Customer Reviews

General of the Army: George C. Marshall, Soldier and Statesman

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I purchased this book following a visit to the Marshall Museum at VMI. I opened it this past autumn and began to read. As some other reviewers have indicated, 700+ pages is a daunting read. I am very glad that I sat down to read it. I didn't know very much about Marshall prior to my visit to VMI. I knew about the European Recovery Program that bore his name; I knew about his remaking of the Infantry School, and his elimination of the seniority system in promotions. That's about it.

This book is far more than a biography; it's an excellent study of the make-over of the US Army's personnel and educational system, under Marshall's guidance at the Infantry School. It's a study of the interplay between Churchill and Roosevelt. It's a study in the subbordination of the military to civil rule in America. It's a fine summary of "how we lost China," as if anything could have saved the Nationalists from their own venality and ineptitude.

It's a study in how a man of personal fortitude, rectitude, and character made such a contribution in service to his nation. We are blessed to have such figures on occasion in American life. Marshall goes into my personal list of heroes in American public-life alongside George Washington, George Mason, and Robert E. Lee.

This book is excellent in every way. The prose is well-written, and the compelling narrative keeps things moving along at a brisk pace.

George Marshall is arguably the greatest man of what has come to be known as the Greatest Generation. Only George Washington commanded a similar level of veneration and awe from his contemporaries as Marshall. And, like Washington, Marshall was revered mostly for his irreproachable integrity and honor.

In this solid, single volume life of the celebrated Army Chief of Staff, Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense, Ed Cray captures the essence of a man who was at once Olympian, yet, in a sense, quite common and whose special qualities should have been, in an ideal society, unexceptional. Marshall became a legend by being a world-class manager (one might even say a highly skilled bureaucrat) and earning a reputation for incorruptibility and almost unnatural selflessness. He was a larger-than-life figure who got that way through hard work and honesty, rather than uncommon genius or death-defying battlefield heroics. That has been Marshall's reputation since his lifetime, and Cray's biography generally endorses that image.

But this is no hagiography. As Cray tells the story, Marshall was, in fact, deeply ambitious; the prospect of being passed over for Chief of Staff drove the future five-star general to fits of despair and he fretted over his slow career advancement during the 1920s and 1930s. Moreover, Cray argues that Marshall didn't shy away from using connections and influence to advance his own cause and engaging in self-promotion when necessary, especially early on his career. In one memorable anecdote, Cray writes how a young Marshall literally elbowed his way into the Oval Office to talk President McKinley into giving him a shot at taking the Army Officer's commission test (it worked and Marshall passed). Any notion that Marshall simply worked hard, kept his head down and let the chips fall where they may has to be rejected after reading Cray's biography.

Not surprisingly, Cray devotes a great deal of focus to Marshall's role in the Second World War. He stresses Marshall's unswerving commitment to a few core strategic principles and his epic battles with some of the biggest egos of the 20th century. First, he steadfastly promoted the maximization of industrial production in the US and the careful allocation of resources based the key objectives being sought (much needed amphibious landing craft - LSTs - played an unusually critical role). Second, from the earliest days of the war Marshall maintained a steady focus on a "Europe-first" approach to strategy and a landing in France as the means to winning the war, which brought him into frequent clashes with Admiral King, General MacArthur, overall US public opinion, and, last but not least, Winston Churchill and his penchant for operations in the Eastern Mediterranean and the "soft underbelly" of Nazi Germany. Finally, Cray describes Marshall as an unapologetic defender of his commanders in Europe - especially Eisenhower - against the badmouthing and operational encroachment of the British.

Cray eloquently and accurately sums up George Marshall's life this way: "[he] exemplified in his lifetime all that was America's best - its sense of mission, of responsibility, of integrity, even nobility." Indeed. It's a shame that there aren't more like him.

This is a fine companion piece to Leonard Mosley's "Marshall: Hero For Our Times." Together, the two volumes provide a managable portrait of a man who conceivably can be considered the most influential American of the 20th Century. Forrest Pogue's volumes are far more comprehensive, though not from a human-interest standpoint. Cray's and Mosley's works explore Marshall's more sensitive facets.

