Tonights program has been a long time in coming. David was originally scheduled to be here in february, but was grounded byebye bad weather. Kansas city library programming, its the latest in our series with the u. S. Army command of general staff in ft. Leavenworth. But it also comes in the middle of the librarys partnership from january through may with the eisenhower president ial library and foundation in abilene. And its on the Dwight Eisenhower exhibit thats up on the second floor gallery. We had a series of programs running on Dwight Eisenhower. The next one is next wednesday. Tonight we focus on icen how are and George Marshall. The army chief of staff who targeted ike for advancement as a military officer, keen eye for talent. Among others with ike, he spied george patent and omar bradley. And he became one of ikes primary mentors as the army chief of staff from 1939 to 1945. Marshall, of course, went onto become the secretary of state and win a Nobel Peace Prize. David mills is an assistant professor of military history at the command and general staff college. He has a ph. D. In history from north Dakota State University and the distinction of being the first person to earn a doctorate in history from the school in 2009. He spoke at the library two years ago on operation snowbound about the mammoth federal response to the blizzard of 1949, which stretched from kansas to the canadian border. Were so welcome to have david back tonight. Please welcome david mills. [ applause ] thanks, everybody, for coming out tonight. As steve mentioned, i was supposed to be here a few weeks ago but we got snowed out. It looks like we might have some inclement weather tonight. That may look like a pattern to you, but believe me, its just a coincidence. So thanks for coming out, and im going to go ahead and incorporate some of the information i was going to talk about earlier. If it looks like at some point i wander off talking about marshall a little bit, then thats probably why. All right. So this is the story of two great men. Both were revered as well as famous in their time. Since world war ii, however, it could be argued that general Dwight Eisenhower has probably eclipsed general marshall in fame, at least when it comes to what each of them did in world war ii. Most know general eisenhower was the commander in the invasion of france during world war ii, but theyd probably be hard pressed to tell you what general marshall did. Marshall built the Army Eisenhower used to defeat the germans. Both men were from humble backgrounds, but both were extremely patriotic. Driven by a desire to end the war quickly rather than seeking glory for themselves. This is their story. General George Marshall was born december 31st, 1880, in uniontown, pennsylvania. He graduated from the Virginia Military institute in 1901. He served as the chief of staff of the army during world war ii and then as the secretary of state and secretary of defense after the war was over. He advocated the plan that bears his name, matter shall the Marshall Plan, for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize, helping europe to recover economically from the war. You may not know he loved to ride horses. This is how he relaxed and he called it great exercise. Although, i would think it would be better exercise for the horse. But what do i know . So his personal life was very difficult. He graduated from college in 1901. In 1902 he married lily carter coals, who was born with a heart defect. He had to be very careful with her. He was a very doting husband, always trying to make sure she was comfortable and had everything that she needed. She died in 1927. They never had any children. He married katherine bois tupper in 1930. She was a widow with three children of her own, and marshall became very close to the children. Two of the boys, in fact, were Army Officers during world war ii and the youngest, allen, was actually killed by a sniper in italy during the war. His stepdaughter was also married to an army officer who served. Although, marshall never used his position to influence their careers. He was he was above all a very honorable man, and he would never do anything that he thought would tarnish that. Marshall served in a variety of positions throughout the world upon graduation from vmi. Before world war i promotions were pretty slow in coming, but marshall did pretty well. When world war ii broke out, he went to france in the summer of 1917. He was a member of the Division Staff for the first Infantry Division. His plan is his job was planning and training the draftees and the National Guardsmen that rounded out the first Infantry Division. There were two significant episodes that were pretty risky careerwise, but really made a difference for marshall when he was endeared to two very influential men. The first of those episodes began during world war i, and thats when general john j. Pershing, the commander of the American Expedition force came to check on training. You have to understand that pershing was under a ton of pressure from the french to get the American Army up and ready to go take a position in the trenches. So he comes out and looks at the training, and hes not happy. He thinks the training is too slow and its not very challenging and hes really upset by what he sees. He proceeds to take it out on the Division Commander acres guy by the name of general william seibert, the first infantry Division Commander. He proceeds to chew him out in front of all of his subordinates. Marshall thought it was extremely disrespectful and uncalled for. And as a lowly captain, he grabbed that general by the arm and proceeded to tell him, very angrily, how that was totally uncalled for. When he was done, general pershing pulled his arm away, mumbled something and stormed off. All of marshalls friends shook his hand, wished him well, because his career was