Podcasts about Curtis LeMay

Serhii Plokhy describes how by October 20, the Joint Chiefs, led by Curtis LeMay, were pushing for Oplan 312 (a full-scale invasion), accusing Kennedy of "appeasement." Kennedy feared an invasion would trigger a Soviet takeover of West Berlin. He successfully hid the crisis from the media for a week to weigh his options. Choosing the term "quarantine" to avoid a legal act of war, he bought critical time. Meanwhile, Khrushchev fell into a panic in Moscow, fearing an imminent U.S. strike and even considering a false-flag claim that the missiles were under Cuban control. (4)1920

En enero de 1945 los aliados intuían que la guerra entraba en su recta final, aunque nadie acertaba a fijar la fecha del desenlace. El teatro europeo de operaciones parecía más cerca del final que el del Pacífico. Alemania estaba cercada por el este, el oeste y el sur, mientras que el archipiélago japonés todavía resistía. Aún no se habían librado las batallas de Iwo Jima y Okinawa, por lo que el alto mando estadounidense calculaba que aquello no terminaría hasta mediado el año 1946 a un coste muy elevado en vidas. Lo que sí dominaban los aliados sin discusión era el aire, y de ese dominio surgiría la mayor campaña de bombardeo estratégico de la historia. En el Reino Unido Arthur Harris, al frente del Bomber Command, era partidario del bombardeo de área nocturno, concebido expresamente para incendiar ciudades enteras y romper así la moral de los civiles. Los estadounidense preferían el bombardeo de precisión diurno sobre objetivos industriales bien elegidos con anterioridad. Disponían de ciertos avances como la mira Norden y contaban con buenos cazas de escolta como los Mustang que protegían a los bombarderos. En la Conferencia de Yalta celebrada en febrero Roosevelt y Churchill decidieron desatar una campaña de bombardeos que aliviase presión a los soviéticos en el frente del este impidiendo que el ejército alemán pudiese desplazar tropas y pertrechos hasta allí. Ese mismo mes atacaron con furia Berlín el día 3 y Dresde entre los días 13 y 14 con tres oleadas combinadas que desataron una tormenta de fuego que en su centro superó los 1.500 grados. Unas 25.000 personas murieron en el bombardeo, pero no sería el único. Le siguieron otras ciudades como Pforzheim, Wurzburgo y Magdeburgo que fueron destruidas, incluso en mayor medida que Dresde. Pero lo que marcó la diferencia no fue tanto la destrucción de las ciudades como los ataques sobre la infraestructura ferroviaria, algo que terminó paralizando por completo el Reich. En el Pacífico el cambio vino de la mano de un joven general, Curtis LeMay, que en enero se puso al mando de los B-29 destacados en las islas Marianas. Los fuertes vientos en altura hacían muy difícil el bombardero de precisión sobre Japón. LeMay ordenó volar de noche, a baja altura, sin armamento defensivo a bordo de los aviones y con bodegas repletas de bombas incendiarias M-69. La noche del 9 al 10 de marzo la Operación Meetinghouse incendió 41 kilómetros cuadrados de la ciudad de Tokio y mató entre 80.000 y 125.000 personas en lo que fue el episodio bélico más mortífero no de la guerra, sino de toda la historia. Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, Yokohama y Kawasaki sufrieron idéntico destino, y luego decenas de ciudades medianas. Pero, pese a la devastación, Japón no se rendía. En Washington se plantearon invadir las islas principales con una gran operación anfibia, pero estimaban que el coste sería altísimo, de hasta un millón de bajas. Fue entonces cuando recurrieron a la bomba atómica que habían desarrollado con el Proyecto Manhattan. El 6 de agosto cayó la primera en Hiroshima, tres días más tarde cayó otra sobre Nagasaki. Entre medias los soviéticos entraron en Manchuria. El día 15 el emperador Hirohito anunció la rendición incondicional. Esta tormenta de fuego plantea preguntas incómodas. Los bombardeos contribuyeron a la victoria si, pero las víctimas civiles superaron las 650.000 en ambos teatros. Harris y LeMay fueron condecorados, y los tribunales de Núremberg y Tokio prefirieron no abrir ese melón. Sucesivos acuerdos sobre el alcance de este tipo de bombardeo vinieron después, pero el debate sigue abierto. En El ContraSello: 0:00 Introducción 4:01 La tormenta de fuego 1:24:41 Joaquín Murat Bibliografía: “El incendio. Alemania bajo el bombardeo” de Jörg Friedrich - https://amzn.to/4tOywyi “Bomber command” de Max Hastings - https://amzn.to/3PV8aN9 “Downfall” de Richard B. Frank - https://amzn.to/4wNBx4M “Sangre y ruinas” de Richard Overy - https://amzn.to/4uVxtgS Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

