GEORGE MARSHALL: ORGANISER OF VICTORY.

This article focuses on the military and diplomatic legacy of General George Catlett Marshall, chief of staff of the US Army during World War II and later U.S. Secretary of State and Defense. Marshall was instrumental in planning Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy, and in orchestrating the expansion and coordination of U.S. forces during the war, though he did not personally lead the D-Day landings. Postwar, he championed the European Recovery Program (ERP), known as the Marshall Plan, which provided extensive American aid for rebuilding Europe, and helped establish the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to secure Western Europe during the Cold War. Marshall also served as a special ambassador to China in an unsuccessful attempt to mediate the Chinese Civil War and played a key role in upholding civilian control over the military during the Korean War by supporting President Truman’s dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur. [Extracted from the article]