Butler was born in 1939 at Fort Benning, Georgia,[1] and graduated in 1957 from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia.

He received French language training at the State Department's Foreign Services Institute, Arlington, Virginia, prior to attending the University of Paris.

After graduation, he attended F-4 combat crew training school and was assigned in March 1968 to the 12th Tactical Fighter Wing, Cam Ranh Bay Air Base, South Vietnam.

The Strategic Air Command was the nation's major nuclear deterrent force with bombers, tankers, reconnaissance aircraft and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

In a series of public statements, beginning with a major speech at the National Press Club in 1996, he called for the outright abolition of nuclear weapons.

In 1999, he and his wife founded the Second Chance Foundation, dedicated to promoting responsible global reduction of nuclear dangers.

[3] Author: Uncommon Cause – Volume I: A Life at Odds with Convention – The Formative Years, and Uncommon Cause – Volume II: A Life at Odds with Convention – The Transformative Years (Published 2016) Books by General George Lee Butler This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Air Force