George C. Marshall: 1880-1959 : The American Secretary of
State who changed the fare of Europe.
by
Simona Jaselskyte
Riversdale Community College
4L
General George C. Marshall was one of those
rare men who followed a successful
military career with a distinguihed political achievemant. He was the architect
of the European Recovery Program called
the Marshall Plan after him. Its importance in Europe’s economic recovery after World War II can
hardly be overstressed.
George C. Marshall, Jr. was born on the
last day of the last month of 1880, the last of three children born to George
C. Marshall, Sr. and Laura Bradford Marshall. He had an older sister ( Marie )
and an older brother ( Stuart ) who were already in school by the time Marshall
could walk. Though his parent had roots in Virginia and Kentucky, the Marshall
family lived in Uniontown, Pennsylvania ( near Pittburgh ) where doing business
with the coal industry provided a good living for his father.
George Marshall grew up at the end of the
19th century, which in many ways was the end of one era in American
history and the beginning of another. It was a simpler time, before radios and
moves and airplanes or cars, and Marshall spent much of his time outdoors,
playing with friends and getting into trouble. Real trouble began, though, when
Marshall went to school and did not live up to his parents’ expectations.
Marshall’s sister and brother both did well
in school, but George did not and as a result never had an easy time with
school. In fact when it came time for Marshall to go to college, his own
brother begged their mother not to send him to the college he had attended.
That college was the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington, Virginia,
where Stuart had already graduated. In Stuart’s opinion, sending.
An outstanding staff officer in World War
I, Marshall served in China between 1924 and 1927. He headed the United States
army as Chief of Staff from 1939 to 1945, being
created general of the army in December 1944. Marshall had urged a
direct attack on German-held France from 1942 and opposed Winston Churchill’s
polisy of a front in North Africa. He was overruled by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
When the European second front was at last established after the D-Day landings
of June 1944 the Americans wanted a single Supreme Commander
for Northern Europe and the Mediterranean. Marshall was the obvious
choise for the post. But separate commands were decided upon and Dwight D.
Eisenhower was made commanderin- chief Europe. Marshall’s wartime
responsibilities involved a great deal of diplomatic activity. When he resigned
as chief of staff President Truman gave him the delicate task of mediating
between America’s wartime allies in China – Mao Tsetung’s communists and the
nationalists under Chiang K’ai-shek.
During World War II the United States
supported both parties as common allies against Japan. But there were clear
signs that the civil war, suspended in the 1930 was about to break out again.
The Americans decided to try to conciliate. Marshall’s mission went well at
first. A conference was arranged between the two sides. But it got nowhere.
What he saw of the corrupt regime of Chiang K’ai-shek led Marshall to recommend
his government to consider supporting
the communists. But the United States felt bound by wartime agreements with
Chiang. Marshall returned home where, in January 1947, President Truman
appointed him secretary of state. He busied himself at once with the shattered
economies of Europe. Within a month he had engineered immediate American aid to
Greece and Turkey. Then he began to prepare for his revolutionary scheme for
general European recovery.
In 1947 the British informed the U.S. that
they could no longer afford the cost of maintaining British troops in Greece to
support the Monarchist government against the communists in the continuing
civil war there. Truman, in face of the
growing danger of communism throughout Europe, granted military and economic
aid to Greece and pledged U.S. support for all free peoples against communist
take-over attempts. This declaration, which became known as the Truman
Doctrine, represented the acceptance by the U.S. of its role as a world power
and as leader of the free world. It represented the beginning of a policy of
containment of communism- the U.S. pledged their support to prevent the spread
of communism.
In June 1947 the U.S. Secretary for State,
George Marshall, announced a plan for the reconstruction of Europe. Under the Marshall
Plan huge amounts of U.S. money were made available to develop the economies of
Europe. The Marshall Plan was the logical extension of the Truman Doctrine- the
surest way to prevent the spread of communism was to create a prosperous
free-market economy in Europe. The sixteen nations that benefited from the
Marshall Plan set up the Organisation
for European Economic Co-operation
(O.E.E.C.) to draw up plans to administer the aid. The results were impressive.
By the mid-1950s Western Europe had recovered from World War II. Marshall aid
was available to all the countries of Europe but Stalin, fearing the spread of
U.S. influence, prevented the Eastern bloc, communist countries from partaking.
In 1947 Stalin set up Cominform. Its aim was to co-ordinate the activities of
communist parties throughout Europe and to integrate their economies with the
Soviet economy. The Marshall Plan, Cominform and Comecon helped consolidate the
economic division of Europe into East
and West.
SHORT QUESTIONS
QUESTION 1
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ed Cray, General of the Army, Cooper Square Press ( June 2000 )
Forrest C. Pogue , George C. Marshall Organizer of Victory, 1943-1945, Viking Press
(January 1973 )
Mark A. Stoler, George C. Marshall: Soldier-Statesman of the American Century (Twayne’s
Twentieth Century American Biography Series)
Twayne Pub ( March 1989 )
QUESTION 2
SKILLS
Sudying for this essay, I learnt to use
skills the fallowing:
1. I
learnt to look for suitable books in libraries on the topic.
2. I
used the Internet to get more information for my essay.
3. I
read many different sources for my essay and
4. I
have learnt new skills on Microsoft Word.
QUESTION 3
REVIEW
George C. Marshall: Soldier-Statesman of the American Century
Mark
Stoler writes a concise account of the life and accomplishment of George
C. Marshall, one of the greatest soldiers and statesman in U.S. history. The
opening lines in chapter one describe how Marshall was the only professional
soldier to receive the Nobel Peace prize. I found the book highly readable,
having the detailed notes that provide guidance for futher reading. It is well
worth the read.
Stoler’s work comes in at just under two
hundred pages, but adds depth with extensive notes for the reader who wishes to
pursue more details on the life and accomplishment of General Marshall. The author leans heavily on Forrest
C. Pogue, Marshall’s official biography, and others who have written
extensively on the leader and World War II. The book also features a chronology
of Marshall’s life, two sets of photos, a bibliographic essay, and index.
I found the chapter on Marshall’s time as
Secretary of State to be extremely interesting. He not only helped the passing
of the European Recovery Plan (“Marshall Plan”) during his tenure, but he also
helped negotiate the Rio Pact and Organisation of American States, witnessed
Tito’s Communist coup in Czechoslovakia, opposed the Soviet blockade of Berlin, and supported the creation of NATO.
Marshall’s immense impact on world affairs can still be felt in Western Europe
and elsewhere, as his military and diplomatic efforts set the stage for
international relations for the remainder of the 20th century.
QUESTION 4
HOW THE ESSAY WAS WRITTEN
I was told about this essay by a teacher in
class. The teacher gave me a week to think about the topic that I want to write
about. During this week I went to the school libarary and got a book on “World War
II” book. I also went on the Internet looking for information. I got some
information from Microsoft Incarta as well. I read 3 books about the topic
which were very interesting. I planed out the essay. Wrote a first draft. I
also added bits from different book and checked the dates. I typed the essay
using Microsoft Word. I printed it out and made few corrections. Printed it out
again and put it on the school website.