Early 1960s General Curtis LeMay, US Air Force, Studio Photograph - Autographed!

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Early 1960s General Curtis LeMay, US Air Force, Studio Photograph - Dedicated and Autographed!
A superb example of a full color studio photo of the famous General Curtis LeMay, 11" x 14", dedicated and autographed to another Air Force General who served on his Air Staff when LeMay was Chief of Staff of the Air Force, 1961-65. No condition issues, bright colors, and a matt that has only slightly tinted from white over the years. A bold, strong dedication and signature in the General's own hand. The recipient of the photograph, Major General John K. Hester, served as a Squadron Commander in the 14th Air Force in China during World War II, the famous "Flying Tigers." He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal, and Air Medal while logging 50 combat missions as a fighter pilot. He served on Lemay's Air Staff from 1961-62 and later commanded the 17th Air Force at Ramstein AFB, Germany. Hester tragically died from injuries suffered during a military parachute jump in 1965, further substantiating the date range of this photograph. A classic image!
Lemay needs no introduction, but why not...?
Curtis Emerson LeMay
(November 15, 1906 – October 1, 1990) was an American
Air Force
general
who implemented an effective but controversial
strategic bombing
campaign in the
Pacific theater
of
World War II
. He later served as
Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force
from 1961 to 1965.
LeMay joined the
U.S. Army Air Corps
, the precursor to the U.S. Air Force, in 1929 while studying
civil engineering
at
Ohio State University
. He had risen to the rank of major by the time of Japan's
Attack on Pearl Harbor
in December 1941 and the United States' subsequent entry into World War II. He commanded the
305th Operations Group
from October 1942 until September 1943, and the
3rd Air Division
in the
European theatre of World War II
until August 1944, when he was transferred to the
China Burma India Theater
. He was then placed in command of strategic bombing operations against Japan, planning and executing a
massive fire bombing campaign
against Japanese cities and
Operation Starvation
, a crippling minelaying campaign in Japan's internal waterways.
After the war, he was assigned to command
USAF Europe
and coordinated the
Berlin airlift
. He served as commander of the
Strategic Air Command
(SAC) from 1948 to 1957, where he presided over the transition to an all-
jet aircraft
force that focused on the deployment of
nuclear weapons
. As Chief of Staff of the Air Force, he called for the bombing of
Cuban
missile sites during the
Cuban Missile Crisis
and sought a sustained bombing campaign against
North Vietnam
during the
Vietnam War
.
After retiring from the Air Force in 1965, LeMay agreed to serve as
Democratic
Governor
George Wallace
's running mate in the
1968 United States presidential election
. The ticket won 13.5% of the popular vote, a strong tally for a
third party
campaign, but the
Wallace campaign
came to see LeMay as a liability. After the election, LeMay retired to his home in
Newport Beach, California
, and died in 1990 at age 83.
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