Airborne Mafia

Dr. Robert F. Williams, Army University Press Research Historian & author, delivers his lecture titled “The Airborne Mafia: Organizational Culture and Institutional Change in the Cold War US Army” at the United States Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC). The lecture explores how a small group of World War II airborne officers took control of the US Army after World War II. Dominating institutional thought and imparting their values, beliefs, and norms throughout the service they enjoyed a special privilege within the group culture. Focusing on the paratrooper triumvirate of Matthew Ridgway, Maxwell Taylor, and James Gavin and the lasting impression they made on how the US Army fought.