US Air Force General. He served as Commander-in-Chief of Strategic Air Command (now defunct) at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska from August 1974 until October 1977. After completing high school, he graduated from Western Kentucky University at Bowling Green, Kentucky and the Law School of the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky. He served with the Federal Bureau of Investigation before entering active military service as an aviation cadet after the US entered World War II in December 1941 and received his commission as a 2nd lieutenant in the US Army Air Force and pilot wings in March 1943. During World War II, he was an instructor pilot in the Air Training Command and later he served in the 3rd Air Force in crew and instructor pilot duties, as a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot, and on a B-29 Superfortress combat crew. In 1947 he served as a unit instructor with the Air Force Reserve at Standiford Field, Louisville, Kentucky, and in 1948 was transferred to the Far East Air Forces (FEAF) in the Pacific Theater. While flying with the 19th Bombardment Wing, he served as staff judge advocate for the wing and later as assistant staff judge advocate for the 20th Air Force. In April 1950 he became the assistant staff judge advocate for FEAF Headquarters in Japan and, at the outbreak of the Korean War, was assigned to temporary duty in intelligence with FEAF. In 1951 he returned to the US and was assigned to Air Materiel Command (now Air Force Material Command) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, as chief of the Appeals and Litigation Division, and as the assistant US Air Force trial attorney for litigation arising out of Air Force procurement and contractual activities. In December 1952 he left the Judge Advocate General's Department for assignment to the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and attended both B-29 refresher and KC-97 Stratotanker transition training. The following June he began successive assignments in SAC as operations officer for the 303d Air Refueling Squadron, commander of the 303d Armament and Electronics Squadron, deputy chief of operations, 303d Bombardment Wing, and commander, 358th Bombardment Squadron, all at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. He was then assigned to Headquarters 15th Air Force, SAC, as chief, Operations Division, where he planned the B-52 round-the-world non-stop flight, called Operation Power Flite, in 1957. Later he became the deputy director of operations, Headquarters 15th Air Force. In 1959 he attended the National War College at Fort McNair, Washington DC and following graduation in 1960, he was assigned duty in Headquarters US Air Force in the Office of the Deputy Director for War Plans at Washington DC. In April 1961 he was appointed Deputy Assistant Director of Plans for Joint Matters, and in February 1963 he was made the Assistant Director for Plans for Joint and National Security Council matters, all at Washington DC. His next four assignments involved joint and international duties. From 1964 to 1965 he was the deputy director for plans and operations (J-3), Headquarters U.S. European Command, in Paris, France. During this assignment in November 1964, he was the US planner for the successful US/Belgian rescue operation at Stanleyville in the Congo. In August 1965 he returned to Washington DC as director, European Region, Office of the Secretary of Defense (International Security Affairs) and In July 1967 he again returned to Europe and served until August 1969 as director, J-5 (Plans and Policy) at Headquarters US European Command at Stuttgart, Germany. In September 1969 he returned to Headquarters US Air Force where he served as the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans and Operations, and in February 1970 became Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans and Operations for the US Air Force. In April 1971 he was assigned as commander, 2nd Air Force, SAC, with headquarters at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, in April 1971. In this position, General Dougherty commanded the U.S. Air Force's largest numbered Air Force, consisting of the majority of SAC's B-52 Stratofortress bomber and KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft. In May 1972 he was promoted to the rank of general and assigned as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, headquarters of North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Allied Command Europe at Mons, Belgium and in August 1974, he returned to the US to become the Commander-in-Chief of Strategic Air Command at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. He retired in this position in October 1974 with 34 years of continuous military service. Among his military decorations and awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal with 2 oak leaf clusters, the Legion of Merit with 2 oak leaf clusters, the Bronze Star, the World War II Victory Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Joint Service Commendation Medal. He was also a rated command pilot. Additionally, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from the University of Akron at Akron, Ohio, an honorary Doctor of Science Degree from Westminster College at Fulton, Missouri, and is an "Old Master" of Purdue University at West Lafayette, Indiana. After his military retirement, he practiced law in the Washington DC area for several years. He died at the age of 86.