1306503

George C. Marshall

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Marshall signs his portrait on the cover of Life magazine

George Catlett Marshall, Jr., 1880-1959.  General of the Army and World War II Army Chief of Staff; Secretary of State; Secretary of Defense.  Life magazine cover photograph inscribed and signed To Albert C. Wilkinson ‒  /  G C Marshall.

This is a large, 10½" x 14" cover of the December 18, 1950, issue of Life magazine with a beautiful black-and-white portrait of Marshall as President Harry S. Trumanʼs Secretary of Defense.  Marshall has inscribed and signed the cover in black fountain pen to the left of his image.

Marshall's importance in 20th Century history cannot be overstated.  A premier soldier turned diplomat, Marshall gave his name to the United States' unprecedented program of economic and military aid for the recovery of Europe after World War II.  The program, which Marshall announced in his commencement address at Harvard University in 1947, became forever known as the Marshall Plan.  Truman regarded Marshall as the greatest American of the 20th Century—greater by far than President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Marshall served as Army Chief of Staff from 1939 to 1945, spanning United States involvement in World War II.  He urged military readiness before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.  After the United States entered the war, he was responsible for building, supplying, and deploying an army of more than 8,000,000 soldiers.  He conceived the central strategy for all Allied operations in Europe, was a member of the policy committee that supervised the American and British atomic studies, selected Dwight D. Eisenhower as Supreme Commander in Europe, and designed Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy.  Time named Marshall its Man of the Year in 1944.  The same year he was made a five-star general.

After the war, Marshall turned to diplomacy.  He had been associated with diplomatic events while Chief of Staff, participating in the conference on the Atlantic Charter and in meetings at Casablanca, Quebec, Cairo-Teheran, Yalta, and Potsdam.  Beginning in late 1945, he represented Truman on a special mission to China, then torn by civil war.  In January 1947, following the resignation of James Byrnes, Truman appointed Marshall Secretary of State. Some six months later, in the commencement address at Harvard University, Marshall announced the Marshall Plan, the United Statesʼ European Recovery Plan. 

In 1948, as Truman considered whether to recognize the Jewish state of Israel, Marshall, concerned about the military aspects of Middle East oil, delivered an impassioned threat to Truman in the Oval Office:  “If you do this,” he told the President, “and if I were to vote in the election, I would vote against you."  Implicit, of course, was the threat that he could very well resign as Secretary of State.  Truman, already battered even from within his own party in his bid for election, could not afford such public humiliation.  But Truman recognized Israel nonetheless, and Marshall went along with it.  Truman later said that he knew that Marshall, a loyal public servant, would support his decision. 

Marshall was Time's Man of the Year again in 1948, and he won the Nobel Peace Price in 1953.

Marshall served as Secretary of State for two years.  He retired from government service to become president of the American Red Cross.  He came out of retirement when Truman appointed him Secretary of Defense on September 21, 1950, a position that he held for a year during the Korean war.

This piece is in fine condition.  It has minor creasing at the corners, scattered surface marks, and slight wrinkling at the upper left corner, all well removed from the inscription and signature.  This would be perfect for framing.

Unframed.  Click here for information on custom framing this piece.