Curtis LeMay

1906 – 1990

Curtis Emerson LeMay was a U.S. Air Force general who served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force from 1961 to 1965. As commander of the XX and XXI Bomber Commands during World War II he ordered the firebombing of 67 Japanese cities including the March 1945 raid on Tokyo that killed an estimated 100,000 civilians in a single night, and as a senior strategic-air-command planner during the early Cold War he urged a preemptive nuclear strike on the Soviet Union. He ran for vice president in 1968 as the running mate of segregationist George Wallace on the American Independent Party ticket.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM