Official website of the
City of Vancouver, Washington

General George C. Marshall and Vancouver

1996 Marshall Lecture

Presented Friday, November 08, 1996

H. Merrill Pasco

Colonel, United States Army (Ret.)

H. Merrill Pasco is a retired lawyer from Richmond, Virginia and a Colonel in the Army of the United States, retired. During World War II, he served as an Assistant Secretary and Secretary of the War Department General Staff from December 1941 until December 1, 1945. During this time he was intimately associated with Gen. George C. Marshall on a day-to-day basis. Gen. Marshall had no officially assigned aides. The Secretaries of the General Staff performed those duties for him. Col. Pasco has practiced law in Richmond since 1945 and has been active in civic affairs. He has served as a member and Chairman of the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia; a member of the Board of Trustees of the Protestant Episcopal Seminary in Virginia at Alexandria; Chairman of the Virginia Military Institute Foundation; President of the Children's Home Society of Virginia. He has participated in many other civic enterprises in his home community and has served on a number of corporate boards of directors. For his Army service with Gen. Marshall, he was awarded the Army's Distinguished Service Medal and was made an Honorary Officer of the military division of the Order of the British Empire. He was promoted to the rank of Colonel at the age of 29 when he was appointed Secretary of the War Department General Staff in 1945. Col. Pasco graduated with academic distinction from the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia Law School where he was a student instructor and a member of the Virginia Law Review editorial board . He and his wife, Carrington Lancaster Pasco, have four children and 14 grandchildren and reside in Richmond, Virginia.

Mayor Pollard, Co-Chairmen Tonkovich and Christian, and members of Vancouver's Marshall Committee, distinguished guests and students, I want you to know that I fully appreciate and am most grateful for the honor and high compliment of being this year's Marshall Lecturer, and Mayor Pollard, I thank you for that great and flattering introduction.

As our country has just selected its leader to take us into the twenty-first century, it seems most appropriate to turn our attention for a few moments to one of the twentieth century's great national leaders who seems to be often overlooked, yet, he gave us so much. He was a leader with great self certainly born both of experience and self discipline, with a high sense of duty, a willingness to accept responsibility and with character in its broadest terms. These may be considered by some to be old fashioned characteristics but they helped make General George C. Marshall a world leader and they still have relevance to the leaders of a new era.

To follow such distinguished speakers as Generals Colin Powell, Andrew Goodpasture and Samuel Walker, as well as Ambassadors Nitze and Ridgeway is quite daunting, to say the least. Much has been written and spoken about the public aspects of Marshall's unique career as a citizen soldier and statesman. It is my hope that I can provide, as the Mayor has suggested, some insight into the General's personal qualities some of which are not widely known or fully appreciated.

I was especially pleased to receive this invitation to come to the community of which General and Mrs. Marshall were so fond and which has made him such a dominant figure in its history and traditions, because of my family connection with the area. The community of Pasco, Washington, located near where the Snake River flows into the Columbia was named for my grandfather. He was U.S. Senator from Florida from 1894 to 1906 and was an active member of the Inland Waterways Committee of the Senate. He visited this area on several occasions to his great delight.

It occurred to me that some of you may be curious as to how I became associated with General Marshall in World War II. I had been practicing law in Richmond since June 15, 1940, holding a reserve commission in the Army (infantry) from VMI when, on February 15, 1941, I was ordered to active duty for one year at the War Department in Washington (no Defense Department then). I served there in the Training Branch of the General Staff until the day after Pearl Harbor when I was peremptorily assigned as a night duty officer in the Office of the chief of Staff, G.C.M. Before then that office had been closed after 5:00 p.m. each day. There were three of us lieutenants on this night duty -- Carlisle Humelsine, Bryce Harlow and me. After things settled down and regular enlisted men were given this night duty, Bryce Harlow was assigned to Legislative Liaison under General Gerry Persons and Carl Humelsine was put in charge of a special chief of staff communications office for coded messages. Carl's widow, Mary, has accompanied us on our trip and is with us here tonight I am pleased to report.

I was kept on in General Marshall's office working with Colonel Frank McCarthy on correspondence, summarizing staff studies, arranging appointment schedules and travel plans for the Chief of Staff and maintaining daily liaison with Secretary of War Stimson whose office was next door. In addition we took turns going to the White House each day to carry messages for the President from the Secretary of War and the C/S and to pick up any communication that required War Department handling.

