George Marshall

George Catlett Marshall, Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959), was an American soldier and statesman famous for his leadership roles during World War II and after. He was Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense. He was hailed as the "organizer of victory" by Winston Churchill for his leadership of the Allied victory in World War II, Marshall served as the United States Army Chief of Staff during the war and as the chief military adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Marshall's name was given to the Marshall Plan, subsequent to a commencement address he presented as Secretary of State at Harvard University in the June of 1947. The speech recommended that the Europeans collectively create their own plan for rebuilding Europe after World War II noting, "It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world." The State Department developed most of the plan, and Truman was shrewd enough to let Marshall's name be attached to it. Unlike Truman, Marshall was widely admired by members of both political parties. Marshall received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 for the plan, which was aimed at the economic recovery of Western Europe after World War II.

Early life

George Catlett Marshall, Jr., was born into a middle-class family in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, the son of George Catlett Marshall, Sr. and Laura Emily (née Bradford) Marshall. Marshall was a scion of an old Virginia family, as well as a distant relative of former Chief Justice John Marshall. Marshall graduated from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), where he was initiated into the Kappa Alpha Order, in 1901.

Entry into the Army and the Philippines

Following graduation from VMI, Marshall was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Until World War I, he was posted to various positions in the US and the Philippines. He served as an infantry platoon leader and company commander in the Philippines during the Philippine–American War and several other guerrilla uprisings. He was schooled and trained in modern warfare. His pre-war service included a tour at Fort Leavenworth, KS from 1906 to 1910 as both a student and an instructor.

World War I

During the First World War, he had roles as a planner of both training and operations. He went to France in mid-1917 as the director of training and planning for the 1st Infantry Division. In mid-1918, he was posted to American Expeditionary Forces headquarters, where he worked closely with his mentor General John J. Pershing and was a key planner of American operations. He was instrumental in the planning and coordination of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which contributed to the defeat of the German Army on the Western Front.

Between World War I and II

In 1919, he became an aide-de-camp to General John J. Pershing. Between 1920 and 1924, while Pershing was Army Chief of Staff, Marshall worked in a number of positions in the US Army, focusing on training and teaching modern, mechanized warfare. Between World Wars I and II, he was a key planner and writer in the War Department, commanded the 15th Infantry Regiment (United States) for three years in China, and taught at the Army War College. In 1927, as a Lieutenant Colonel, he was appointed assistant commandant of Fort Benning, where he initiated major changes. From June 1932 to June 1933 he was the Commanding Officer at Fort Screven, Savannah Beach, Georgia, now named Tybee Island.

In 1934, Col. Marshall put Edwin F. Harding in charge of the Infantry School's publications, and Harding became editor of Infantry in Battle, a book that codified the lessons of World War I. Infantry in Battle is still used as an officer's training manual in the Infantry Officer's Course and was the training manual for most of the infantry officers and leaders of World War II. Marshall was promoted to Brigadier General in October 1936. He commanded the Vancouver Barracks in Vancouver, Washington, from 1936 to 1938. In July 1938, Marshall was assigned to the War Plans Division in Washington D.C. and subsequently reassigned as Deputy Chief of Staff. In that capacity, then-Brigadier General Marshall attended a conference at the White House at which President Roosevelt proposed a plan to provide aircraft to England in support of the war effort, lacking forethought with regard to logistical support or training. With all other attendees voicing support of the plan, Marshall was the only person to voice his disagreement. Despite the common belief that he had ended his career, this action resulted in his being nominated by President Franklin Roosevelt to be Army Chief of Staff. Marshall was promoted to General and sworn in on September 1, 1939, the day German forces invaded Poland. He would hold this post until the end of the war in 1945.

World War II

As Chief of Staff, Marshall organized the largest military expansion in U.S. history, inheriting an outmoded, poorly equipped army of 189,000 men and, partly drawing from his experience teaching and developing techniques of modern warfare as an instructor at the Army War College, coordinated the large-scale expansion and modernization of the U.S. Army. Though he had never actually led troops in combat, Marshall was a skilled organizer with a talent for inspiring other officers. Many of the American generals who were given top commands during the war were either picked or recommended by Marshall, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jacob L. Devers, George S. Patton, Terry de la Mesa Allen, Sr., Lloyd Fredendall, Leslie McNair, Mark Wayne Clark and Omar Bradley.