over. But dont you know when the general came back to check on the first Infantry Division, he would go find marshall and ask him how things were going. And so the two actually formed a very important relationship that would effect both of them throughout their lives. So in mid1918, marshall went to the aef staff and worked directly for general pershing. After the war was over, he became an aide to general pershing. General pershing was the best man in marshalls wedding when he got married the second time. So after the war, marshall ended the war as actually, he finished as a lieutenant colonel, and then hes reverted back to major, but he did pretty well in the interwar period. He commanded a regimen and then division and then commanded 35 ccc camps throughout oregon and washington. In 1938 he was brought to washington as a Brigadier General by then chief of staff of the army, general maelyn craig. Craig wanted marshall to succeed him as chief of staff of the army, and so he brought him there and made him the chief of the war plans division. Eventually made him deputy to the chief of staff, and becoming chief of staff was really a dream job for marshall. So lets talk about marshall and roosevelt, particularly, and a little bit about churchill. Roosevelt and marshall worked very well together, although the two were never close, personally. They were almost exact opposites. In fact, marshall confessed he didnt really like roosevelt very much when he first moved to washington. General marshall was very guarded. He was formal. He was serious. And he above all, he valued dignity. Roosevelt was or sorry, so marshall valued dignity. And nobody would ever call him funny, and there were very few pictures of him ever smiling. Although if you notice the first picture i showed you was marshall smiling. Dont believe anything that you read. Just believe what im telling you. There just arent that many pictures of the man with a smile on his face. Roosevelt, however, was a politician. He never met a man or a person he wouldnt want to shake hands with. He always had a joke. He was always smiling, and laughing. And he also had that politicians deepseeded aversion to ever answering a question with a straight answer. He didnt want to get tied down to one particular answer. He always wanted plausible deniability. He always wanted to be able to change his mind and go a different direction, which drove marshall absolutely nuts. Because as a military guy, he needs decisions. He needs to know what direction the country is going so he can make things happen. Marshall also never let the president get too close to him personally. He never laughed at any of the president jokes. He never allowed the president to call him george, and he never went to visit the president at his home in hyde park, new york. Marshall was also an army man whereas the president was a navy man. He had served as the assistant secretary of the navy. He loved the navy. He loved the sea, and he was an accomplished sailor himself. At one point, marshall had to ask the president to stop saying they when talking about the army and stop saying we when talking about the navy. So roosevelt had also succumbed to the power or the suggestion of air power and the promise of air power. And he thought that all of americas problems could be solved through just buying more planes. Hes constantly trying to purchase more airplanes at the expense of the army specifically, but the other branches as well. Marshall objected. He thought there should be a more balanced approach to how we procure equipment for the different branches. I have one specific example to point out. So in november of 1938, roosevelt had a meeting with all of his top advisers. And he kind of off the top of his head, he said you know, america ought to buy about 20,000 airplanes and that would keep us safe. And we ought to give a couple thousand to england for being a good ally. And you know how it is when your boss comes up with an idea, everybody is like great idea, boss. Everybody is shaking their head yes, and then kind of off the top of his head, he turns around and says dont you think so, george . So marshall winced, because he called him george. Marshall never allowed anybody to call him george except for his wife, and he fundamentally disagreed with the president and told him so. He said mr. President , im sorry. I dont agree with any of that at all. So the president was rather surprised as everybody else was in the meeting. They all got up and left and shaking hi hand, wishing him good luck because your career is over. But roosevelt never held it against him. And so this was the second episode in his life that proved to marshall and only reinforced the idea that his values were something that he should always stand up for. Churchill also had Great Respect for marshall. In fact, he rarely ever challenged him directly. If marshall was doing something that churchill didnt agree with, hed talk to eisenhower or roosevelt. Hed talk to anybody but marshall and try to get them to change their mind. He had respect for marshall. Churchill called marshall the organizer of victory, and he wept openly when he visited marshall on his death bed in 1959. So on april 23rd, 1939, roosevelt brought marshall in to his office and offered him the dream job, chief of staff of the army. And although it was a dream job, marshall had a few a list of demands, if you will. So he says, you know, mr. President , i will work as hard for you as i can. I will do the best job i can, but i need to be able to come in here and speak honestly with you. I need to be able to bring you bad news. And roosevelt apparently reluctantly agreed to that. But roosevelt also pointed out that he had some demands. He expected to get the very best that marshall had. So they came to an agreement. And marshall became the acting army chief of staff. So this is in april of 1939. He was