At the time I began my work in the C/S office, the staff consisted of Colonel Orlando Ward, Majors Maxwell Taylor, Omar Bradley and Lawton Collins and Captain Walter Bedell Smith. As these men were shortly promoted to the rank of brigadier general and given command assignments, the Chief of Staff's office was staffed with reserve officers. I remained there throughout the war. I returned to Richmond in December 1945 when G.C.M. retired and was succeeded as Chief of Staff by General Eisenhower. It was a fascinating and challenging four years and gave me the opportunity to become intimately acquainted with General Marshall, both personally and professionally. An experience that has been invaluable to me throughout my life. But this is a talk about G.C.M. not me.

General Marshall, at age 59, was selected by F.D.R., out of the blue and over 34 more senior generals, to be Chief of Staff of our Army and Air Force in September 1939 -- the very day that Hitler invaded Poland. From that time until his death twenty years later in 1959 he made a greater impact upon his contemporaries through sheer force of character alone than anyone I can call to mind.

I regret that neither time nor the scope of this lecture permit a discussion of
(1) GCM's World War I experiences,
(2) his service and intimate relationship with General Pershing after World War I,
(3) his formal and often difficult relationship with General MacArthur,
(4) his modus operandi, so to speak, with those such as Winston Churchill, Field Marshall Montgomery, George Patton and Joe Stilwell to say nothing of F.D.R., Henry L. Stimson and Admiral King,
(5) the equally interesting story of Marshall's relationship with Air Force General "Hap" Arnold and how G.C.M. kept the lid on the burning issue of a separate and independent Air Force until the end of the war, or
(6) the fascinating story of the ill fated mission to China in 1946 trying to deal with Chaing Kai-Shek and the Communists or even finally
(7) the story of the complete and highly successful reorganization of the State Department which he implemented when he became Secretary of State. Among his greatest admirers have been those who served with him in the State Department such as Dean Rusk, Dean Acheson, Chip Bolin and George Kennan and the several officials from the State Department who have, among others, run the Marshall Foundation in Lexington, Virginia, in recent years. Quite obviously, his impact at the State Department was equal to his impact on the Army and Air Force during his six years as Chief of Staff.

Remember, he built and shaped from a pitiful 200,000 person Army the colossus of 8-1/2 million men and women that by early spring 1945 was closing in on the battered Axis in western Europe and the Japanese home land. Remember he launched the economic plan that put post-war Europe back on its fee. Remember he reinforced the supremacy of civilian control when he recommended to President Truman the firing of General MacArthur for insubordination; and, remember, he was a major force in forging the N.A.T.O. Alliance, implementing the Berlin Airlift and developing the atomic bomb.

The story of how G.C.M. lead the rearming of the Republic in the early 1940's, a time of deeply and widely felt isolationism and raucous domestic politics defines the public man himself. A citizen soldier whose patriotism, military acumen and administrative skills moved Winston Churchill to salute him on the eve of V.E. Day as "the true organizer of victory".

The personal qualities of General Marshall, this courtly, austere officer in public with the icy blue eyes, formal public manners and serious countenance differed 180 from the warm, relaxed, compassionate, considerate man of simple tastes in private life who had a saving sense of humor and a passion for simple justice. His public persona was the result of overpowering self discipline which he cultivated purposefully to suit his style of leadership. The aura he was able to create intentionally of an impersonal, wholly objective and serious public servant who would tolerate no interference with the performance of his public duties, coupled with his unshakable integrity and profound intellect, enabled him to achieve a position of respect with the media and the Congress as well as with President Roosevelt and Secretary Stimson that no other public figure even approached. This of course resulted in his being able to influence the media and the Congress to accept and support his views as to how to mobilize, train and equip the forces necessary to achieve victory. To Congress and the public, he spoke with candor, admitting mistakes, accepting responsibility for error, explaining what a great nation must do to put its house in order.

Marshall was the consummate politician when it came to the media and the Congress, subtle, yet forceful. His manner of speaking, his bearing, his unfailing courtesy were all part of the act which was profoundly successful.

