General George C. Marshall

December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959

Dubbed by Churchill as the “organizer of victory,” General George Marshall came from humble roots in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He was part of an old southern family that counted Chief Justice John Marshall among its relations, but his father had fallen on hard times. Marshall attended the Virginia Military Institute. Though never the most accomplished student, he excelled in military discipline and was commissioned into the Army. Early in his career, he served in the Philippines, but it was during and after World War I that his aptitude for military planning and strategy became apparent under the guidance of his mentor, Army Chief of Staff General John J. Pershing. It was this office to which Marshall would eventually rise in 1939. As Chief of Staff, Marshall was responsible for the largest military expansion and mobilization in American history. It was long assumed that Marshall would become the Supreme Allied Commander of the eventual Operation Overlord, the invasion of Western Europe, but the general known for his humility refused to lobby for the job. Roosevelt also feared losing his brilliant organizational mind in Washington, telling him, “I didn't feel I could sleep at ease if you were out of Washington.” The job would ultimately go to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, but Marshall would travel with the President to all the major wartime conferences. And it was Marshall’s name that was heard around the world when it came time to put Europe back on its feet under the European Recovery Program, better known as the “Marshall Plan,” which he outlined in his commencement address at Harvard University on June 5, 1947 during his tenure as Secretary of State.

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