Historical Figures Codexery

George C. Marshall

Organizer of victory and architect of European recovery

George Catlett Marshall Jr. was an American military officer and diplomat born on 31 December 1880 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.[1][2] Marshall was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 for the Marshall Plan that bore his name.[3][4]

Quick Facts

Born
31 December 1880
Died
16 October 1959
Field
Military officer and diplomat
Nationality
American
Known for
  • Marshall Plan
  • organizing Allied victory in World War II
  • Nobel Peace Prize 1953

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

After finishing his studies at the Virginia Military Institute in 1901, Marshall obtained his second lieutenant of Infantry commission in February 1902.[2] During the Philippine–American War, Marshall performed duties as a platoon leader and company commander in the Philippines.[2] Marshall took over as Chief of Staff in 1939 and remained in that post until 1945 when the war concluded.[5] From 1947 through 1949, while serving as Secretary of State, Marshall promoted the reconstruction of Europe via the initiative later called the Marshall Plan.[4]

What the cited sources add

A History Net article notes that Marshall once told an artist, "You have endowed me with more of a MacArthur personality than my own less colorful characteristics"[6] The same source reports that Marshall was an average student at the Virginia Military Institute.[6] The Military Times records that Marshall received a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a second Award of the Army Distinguished Service Medal for service from September 1939 through November 1945.[7] The same article notes that Marshall was far more politically attuned than is often realized.[8]

A We Are The Mighty article explains that the rank of field marshal was not adopted because "General Marshall" would have sounded ridiculous as "Marshal Marshall".[9]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "George C. Marshall" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Historical Office (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "George C. Marshall" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: George Catlett Marshall Timeline (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "George C. Marshall" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: CNN: George C. Marshall (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "George C. Marshall" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Del Testa Lemoine Strickland 2001, p. 120; Marshall Is Named Head 1949, p. 6 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "George C. Marshall" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Underwood, "The Wings of Democracy: The Influence of Air Power on the Roosevelt Administration, 1933-1941", Texas A&M University Press, 1991, p. 191–192 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. "MARSHALL & MACARTHUR: THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE", History Net, 1 October 2018. facts only, no text reused. historynet.com
  7. "George Catlett Marshall", Military Times. facts only, no text reused. valor.militarytimes.com
  8. Holt, "Relax—It's Only a Maneuver", HistoryNet, 1 December 1992. facts only, no text reused. historynet.com
  9. Stilwell, "This is why there's no Field Marshal rank in the US military", We Are The Mighty, 2021-03-11. facts only, no text reused. wearethemighty.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article George C. Marshall (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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