But really what kind of man, what kind of person was this austere, aloof, public servant? In private life, Marshall was a remarkably considerate and thoughtful man. He was naturally a person of genuine humility and compassion. He had numerous god children to whom he wrote regularly as well as many old friends, families of soldiers, who had been wounded or killed, many young people, several French citizens whom he had known since World War I, with several members of the British nobility and with Queen Frederica of Greece and even Madame Chaing Kai-Shek. All this can be seen in General Marshall's papers which are being published by the Marshall Foundation at Lexington, Virginia -- already four of the planned seven volumes have been published and are available.

General Marshall was a large man in every sense of the world. Six feet tall, of erect bearing, straight sandy hair turned partially gray and trimmed weekly. He had the most intense blue eyes, a rather pleasant countenance with a long upper lip, a stubbly chin and an almost pug nose. On the whole he gave the impression of sturdiness yet trimness. He wore glasses for reading which he often misplaced. They were simple magnifying glasses obtainable anywhere and we kept several pair in strategic locations.

He had no children but Mrs. Marshall's three children by a former marriage were always close to him. The youngest son Alan, who was an infantry man, was killed in the intense fighting at Anzio Beach in Italy. When the message came of Alan's death from General Mark Clarke and we gave it to G.C.M. he stopped what he was doing and went immediately to Fort Myers to inform Mrs. Marshall and to remain with her the balance of the day.

My first impressions of General Marshall, whom I had never met before December 8, 1941, were the overwhelming power and force of his presence and his unperturbability under unrelenting pressure. It was truly awesome! He gave the impression that he was almost devoid of emotions but when angry or annoyed he could be glacial and his silence withering. He obviously had a real temper but he controlled it magnificently. He often said he could not afford to get angry for "that would be fatal -- it's too exhausting". His favorite saying was "Don't be a deep feeler and a poor thinker".

At the same time the General constantly had great concern for the feelings of others, including his immediate staff. That is, so long as they avoided trivia and performed efficiently and unobtrusively. He was particularly impatient with verbosity and protocol and he had a large dose of irreverence for pomposity. I believe his often brusque and aloof manner was a cover to save precious time and conserve his energy in the midst of war that made incredible demands on both. After all, bear in mind, he was behind his desk in Washington trying to keep at least six major balls in the air at the same time
(1) to mobilize and equip a winning Army and Air Force under a single command,
(2) to keep the President and the Secretary of War informed, supportive and happy,
(3) to maintain a cordial and working relationship with the often difficult Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. King,
(4) to deal with the Congress and the captains of industry on the political issues of the draft, appropriations and war production,
(5) holding off the Japanese while planning and selling to the British the plan to first attack and defeat the Axis powers head on on the European continent,
(6) promoting and supervising for FDR and the Secretary of War in total secrecy the planning and construction of the Atomic Bomb. No wonder his value of time and his hatred of ponderosity were so strongly felt.

The man who was probably more closely associated with Marshall over the longest period of time and who some describe as his "alter ego" was the late Robert A. Lovett. Bob Lovett was in the War Department during the entire war as Assistant Secretary for Air and was in the General's office almost daily. He was later Undersecretary of State when Marshall was the Secretary and he held the same post in the Defense Department when Marshall was Secretary of Defense. Shortly before his death, Mr. Lovett made the following observation concerning the General which I think best describes his personal qualities:

"... I find myself wondering why so little attention has been paid by historians to some of the traits of character and virtues of General Marshall which seem to me to be of cardinal importance in his noble life.

First of all I recall with wonderment, which quickly turns to something akin to reverence, his boundless generosity of mind and action under all circumstances.

Next I recall his complete lack of envy both in thought and action and his willingness to hear new ideas.

Above all I remember his grace of spirit which served to give him the incredible strength needed to bear the constant pressures placed upon him. The General was unflappable. He had style, was modest and had innate consideration of others and natural courtesy. It was therefore a great pleasure and privilege to do his bidding."

One of the most vivid impressions I have of General Marshall was his quiet confidence in his own ability to handle people and arrive at sound judgments. There was no doubt that he was quite aware of his ability to run the Army and the war better than anyone else. His great personal force was apparent to all who saw him, though partially concealed by his calm manner and soft voice. Anyone seeing him just walking from his car to the doorway of the War Department might not know who he was but there was no doubt as to what he was. He had the presence of a great man -- simple, able and candid and a very good advocate because he knew his stuff. When he came to a conclusion as to what was to be done he said it with such firmness and such solidity that you just agreed with him and you knew he was right.