acting in that capacity up until the 1st of september, 1939, when maelyn craig retired. September 1st, also the day germany attacks poland, world war ii begins. Marshall becomes the chief of staff of the army. Germany attacks poland in 1939. They attack france in 1940. And the loss of france is a complete shock to the United States. Begins to bring the United States out of its complacency. Not out of its isolationism. Congress and the American People wanted absolutely nothing to do with the war in europe. But congress understands that they got to begin preparing for war. And so the louisiana maneuvers held in 1940 and 1941 were designed to see how well the army performed. And the answer was not well. The exercises had revealed a number of equipment problems such as iron pipes being labeled cannons. And trucks being labeled tanks. And single seat biplanes being labeled bombers. And that sort of thing. The army was not only understaffed there were about 200,000 soldiers total in the army at this point we also had a number of equipment problems, as you can see. Marshall determined its time to Start Building up the army. In october of 1940 after this first series of exercises, marshall and the president go to congress, and enact the Selective Service act, bringing 900,000 draftees into the army and also activating the National Guard. So initially marshall has a large number of soldiers to train, but soon theyre only in the army for a year. And so their term of enlistment is almost up and nobody is more excited about that than the soldiers themselves. So the louisiana maneuvers of 1941 were fundamentally different. Excuse me. Marshalls insistence on preparation and training had paid off. He said repeatedly he wanted mistakes made in louisiana rather than in europe. The 1941 exercises consisted of 400,000 service members, twice the number that was even in the army the year before. So youve got 19 divisions actively out there, participating in these war games. The war games are over in 1941. Were well on our way to creating a much better army. But our army is about to go away with the expiration of the Selective Service act. So marshall and a number of members of the administration go talk to Congress Members and get them to extend the Selective Service act for 18 months, which will guarantee we keep getting soldiers into the army. So theres one other aspect of the louisiana maneuvers that deserves to be mentioned. And that is that marshall came around and he was watching and he was always on the lookout for new talent. Rumor was he had a little black book that when he spotted somebody with high potential and high talent, he would write their name down in this little book. And one of the people they identified in these maneuvers was colonel Dwight Eisenhower, who was responsible for the blue force coming up in the training and the exercise was an overwhelming victory for eisenhower. Another person that he identified in these exercises was Major General george patton. And so a number of other folks that were supposedly had their names in this book were folks like omar bradley and mark clark, joseph collins, jacob deevers, Courtney Hodges and maxwell taylor. This little black book has never been found. Did it exist . Did it not exist . If there was no book, marshall must have kept the names in his mind, but these folks were identified and groomed for higher command once the war broke out. So england had been at war with germany since 1939. Above all, they were intent on preserving the British Empire after the war. The imperial general staff or the british general staff also thoroughly and completely rejected the idea of ever having a crosschannel attack in confronting the germans in europe itself. They preferred an approach that attacked the periphery of germany. In other words, they would have a blockade. Their navy would blockade german ports, restricting the amount of trade coming in, and their Bomber Campaign would keep hitting german cities, night after night. And so what churchill believed was this would undermine morale. And so you didnt really need to confront them directly. You could attack them in places like north africa and italy on the borders or on the periphery of the german empire. But marshall fundamentally disagreed with that. He said the only way youre going to defeat germany is to fight germany. This is going to be a fundamental confrontation between the americans and british throughout the war. When germany invaded the soviet union in 1941, both churchill and roosevelt believed we had to supply everything that we could to the soviets to keep them in the war. Marshall fundamentally disagreed with that. He didnt believe the soviet union was going to be able to survive the attack by the germans. If you think about it, the Russian Air Force was largely eliminated in the first few weeks of the war. Millions of men were killed or taken prisoner. The germans are on the outskirts of moscow. He just fundamentally didnt believe there was any way the soviets could survive. Why waste all that equipment when the u. S. And the british were going to need that . And if the soviets are knocked out of the war, its up to the americans and the british to defeat these huge german armies. All right. You probably are wondering when the eisenhower piece of this talk on marshall and eisenhower is ever going to actually kick in. Here we are. Lets talk about general eisenhower for a few minutes. Hes born in texas, october 14th, 1890. He is the third of seven boys. Here are the eisenhower brothers with their mother. The family moved to abilene, kansas in 1892, but they never had a lot of money. In fact, ike and one of his brothers agreed they would alternate years going to college. One of them would work, the other would go to college, and then they would switch so they could find enough money for tuition. Eisenhower after a couple years figures