George C. Marshall

American soldier and statesman (1880–1959), Army Chief of Staff during World War II, Secretary of State, and architect of the Marshall Plan.

Virginia Military Institute: Lexington, Virginia military college Marshall graduated from in 1901, without a West Point appointment. His commission came through VMI rather than the Naval Academy route most senior officers took.
Louisiana Maneuvers: Large 1941 army training exercises that tested doctrine and identified rising commanders. He used the maneuvers to spot and promote officers like Eisenhower before the war began.
Dwight D. Eisenhower: Supreme Allied commander in Europe, lifted from lieutenant colonel to general by Marshall in under two years. Marshall's habit of promoting talent over seniority made Eisenhower the war's central commander.
Marshall Plan: The 1948–1952 US aid program of roughly $13 billion that rebuilt Western European economies. The program he proposed and lent his name to became the defining act of his second career.
Douglas MacArthur: Flamboyant self-promoting commander whose theater instincts clashed with Marshall's coalition discipline. The classic contrast: MacArthur cultivated celebrity while Marshall refused even to write his memoirs for money.
Philippine–American War: The 1899–1902 US campaign in which his father served, shaping the family's military tradition. Family military history framed his decision to seek an army career.
Casablanca Conference: January 1943 Allied meeting where Marshall argued for a cross-Channel invasion over Mediterranean campaigns. He lost this argument to the British, yet still ran the coalition as Chief of Staff.
Franklin D. Roosevelt: President who appointed Marshall Chief of Staff in 1938 and relied on his counsel through the war. Their partnership turned a small army into the force that fought a two-ocean war.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization: The 1949 mutual defense alliance of the United States and Western European states. Marshall as Secretary of State signed the treaty that gave the recovery program a military anchor.
Charles de Gaulle: French leader who demanded equal treatment in the recovery program and a seat at allied councils. Marshall's multilateral grant-making met its sternest European test in de Gaulle's insistence on French rank.

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