Marshall's towering integrity (he wrote no memoirs because he wanted no one profiting from them) has kept him in history's shadow, though he wasn't exactly cloaked in anonymity during WWII (since he reported to Roosevelt, and gave orders to MacArthur and Eisenhower). I hope more young people will read about him, and emulate his character.

[H]is name was placed upon one of the largest public assistance programs in history, the European Reconstruction Plan.

General George Marshall deserves to be as well know as Patton or Ike. He more than anyone else is responsible for America's victory in WWII. He could have been Surpreme Commander of all forces in Europe but out of duty and honor he stayed in Washington where he was needed. No person wielded more power during the war years except perhaps FDR. He was responsible for promoting such men as Ike, Patton, and Bradley. Who knows how history might have changed if he had sought the fame and glory that Ike received as Surpreme Commander. In this book Ed Cray follows Marshall from his childhood through his WWI and WWII service, including his later positions as Secretary of Defense and Secertary of State. I don't know of any other man who did as much in his life as Marshall. Best of all, he did it all with complete honesty and integrity. He had the absolute trust of all mjor players in WWII including FDR, Churchill, and Stalin. This book derserves to be on the shelf of all WWII buffs as well as anyone who wants to know what true leadership is about.

A commendable biography, Cray provides a teasing yet comprehensive, manageable introduction to this mountainous but almost forgotten figure. "Teasing" is an appropriate description; the work draws Marshall out of the shadows but does not subject him to the glare of over-exposure.

I finished the work with two distinct feelings. First, there was the painful realization that FDR's fear Marshall would be "all but forgetten" by history largely came to pass. This book marks a significant step toward resurrection.

Second, Cray's portrait compelled me to ask why no current leaders come close to eclipsing or even matching Marshall's stature and integrity. This book challenges us to demand a higher standard.

Combining well-paced story-telling with polished diction and frank balance, Cray's achievement merits a prominent, treasured place every military and 20th century history bookshelf.

This book rested on my bookshelf for about two months after I received it from Amazon. Frankly, I found 700-plus pages a little daunting. But having read The Supreme Commander - Stephen Ambrose's masterful book on Ike's war years, this seemed a natural follow-up. It was especially alluring because Ike so admired Marshall. As I deem Ike a genuine hero, it was natural to be interested in his hero.

Well, I'm glad I tackled it! I rank it alongside biographical masterpieces like Edmund Morris's two-volume biography of Teddy Roosevelt and Ron Chernow's biography of Rockefeller. Simply put, this is one of the best books I've ever read.

For anyone interested in the WWII era, or generally the history of America in the first half of the 20th century, this is MUST reading.

James B. Hagerty
Cincinnati Ohio

It always amazes me how few Americans know about this great man.
I first heard of him while in the Army and how he made the changeover of Army from a sleepy institution and made it into one of the finest fighting forces that they world has ever seen. Then how he unleashed it upon one of the greatest threats that Western Civilisation has seen since Atilla the Hun. He then followed it up as the father of the Marshall Plan which saved western Europe from a new Dark Age and the enslavement of the Soviet Empire. All the while establishing a record of honor, honesty and integrity that is just unbelieveable. All I can say is here was a Man!

This is not a bad biography. The facts are there as well as a reasonably complete account of a very complicated part of history. But the people and groups that Marshall dealt with are simplified to the point of caricature. Similarly, matters of grand strategy and the new tactics stemming from technological advance are treated merely as things that Marshall had views on. It's not clear from the book that the author understands anything about war as fought in the mid-20th century above the cartoon level. Of course there were many people; of course things were complicated, and a great deal happened; but in over 700 pages we are entitled to some subtlety and insight, which aren't there. General Marshall, one of the truly great mean, deserves better than this.

For those of you who like their reviews to be direct and to the point: Ed Cray, a professor of journalism at the University of Southern California, has written the single best one volume life of George C. Marshall. The book is 15 years old and is unlikely to be surpassed for another 15-20 years. It is the kind of book that will still be in print 70 years after its initial publication.

