Book Description

Covering the period between George C. Marshall becoming Chief of Staff in September 1939 and the first military successes in 1942 (Guadalcanal, El Alamein, Northwest Africa), this volume describes how Marshall built up an army and air corps of fewer than 200,000 in 1939 with key players such as Harry Hopkins, FDR’s confidant, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, President Roosevelt and Congress. “This work on Marshall continues to be the fine scholarly product that one expects from its author.” — C. P. Stacey, International Journal “Dr. Pogue has written a splendid account of the army high command in World War II. It makes an important contribution to the history of our times and complements previously-published memoirs and official histories. The military specialist will be impressed by the systematic coverage Dr. Pogue gives to the way in which Marshall used his staff and managed the war. General readers will be fascinated by the new information provided about the characters and wartime actions of such leaders as Roosevelt, Churchill, MacArthur, and Eisenhower... This is a thoroughly satisfying book and a splendid companion to the first volume.” — H. A. De Weerd, The Virginia Quarterly Review “The United States, [Sir John Dill] told General Brooke, ‘has not — repeat not — the slightest conception of what the war means, and their armed forces are more unready for war than it is possible to imagine.’ Mr. Pogue has as his subject the movement of the country from such material and spiritual limitation to the landings in North Africa and as his special thesis the contribution of General George C. Marshall in the production of this remarkable transition... What General Marshall did was to plan, negotiate, organize, and, above all, decide... [Mr. Pogue’s] narrative is lean, clear, and well controlled... What so often he is dealing with in these pages is the resolution of endless conflicts of prejudice and interest. His capacity to recognize and define the issues in debate, to expose with clinical balance the motives and feelings of the debaters, to weigh out honestly the merits and defects of the conclusions reached is impressive and a valuable aid to fuller understanding. Mr. Pogue succeeds as well in giving the reader a good feeling for the administrative situation in which General Marshall spent most of his time — how policies were developed, officers selected for special tasks, decisions taken, and all the rest of it... [A] solidly constructed, carefully developed book.” — Elting E. Morison, The Journal of Southern History “This second volume of Forrest Pogue’s long-awaited authorized biography of General George C. Marshall has reached the period of Marshall’s first three years as Chief of Staff... when [he] initiated the vast expansion of the US Army for World War II... Excellent footnotes and detailed appendixes, interviews, and bibliographical notes will ensure Pogue’s Marshall a permanent place in US military history and biography.” — Trumbull Higgins, The American Historical Review