I was constantly impressed with his great analytical powers and his clarity of expression. He not only had a high standard of character but the ability to express it. There was just something about him that immediately gave you a sense of loyalty to his purpose and a desire to help him fulfill that purpose.

The late Dean Acheson, as Secretary of State, had a very close relationship with General Marshall over a number of years after the war. He was impressed by the phenomenon of the General's impelling presence. Secretary Acheson in his memoirs wrote:

The moment General Marshall entered a room everyone in it felt his presence. It was striking and communicated force. His figure conveyed intensity, which his voice, low, staccato and incisive, reinforced. It compelled respect. It spread a sense of authority and calm. There was no military glamour about him and nothing of the martinet.

I was constantly struck with Marshall's direct, no nonsense approach to his responsibilities and his gift of the common touch. Staff members were under the strictest injunction to walk into his office without saluting (never, no never, open the door without going in -- to peep in or hover was fatal), take a seat and wait until the General recognized you. At his signal you were to proceed immediately and directly with your business. He would listen with great intensity and then shoot rapid-fire questions. He listened with complete concentration, his sharp blue eyes directly on you as he sat zero degrees straight in his chair with his arms folded. He often asked your views or recommendations. When the presentation involved a paper that he was expected to sign he would take it and read it, pen in hand, almost always making corrections, additions and deletions, stamping his individual style on the document. Rarely did he approve a document without making changes.

The stories of his leadership methods are legion: "Put it on a single page for me -- if you can't get the key issue for decision on a single page, you haven't thought it through." and "Don't bring me problems; bring me proposed solutions."

Shortly after Pearl Harbor, then Colonial Dwight D. Eisenhower was transferred from General Kreuger's Army Headquarters in Louisiana to the Operations Division of the War Department General Staff on G.C.M.'s personal orders and promoted to Brigadier General. He remained there for a brief period before he was promoted to Major General and sent to England to begin the planning of the invasion of Europe. During Eisenhower's tour of duty in the Operations Division he and the Division Chief, General Leonard Gerow, were busily engaged in preparing replies for General Marshall to the messages General MacArthur was firing daily from Bataan. The two officers came daily to the Chief of Staff's office with their drafts and the Chief invariably made his usual corrections and changes. On one occasion, however, I recall seeing Eisenhower emerging from the Chief's office with his famous broad grin and a paper in his hand which he patted vigorously as he said, "Hot damn, I finally got one right". It contained none of General Marshall's famous ink marks of deletions and additions.

In contrast to his aloof and seemingly impersonal manner in his office, in private and when traveling, Marshall was friendly, talkative and interested in your personal life. He was completely devoted to his family, Woe be it to any officer who failed to give him promptly any message from Mrs. Marshall whom he obviously loved and adored. He depended on her always as his closest friend and companion as well as a wife. Most of us had lunch each day in a small dining room opposite the Sec. of War's office, but not G.C.M. He regularly went home to Fort Myers 5 minutes away every day and lunched with Mrs. Marshall and took a ten minute nap.

In the fall of 1944 the General called me in his office one morning and said: "my stepdaughter, Mrs. Winn and her son Jimmy, age 3, are visiting us -- and I see by the paper that the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus is in town -- I'd like to take Jimmy this afternoon, will you arrange it and bring your 3 year old son Merrill along." I made the arrangements and when we got to the circus entrance in the General's official limousine, knowing how much the General detested giving autographs and being accosted by strangers, I told the driver to meet us after the show at a telephone pole I pointed out. The circus was great. "Weary Willie" the famous clown came up in the stands to amuse the two boys. After the circus was over and we got to the designated telephone pole with the crowd beginning to pester the General for autographs -- there was no driver! no limousine! and I thought: This is the end of my Washington tour of duty; I'll probably be the next recruiting officer in Attu, Alaska. I actually climbed up the pole and, to my great relief, spied the limousine at the next pole. We got away after some pushing and shoving. The General was obviously annoyed but the excitement of the two boys talking about the circus on the way home saved my skin.