SPONSORS: 1) BLUEPRINT: For a limited time only, our listeners get 20% off + free shipping at https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.com by using code JULIAN at checkout. #Blueprint #ad JOIN PATREON FOR EARLY UNCENSORED EPISODE RELEASES: https://www.patreon.com/JulianDorey CLIPPERS DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8QmWEKJ3BT (***TIMESTAMPS in description below) ~ Stu Wexler is an author and researcher. Stu's investigative journalism work over the years includes the JFK Assassination, MLK Assassination, RFK Assassination, and CIA Covert Operations. STU's LINKS BOOK: https://a.co/d/0ego1NzP FOLLOW JULIAN DOREY IG: https://www.instagram.com/julianddorey/ X: https://x.com/juliandorey JULIAN YT CHANNELS - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Clips YT: https://www.youtube.com/@juliandoreyclips - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Daily YT: https://www.youtube.com/@JulianDoreyDaily - SUBSCRIBE to Best of JDP: https://www.youtube.com/@bestofJDP ****TIMESTAMPS**** 0:00 - JFK Assassination Investigation, MLK & JFK similarity, Grassy Knoll 6:26 - Sewer Shooting Theory, Stu's history with case, Devil's Chessboard 18:31 - Case Complications, “Cut the head off the dog,” Stu's father's theory 27:58 - Castro & JFK, Lyndon Johnson, the Soviets, hijacked autopsy, JFK bombshell 38:58 - How JFK Case falls apart, Curtis LeMay, Felilx Rodriguez, Truman & JFK 48:08 - CIA Cloak & Dagger Ops, Alan Dulles, 1954 Guatemalan Coup d'etat 58:54 - CIA's mask off moment, Carl Jenkins, Iran Contra, JFK vs. Castro plans 1:10:41 - Danny Jones Felix Rodriguez Sitdown, Kiki Camarena 1:24:15 - Nuclear War Threat, Harold Malmgren, Bay of Pigs 1:37:35 - New JFK Files, Why Bobby Kennedy disliked, William Harvey, Rome & the Mafia 1:47:06 - Gap in Joannides Records, David Morales 2:01:31 - Daniel Pearl, Why Bobby Kennedy taken out 2:11:07 - Lyndon B. Johnson & JFK, American Revolution post JFK & MLK, James Earl Ray 2:23:14 - MLK Assassin James Earl Ray & the gov, MLK & Charlie Kirk, Extremist Groups 2:35:31 - Extremist influence, FBI & MLK, Donald Nissin 2:46:52 - FBI Investigation, Kathy Ainsworth, Stu's take on conspiracy 2:56:35 - What was Ray supposed to do, Ray's attorneys, “Dancing on streets” after MLK 3:05:34 - Fred Hampton, FBI War, Informant knew King was going to be shot, Tommy Terrance 3:15:37 - Stu's Work CREDITS: - Host, Editor & Producer: Julian Dorey - COO, Producer & Editor: Alessi Allaman - https://www.youtube.com/@UCyLKzv5fKxGmVQg3cMJJzyQ - In-Studio Producer: Joey Deef - https://www.instagram.com/joeydeef/ Julian Dorey Podcast Episode 422 - Stu Wexler Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More on Truman and sole presidential authority, and why did Curtis LeMay say he would refuse to be 'fat, dumb and happy' if America got nuked?As with last week's episode on Truman, I must acknowledge the brilliant new book by Alex Wellerstein called The Most Awful Responsibility. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Scott describes Curtis LeMay as a pragmatic, "hardscrabble" problem-solver who put himself through college by working nights in a steel mill. Replacing Hansel after only 44 days, LeMay realizes that high-altitude bombing is an "unsolvable equation" given the weather variables. He revamps maintenance, embraces radar, and demonstrates a ruthless focus on results, such as bypassing bureaucracy to pay native tribes in opium for the rescue of downed airmen. The sources also detail the American development of napalm, which was tested on a mock Japanese village in the Utah desert. This village, built with authentic tatami mats and sliding doors, was repeatedly burned to determine how best to exploit Japan's "Achilles heel": its dense wooden architecture. War planners identified specific "incendiary zones" in cities like Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka that were highly susceptible to fire, providing LeMay with the data needed to transition from pinpoint strategic targets to mass urban destruction. 3/81943 LEMAY