Why? Well, it is well-written and a pleasure to read. More importantly, Cray does an excellent job of giving his readers a character portrait of the great general that brings the man alive. Not an easy thing to do with a subject as taciturn as Marshall. The man that emerges is one of real character. He became a protégé of General of the Armies John J. Pershing only after Marshall stood up to him as an overage captain, yelling at the general telling him he was wrong when Pershing had criticized Marshall's division. As Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, Marshall was the critical figure in building the military that defeated the axis powers. He selected the commanders, who often went on to greater fame than he enjoyed. He was the leader of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the war and often had to battle with his naval counterpart Admiral Ernest J. King. In the realm of allied strategy, he faced off against the head of the British Army, Field-Marshal Sir Alan Brooke. In both cases healthy mutual respect kept from making their differences and disputes personal. In running the army during the war, Marshall's administrative style was highly effective and can provide a model for many in other fields to follow. He also suffered. His stepson, who he had done a good deal to raise, was killed in Italy. It says a good deal about the man that he made no effort to protect one his family from dangerous assignments.

After the war, Marshall served as Secretary of State and then later as Secretary of Defense. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for the plan the State Department developed to rebuild Europe after the devastation of the war. He was twice "Time" magazine's "Man of the Year."

Marshall was the first five-star general in U.S. history and that was no accident. In this fine book Cray makes that clear.

This book is a magnificent achievement by the author in delineating the life and career of George Marshall. He is quite possibly the third most important individual, after Churchill and Roosevelt, who are responsible for Allied victory (I deliberately omit anyone from the Soviet Union).

Marshall took an army of less than 250,000 in 1940 and expanded it, so that by war's end, it had grown to over 8 million men. Marshall understood more than anyone the overall logistics of a modern mechanized army. This was an army, that even at the time of Pearl Harbour, had few planes and tanks. It did not have the capacity to move men and equipment across vast oceans.

The book describes the career of Marshall when he joined the army before World War I. He fought in France and we see how he listened and learned. Marshall was not a man afraid to challenge superiors - he had it out with Pershing (after which they became life long friends). And very admirably, Marshall encouraged subordinates to question him - he was not someone who wished to be surrounded by `yes' men.

After the First World War Marshall had various postings through-out the U.S. and in the Philippines and China. It was only in 1939 that he became Chief of Staff.

He participated in all the major war conferences with Churchill and Roosevelt, starting with Placentia Bay off the coast of Newfoundland. Although he wanted a landing in France almost as soon as America was involved in the war this would have been a mistake. Both Roosevelt and Churchill wanted U.S. involvement to start in North Africa where the American army had a very tough initiation. Even during the invasion of Sicily and Italy in 1943 the learning curve was arduous. Only by 1944 did the Allies have the requisite troops, landing craft and airpower to force a successful landing in Normandy.

Marshall was right in resisting all of Churchill's requests for alternate strategies like landing troops in Greece or proceeding northward in Italy to Yugoslavia. These divergences would have drained manpower and supplies from the invasion of France. Marshall always insisted that France be the first priority.

The author describes the relationships in Marshall's long career, like Harry Hopkins, John Dill and Eisenhower.

After the war Marshall was sent by Truman on a hopeless mission to China to attempt to negotiate a truce between the Communists and the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek. Why the mostly practical Truman administration thought that America could accomplish lasting peace in China illustrates how ubiquitous America thought of itself after the Second World War. America wasted billions of dollars in China (mostly to Chiang Kai-shek) during and after World War II. Unfortunately Marshall became a scapegoat for this during the ugly probing of the McCarthy period.

But Marshall was wholly correct with his program of aid to Europe which was in chaos and ruin after the war. The Soviet Union was only plundering the vast areas it had occupied. America, through the Marshall plan, helped Western Europe back on its feet. The Marshall Plan is in many ways, the reason why Western Europe is today prosperous and democratic.

Marshall was also supportive of Truman in his dismissal of MacArthur in Korea. MacArthur wanted to expand the zone of fighting in Korea to include China; both the President and the Chiefs of Staff were opposed. There could be no greater contrast between the flamboyant and eccentric MacArthur who constantly required attention and the straight-forward and un-obtrusive Marshall. Marshall's personality is to some extent, the reason why he is today not as well known as some of the other great personas of the Second Worlds War like MacArthur, Patton, and Eisenhower.
This too, is what makes this story so important, it brings back to life a most important character in the growth of America.

Following Marshall's career is much like witnessing the development of the U.S. He started off in a modest income family in a country that was isolated and insular. He was instrumental in bringing his country to World power status.