Expands military force forty fold

Faced with the necessity of turning an army of former civilians into a force of over eight million soldiers by 1942 (a fortyfold increase within three years), Marshall directed General Leslie McNair to focus efforts on rapidly producing large numbers of soldiers. With the exception of airborne forces, Marshall approved McNair's concept of an abbreviated training schedule for men entering Army land forces training, particularly in regard to basic infantry skills, weapons proficiency, and combat tactics. At the time, most U.S. commanders at lower levels had little or no combat experience of any kind. Without the input of experienced British or Allied combat officers on the nature of modern warfare and enemy tactics, many resorted to formulaic training methods emphasizing static defense and orderly large-scale advances by motorized convoys over improved roads. In consequence, Army forces deploying to Africa suffered serious initial reverses when encountering German armored combat units in Africa at Kasserine Pass and other major battles. Even as late as 1944, U.S. soldiers undergoing stateside training in preparation for deployment against German forces in Europe were not being trained in combat procedures and tactics currently being employed there.

Replacement system criticized

Originally, Marshall had planned a 265-division Army with a system of unit rotation such as practiced by the British and other Allies. By mid-1943, however, after pressure from government and business leaders to preserve manpower for industry and agriculture, he had abandoned this plan in favor of a 90-division Army using individual replacements sent via a circuitous process from training to divisions in combat. The individual replacement system (IRS) devised by Marshall and implemented by McNair greatly exacerbated problems with unit cohesion and effective transfer of combat experience to newly trained soldiers and officers. In Europe, where there were few pauses in combat with German forces, the individual replacement system had broken down completely by late 1944. Hastily trained replacements or service personnel re-assigned as infantry were given six weeks' refresher training and thrown into battle with Army divisions locked in front-line combat.

The new men were often not even proficient in the use of their own rifles or weapons systems, and once in combat, could not receive enough practical instruction from veterans before being killed or wounded, usually within the first three or four days. Under such conditions, many replacements suffered a crippling loss of morale, while veteran soldiers were kept in line units until they were killed, wounded, or incapacitated by battle fatigue or physical illness. Incidents of soldiers AWOL from combat duty as well as battle fatigue and self-inflicted injury rose rapidly during the last eight months of the war with Germany. As one historian later concluded, "Had the Germans been given a free hand to devise a replacement system..., one that would do the Americans the most harm and the least good, they could not have done a better job."

Marshall's abilities to pick competent field commanders during the early part of the war was decidedly mixed. While he had been instrumental in advancing the career of the able Dwight D. Eisenhower, he had also recommended the swaggering Lloyd Fredendall to Eisenhower for a major command in the American invasion of North Africa during Operation Torch. Marshall was especially fond of Fredendall, describing him as "one of the best" and remarking in a staff meeting when his name was mentioned, "I like that man; you can see determination all over his face." Eisenhower duly picked him to command the 39,000-man Central Task Force (the largest of three) in Operation Torch. Both men would later come to regret that decision after the U.S. Army debacle at Kasserine Pass.

Planned invasion of Europe

During World War II, Marshall was instrumental in preparing the U.S. Army and Army Air Forces for the invasion of the European continent. Marshall wrote the document that would become the central strategy for all Allied operations in Europe. He initially scheduled Operation Overlord for April 1, 1943, but met with strong opposition from Winston Churchill, who convinced Roosevelt to commit troops to Operation Husky for the invasion of Italy. Some authors think that World War II could have ended one year earlier if Marshall had had his way; others think that such an invasion would have meant utter failure. But it is true that the German Army in 1943 was overstretched, and defense works in Normandy were not ready.

It was assumed that Marshall would become the Supreme Commander of Operation Overlord, but Roosevelt selected Dwight Eisenhower as Supreme Commander. While Marshall enjoyed considerable success in working with Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he refused to lobby for the position. President Roosevelt didn't want to lose his presence in the states. He told Marshall, "I didn't feel I could sleep at ease if you were out of Washington." When rumors circulated that the top job would go to Marshall, many critics viewed the transfer as a demotion for Marshall, since he would leave his position as Chief of Staff of the Army and lose his seat on the Combined Chiefs of Staff.

On December 16, 1944, Marshall became the first American general to be promoted to five-star rank, the newly created General of the Army – the American equivalent rank to field marshal. He was the second American to be promoted to a five-star rank, as William Leahy was promoted to fleet admiral the previous day.

Throughout the remainder of World War II, Marshall coordinated Allied operations in Europe and the Pacific. He was characterized as the organizer of Allied victory by Winston Churchill. Time magazine named Marshall Man of the Year for 1943. Marshall resigned his post of Chief of Staff in 1945, but did not retire, as regulations stipulate that Generals of the Army remain on active duty for life.