Tune in to this wildly unpredictable late-night episode where we explore the fascinating paradox of war—its undeniable barbarity mixed with the sheer genius of military strategy. Join Lionel and his callers as they dive deep into the brilliant but brutal tactics of historical heavyweights like General Patton, Curtis LeMay, and a heavily intoxicated Ulysses S. Grant. The conversation then takes a sharp turn into the future, debating the terrifying realities of autonomous AI drones, quantum computing, and algorithms fighting our battles. To top it all off, the late-night call-in lines bring unfiltered chaos, featuring debates on ancient Greek naked wrestling, the biological uselessness of peacocks, and a caller who claims to be the reincarnated wife of General Custer. It's a hilarious, philosophical, and utterly bizarre "metadata gumbo" of midnight madness! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Friday, March 20, 2026, Darrell Castle talks about the resignation of Joe Kent as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center and especially about the ramifications of the letter he publicly released explaining his resignation. Transcription / Notes: GOODBYE JOE Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today's Castle Report. I will be talking about the resignation of Joe Kent as Director of The National Counterterrorism Center and especially about the ramifications of the letter he publicly released explaining his resignation. Yes, Joe is gone and I for one will miss him in government because he was not afraid to ask questions and to encourage legitimate investigations into things which didn't make sense from the official government explanation. First, let's take a brief look at who he is and how he became Director of Counterterrorism. He was born April 11, 1980, so next month he will be 46 years old. He enlisted in the U.S. Army after 9-11 and made it through Ranger School where he served with the 75th Rangers. He requested special forces where he spent his 20-year army career. He served 11 combat tours in the Middle East wars. In 2018 he left the army and became a paramilitary operative for the CIA. He was married to Shannon and they had two children. She was also a military officer and a navy cryptologist and in 2019 while serving in Syria she was killed by a suicide bomber. If the loss of Shannon was as devastating for him as it would have been for me it's easy to see why he left military service and tried to enter politics. He ran for the U.S. Congress in 2022 and 2024 winning the Republican primary but losing to the Democrat in his Washington district. He voted for George Bush in 2000 and 2004 but then became more of a Libertarian and supporter of Ron Paul. I thought of him in Libertarian and Ron Paul terms while I was dabbling in politics myself. He liked the anti-globalist, antiestablishment message of Donald Trump and after Trump's election in 2024 He eventually served as chief of staff to the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. In July 2025 he was appointed Director of the Counterterrorism Center but from the start he had difficulties. I suppose that being on the inside of government exposes one to things that you either accept as part of the team or you become a pain in the butt to those who do. Joe made statements in favor of harsh views of Iran such as if it were up to me I would just take them out so something changed over the course of that year in his views. Well, Joe concluded that a foreign government was somehow complicit in the death of Charlie Kirk and he encouraged Tulsi, his boss, to look into it. When Kash Patel, the director of the FBI found out that Joe was doing that he took him off the President's Daily Briefing group and he disappeared for a while. He, like Charlie, lobbied the President to resist the advice to go to war with Iran. Whether Joe was correct with the opinions he expressed in his resignation letter, or not it seems now that going to war with Iran was not a very good idea. Why, because you can bomb them ala Curtis Lemay, back to the stone age and they will just crawl out of the rubble and fire ballistic and drone missiles at the ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Ground invasion of Iran is impossible because of the terrain and size of the place but I just read where a Marine Expeditionary Force has boarded an LPH in Japan on its way to the Persian Gulf. I spent some time on LPH ships a little over 50 years ago so I know what those Marines are probably tasked with. The H stands for helicopters and that means the old days of Marines climbing down rope ladders to the landing craft are over. Everything is done by helicopter insertion and you need air superiority for that. I guess they have that except for the danger of some Iranian waiting in a spider hole with a man portable missile.  Reports are that the Strait is about 90% closed to international shipping and it is damaging the world economy severely. The President calls on our former European allies but most decline as does NATO. Why would NATO decline to help keep the Strait open since they need the oil as much as anyone. I have a book in my library entitled Statesmen of the Lost Cause. It's about the southern politicians of the Civil War of course, but it reminds me of the NATO refusal because those countries view it as a lost cause or a fool's errand.  The Europeans apparently view it as a lost cause but I do not because I know what the U.S. military can do especially when things look bad. The Europeans are certainly qualified to speak on lost causes because their entire bureaucracy known as the EU plus UK is a lost cause. They celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Dublin but third world immigration has destroyed the cohesion of the Irish people. What they are really afraid of and angry about is that Donald Trump refuses to bend his knew to their global government run by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. However folks once again it seems that Ron Paul has been proven to have been correct in his warnings. “This is surely one of the worst military disasters in U.S. history. There are no military options available beyond the unthinkable, the use of nuclear weapons. The only viable option that remains is one that was often urged in the Vietnam War: Just get out. Now! No return to U.S. bases, no security guarantees to Gulf States. End the U.S. empire in the Middle East and elsewhere. If not, it's only going to get worse.”  Well, amen Doctor Paul but now let's take a look at what Joe said in his letter of resignation. I won't quote the entire letter but I will just give the paragraphs that have upset so many in the war/uniparty. “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to out nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” To counter that statement the administration relies on Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt who said his Israel pressure accusation was a false narrative started by Democrats and the liberal media. “As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the U.S. first. “ Yes Karoline we heard that explanation clearly from Secretary of State Marco Rubio who told us that if Israel attacked first Iran would attack U.S. interests and we knew Israel was going to attack. I would call your statement more in the nature of an admission than proof of a lie. From Joe's letter: “Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran. This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that you should strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again.” Well, Karoline responded by giving us a long list of threatening things Iran did and said before the attacks started. I say in response that Iran did not have two carrier battle groups deployed against the United States and it did not have strategic bombers such as the stealth bombers and the old but reliable B-52's. The toothpaste is out of the tube now and things are being said that cannot be unsaid. This statement by a counterterrorism official is an open challenge to U.S. war justification and it has brought down on Joe's head the kind of attacks one might expect. If you are critical of Israel or of U.S. military efforts on Israel's behalf that makes you anti-semantic in today's media world. The last report I saw about Joe was that he is currently being investigated for being a Nazi. Joe Kent is a 20-year military veteran of U.S. special forces and as he puts it a gold star husband. His wife, Shannon, a navy cryptologist was killed in in Syria by a suicide bomber in 2019. Everything he said in his letter seems true to me. I am certainly no insider but it looks obvious in the absence of conflicting evidence that his portrayal of the situation is accurate. Still, it seems irresponsible to write and publicize such a letter. I wonder if he could have gone to his superiors in private instead of this public letter while his country has troops in harm's way. Oh, but he said he did do that by going to Tulsi and Vice President J.D. Vance both of whom apparently agree with him. Perhaps that is why they seem to have been sidelined while Marco Rubio who is Secretary of State, not National Security Director or Vice President always seems to be out front. He told them he was going to resign but I don't know if he told them he would make it public. I'm guessing but my guess is that he got nowhere by making his views to those above him in private so he decided to go public. In conclusion: His letter seems very close to giving aid and comfort to the enemy while his country is at war. This is a very difficult decision and one I'm sure he gave a lot of thought. Those of you old enough to remember Vietnam might remember the same controversy with the Pentagon Papers but this letter is far worse because it is an accusation of massive death by mistake and deception. Another phrase I remember from Vietnam is my country right or wrong. Apparently Joe couldn't take it anymore and had to let us know. Joe's letter could have devastating effects on the mid terms as well as 2028. Could it be just raw political positioning i.e. those on record as opposing the war win and those who supported it lose. I suppose it's possible but time will tell. Finally, folks, goodbye Joe you gotta go because the truth cannot live in the government today. One could extrapolate what Joe said and if one's conclusion is that he was accurate in his letter thoughts might go to mass murder but we certainly don't want to go there with our own government. At least that's the way I see it, Until next time folks, This is Darrell Castle, Thanks for listening.

