White, Thomas

White, Thomas (Dresser)

(1901–65) aviator; born in Walker, Minn. He graduated from West Point in 1920, completed aviation training in 1925, and carried out a series of staff and line assignments, including tours as air attaché in the Soviet Union, Italy, and Brazil. As deputy commander of the Thirteenth Air Force, he took part in the reconquest of the Philippines (1944); he commanded the Seventh Air Force during the Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns. He served as air force chief of staff during the late 1950s, a period of intensive development of missile-borne strategic weapons systems.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.