Arnold, Spaatz, Eaker, and even Mitchell's immediate boss, the sagacious Mason Patrick, backed him fully. 4 Arnold won five stars. Spaatz and Eaker launched an air war in Europe that finally set the Air Force free. Their mentor's words became their own words. Models of success in the new Air Force tend to be managerial.
Caution is in the wind.
Everyone knows that courage can boost a career only so high. They shone brightly, served rather long, and were quietly dismissed by fiat. They were good, solid heroes who each got a star, as Mitchell did, but they went home to intact legends, books, talk, conventions, and memory. Of course, they balked at times, but neither one was pressed by honor to lift the banner of national unpreparedness, as Billy Mitchell was. Theirs was another calling.