3. LeMay Takes Command Pragmatic problem-solver Curtis LeMay replaces Hansel after results stagnate. Scott explores LeMay's hardscrabble background and his willingness to bypass bureaucracy for results. Upon arriving in the Marianas, LeMay realizes that high-altitude bombing is ineffective and begins tinkering with tactics to break the stalemate. (12)1944 TOKYO

Director Paul Jay discusses his upcoming documentary How to Stop a Nuclear War, featuring Daniel Ellsberg's final interviews before his death. In conversation with Cole Smith, a former Air Force nuclear missile operator, Jay explains why Ellsberg's journey from Cold War hawk to whistleblower provides the perfect lens for understanding our current nuclear crisis. The discussion covers Cold War lies, the risks of AI-controlled nuclear systems, and concrete steps toward disarmament, including phasing out ICBMs and ending launch-on-warning policies. TranscriptListenDonateSubscribe Cole SmithIt's a privilege to be here, obviously, in a space that's strange for me because I used to work in these silos or ones that were very similar to these. For five years, I was a nuclear missile operator in the Air Force from 2012 to 2017, during which time many journalists, including Geoff Brumfiel, who's here somewhere, did fantastic reporting on some of the shortcomings of the missile force. Anyway, that's a whole other story.It does strike me after the last panel that what we've moved into after lunch is something that is sort of a tone shift in some ways. There's an old quote that you might have heard that a lot of people attribute to Damon of Athens, which is, "Show me the songs of a people, and I care not who writes the laws." I think in some ways, that is not to say that policy is not important, but that one of the ways that we have to move forward on this subject is through the stories that we tell.So, Paul, if you could begin by telling us where you're at with your film. If you could also just catch us up on how you came into your career to be a filmmaker on this subject.Paul JayHi. I think it's a brilliant idea to have the meeting here. Seeing that missile out there. I grew up at a time when I was... I have a young son, he's 13. He's actually up here. I made a deal with him. If he sat through all the panels, he gets to go trail riding in Bentonville.Cole SmithCan I get in on that deal?Paul JayAbsolutely. Please, because I won't get on a bike. He could use some company. So I was around his age during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and I was well aware. I was into newspapers when I was six, seven years old, so I was as scared to death as everyone was during that time. By the time I was in high school, I had quit in grade 10 and never went to university because I was absolutely sure I'd be dead by the age of 20.It's interesting because my film features Daniel Ellsberg. When he worked at RAND Corporation, he was offered a pension, and he laughed and said, "I'm not putting money into a pension fund. We're not going to be here."But by the '90s and the end of the '90s, I was pretty much in as much denial about the risks of nuclear war as most others. Then, in around 2018, I read Dan Ellsberg's book, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner, and that book scared the shit out of me. I said to myself, "This is the most important book I've ever read in my life because of what's at stake." So, I interviewed Dan, and eventually he agreed that I could make a documentary film featuring him, and so the more I get into the topic, the more I realize how dangerous the moment is.Before we watch the trailer, I would like a promise from everyone. Of course, you're not going to make it, but I'm going to ask anyway. Can everyone please stop saying, since the end of the Cold War? It did not end. The Cold War wasn't just about the Soviet Union. The Cold War was about suppressing domestic dissent, weakening workers' unions. It was about exaggerating the external threat, whether it was the Soviet Union or now China.Listen to the rhetoric of President Trump. Is it different than McCarthy's? Is it different than the 1950s? How about Joe Biden saying he's going to defend Taiwan and risk nuclear war? How is that different than what we heard all throughout the Cold War? The Cold War didn't end. We are in the midst of it, and most of us are looking at the world through the filters that we were taught as children, a fabric of lie after lie after lie.If I had more time, I could give you the whole history of the lies, but Dan Ellsberg asked us with this film, he said directly, he said he thought we had the opportunity to do what the Pentagon Papers did, which is uncover the lies of the nuclear era. And then we also want to propose solutions, which you'll see a little bit teased in the trailer, because I am a clinical optimist. Every rational bone in my body says there's nothing to be very optimistic about, and we'd better face up to this.You know, the danger of the moment we're in, yes, since the Cuban Missile Crisis, and probably far more dangerous because maybe we'll talk a bit about AI. We're at a convergence of the existential