Champion of War, Champion of Peace: The Leadership of George C. Marshall

On November 19 at noon, Gerald M. Pops delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Champion of War, Champion of Peace: The Leadership of George C. Marshall."

George Catlett Marshall, recognized early on as the U.S. Army’s most capable leader, overcame a number of obstacles to become Army Chief of Staff on the very day World War II began. He served as the de facto leader of America’s military until the end of the war and then went on to serve in China as President Truman’s ambassador and then as secretary of state, president of the American Red Cross, and secretary of defense. As the father of the European Recovery Act (appropriately labeled by Truman as the “Marshall Plan”), Marshall is credited with jump-starting western Europe’s postwar economic and political recovery and laying the foundation for long-term European-American relations. For this he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This lecture will focus primarily on his extraordinary leadership between September 1939 and December 1941 in preparing America for war.

Gerald M. Pops is emeritus professor of public administration at West Virginia University. He is the author of several books, including Ethical Leadership in Turbulent Times: Modeling the Public Career of George C. Marshall.

The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

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