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  • John Warden and the Renaissance of American Air Power
  • Daniel L. Haulman
John Warden and the Renaissance of American Air Power. By John Andreas Olsen . Washington: Potomac Books, 2007. ISBN 978-1-59797-084-6. Photographs. Appendixes. Notes. Selected bibliography. Index. Pp. xvi, 348. $32.95.

This well-researched biography of Colonel John A. Warden III is an excellent summary of the ideas that made him the leading air power theorist in the U.S. Air Force in the second half of the twentieth century. Olsen notes that before Warden the Air Force had become focused on nuclear deterrence, aerial combat, and air support of ground forces. Through his writings, which included a book called The Air Campaign, papers describing a "Five Rings Model," and his "Instant Thunder" air campaign plan that became the foundation of Operation DESERT STORM against Iraq in 1991, Warden promoted the concept that precision air strikes on key strategic command and control targets could paralyze an enemy's systems and achieve victory without the need for long and costly surface campaigns involving tanks and troops.

Olsen skillfully contrasts Warden's success as a theorist with his perceived failure as a leader of men. One is left wondering if the real reason Warden never rose to the rank of general was that his zeal in promoting his innovative ideas against the traditions of his fellow officers antagonized them. In a sense, Warden can be compared with Billy Mitchell, another air power theorist whose ideas had more success than his career.

Olsen's Warden is a flawed hero. Some of his ideas were not original, having emerged as early as the 1930s in the Air Corps Tactical School. The colonel sometimes failed to attract the support of others, although many [End Page 299] eventually came to accept his vision of air power as a strategic instrument and not merely a servant of ground troops.

Daniel L. Haulman
Air Force Historical Research Agency
Montgomery, Alabama
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