The Marshall plan that failed
BookPage review by Deborah Hopkinson
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, will always be remembered for the victory on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Perhaps less known is the fact that he wasn’t the only, or even top, candidate for the job. In fact, it took President Franklin D. Roosevelt a long time to select his commander. Most expected the role to go to General George Marshall.
As author Daniel Kurtz-Phelan puts it, the feeling was that since Marshall “had built the Allied war machine, he should lead it to victory.” In the end, though, his protégé got the command—and the glory. As Roosevelt told Marshall at the time, “I feel I could not sleep at night with you out of the country.” In the enthralling The China Mission, Kurtz-Phelan, executive editor of Foreign Affairs, uses archival sources and extensive research to give an in-depth look at Marshall himself, as well as a fascinating account of a little-known chapter in the history of that tumultuous era: Marshall’s difficult and complex postwar assignment in China.
Over the course of 13 months, Marshall sought to create unity in a chaotic China, prevent a Communist takeover and work with larger-than-life figures such as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Chiang Kai-shek and Madame Chiang. Ultimately, the mission failed. That failure followed Marshall the rest of his life and also made him a target of Joseph McCarthy.
In 1953, Marshall became the first military officer to win a Nobel Peace Prize, bestowed for work on the Marshall Plan, his design for the postwar recovery in Europe. Still, Marshall remains less known than many of his contemporaries in “the greatest generation.” As we approach the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, The China Mission is a timely reminder of the pivotal role George Marshall played in shaping the world we know today.
Poster Comment:
As a Korean era cold war vet, and because I had a close friend who was born in Shanghai and lived there till 1949,_this book interests me.
Just saw the author interviewed on C-Span... Good reviews...
#1: Vicomte13 To: tpaine (#0)
Didn't get the chance to get the Goldberg book this weekend. Too much driving around. Will try to do so next. I owe you a review.
It will be interesting, as you're Korean War generation military, and I'm Reagan's Navy generation. I expect that our differences of view on what Goldberg writes about will be rooted in different views of what is right and wrong for a country to do. Whether those views have even deeper roots in fundamentals of right and wrong and why and who decides remains to be seen.
But I've spent enough time speculating. I should just get the book and go through it with you.
Vicomte13 posted on 2018-04-30 06:50:36 Reply Private Reply
#2: Stoner To: tpaine (#0)
Stoner posted on 2018-04-30 09:45:15 Reply Private Reply
#3: tpaine To: Vicomte13 (#1)
Thanks for your comments, guys...
I really wasn't aware of Marshall's efforts to get the chicoms and the nationalist's togeather, till this book.. --- Fat chance from today's hindsight, but in '46 I'd guess they thought it was worth a try..
Ironic, seeing that today China is on a sort of capitalistic kick, and seems trending more to fascism than communism...
tpaine posted on 2018-04-30 11:54:15 Reply Private Reply