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Edited on Thu Jul-29-04 06:52 PM by cryingshame
George Marshall. Pertinent info in bold towards the end. I included the other info for background:
Given the controversy surrounding Johnson's performance, and especially the military situation in Korea, President Truman recognized the need to choose a person of great national prestige to head the Department of Defense. His selection of General Marshall eminently met this requirement. ....
snip
In 1939 just as World War II began in Europe, President Roosevelt appointed Marshall Army chief of staff. In that position and as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff beginning in 1942, Marshall labored unceasingly to build up U.S. defenses and to prepare the Army for action. President Truman later described him as the "architect of victory" in World War II.
Within weeks after Marshall retired from the Army in November 1945 Truman sent him to China in an unsuccessful attempt to mediate the civil war between the Nationalists and Communists and to establish a coalition government. He returned to the United States in January 1947 to become secretary of state for a momentous two years, marked by the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, and negotiation of the NATO pact. After he left the State Department he achieved further distinction as president of the American Red Cross.
Marshall's appointment as secretary of defense required a special congressional waiver because the National Security Act prohibited a commissioned military officer on active duty within the previous 10 years from holding the post.
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