The Man for the Job

When General Hoyt Sanford Vandenberg, then a youthfully handsome man of 49, hurdled his seniors to become Chief of Staff of the new U.S. Air Force in April 1948, even his airmen friends agreed that "Van" was hardly the man for the job. The Air Force definition of its strategic mission had not been accepted, savage fights over increased air power were obviously ahead, and planning was restricted by the balance-of-forces system, which parceled out equal funds to the three services. Vandenberg, one of the finest pilots the Air Force ever had, was a shy, pleasant, introverted man, a good field commander with a fine record, but short, even by the friendliest estimates, of the stature and dynamic force needed to lead the Air Force through this maze. Tall, easygoing Hoyt Vandenberg set about proving the skeptics wrong--in his own way.

The Vandenberg way did not include the public martyrdom of a Billy Mitchell or the free-swinging tactics of a "Hap" Arnold. Van ducked involvement in side issues and took long detours around personal feuds. During the "revolt of the admirals" in 1949, with its raucous attack on the 6-36, during the MacArthur hearings of 1951, when the atmosphere was alive with bitterness and emotion, and again last year when the Air Force budget was cut by $5 billion, West Pointer Vandenberg refused to be goaded into name-calling or personal acrimony. Quietly, doggedly, and with great clarity, he plugged away at explaining the gospel of strategic air power. This gospel held that the long-range bomber, always poised with its devastating atomic load to strike back at an aggressor, is the most pow erful U.S. weapon and the best deterrent to war.

By the time he retired last June, Vandenberg's record showed beyond argument that he was indeed the man for the job. When he became Chief of Staff, the big debate was over a 7 owing Air Force; when he left, the Air Force was moving toward 137 wings. The balance-of-forces theory had fallen into disrepute. The strategic-air concept was firmly established.

These battles Van won. Another, he lost. Nearly two years ago, he underwent surgery for cancer, and it was generally thought that he had made a remarkable recovery. But last summer, while playing golf, he complained of "bursitis" pains; examination at Walter Reed Hospital last October revealed widespread malignancy. After that, he was comatose most of the time, and last week, at 55, Hoyt Vandenberg died.

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