The outbreak of World War II found the U.S. air arsenal still pitifully neglected. To bring the magnitude of the problem to public attention, de Seversky wrote Victory Through Airpower. The book became a best seller and awoke people to the need for better airpower. For his efforts he was awarded the Medal of Merit by President Harry Truman. "De Seversky began his military life at a young age. After serving in the Imperial Russian Navy, he received high honors and was the ace in the Navy after engaging in over 57 aerial combats. After coming to the United States, he created the Seversky Aircraft company before being forced out of the presidency of his own company in 1939. Seversky published Victory Through Air Power in 1942, and explained his theories of aviation and long-range bombing as influenced by General Billy Mitchell. Seversky argued that: "The rapid expansion of the range and striking power of military aviation makes it certain that the United States will be as exposed to destruction from the air, within a predictable period, as are the British Isles today;" Those who deny this possibility are exhibiting something like a "Maginot line mentality"; The U.S. must begin preparing immediately for "an interhemispheric war direct across oceans;" The U.S. must become the dominant air-power nation, "even as England in its prime was the dominant sea-power nation of the world." #ww2#avation#hardcover