George Catlett Marshall was born on August 21, 1885, in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He was the third and youngest child of John Catlett and Isabella (née Wallace) Marshall. Marshall attended Virginia Military Institute (VMI), graduating in 1904. On June 25, 1906, he married Margaret Norton LaRue; they had three children: George Catlett (1907–1978), Thomas Isidore (1909–1987), and Mary LaRue (1915–1996). Marshall enrolled in the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated second in his class in 1909
His first assignment after graduation was with the 10th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Riley, Kansas. He was assigned to the post office department for two years and then to the adjutant general's office in Washington D.C. for a year before being assigned to the General Staff Corps.
In 1917 he became chief of staff of the United States Army's Services of Supply, a unit that supplied materials to the military during World War I. In that position he was responsible for planning and training for all army ground forces outside of Europe. After the war ended, Marshall was commander of occupation forces in Germany from 1919 to 1922. In 1924 Marshall was appointed superintendent of West Point, a position he held until his resignation in 1929 to become an executive with a New York investment banking firm.
In 1930 he was appointed by President Herbert Hoover as chairman of a committee to investigate whether or not bankers should be allowed to form holding companies that could own securities without being subject to government regulation as well as advise banks on how to avoid future disasters if another financial crisis occurred. Marshall's report recommended that these corporations be regulated by the federal government but that they be able to retain their private ownership if they wished to do so instead of being subject to federal regulation. The report led directly to the passage of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which put a number of restraints on banks including a separation between their deposit-taking and investment banking functions as well as limits on their ability to trade in derivatives such as options and futures contracts. In 1933 President Franklin D.
Roosevelt appointed Marshall as his Secretary of State. In those days Secretaryships were appointed for four-year terms but after Roosevelt's second election victory, he announced that he would appoint his cabinet members only until Congress could pass a law extending their terms from two years to six years. In 1938 Roosevelt named Marshall as Chief of
The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it.George C. Marshall
Don't fight the problem, decide it.George C. Marshall
When a thing is done, it's done. Don't look back. Look forward to your next objective.George C. Marshall
If man does find the solution for world peace it will be the most revolutionary reversal of his record we have ever known.George C. Marshall
