Curtis Lemay, 83, Retired 4-Star General

MARCH AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - Air Force Gen. Curtis LeMay, who relayed the orders to drop nuclear bombs Japan and later directed the Berlin Airlift, died today. He was 83.

The retired four-star general, who also ran for vice president with third-party candidate George Wallace during the 1968 presidential campaign, died of a heart attack at the 22nd Strategic Hospital at March Air Force Base, said Sgt. Steve Mahnke.

He would have been 84 on Nov. 15.

The cigar-chewing LeMay directed the air attack on Japan at the end of World War II.

Years later, he said the nuclear bombings were unnecessary to force Japan's surrender.

``We felt that our incendiary bombings had been so successful that Japan would collapse before we invaded,'' LeMay said in a 1985 interview.

``We went ahead and dropped the bombs because President (Harry) Truman told me to do it. He told me in a personal letter.''

But LeMay said he felt the United States could have defeated Japan in ``a few more days'' if it had continued the firebombing of Japanese cities.

After the war, LeMay was placed in charge of the U.S. Air Force in Europe. He was there in 1948 when the Soviet Union cut off ground access to West Berlin. His management of the airlift by the United States and its allies to keep West Berlin supplied brought LeMay much notice at home.

He was named commanding general of the Strategic Air Command in October 1948 and held the command until June 1957.

He was SAC's second commander but was widely credited with having built its bomber force to a formidable level. Early in his tenure, SAC's headquarters moved as had been previously arranged to Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, where it remains today.

LeMay said he sought to make SAC a credible nuclear deterrent by shifting its focus from training to readiness.

After leaving SAC, LeMay became vice chief, then chief of staff of the Air Force. He was appointed to that post by President Kennedy.

LeMay had been living in Air Force Village West, a military retirement community outside March AFB.

LeMay was born in 1906 at Columbus, Ohio. He later received an engineering degree from Ohio State University before entering the Army Air Forces as a flying cadet in 1928.

He is survived by his wife, Helen, and a daughter.