Marshall's tastes for recreation and diversion were simple. Inside that ramrod exterior was a not very good fisherman or hunter who loved to try but seldom found the opportunity. A so-so farmer who loved to garden. A driver who would pick up soldier hitch-hikers without introducing himself when he was driving alone, out of uniform, to his house in Leesburg, Virginia. He liked nothing better than horseback riding and he rode daily before partaking a hearty breakfast and arriving at the War Department at seven forty-five. When he acquired his home in Leesburg early in the war he took obvious pleasure in gardening, trimming hedges and pruning roses.

General Leslie Groves of the Manhattan Project (atomic bomb) was kept waiting in my office one day before seeing the Chief to obtain secret authorization for a several million dollar increase in the project funding. When Groves came out of the General's office shaking his head he said the General apologized for keeping him waiting explaining that he was filling out an order for seeds for his spring garden which he had forgotten to do earlier. The entire order was $6.42.

General Marshall was most perceptive in many different ways and he had a great sense of humor. On General DeGaulle's first visit to Washington early in the war when he was the leader of the French Resistant Movement in opposition to the pro-German Vichy Government, General Marshall gave a dinner for him. It was my job to arrange the dinner. I went to the Mayflower Hotel and got everything set, including a copy of the printed menu with the French colors and stars and everything. I proudly took the menu into the General. He took one look, shook his head in disgust and said: Are you trying to create an international incident? I said no, sir, what is the problem? He said don't you know we just can't serve Vichyssoise to General DeGaulle -- I think you had better change it to cold potato soup and tossed the menu back to me with a benign grin.

Marshall's combination of dignity and humility were remarkable. During the war General Marshall directed the Secretary of the General Staff that if he received any decorations, honorary degrees or had a book written about him he would transfer him to the most undesirable post in the Army. The General's simplicity and modesty were also reflected in the uniform he wore as Chief of Staff -- always plain and simple, even when it bore five stars, with no fancy braid or gadgets or special hats. He permitted no flags or emblems on his car. He stubbornly avoided the social scene in Washington and shunned publicity and public acclaim. I am told that when one of his aides -- without permission -- sent a bodyguard to accompany him on a trip to Princeton, the Secretary of State curtly ordered: "Have this stopped. I'd rather be murdered than embarrassed to death."

Marshall had a fabulous memory. He appeared never to forget anything important except the names of his staff. He was able to store in his mind seemingly endless information and call it forth at will. He was most persuasive with the Congress in dealing with the adoption and extension of the draft and the periodic requests for increase in appropriations to increase the size of the Army. It was his practice never to deliver a prepared statement. Often he had one prepared which he studied thoroughly the day before. Then he would customarily tell the Committee Chairman that he was there at the Committee's request and would attempt to answer their questions. After a few questions were asked he would proceed with an extemporaneous monologue in a most persuasive manner that covered the subject fully. This communicated a sense of authority and competence that generally resulted in his getting what he wanted. He moved Congress as few have ever done and he was equally as persuasive with our allies.

Marshall exhibited his prodigious memory and mastery of his subject in the occasional press conferences he held in his office. These were attended by 40 to 50 correspondents and radio commentators (no tv in the early 40's). They would enter the room and take their seats. After a few pleasantries with the likes of Arthur Krock, Walter Lippman, Hansons Baldwin, Westbrook Pegler, Fulton Lewis, Jr. and others with whom he was personally acquainted, he would invite each one present to ask their questions. After hearing all the questions he would talk for 25 or 30 minutes without interruption during which time he seemed to answer every question that had been put to him without exception quite often looking at the person who had posed the question. The conferences generally adjourned when he had finished without further questions being asked. The silence of the press corp and radio commentators was powerful evidence of their respect and the completeness with which he had responded to their questions.

Marshall's humanity and consideration for others was manifest in the intense concern he had for the welfare, both mental and physical, of the soldiers in the Army. He was constantly inquiring, on all his inspection trips, and otherwise, about the adequacy of supplies for the men, the location of the PX's and the promptness with which medals were awarded. In many, many ways he showed that their welfare mattered greatly to him.