threat of climate, the existential threat of nukes, we don't know about new pandemics, and the financial architecture. '07, '08, if you listen to the business community that really knows, '07, '08, it was a whisper of what's coming. It's all coming at the same time.So are we humans going to make it? Well, every rational bone in my body says, probably not. As I said, I'm a clinical optimist, and I really do think we can make it, but we'd better face up to this crazy fabric of bullshit that we swim in.Cole SmithTo pivot back to you, Paul, a trusted voice to me, and obviously to you as well, one of the most trusted voices in terms of patriotism to this country, for me, is Daniel Ellsberg. But one of the things that I come up against as a former nuclear missile operator is when I talk to people under a certain age and tell them what I used to do, they look at me like, "What are you... People still do that?"Not to be disrespectful, but Daniel Ellsberg may fall into that category as well for a lot of Americans, where it's become a name that means a lot to maybe fewer amount of people, which, of course, is all the more reason to make a film about him. But I wonder if you could speak a bit about Daniel Ellsberg, and the question that every filmmaker gets is, why now? And so why is it important to lead into this conversation with his voice, specifically at this point in time?Paul JayWell, first of all, it's not a film about Daniel Ellsberg. It's a film about our current moment, what's at risk, and what we can do about it. My approach, my belief is we cannot really face up to the reality of the risk and what solutions are if we don't get past our Cold War mentality. Because we have such a built-in belief system that's been deliberately fabricated, promoted, and inculcated in Americans, in Canadians, and Europeans, right from 1945, '46, at the very least. The reason Ellsberg is a good way to tell the story, part of the story, is because he was a true believer. Ellsberg was the most militant Cold Warrior you could possibly find. I don't know if you know who Curtis LeMay was, but he was almost on the same page. He didn't want to launch. Curtis LeMay was, for people who don't know, the head of STRATCOM, the guy who actually firebombed Japan, ordered the dropping, and actually engineered the dropping of the nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ellsberg was on his page.And then over the course of his time working at RAND Corporation, advising the Pentagon and the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis, he started to realize this is all based on lies. They lied about the bomber gap. They said the Soviets had 1,000 nuclear bombers, when the Americans only had about 300, 400. The truth turned out to be completely the opposite.Then they had, and out of that, by the way, I'm going to cover some things pretty fast here, but if you want to know more, I'm around. They created something called the SAGE Radar System that came out of the bomber gap, where, "Oh, they're going to come get us with bombers. We're going to have a radar system in Northern Canada that's going to have BOMARC missiles. When they come in, we're going to shoot them out of the sky because they have the advantage; they have more bombers."First, it was a lie. There were no bombers. Second of all, the bloody thing never worked because they never figured out how to deal with radar jamming. But get this, and how come none of you... Raise one person who has ever heard of the SAGE radar system before. Maybe Matt. Not even Matt. Okay, here's one. Oh, two, three. That's remarkable. I almost never get-Cole SmithYou're in good company today.Paul JayI don't know if you know this, but the SAGE Radar System... Now, the Manhattan Project was the biggest industrial project in the history of the United States, and SAGE cost three times more than the Manhattan Project. Did you know that? I didn't know that until recently. It was a boondoggle. It was a scam. It never worked.Then they have the missile gap. You saw it here. "Oh, they have a thousand. We only have 40." It turned out the Soviets had four. But out of that, they created a program called BMEWS, B-M-E-W-S. This was linked to SAGE, and it was going to have a system that could knock out ICBMs on the way in. Never worked. The whole thing was nonsense. Another in today's dollars, billions and billions of dollars.It's been lie after lie, and you can draw a line from this lying right to the Golden Dome, because the anti-ballistic missile systems... I mean, my line about it is, "It's not about the dome, it's about the gold." These are boondoggles, but they're very dangerous boondoggles because they can destabilize the whole balance of nuclear power. Because the problem... I'm jumping way faster, but we don't have much time. The problem with the Golden Dome is that it's SDI of Reagan, but with AI.So, is it possible, and you know that they've always said it's impossible to hit a bullet, meaning an incoming missile, with a bullet, meaning a missile. Now they're saying, "Oh, no, with AI, now we can hit a bullet with a bullet." But it's an entire lie, because even if you can,

