Marshall, George

Marshall, George (1880–1959), soldier, World War II army chief of staff, secretary of state (1947–1949), and secretary of defense (1950–1951).George Catlett Marshall Jr. was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania; graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1901; and was commissioned in 1902. A protégé of General John J. Pershing during World War I, Marshall played a key role in planning the 1918 U.S. offensives. His most important assignment during the interwar years was as head of the Fort Benning Infantry School in Georgia (1927–1932), where he trained what would become the World War II army high command. In 1939 he became chief of staff, a position he held throughout the war. He created the largest army in U.S. history, became the leading figure on the Joint and Combined Chiefs of Staff as well as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's chief military adviser, and developed an extraordinary reputation with Congress and the public. After the war he served as special emissary to China in an unsuccessful effort to avert civil war. As secretary of state he played a major role in defining, implementing, and winning bipartisan support for an activist U.S. Cold War policy of containing Soviet expansion, most notably with the European Recovery Program. He proposed this program, subsequently called the Marshall Plan, at a Harvard University commencement address on 5 June 1947. As secretary of defense during the Korean War he rebuilt U.S. military forces and played a key role in the controversial removal of General Douglas MacArthur. He retired in 1951.

Marshall is considered the organizer of Allied victory in World War II, the architect of key U.S. Cold War policies, one of the foremost defenders of the principle of civilian control of the military, a key definer of the military's proper role in a democratic society, and a model of personal integrity and selfless public service. He was twice named Time magazine's “Man of the Year” and in 1953 he received the Nobel Peace Prize—the only professional U.S. soldier ever so honored.
See also Containment; Federal Government, Executive Branch: Department of Defense; Federal Government, Executive Branch: Department of State; Joint Chiefs of Staff; Military, The.

Bibliography

Forrest C. Pogue , George C. Marshall, 4 vols., 1963–1987.
Larry I. Bland, ed., The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, 6 vols., 1981–.

Mark A. Stoler