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The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour Hardcover – April 17, 2008

by Andrei Cherny (Author)

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The masterfully told story of the unlikely men who came together to make the Berlin Airlift one of the great military and humanitarian successes of American history.

On the sixtieth anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, Andrei Cherny tells a remarkable story with profound implications for the world today. In the tradition of the best narrative storytellers, he brings together newly unclassified documents, unpublished letters and diaries, and fresh primary interviews to tell the story of the ill-assorted group of castoffs and second-stringers who not only saved millions of desperate people from a dire threat but changed how the world viewed the United States, and set in motion the chain of events that would ultimately lead to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and to America’s victory in the Cold War.

On June 24, 1948, intent on furthering its domination of Europe, the Soviet Union cut off all access to West Berlin, prepared to starve the city into submission unless the Americans abandoned it. Soviet forces hugely outnumbered the Allies’, and most of America’s top officials considered the situation hopeless. But not all of them.

Harry Truman, an accidental president, derided by his own party; Lucius Clay, a frustrated general, denied a combat command and relegated to the home front; Bill Tunner, a logistics expert downsized to a desk job in a corner of the Pentagon; James Forrestal, a secretary of defense beginning to mentally unravel; Hal Halvorsen, a lovesick pilot who had served far from the conflict, flying transport missions in the backwater of a global war—together these unlikely men improvised and stumbled their way into a uniquely American combination of military and moral force unprecedented in its time.

This is the forgotten foundation tale of America in the modern world, the story of when Americans learned, for the first time, how to act at the summit of world power—a masterful and exciting work of historical narrative, and one with strong resonance for our time.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1948, West Berliners were suffering and hungry, existing on food rations transported by trucks, trains and barges primarily by the occupying American forces. The Russians, trying to control the divided city, blockaded the transports on June 24, 1948, and American and British pilots risked their lives to airlift in 4.6 billion pounds of food and supplies until the blockade was lifted in May 1949. Pilot Hal Halvorsen won Berliners' hearts by secretly dropping his and his buddies' candy rations by parachute into the waiting hands of the city's children. In the process, says Cherny (The Next Deal), Berliners became devoted to democracy, and Washington foreign policy and military brass learned that the Cold War needed to be won not primarily with bullets but by appealing to hearts and minds. This book could have been cut by a third for better effect; Cherny's prose and his references to 9/11 are manipulative, and his subject, particularly the nuts and bolts of the airlift, will appeal primarily to WWII buffs, who should still find much to savor in this exhaustive, often absorbing and lucid account of America's successful standoff against the Soviets. 16 pages of b&w photos. (Apr. 17)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Accounts abound about the Berlin crisis and airlift of 1948–49, when the West thwarted the attempted Soviet takeover of the entire city. To distinguish his book from the pack, Cherny places his emphasis on the episode’s political effects in Washington, D.C. Ultimately, argues Cherny, Harry Truman’s decisiveness, above all his rejection of high-level advice to retreat from Berlin, contributed to his victory in the 1948 presidential election, a case he makes in recounting junctions between the political campaigns and players in the Berlin crisis. Sufficient as this would be for book-level treatment, Cherny augments his text with the organization of the airlift operation. Perhaps justified because of the airlift’s tremendous material and propaganda success, which drew the West’s line against further Communist expansion in Europe, including the airlift narrative nonetheless competes with Cherny’s announced angle on the impact of the Soviet blockade on American politics and foreign policy. Emphasizing figures prominent in the crisis—military governor Lucius Clay, Truman critic Henry Wallace, and pilot Gail Halvorsen––Cherny readably synthesizes this milestone cold-war confrontation. --Gilbert Taylor

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Product details

Hardcover: 640 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult (April 17, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399154965
ISBN-13: 978-0399154966
Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 2.1 x 9.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 164 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #224,318 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #457 in Books > History > Military > Aviation
- #687 in Books > History > Europe > Germany
- #2001 in Books > History > Military > World War II

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Top customer reviews

fight terrorism with love and solve the terrible refugee problem that has engulfed ...