CURTIS LEMAY TAKES COMMAND AND TESTS INCENDIARIES Colleague James M. Scott. After Hanselwas fired for a lack of results, Curtis LeMay, a pragmatic problem-solver from a hardscrabble background, took command in January 1945. LeMay realized the existing tactics were unsolvable equations and began tinkering with variables like altitude and radar. Concurrently, the US developed napalm and the M69 incendiary bomb, testing them on a mock Japanese village built in the Utah desert to ensure they could burn traditional wood-and-paper Japanesearchitecture. LeMay possessed detailed data on Tokyo's flammable density, preparing to exploit the city's architectural vulnerabilities. NUMBER 3 1945 OKINAWA

GENERAL SPAATZ AND THE ETHICS OF BOMBING Colleague Evan Thomas. The conversation turns to General Carl "Tooey" Spaatz, who commanded the air war in the Pacific and demanded written orders before dropping the atomic bomb. Unlike the pragmatic Curtis LeMay, Spaatz was a proponent of precision bombing and was deeply troubled by the killing of civilians. The segment recounts the execution of the atomic missions, noting that while the Hiroshima drop went smoothly, the Nagasaki mission flown by Charles Sweeney was "snake bit," plagued by fuel issues and cloud cover that nearly caused the mission to fail. NUMBER 4 1945 OKINAWA

    The Failure of Precision Bombing — James M. Scott — Scott explains the systematic failure of Hansell's precision bombing doctrine: Japan's notoriously unpredictable weather patterns and the unexpected discovery of violent jet streams traversing the Pacific islands rendered high-altitude precision bombing operationally nearly impossible. Scottdocuments that the B-29, which cost approximately $3.7 billion in development expenditures—exceeding the financial investment in the atomic bomb—suffered chronic mechanical defects including catastrophic engine fires and structural failures compromising operational reliability. Scott details that early raids targeting Japanese aircraft manufacturing facilities failed to destroy critical industrial targets, resulting in the grim nickname "Flack Alley" for the densely defended airspace above Nagoya and Tokyo. Scott notes that General Arnold, demonstrating impatience with mounting losses and facing escalating political pressure to produce quantifiable military results, replaces the intellectual Hansell with the pragmatic Curtis LeMay after merely 44 days of failed operations. 1930 TOKYO

