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Twining wearing his four stars. (U.S. Air Force photo)
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Gen. Nathan Farragut Twining
Joint Chiefs Chairman's Long Career Saw Advent of Nuclear Weapons, Rise of Airpower
By Bethanne Kelly Patrick
Military.com Columnist
The first member of the Air Force to hold the highest U.S. military post, Gen. Nathan Farragut Twining remains something of an historical mystery. The facts of his career are well documented, but no one has ever written a definitive biography of the man who was sworn in as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Aug. 15, 1957.
Twining, descended from a line of military forebears who had served the U.S. since the French and Indian Wars, enlisted in the Army in June 1916. After reaching the rank of first sergeant with the Oregon National Guard, he received a West Point commission. His class was graduated in less than two years due to the need for combat officers in World War I.
After overseas duty and several years of service as a general's aide, Twining went to flight school. Two decades of service in the Army Air Corps followed. Twining came to Washington, D.C., in 1940 as assistant chief of staff of the Air Corps' inspection division. When war broke out, he joined the operations division and served in both the Pacific and European theaters in successively high positions. On Aug. 2, 1945, he was appointed commander of the 20th Air Force just days before that group dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
When World War II was over, Twining went on to even loftier posts, including commander in chief of the Alaskan Command and chief of staff of the Air Force. During Twining's tenure in the top echelons of his branch, massive retaliation based on airpower became the national defense strategy.
During this period, many people became obsessed with the idea of extraterrestrial life. Twining, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was often tasked with making statements on this issue. Unfortunately, some of his statements were taken out of context, creating controversy about the general's beliefs -- and backlash for him.
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