Born: Dec. 31, 1880, at Uniontown, Pa.
Family Background: His father was a prosperous coal and coke industryoperator. He is a distant relative of Chief Justice John Marshall.
Education: Graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1901 18th inhis class, cadet corps first captain, and an All-Southern Conferencetackle.
Marriage: Married in 1902 at 21 to Elizabeth Carter Coles. She died in1927. In 1930, he married Katherine Boyce Tupper Brown, a widow. He hasno children. One of his three stepchildren, Lieut. Allen Tupper Brown,was killed in action in Italy in May 1944.
Army Career: Commissioned a 2nd lieutenant of infantry after graduation,and sent to 30th Infantry in Philippines. Later in the Philippines, hebecame so highly regarded for his staff work that he never thereafterhad a combat field command of his own. A captain when the U.S. enteredWorld War I, he served as chief of operations of the First Army, thenchief of staff of the VIII Army Corps in France. His best-known feat inWorld War I: planning the covert movement of 500,000 U.S. troops and2,700 guns from St. Mihiel to the Meuse-Argonne front in 14 days.General Pershing called him the finest officer of the war, took him onas his aide from 1919 to 1924. Marshall spent the next three years onduty with the isth Infantry Regiment at Tientsin, China.
In 1933, he became a colonel. Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur assignedhim to Chicago as senior instructor of the Illinois National Guard.Marshall for the first time in his career protested the assignment.”George had a grey, drawn look which I had never seen before,” recalledMrs. Marshall. Pershing is said to have complained in vain to FranklinRoosevelt, but the assignment stood.
In 1936, he became a brigadier general and commander of the 5th Brigadeat Vancouver Barracks, thereafter rose rapidly: Chief of War PlansDivision of the General Staff, then Deputy Chief of Staff in 1938,Acting Chief of Staff in July 1939. The day the Nazis attacked Poland,Sept.1, 1939, Franklin Roosevelt reached over the heads of 34 seniorofficers to make Marshall Chief of Staff, wearer of the four stars of afull general and, as events turned, one of the principal architects ofvictory in World War II. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson called him”the finest soldier I have ever known.”
Political Career: Twelve weeks after V-J day, Marshall retired toLeesburg, Va., but was just unpacking his automobile when Harry Truman,who considers him the “greatest living American,” asked him to go toChina as a special representative, with the rank of ambassador. Hismission: to unify the Nationalists and Communists. The mission failed;Marshall returned to the U.S. Jan. 19, 1947, was appointed Secretary ofState and confirmed unanimously by the Senate within an hour.Best-known action as Secretary: the Marshall Plan. Resigned after twoyears because of illness. Summoned from retirement a second time onSept. 12, 1950, named Secretary of Defense to succeed ousted LouisJohnson.