base
Brooks City-Base was a United States Air Force facility located in San Antonio, Texas, southeast of Downtown San Antonio.In 2002 Brooks Air Force Base was renamed Brooks City-Base when the property was conveyed to the Brooks Development Authority as part of a unique project between local, state,...
and Kelly Fields, Texas, as a bombardment pilot in June 1930.
He was then assigned as operations officer, 49th Bombardment Squadron, 2nd Bombardment Group, Langley Field, Virginia. One month later Lieutenant Kuter was transferred to the U.S. Army Air Corps. During his assignment at Langley, Lieutenant Kuter placed second in the annual bombing competition of the Army Air Corps.
In August 1933 Lieutenant Kuter moved up as operations officer, 2nd Bombardment Wing, and assistant base operations officer at Langley. During this period he flew alternate wing position with Captain Claire L. Chennault's acrobatic group, "The Men on the Flying Trapeze." This was the first recognized aerial acrobatic team in the military service.
He then was given a leading role in the operational development of the Boeing Y1B-9
Boeing Y1B-9
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Baugher, Joe. Encyclopedia of American Aircraft, 10 September 2002. Retrieved: 7 July 2010.* Bowers, Peter M. Boeing Aircraft since 1916. London: Putnam, 1989. ISBN 0-85177-804-6....
twin engine bombers which pioneered high altitude bombing techniques and tactics in the U.S. Air Force.
From February to June 1934, Lieutenant Kuter served as operations officer of the Eastern Zone Army Corps Mail operations. He was the last officer relieved from this duty being held over to write the final report and history. At the conclusion of this assignment he was selected for the Air Corps Tactical School, Maxwell Field
Maxwell Field
Maxwell Field was the football stadium located behind the former location of Louisville Male High School, 911 S. Brook St., Louisville, Kentucky, 40203 which was bounded by the streets of Brook, Breckinridge, Floyd, and Caldwell streets in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1984 a double murder known locally...
, Alabama. He graduated at the top of his class in the spring of 1935 and was retained at the school as instructor in bombardment aviation and in the employment of air power.
At this time the school was beginning to develop the role of strategic bombing
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
in future warfare. Prior to this, planning had been directed to defensive and supporting roles. The 10,000-plane Air Force envisioned in Captain Kuter's lectures taxed imaginations at that time.
The ideas born and developed at the school were to play an important part in his next assignment in the Operations and Training Division, War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
General Staff, Washington, D.C., where he was ordered to duty on July 1, 1939. General George C. Marshall, who became the chief of the War Department General Staff on that day had called for the experimental assignment to the general staff of aviators, young and junior officers and officers who had not attended the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. and has been in operation for over 180 years...
, Kansas. Captain Kuter's assignment represented all three phases of this experiment.
Early in 1941 he was a principal factor in several augmentations of the Air Corps. In August 1941, Kuter was brought into the Air War Plans Division
Air War Plans Division
The Air War Plans Division was an American military organization established to make long-term plans for war. Headed by Harold L. George, the unit was tasked in July 1941 to provide President Franklin D...
where he was one of the four principal authors of AWPD-1, the basic plan for employment of air power in World War II. This plan was used almost without change through the war, in the form of its incorporation into the Combined Bomber Offensive
Combined Bomber Offensive
The Combined Bomber Offensive was an Anglo-American offensive of strategic bombing during World War II in Europe. The primary portion of the CBO was against German Air Force targets which was the highest priority from June 1943 to 1944...
. It has been said that there is no other case in military history where a detailed overall plan had been drawn up and adhered to so closely through the organizing, training, fighting and winning of any great war.
In November 1941, Major Kuter was designated assistant secretary, War Department General Staff. After participating as one of a committee of three in the reorganization of the War Department, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on January 5, 1942, and at the recommendation of General George C. Marshall to brigadier general on February 2, 1942. Commanding General of the Army Air Forces Gen. Henry H. Arnold
Henry H. Arnold
Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold was an American general officer holding the grades of General of the Army and later General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps , Commanding General of the U.S...
transferred him in March to Headquarters USAAF as the deputy chief of air staff.
