Here Comes LeMay

Bounding up the steps of the river entrance to the Pentagon, Four-Star General Curtis LeMay, 50, hard-boiled boss of the Air Force's Strategic Air Command, rolled his ever-present panatela around in his mouth, fingered the new mustache he had grown in his recent big-game hunt in Africa with Arthur Godfrey, and mulled the reasons for this sudden command appearance before the top Pentagon brass. The scuttlebutt had told: he was to be offered the job of Air Force Vice Chief of Staff. Curt LeMay took three days to think over the idea. Last week he reappeared at the Pentagon --this time without the mustache--and accepted.

With the promotion of LeMay, the U.S. Air Force has solved an unusual personnel problem. A brilliant commander of the vital SAC and one of the military's finest organizers, Curt LeMay had held his post for eight years, too long for any soldier in one job, so long that he was beginning to appear the indispensable man in the Air Force's top field command. He had been thought of by some top Pentagon names as too tough a bull for the Washington china shop. Now at last on the Washington scene, LeMay will succeed General Thomas D. White, who has been promoted to Chief of Staff (TIME, April 8). And under the important deputy concept of the Eisenhower Administration, he will be only one logical step away from Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force.

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