Analysis of Pearl Harbor intelligence failure

After World War II ended, the Congressional Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack received testimony on the intelligence failure. It amassed 25,000 pages of documents, 40 volumes, and included nine reports and investigations, eight of which had been previously completed. Among these documents was a report critical of Marshall for his delay in sending General Walter Short, the Army commander in Hawaii, important information concerning a possible attack on December 6 and 7. The report also criticized Marshall’s admitted lack of knowledge of the readiness of the Hawaiian Command during November and December 1941. Ten days after the attack, Lt. General Short and Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, commander of the Navy at Pearl Harbor, were both relieved of their duties. The final report of the Joint Committee did not single out and fault Marshall. While the report was critical of the overall situation, the committee noted that subordinates had failed to pass on important information to their superiors, including Marshall. The report noted that once General Marshall received information about the impending attack, he immediately passed it on.

Post War: China

In December 1945, President Harry Truman sent Marshall to China to broker a coalition government between the Nationalist allies under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and Communists under Mao Zedong. Marshall had no leverage over the Communists, but he threatened to withdraw American aid essential to the Nationalists. Both sides rejected his proposals and the Chinese Civil War escalated, with the Communists winning in 1949. His mission a failure, he returned to the United States in January 1947. Chiang Kai-shek and some historians later claimed that cease-fire, under pressure of Marshall, saved the Communists from defeat. As Secretary of State in 1947–48, Marshall seems to have disagreed with strong opinions in The Pentagon and State department that Chiang's success was vital to American interests, insisting that U.S. troops not become involved.

Secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize

After Marshall's return to the U.S. in early 1947, Truman appointed Marshall Secretary of State. He became the spokesman for the State Department's ambitious plans to rebuild Europe. On June 5, 1947 in a speech at Harvard University, he outlined the American proposal. The European Recovery Program, as it was formally known, became known as the Marshall Plan. Clark Clifford had suggested to Truman that the plan be called the Truman Plan, but Truman immediately dismissed that idea and insisted that it be called the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan would help Europe quickly rebuild and modernize its economy along American lines. The Soviet Union forbade its satellites to participate.

Marshall was again named Time's Man of the Year for 1947. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for his post-war work in 1953, the only career officer in United States Army to ever receive this honor. (Theodore Roosevelt, President of the USA and veteran of the Spanish–American War, received the Peace Prize for having negotiated peace in the Russo-Japanese war in 1904-5. Charles Gates Dawes, a veteran of World War 1, received the Peace Prize for 1925 for having contributed to reducing the tension between Germany and France after the First World War. In 1917 Dawes received his commission as a major in the U.S. Army and twenty-six months later was discharged as a brigadier general. He served on General Pershing's staff with Colonel George C. Marshall.)

As Secretary of State, Marshall strongly opposed recognizing the state of Israel. Marshall felt that if the state of Israel was declared that a war would break out in the Middle East (which it did in 1948 one day after Israel declared independence). Marshall saw recognizing the Jewish state as a political move to gain Jewish support in the upcoming election, in which Truman was expected to lose to Dewey. He told President Truman in May 1948, "If you (recognize the state of Israel) and if I were to vote in the election, I would vote against you."

Marshall resigned from the State Department because of ill health on January 7, 1949, and the same month became chairman of American Battle Monuments Commission. In September 1949, Marshall was named president of the American National Red Cross.

Secretary of Defense

When the early months of the Korean War showed how poorly prepared the Defense Department was, President Truman fired Secretary Louis A. Johnson and named Marshall as Secretary of Defense in September 1950. On September 30, Defense Secretary George Marshall sent an eyes-only message to MacArthur saying "We want you to feel unhampered tactically and strategically to proceed north of the 38th parallel." His main role was to restore confidence and rebuild the armed forces from the post-war state of demobilization. He served in that post for one year, retiring from public office for good in September 1951. In 1953, he represented America at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

Death and legacy

He died at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. on October 16, 1959. He was 78 years old. He is interred at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

After leaving office, in a television interview, Harry S. Truman was asked who he thought was the American who had made the greatest contribution of the preceding thirty years. Without hesitation, Truman picked Marshall, adding "I don't think in this age in which I have lived, that there has been a man who has been a greater administrator; a man with a knowledge of military affairs equal to General Marshall."

Orson Welles, in an interview with Dick Cavett, said that "Marshall is the greatest man I ever met... I think he was the greatest human being who was also a great man... He was a tremendous gentleman, an old fashioned institution which isn't with us anymore."

