General Curtis LeMay: FF or HP?

[Robespierre's Jaw]

Was Curtis LeMay a Freedom Fighter or a Horrible Person?

I think he was a Horrible Person, who said that if the Allies had have lost WWII, he and other U.S. Generals would have been charged as War Criminals.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Considering that the Kriegsmarine leadership avoided being tried for using unrestricted submarine warfare only because we did the same thing to the Japanese in the Pacific, LeMay most definitely had a point there.  LeMay was an HP but at least he was honest about being an HP/

[??????????]

A true patriot. America needs more military leaders like him.

[opebo]

Horrible Person but quite a character.

[DanielX]

Freedom Fighter. He's quite revered in many sections of the air force because, in spite of his harsh character, he was known to look after the enlisted men under him - including making sure the enlisted man's married quarters at a new base were constructed speedily, even if it meant the officers had to wait.

He also headed the Berlin Airlift.

And his suggestion that he would be tried for war crimes had we lost had about as much to do with how the German and Japanese governments of the time operated as his actions. The Japanese, after all, routinely tortured and executed downed American pilots, even before LeMay began the fire-bombing of the Home Islands.

[Wakie]

He was a great tactical and strategic general, but I don't think he was too concerned with the long-term effects of his military decisions (beyond whether or not it would help him win the 'war').  So I guess I would call him a great soldier but a mediocre man.

[merseysider]

He was a barmpot - George Wallace's running mate in 1968.

[Ebowed]

I think he was a Horrible Person, who said that if the Allies had have lost WWII, he and other U.S. Generals would have been charged as War Criminals.

He was a HP, but that was a surprisingly astute observation of him to make- why would that make him horrible?

The atomic bombings of Japanese civilians were war crimes, period.

[StateBoiler]

Push.

Ultimately, you need people like LeMay in the military leadership. Not every general, but a couple of them.

My first exposure to him was in the movie "Thirteen Days". In the movie, he was originally conflicted with the Kennedys during the Cuban Missile Crisis but at the end makes a concession that helps out JFK in a plan he's pushing. Not sure how grounded in reality that is, but there you are.

And then he was George Wallace's running mate.

[??????????]

And then he was George Wallace's running mate.

Definitely another positive aspect.

[DanielX]

And then he was George Wallace's running mate.

Definitely another positive aspect.

I disagree. I might have considered the ticket reversed, but Wallace's segregationist stance - albeit one less extreme than many other southern leaders of the time - really turns me off.

Then again, his opponents were Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey; I don't exactly like them much either.

[Bacon King]

HP.