There is one example of this aspect of GCM's humanity and personal concern for his troops that it is not widely known or appreciated. As the 8-1/2 million many Army was about to be mobilized and trained, GCM frequently discussed with his immediate staff the great dilemma he faced personally of how to make the soldiers know and understand why they were fighting, why they were being asked to leave their homes and risk their very lives, when it was his responsibility ultimately to demand that they fight to their death if necessary. He felt that the training films and indoctrination speeches prepared by the Army Signal Corp and the Personnel Branch of the General Staff were unimaginative, uninspiring and ineffective. He felt that the Signal Corp and the Army Pictorial Service were not set up to produce, on a confidential basis, sensitive and objective troop information films without becoming involved in time-consuming distractions and criticism from the media and the Congress. He personally conceived the idea of establishing a special Moral Branch in his office headed by Frederick T. Osborn, the C.E.O. of one of America's leading pharmaceutical firms and a man of high civic standing and impeccable character.

Early in 1942 with General Osborn's concurrence but without the knowledge of anyone else, General Marshall personally telephoned Hollywood's leading motion picture producer Frank Capra (the equivalent of, I suppose, Steven Spielberg of today's fame) and asked him to come to Washington to see him. He just told Capra he wanted to talk to him alone.

Capra described the interview as follows in his autobiography entitled "The Name Above the Title."

"I walked to the door marked CHIEF OF STAFF and entered. There he sat behind a desk, gray, spare, undistinguished, quietly checking off items on a list. I was impressed by the intense concentration of this quiet man. Scribbling something quickly, he turned to me, smiling faintly — but only with his eyes.

"Good morning, Capra, he said. You know, it's a constant inspiration to realize how many of our fine minds are giving up careers and family life, and putting on uniforms. Yes, in a total dedication in this terrible emergency." His eyes held and searched mine. "And that's fine. That's America. Mr. Capra — you have an opportunity to contribute enormously to your country and the cause of freedom. Are you aware of that, sir?"

All I could blurt out was, "Well, General Marshall, I — I mean if you're asking me does it scare the heck out of me, I'll have to say, yessir. It does!"

With utter frankness Marshall talked for about an hour. He told Capra we were raising a very large army — around eight million — and that we were going to try to make soldiers out of boys who, for the most part, had never seen a gun. He said they were being uprooted from civilian life and thrown into Army camps. And the reason why was hazy in their minds.

"Within a short time," he explained to Capra, "we will have a huge citizens' army in which civilians will outnumber professional soldiers by some fifty to one. We may think this is our greatest strength, but the high commands of Germany and Japan are counting heavily on it being our greatest weakness. "They think our boys will be too soft, they say, too pleasure-loving, too undisciplined to stand up against their highly trained, highly indoctrinated, highly motivated professional armies. They are sure the spirit, the morale of their individual soldier is superior to ours. He has something to fight and die for — victory for the superman; establishing the new age of the superstate. The spoils of such a victory are a heady incentive.

After a pause Marshall asked Capra: "Now, how can we counter their superman incentive? The General went on to answer his rhetorical question. Well, we are certain that if anyone starts shooting at Americans, singly or collectively, Americans will fight back like tigers. Why? Because Americans have a long record of survival when their skins are at stake. What is in question is this: Will young, freewheeling American boys take the iron discipline of wartime training; endure the killing cold of the Arctic, the hallucinating heat of the desert, or the smelly muck of the jungle? Can they shake off the psychological diseases indigenous to all armies — boredom and homesickness?

In my judgment the answer is 'Yes!' Young Americans, and young men of all free countries, are used to doing and thinking for themselves. They will prove not only equal, but superior to totalitarian soldiers, if — and this is a large if, indeed — they are given answers as to why they are in uniform, and if the answers they get are worth fighting and dying for.

Marshall then addressing Capra directly said: "And that, Capra, is our job — and your job. To win this war we must win the battle for men's minds. Osborn and I think films are the answer, and that you are the answer to such films. Now, Capra, I want to nail down with you a plan to make a series of documented, factual-information films — the first in our history — that will explain to our boys in the Army why we are fighting, and the principles for which we are fighting."

Capra replied: "General Marshall, it's only fair to tell you that I have never before made a single documentary film. In fact, I've never even been near anybody that's made one — "

"Capra," he said, with a slight edge to his voice, "I have never been Chief of Staff before. Thousands of young Americans have never had their legs shot off before. Boys are commanding ships today, who a year ago had never seen the ocean before."

Capra replied: "I'm sorry, sir. I'll make you the best damned documentary films ever made."

