Brigadier General William Mitchell's court-martial was the longest and most controversial in our history. This biography reveals for the first time, from the full transcript, what was actually said and done.
In addition, Mitchell’s lengthy 201 File-his personal military records-has until now been unavailable to any biographer. This file contains frank personal evaluations of Mitchell by his superiors (including a psychiatric examination), his own detailed reports and prophecies, as well as official reaction to them.
From such previously classified documents and reports, and numerous interviews and unpublished letters, Burke Davis has finally portrayed in the round one of the most fascinating of American heroes.
KIRKUS REVIEW:
The Billy Mitchell Affair concentrates on the years between 1919, when Mitchell returned from World War I to lead the crusade he felt was vital to America’s security, and 1925, when the battle was publicly joined in his court-martial. KIRKUS REVIEW
The story of the man who was the spirit and force behind the modern United States Air Force has been told before, but without the new documents--mainly the text of the famous court martial--used by Mr. Davis. He describes how the General became infected with his plans for building an air group that would be the prime component in a modern fighting army; but Mitchell wanted his planes separated from the infantry and the navy and this brought him into confrontations with the military bureaucracy. His bombing runs against vessels at sea proved the effectiveness of his vision, but the brass sought to discredit them with propaganda. Capitalizing on the crash of the airship Shenandoah, Mitchell attacked governmental incompetence in the skies and earned himself the court martial he hoped would bring the facts to the public. The court sequences are the high point of the book, but Davis goes on to show the prophet in his last days of civilian life....Davis does justice to the man and the story even if it also may have been cashiered from the headlines to the footnotes of history.