Military Monday with John D. Gresham and Thomas Wildenberg

The history of military technological development is replete with examples of personal zealotry, which drove the advancement of new weapons and ideas about warfare. In the emerging arena of aerial warfare, several such airpower evangelists appeared in the early 20th Century to champion the possibilities of this new kind of military technology. Within the American military, that evangelist was Brig. Gen. William “Billy” Mitchell. A firm believer in the capability of air power to become the dominant force in combat, Mitchell was an uncompromising zealot with strong personal ambitions and his own sense of destiny driving him. One of the key obstacles to his vision of air power becoming the dominant defense force for the United States however, was the U.S. Navy and it's strong support of the battleship as its weapon of choice following World War I. This led to a inter-service war between Mitchell and the Navy, which was fought out in the press, the halls of Congress and the White House, and eventually at his court-martial for insubordination. Despite this, Mitchell's legacy continues today, as the modern U.S. Air Force that he envisioned almost 100 years ago, serves as a cornerstone of the American military.

To learn more about Billy Mitchell and his war with the Navy, join military historian, author and journalist John D. Gresham (@greshamj01) for Military Monday (#MilitaryMonday at @Writestream) at 1 p.m. Eastern. His guest this week will be U.S. Naval Institute Press (@USNIPress) writer Thomas Wildenberg, author of BILLY'S MITCHELL'S WAR WITH THE NAVY. Together they will lay out Billy Mitchell's career and actions, with culminated in his own professional destruction. Listeners are encouraged to call in to offer questions and opinions, as both gentlemen discuss one of the most controversial military figures of the 20th Century.