He smiled and said: "I'm sure you will. We are all being asked to do what we never dreamed we could do. I'm asking you to tell our young men why they must be in uniform, why they must fight. These films are a top priority. I'll send you and Osborn a directive to that effect. Take charge as you have in Hollywood. Any serious hitches, report them back to me. Any questions?"

Capra replied: "Plenty, sir. But I'll find the answers."

Frank Capra, commissioned a major, armed with the directive from General Marshall with adequate direct financing from the General, enlisted the greatest talents in America, Maxwell Anderson, Charles MacArthur, Anatole Litvak, Tony Veillev, Robert Heller, Kurt Welch and many other authors and playwrights and without anyone in the Congress or the White House knowing anything about it produced the famous "Why We Fight" series of one hour training films.

1. Prelude to War — presenting a general picture of two worlds; the slave and the free, and the rise of totalitarian militarism from Japan's conquest of Manchuria to Mussolini's conquest of Ethiopia.

2. The Nazis Strike — Hitler rises. Imposes Nazi dictatorship on Germany. Goose-steps into Rhineland and Austria. Threatens war unless given Czechoslovakia. Appeasers oblige. Hitler invades Poland. Curtain rises on the tragedy of the century — World War II.

3. Divide and Conquer — Hitler occupies Denmark and Norway, outflanks Maginot Line, drives British Army into North Sea, forces surrender of France.

4. Battle of Britain — showing the gallant and victorious defense of Britain by Royal Air Force, at a time when shattered but unbeaten British were only people fighting Nazis.

5. Battle of Russia — History of Russia; people, size, resources, wars. Death struggle against Nazi armies at gates of Moscow and Leningrad. At Stalingrad, Nazis put through meat grinder.

6. Battle of China — Japan's warlords commit total effort to conquest of China. Once conquered, Japan would use China's manpower for the conquest of all Asia.

7. War Comes to America — Dealt with who, what where, why, and how we came to be the U.S.A. — the oldest major democratic republic still living under its original constitution. But the heart of the film dealt with the depth and variety of emotions with which Americans reacted to the traumatic events in Europe and Asia. How our convictions slowly changed from total non-involvement to total commitment as we realized that loss of freedom anywhere increased the danger to our own freedom. This last film of the series was, and still is, one of the most graphic visual histories of the United States ever made.

These were the seven "Why We Fight" films that were to revolutionize not only documentary filmmaking throughout the world, but also the horse-and-buggy method of indoctrinating and informing troops with the truth. Primarily made by the Army for the Army, they were used as training films by the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. The British, Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders used them as training films for their armed forces. Translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese they were shown to the armed forces of our allies in China, South America, and in various parts of Europe and Africa.

One film was shown to the American people in theaters. By an order from Winston Churchill all were shown to the British public in theaters. The Russians showed Battle of Russia throughout all their theaters. And in the chaotic months of occupation after the war, American Embassies played the Why We Fight series in enemy countries, charging ten cents for admission. The State Department has stated that these showings enriched our treasury by more than $2,500,000 — a sum six times greater than their original cost. Thus, the Why We Fight series became our official, definitive answer to: What was government policy during the dire decade 1931-41?

It was GCM's humanity and his experience with the C.C.C. Corp here in the State of Washington that lead him personally to conceive and add a new revolutionary concept to the American Army, a Morale Division which catered to the welfare of the mind and soul of a soldier. For the first time a heart was implanted into a military system that had referred to service men as "bodies" and "numbers".

The most remarkable example of Marshall's personal character occurred when the time came to choose the Supreme Allied Commander for the invasion of Europe; most everyone, from Churchill to the entire American military establishment, thought General Marshall the perfect choice. Yet when President Roosevelt pressed him for a recommendation, General Marshall, with a devout belief in civilian control, refused to lift a hand on his own behalf, insisting the president must be free to make the choice.

These are General Marshall's actual words in describing the conference with the President, taken from a taped interview with Dr. Forest Pogue his biographer:

As I recall [Mr. Roosevelt] ... asked me after a great deal of beating about the bush just what I wanted to do. Evidently it was left up to me. Well, having in mind all this business that had occurred in Washington and what Hopkins had told me, I just repeated again in as convincing language as I could that I wanted him to feel free to act in whatever way he felt was to the best interest of the country and to his satisfaction and not in any way to consider my feelings. I would cheerfully go whatever way he wanted me to go and I didn't express any desire one way or the other .... Then he evidently assumed that concluded the affair and that I would not command in Europe. Because he said, "Well I didn't feel I could sleep at ease if you were out of Washington.