LeMay Takes Command and the Napalm Tests — James M. Scott — Scott profiles Curtis LeMay as a "hardscrabble" problem solver and pragmatist who financed his university education through brutal labor in steel mills, contrasting sharply with the aristocratic intellectual background of Hansell. Scott characterizes LeMay as a pragmatist willing to circumvent bureaucratic procedures and institutional constraints to achieve military objectives, including the unorthodox practice of utilizing opium to compensate native tribes for rescuing downed American airmen behind Japanese lines. Scott details the American military's systematic preparation for urban firebombing operations through development of napalm incendiary weapons and intensive testing conducted on a meticulously constructed mock Japanese village in the Utah desert, complete with traditional tatami mats and wooden structures representative of Japanese residential architecture, to validate incendiary weapon effectiveness against wooden urban construction. Scottdocuments that LeMay systematically concludes that Hansell's high-altitude precision bombing doctrine represents an "unsolvable equation" doomed to perpetual failure, prompting LeMay to contemplate radical tactical reorientation. 1934 TOKYO

CLICK HERE! To send us a message! Ask us a Question or just let us know what you think!The autopsy reads like a military operation. The brain goes missing. From the first minutes on the tarmac to the last page of the Warren Commission, the JFK story is stitched with contradictions that refuse to die. We brought our roundtable back together to follow the hard edges: the casket swap accounts from Bethesda, morgue staff who recall a body bag and pre-autopsy surgery, and the chain-of-evidence gaps around the so‑called magic bullet. If a first-year defense attorney could dismantle the case, why did the nation accept it?We dig into the operational backdrop most people never see: JM/WAVE's web of CIA officers, anti-Castro exiles, and mob figures forged in the struggle against Castro; Operation Northwoods, which proved false flags were not fantasy but policy; and the rush to paint Oswald as a Cuban- and Soviet-linked agent via New Orleans leafleting, Mexico City legends, and convenient IDs. We weigh Lyndon Johnson's choices—why the Cuba blame was abandoned, how Vietnam escalated immediately, and what his behavior in Dealey Plaza and on Air Force One might tell us. Along the way, names like E. Howard Hunt and Curtis LeMay surface, tying Dallas to a broader culture of covert power and political pressure.This isn't a hunt for every shooter. It's a search for the employers—the coalition with the reach to manage an autopsy, redirect the press, and outlast oversight. We revisit Parkland doctors' accounts of the head wound, explore the “Prayer Man” doorway footage that could upend the sixth-floor narrative, and confront the witness attrition that shadows the case. If you care about the integrity of evidence, the architecture of cover stories, and how national security can bend truth, you'll want to hear this unvarnished exchange.If this conversation moves you, follow the show, share it with a friend who still has questions about Dallas, and leave a review telling us what piece of evidence you think matters most. Your take might guide our next deep dive.

The world is a remake. Yesterday's show featured the MAGA remake of The Handmaid's Tale. Today it's Dr Strangelove 2.0 and the remaking of the trillion-dollar military-industrial complex in Silicon Valley. As William Hartung, co-author of The Trillion Dollar War Machine, notes, Dwight Eisenhower's old military-industrial complex has migrated west to Silicon Valley. It even has a Strangelovian anti-hero: mad Peter Thiel, co-founder of Palantir and the Curtis Le May character behind other Silicon Valley military start-ups. No wonder current American foreign policy—with its Monroe Doctrine meddling in Latin America—also appear to be a giant remake.1. Silicon Valley Has Become the New Military-Industrial Complex Dwight Eisenhower's old guard defense contractors—Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman—are being displaced by tech companies like Palantir, Anduril, and SpaceX. The “military-industrial-digital complex” represents a fundamental shift in how America builds and profits from its defense apparatus.2. The Defense Budget Is Out of Control—and Growing America spends roughly $1.5 trillion annually on military defense when you include the Pentagon budget, nuclear weapons, veterans' care, and interest on past war debt. This dwarfs spending on social programs like nutrition assistance and represents a stark trade-off: F-35s or feeding children.3. Peter Thiel Is the Curtis LeMay of Silicon Valley Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel embodies the dangerous fusion of tech innovation and military hawkishness. His companies profit from government surveillance and defense contracts while he promotes an ideology that treats Silicon Valley entrepreneurs as a superior form of human being who should colonize space and reshape foreign policy.4. The “Rebels” Narrative Is Corporate Propaganda Silicon Valley defense contractors style themselves as disruptive rebels challenging Pentagon bureaucracy, but they're simply a new generation of war profiteers. They're not democratizing foreign policy—they're making weapons more efficiently and lobbying for more aggressive military postures to justify their business models.5. America's Foreign Policy Has Become a Dangerous Remake From Monroe Doctrine-style meddling in Latin America to increasingly bellicose rhetoric about China, American foreign policy is recycling Cold War playbooks with 21st-century technology. The merger of Silicon Valley's move-fast-and-break-things ethos with Pentagon power creates genuinely Strangelovian risks.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  1/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  2/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  3/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  4/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  5/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  6/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 TOKYO https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  7/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 TOKYO https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  8/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 TOKYO https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