At this time there was extensive public interest expressed in the sudden promotion to temporary brigadier general of an officer who had been a temporary lieutenant colonel for less than 30 days. General Kuter has never served in the active rank of full colonel. His was the first "jump" promotion of an officer as young as 36 since William T. Sherman. The next youngest general officer at that time was 46.
General Kuter was assigned overseas in October 1942 in command of the First Bombardment Wing (later First Bombardment Division), Eighth Air Force
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....
, Brampton Grange, England. When General Kuter assumed command he found four understrength groups of B-17 Flying Fortresses operating separately. He succeeded in welding the individual squadrons and groups into a coordinated fighting force. This was done on the assumption that the largest practicable combat unit over the target at one time would provide more mutual fire support, saving lives and planes, and improve the probability of destroying the objective without having to repeat.
Then in January 1943 General Kuter was transferred to North Africa to command the allied tactical air forces. In February the Royal Air Forces Western Desert Air Force reached Tunisia and was merged with the Allied Support Command from North Africa. General Kuter became the American deputy commander in the newly consolidated Northwestern African Tactical Air Force. During this campaign in Tunisia, new tactical air concepts were generated and Air Corps regulations revised accordingly. The basic changes reflected in them are still the principle doctrinal basis for the present tactical air power concept of the U.S. Air Force.
During the Tunisian campaign, General Henry H. Arnold
Henry H. Arnold
Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold was an American general officer holding the grades of General of the Army and later General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps , Commanding General of the U.S...
, commanding general, Army Air Forces, directed that General Kuter be released from the Mediterranean theater and returned to Washington effective the day General Erwin Rommel
Erwin Rommel
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel , popularly known as the Desert Fox , was a German Field Marshal of World War II. He won the respect of both his own troops and the enemies he fought....
surrendered. So in May 1943 General Kuter returned to Headquarters Army Air Forces to become assistant chief of air staff for plans and combat operations.
During this period, plans for the overall air war offensive for the defeat of Japan reached the stage where it became practicable to organize the U.S. Army Strategic Air Force in the Pacific. This headquarters was set up in the Pentagon under General Arnold's personal and direct command. General Kuter served as General Arnold's chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, plans, in connection with the 20th Air Force and, as it moved into the Pacific Ocean Area, the 8th Air Force. These units later formed the U.S. Army Strategic Air Force, Pacific.
In February 1944, General Kuter was promoted to major general. Previous to this, in August 1943 and extending through February 1945, he participated in the series of combined chief of staff conferences at Quebec, Cairo and London. When General Arnold became suddenly and seriously ill, General Kuter was designated as his representative to attend the Yalta and Malta conferences. His experiences in these two conferences are told in detail in his book, "An Airman at Yalta," Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1955.
General Kuter went to the Marianas Islands in May 1945 to become deputy commander of Army Air Forces, Pacific Ocean Area, and to help operate the U.S. Army Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific.
At the conclusion of the war in the Pacific, General Kuter was directed to return to Headquarters U.S. Air Force through Europe. In Paris he was intercepted by an order redirecting him back through the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
and Okinawa to assume command of the airlift forces as General Arnold's and General H.L. George's, personal representative in arranging the airlift of General MacArthur and Army forces into Japan. He then returned to the United States.
During the next year General Kuter consolidated three Air Transport Command divisions into the Atlantic Division, ATC, and served as its commander. While in this position, he represented the Air Force of the US-UK Bilateral Air Conference in Bermuda, and participated in negotiating an agreement with Portugal for U.S. Air Force use of Lajes Air Field
Lajes Field
Lajes Field or Lajes Air Base , officially designated Air Base No. 4 , is a multi-use air field, home to the Portuguese Air Force Base Aérea Nº4 and Azores Air Zone Command , a United States Air Force detachment , and a regional air passenger terminal located near Lajes...
in the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
.
In September 1946, by presidential order, the general was appointed U.S. representative to the Interim Council of the Provisional International Aviation Organization in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada. A year later he was reappointed by presidential order as the U.S. Representative to the then permanent International Civil Aviation Organization
International Civil Aviation Organization
The International Civil Aviation Organization , pronounced , , is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth...
. In his appointment he had the personal rank of minister. During this period of the birth of international agreements in aviation, General Kuter participated in major civil aviation conferences in London, Cairo, Lima and Rio de Janeiro.
