A General’s Last Call: George C. Marshall as Secretary of Defense

Description

The opportunity to retire evaded George Marshall. In September 1950, General Marshall, as he was called by everyone, left his office at the American Red Cross and was driven across the Potomac River to the Pentagon to be sworn into his new post as Secretary of Defense.

If you did not know that the General of the Army George Marshall’s last official office was Secretary of Defense, you would not be alone. For most people, his story ends with the Marshall Plan, and there has not been a biography dedicated to George Marshall in his final official role until now.

Wayne Thompson, a professor of politics at the Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University, was invited to write the first book exclusively devoted to Marshall’s last official assignment as secretary of defense by Marshall Foundation librarian Paul Barren, and was then given access to the Marshall Foundation’s papers and records. Over the next several years of hard work, this study came together.

“A lively, well-researched and judicious portrait of a great leader who, in his last post in public service, once again rallied to serve his country in an hour of turmoil and war. A humane and important assessment of a noble leader.”
– William I. Hitchcock, Corcoran Professor of History, University of Virginia

“Dr. Thompson walks the reader through Marshall’s final year in service to the Nation, and in doing so, leaves the reader in awe of the extraordinary talent and skill of this American icon.”
– Bruce K. Scott, Major General, USA (Ret.), President & CEO, The Olmsted Foundation

“A General’s Last Call is rich in detail, meticulously researched, and engagingly written.…The reader will be struck by parallels to current challenges.”
– Dr. Ann L. Phillips, Former director for the Security, Stability, Transition and Reconstruction Program,
The George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

“Enlightening and highly readable!”
– Peter Wittig, German Ambassador to the United States, 2016–2018