August 15th, 2025 is the 80th anniversary of the surrender of the Japanese to Allied Forces in the Pacific, ending World War II . To mark the occasion, Peter Robinson sits down with Jonathan Horn and Ian Toll to examine the most contested decision of World War II: the use of atomic weapons against Japan. Building from the brutal endgame—Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Curtis LeMay's incendiary raids—the conversation explores what leaders actually faced in mid-1945: a fanatical no-surrender ethos, mass civilian suffering across Asia, Allied casualty forecasts for an invasion, and the timing of the Soviet entry into the war. Horn and Toll probe the evidence and the arguments on both sides: claims that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the quickest way to stop the killing versus the case for alternatives (continued blockade, demonstration blasts, waiting for Moscow's shock) and the later misgivings voiced by senior U.S. commanders. Along the way, they revisit MacArthur's return to the Philippines, the devastation of Manila, and Midway's pivotal shift from Japanese “fighting spirit” to American industrial might—context that frames the bomb debate not as a tidy thought experiment, but as a wartime choice among terrible options. The discussion concludes by contemplating how to teach this history—through people, decisions, and consequences—to generations for whom WWII is fast fading from living memory. Recorded on June 5th, 2025.

Hanson breaks down the facts and challenges these misconceptions on today's episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” “ Did it save lives? It did. And it did in a variety of ways. Of all the belligerents in World War II, the Japanese army, military, government—whatever term we use—killed more civilians and soldiers versus the amount of soldiers and civilians that lost than any other belligerent. More than the Russians. More than the Germans. In other words, it was a deadly killing machine that averaged 10,000 deaths a day at its hands. How else could you stop it? “ Had they not dropped the bomb, the fire raids would've continued, but not three or four times a week, every single day, from Okinawa. And not with 1,000-2,000 heavy bombers, but with an envisioned 5,000-6,000. That led Curtis LeMay to say, "The bomb wasn't necessary. We could have burned Japan to the ground and forced its surrender." Much more people would've died had that entailed. And so, what did the bomb do? It stopped this Japanese war machine from killing people.”

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR?  7/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR?  1/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 Tokyo https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR?  2/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 Tokyo https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR?  3/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 TOKYO https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR?  4/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 TOKYO https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR?  5/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 FUKUYAMA https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR? 6/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1944 https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR?  8/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1944 WICHITA B-29 https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

Preview: Japan: James Scott, Author, "Black Snow," tells how Curtis LeMay solved problems. More later B-29 Flight Engineer panel

MLK and thousands of others arrested in Selma; LBJ stands firm on Vietnam; Gen. Curtis LeMay steps down; Malcolm X excoriates Elijah Muhammad; Muhammad Ali praises Floyd Patterson. Newscaster: Joe Rubenstein.   Support this project on Patreon!

WHAT PEARL HARBOR WROUGHT 1192 DAYS LATER:   5/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date. 1945 B-29 CRASH SURVIVOR

WHAT PEARL HARBOR WROUGHT 1192 DAYS LATER:   8/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date. 1946

WHAT PEARL HARBOR WROUGHT 1192 DAYS LATER:   7/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date. 1945

WHAT PEARL HARBOR WROUGHT 1192 DAYS LATER:   6/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date. 1945

WHAT PEARL HARBOR WROUGHT 1192 DAYS LATER:   2/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date. OCTOBER 1941 PEARL HARBOR

WHAT PEARL HARBOR WROUGHT 1192 DAYS LATER:  4/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date. 1945 B-29

WHAT PEARL HARBOR WROUGHT 1192 DAYS LATER:   3/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date. 1941 ARIZONA AFTER ATTACK

WHAT PEARL HARBOR WROUGHT 1192 DAYS LATER:   1/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date. 1941

PREVIEW: UAP: UFO: CONVERSATION WITH LUIS ELIZONDO, AUTHOR OF IMMINENT, re the 80 years of reported encounters and observations and examinations of unexplained phenomena, now called UAP, Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. Much more of this later in the month. 1959 Curtis LeMay (right) Office at the Pentagon for an award Ceremony.

CURTIS LEMAY'S MISSION:  3/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. 1951 AIR FORCE COMMANDER GENERAL CURTIS LEMAY

CURTIS LEMAY'S MISSION:  5/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. 1964 CURTIS LEMAY WITH MCNAMARA, LBJ, AT THE JOHNSON RANCH

CURTIS LEMAY'S MISSION:  7/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. 1944-45 GUAM B-29

CURTIS LEMAY'S MISSION:  2/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. SEPTEMBER 1945 CURTIS LEMAY

CURTIS LEMAY'S MISSION:  1/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. 1943 COLONEL CURTIS LEMAY

CURTIS LEMAY'S MISSION:  8/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. 2016