This experience led President Truman to nominate General Kuter for the chairmanship of the Civil Aeronautics Board. At this time several military figures had recently been appointed to high civilian positions and General Eisenhower was emerging as a possible political figure, Republican or Democrat. The Senate committee refused to confirm the nomination of another military man to such position, and indicated that it would be necessary for General Kuter to resign from the service before accepting the position. General Kuter preferred not to resign from the Air Force and asked that his nomination be withdrawn.
Within a month he was named commander designate of the proposed Military Air Transport Service
Military Air Transport Service
The Military Air Transport Service is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy Naval Air Transport Service and the United States Air Force Air Transport Command into a single, joint, unified command...
in February 1948. This was the first integrated military service. He was primarily responsible for its charter and organization. When MATS was activated four months later General Kuter became its first commander, MATS proved its organizational soundness and its operational capability in its first six months of operations when its global resources were directed into the operation of the Berlin airlift.
Two years later the same global resources of MATS were operating across the Pacific Ocean in support of fighting in Korea. At the same time General Kuter's command brought air evacuation of troops into extensive and effective operation.
He was promoted to lieutenant general in April 1951 and in October of that year was designated deputy chief of staff for personnel, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. In this position General Kuter initiated actions in the Air Force and in cooperation with the personnel chiefs of the other services which culminated four years later in extensive legislation raising pay and otherwise increasing the desirability of a military service career. He held this position until April 1953 when he assumed command of the Air University
Air University
The United States Air Force Air University is a component of the United States Air Force's Air Education and Training Command, headquartered at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. Air University is the U.S. Air Force's primary center for professional military education.-Organization:Air Force...
, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
As commander, Air University, General Kuter raised the status of the Air Command and Staff School to college level, the Squadron Officer's Course to school level, and brought the Air University closer to its original concept as a university with a university staff and faculty to handle all levels of professional military education in the U.S. Air Force. This concept has been adopted by the Air Forces of several foreign countries.
Lieutenant General Kuter was promoted to full general while in flight at 0001 hours, May 29, 1955, while en route to Tokyo to assume command of the Far East Air Forces.
In this new command, General Kuter immediately found the mobility of air power impeded by the existence of two major commands in the Pacific. His air units were split between the Far East Command with headquarters in Tokyo and the Pacific Command
Pacific Command
Pacific Command may refer to:*United States Pacific Command*Pacific Command *Pacific Command is an informal name for the British Columbia and Yukon Territory branch of the Royal Canadian Legion...
in Hawaii. He could not move air units from one of these commands to the other without permission of two theater commanders or the Joint Chiefs in Washington. Rapid movement to meet potential air threats is a basic essential of the jet age and General Kuter's long-term recommendations and objections to the divided command system were registered in a formal recommendation to the chief of staff, U.S. Air Force. This study was then used as the U.S. Air Force position before the Joint Chiefs of Staff and led to the consolidation of the two commands and establishment of the present Pacific Command.
When Far East Air Forces was disestablished in this consolidation of command, General Kuter became commander in chief of the newly created Pacific Air Forces on July 1, 1957. Pacific Air Forces is the air arm of Pacific Command. Its headquarters is at Hickam Air Force Base
Hickam Air Force Base
Hickam Field, re-named Hickam Air Force Base in 1948, was a United States Air Force facility now part of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, named in honor of aviation pioneer Lt Col Horace Meek Hickam.- History :...
, Hawaii.
According to declassified pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
documents, Kuter was among the Air Force generals advocating the use of nuclear weapons if China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
blokaded the Taiwan Strait
Taiwan Strait
The Taiwan Strait or Formosa Strait, formerly known as the Black Ditch, is a 180-km-wide strait separating Mainland China and Taiwan. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to East China Sea to the northeast...
in 1958. When President Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
vetoed this policy, forcing the Air Force to plan for the defense of Taiwan using conventional weapons, Kuter continued to object.
General Kuter was a rated command pilot, combat observer, technical observer and aircraft observer. He has logged more than 8,000 flying hours, including 3,200 hours as a command pilot. Before 1952 he had flown around the world seven times visiting Air Force installations. He retired from the Air Force on July 1, 1962, and died November 30, 1979.
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