In spite of world-wide acclaim, dozens of national and international awards and honors and the Nobel Peace prize, public opinion became bitterly divided along party lines on Marshall's record. While campaigning for president in 1952, Eisenhower denounced the Truman administration's failures in Korea, campaigned alongside McCarthy, and refused to defend Marshall's policies. Marshall, who assisted Eisenhower in his promotions, and in refusing to lobby for the position of supreme commander effectively stood aside, thus allowing Eisenhower an opportunity to be chosen for that role, was surprised at the lack of a positive statement supporting him from Eisenhower during the McCarthy hearings.

Family life

Marshall married Elizabeth Carter Coles in San Antonio, Texas, in 1902. Elizabeth Coles Marshall died in 1927.

In 1930, Marshall married Katherine Boyce Tupper (October 8, 1882 - December 18, 1978), widow of Baltimore lawyer Clifton Stevenson Brown and the mother of three children. One of Marshall's stepsons with Tupper was US Army Lieutenant Allen Tupper Brown, who was killed by a German sniper in Italy on May 29, 1944. Another stepson was Major Clifton Stevenson Brown, Jr. (1914-1952). Step-daughter Molly Brown Winn, who is the mother of actress Kitty Winn, was married to US Army Major James J. Winn (former aide to General Marshall).

Marshall was a Freemason, having been made a Mason “at sight” in 1941 by the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia.

George Marshall maintained a home, known as Dodona Manor (now restored), in Leesburg, Virginia.

Dramatic portrayals

• Marshall was played by Donald Eugene McCoy in the Chinese movie Founding of a Republic.
• Marshall was played by Harris Yulin in the television drama Truman.
• Marshall was played by Scott Wilson in the 2001 film Pearl Harbor.
• Marshall was played by Harve Presnell in the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan.
• Marshall was played by Keith Andes in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!.
• Marshall was played by Ward Costello in the 1977 film MacArthur.
• Marshall was played by Richard DuVal in the 2012 Russian mini-series "Chkalov".

Awards and decorations

U.S. military honors

• Distinguished Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster
• Silver Star
• Philippine Campaign Medal 
• World War I Victory Medal with four battle clasps
•  Army of Occupation of Germany Medal
•  American Defense Service Medal
•  American Campaign Medal
•  World War II Victory Medal
•  National Defense Service Medal

Foreign orders

• Honorary Knight Grand Cross Order of the Bath (United Kingdom)
• Grand Cross Legion of Honor (France)
• Order of Military Merit (Brazil)
• Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (Chile)
• Grand Cross of the Order of Boyacá Cherifien (Columbia) (Given by President Ospina Perez as he opened the IX Panamerican Conference)
• Order of Military Merit, First Class (Cuba)
• Star of Abdon Calderon, First Class (Ecuador)
• Grand Cross Order of George I with swords (Greece)
• Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Italy)
• Order of the Crown of Italy (Italy)
• Grand Cross of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite (Morocco)
• Grand Cross with Swords Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands)
• Grand Cross Order of Military Merit (Soviet Union)
• Order of Suvorov, 1st class (Soviet Union)
• Gran Official del Sol del Peru (Peru)

Foreign decorations and medals

• Croix de Guerre (France)
• Centennial Medal (Liberia)
• Silver Medal for Bravery (Montenegro)
• Medal of La Solidaridad, 2nd Class (Panama)

Civilian honors

• In 1946, he was awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal.
• In 1948, he was awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award for his role and contributions during and after World War II.
• Nobel Peace Prize 1953 for the Marshall Plan.
• The United States Postal Service honored him with a Prominent Americans series (1965–1978) 20¢ postage stamp.
• 1959 Karlspreis (International Charlemagne Prize of the city of Aachen).
• 1960 George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, originally the Army Ballistics Missile Agency at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville Alabama, became a NASA field center and was renamed.
• The British Parliament established the Marshall Scholarship in recognition of Marshall's contributions to Anglo-American relations.
• Many buildings and streets throughout the U.S. and other nations are named in his honor.
• George C. Marshall Award, the highest award given to a chapter in Kappa Alpha Order.
• George C. Marshall High School, founded in 1962 and located in Falls Church, Virginia, is the only public high school in the United States named for Marshall. The nickname of the school – "The Statesmen" – appropriately reflects his life and contributions.
• The Marshall Elementary School is in the Laurel Highlands School District, Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
• George C. Marshall Elementary School: located in Vancouver, Washington.

The George C. Marshal European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

• George Catlett Marshall Medal, awarded by the Association of the United States Army. Awarded to Bob Hope in 1972.