ByDenny Hatchon August 30, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This riveting account of the true greatness and decency of America is guaranteed to give you goose bumps page-after-page. It’s the unbelievable story of how we saved 2-1/2 million former enemies living in the Soviet-occupied West Berlin and turned them into rabid believers in Democracy. The character studies of the inspired men who changed world history will be etched in your memory: President Harry S Truman, Gen. Lucius Clay, commander of American force in Europe and Gail (Hal) Halverson, the plodding pilot of freight planes throughout the War who achieved greatness and world celebrity for his exploits in 1948-1949. It was Halverson who became the “Candy Bomber”—organizing “air raids” of millions of pounds Hershey chocolates and chewing gum attached mini-parachutes fashioned from pocket handkerchiefs for the beleaguered (and hungry) children who were victims of the War. The guiding genius was General William H. Tunner who engineered the delivery of 277,000 flights carrying 4.6 billion pounds of food, coal, clothing and everything else that enabled the people of Berlin to survive and save the world from the obscene Russian bear.
Why is this book so very relevant today? Quite simply if today’s weaseling, whiny politicians here and Europe cared a damn beyond their own re-election they would read this masterpiece and see it as a model for humanitarian action. The result could be war-free zones throughout the Middle East and an airlift that could bring life and hope to desperate millions, fight terrorism with love and solve the terrible refugee problem that has engulfed the world.
Read it and weep.
—Denny Hatch
dennyhatch@yahoo.com

0Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

but also a wonderful read. It's inspirational

ByRachel Y. Thompsonon April 17, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is such an informative book, but also a wonderful read. It's inspirational, since it focuses on how a single individual's willingness to do something kind led to a remarkable program with a post-war healing impact between Americans and Germans that was so much bigger than anyone could have imagined. It's also a snap shot of the evolving cold war, with most of the key players from this period well featured. (This part of the book is very detailed, and gets fairly deep into post-war foreign policy maneuvering, but it's well worth making your way through it.) The primary Candy Bomber, Hal Halverson, who got the ball rolling, is still living in Salt Lake City, Utah. You can Google an interview with him that is simply wonderful, especially after one reads this book. I have purchased copies of the book for friends.

0Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Gum drops keep falling on my head...

ByJ. GreenVINE VOICEon February 26, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Gen. LeMay: "We must have a bad phone connection. It sounds like you are asking whether we have planes for carrying coal."
Gen. Clay: "Yes, that's what I said. Coal."
Gen. LeMay (after a long pause): "The Air Force can deliver anything." (pg 252)

For three years following the end of WWII, Germany was an occupied country and lived at the mercy of its occupiers. But when the Soviets began overthrowing Eastern European countries and making attempts to push the Americans, British, and French out of Berlin, the situation grew tense. And when they closed the supply roads leading into Berlin (which was over 100 miles inside the Soviet partition of Germany), everyone thought it was only a matter of time until the Soviets gained complete control. It was also widely feared that the world was on the cusp of WWIII and that atomic weapons would be used again. But an amazing thing happened that summer of 1948. The American commander, General Lucius D. Clay, asked for the city to be supplied by air. It was a ridiculous suggestion that 2.25 million people could be supplied by air, but he thought if they could send a message that America would not be pushed around it might at least buy them some time. But as the Soviet blockade dragged on, the Berlin Airlift kept going. Initially it was a haphazard "cowboy" operation with little organization and failing to deliver anywhere near the needed amount of food and supplies, but under Maj Gen William Tunner's command the airlift became streamlined and efficient.

Cherny explains that many Germans were willing to capitulate to the Soviets in the face of starvation, but the change in attitude for both Germans and Americans came when one of the pilots, Gail Halvorsen, began dropping candy attached to handkerchief parachutes to the children gathered at the end of the runway – which was against the rules. But as news of the candy drops spread among the children and other pilots it eventually became sanctioned by Gen. Tunner, and "Operation Little Vittles" became a widespread campaign to win the hearts of Berlin.

As Cherny tells this inspirational story foremost among the many heroes are Clay and Halvorsen. Even though the Blockade extended throughout a brutally cold and foggy winter, the Airlift showed the determination of the Americans to keep Berlin and Germany from falling in the face of Communist intimidation and violence. And he shows that even though the suffering was intense that winter, it was their trials during this stand for freedom that changed both German and American hearts. This is a very uplifting and inspirational story of when America built a tremendous amount of goodwill around the world.