Mark Clodfelter Air Power Summary

Clodfelter, Mark. The Limits of Air Power. The Free Press, 1989.

Dr. Mark Clodfelter provides an in depth analysis of decision making during the Vietnam War in his book The Limits of Air Power. Not only does he address the complex political climate of Cold war, he also provides a detailed account of the relevance of air power in World War II as well as the Korean War. The Air Power utilized in World War II have a significant role in accomplishing positive Allied objectives, and due to the state of total war, air power had little to no restrictions in many cases. This quite obviously culminates in the atomic destruction inflicted on Imperial Japan in 1945. With Hiroshima and Nagasaki vaporized from the face of the earth, Japanese unconditional

Clodfelter has answered the question: why did the world’s most powerful superpower fail to prevent a small, third world country from invading its neighbor? This question is answered through the lens of air power, of course, and only focuses on the ground operations when the major positioning, strength, and composition of enemy is involved. The answer to this question is that the restrictions imposed by the Johnson administration due to the intense political climate coupled with the removal of strategic planning from the operational level produced a military whose limitations prevented them from operating effectively. While most of my knowledge on the subject comes from sources that focus on ground forces, you can absolutely draw parallels between the two. Due to the evidence outlined in the book, I absolutely agree with the author’s

Due to its rich source material, the book would serve wonderfully as a historiography of the Vietnam War, but only from the position of air power and authority. This book was a major contribution to my knowledge of the applications and history of air power. Up until this book, I had not had any experience with the subject, as my background is small unit tactics and indirect fire orientated, infantry. I think many people would enjoy this book, especially historians looking for a perspective on the war that includes the political biases of world leaders and how those biases and pressures play a vital role in the outcome of the war. It also paints Richard Nixon as a man whose skilled political maneuvering help America remove restrictions that were iron clad during the Johnson administration. Few people today realize that while Nixon was a crook, he also help America in a tough time. The resolution of the Vietnam War brought about an era of peace that was not interrupted by large scale warfare until the Gulf War in the 1990’s. These perspectives along with many others in the book are valuable to all persons interested in the history of American Politics and the Vietnam