This account shows no emotion yet it dealt with the greatest drama of his life; the voluntary renunciation of his enduring ambition and the handing over of the Supreme Command to General Eisenhower, whose way to the Presidency it then made possible.

When FDR finally selected General Eisenhower to lead what became the Normandy invasion, General Marshall never expressed any regret and reveled in his subordinate's success.

Though many may have forgotten G.C.M., -- his memory and heritage live in Lexington, Virginia, where the private foundation -- The Marshall Foundation maintains a library of his records and memorabilia which is most impressive and is visited by thousands each year. I hope many of you here today can visit this library and museum. I strongly recommend it. Each spring, the two top senior ROTC students from every college ROTC unit in America are invited by the Foundation to Lexington for a three-day seminar on Marshall and leadership. The Army funds this project and each year the C/S and Secretary of Defense or the Chairman of the JCS come and speak. It is an impressive group of future leaders -- 95 of the over 250 were female last year. General Colin Powell, Chairman of the JCS spoke in Lexington in 1993, having the following to say about G.C.M. in addressing the ROTC students:

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"... I turn to Marshall often for inspiration and wisdom. And the better I understand the challenges he had to face, the better I understand what a giant he truly was....

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"... [T]he values that made George Marshall one of the greatest of Americans, are not values that apply only to long dead heroes. They are the very real measures of a person's worth in every generation, and they will be for as long as there is a human civilization worth defending."

What is it about George Marshall that reaches across the years to touch so many Americans. He was certainly no flamboyant general. He was not a "character". There were no pearl handled revolvers or corncob pipe or crusty anecdotes to spice up the Marshall legend and there was no hand grenade strapped to his chest. He never wrote a book to tell his story, despite numerous lucrative offers, always saying he had been well paid for his service and did not need to be paid twice for doing his duty. He never ran for public office. He never sought popularity. He never exploited his fame. He never sought or asked for favors or recognition. He was a man driven more than anything else, by sense of duty, by the powerful, overpowering obligations of service. When he finally gave in and agreed to an official biography to be written by Forrest Pogue and to the eventual publication of his papers, it was with the expressed and explicit stipulation that no financial gain or monetary profit or compensation, of any kind should come to him or to the benefit of his family as a result of the publication and sale. His lifetime in the Army, he once observed, had been more than honor and reward enough. He often said what he had done as a soldier was simply not for sale.

To those who knew and loved General Marshall, it was no accident that the architect of military victory in Europe, should, as Secretary of State, be the architect of the Marshall Plan to help Europe recover from "hunger, poverty, deprivation, and chaos" nor was it a surprise to us that he was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. Such was his essential humanity and his commitment to public service and community involvement.

I close with a quotation which summarizes in a few words what I have tried to say. It comes from a new book just published in September of this year. It is the biography of America's famous diplomat, David E. Bruce, former Ambassador to England, France, and East Germany and a major factor in the administration of the Marshall Plan. The author of the biography, after referring to GCM as the architect of victory in the war and a latter day embodiment of Roman civic virtue, quotes Ambassador Bruce's description of General Marshall:

"(Marshall) radiated a sort of majesty about his selflessness. He was 'a wonderful combination of strength, understanding, and almost gentleness. He always spoke to the purpose. Although he never thundered like a prophet, you found yourself clinging to every syllable he utters, afraid of missing any of it.' He was not a man to be trifled with, an impressive personality, soft spoken and charming, but not one with whom anybody would dare to take liberties. His moral character was almost physically apparent."

I hope I have given you this morning some insight into the sterling and exceptional personal qualities of this most remarkable man of the twentieth century to whom each of us owes so much and the strong positive effect these personal qualities had on his unparalleled success as a preeminent leader in time of war and in preserving the peace. It was through the NATO Alliance, the policy of containment and the plan to rebuild Europe, in all of which Marshall played the dominant role, that the peace was preserved. I doubt that there has ever been a more impressive record of success in the history of statesmanship.