Movie Review

After a brief review of George C. Marshall's background and military education, film clips trace Marshall's career through the first half of the twentieth century, when the United States evolved from a young nation to world leadership, showing his important, sometimes vital, role during this sea change. Marshall attended his military branch's requisite Cavalry and Infantry School and the Staff and General Command School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, before serving on Gen. John Pershing's staff in World War I. He enjoyed the friendship and support of that important military mentor throughout his career. Marshall emerged from the Great Crusade determined to stress leadership, which he had found sadly lacking in the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), and, while serving in the infantry in Georgia, instituted the "Fort Benning Revolution" that emphasized a new military concept of movement, flexibility, and leadership. He also organized the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corps, learning to work directly with the civilian sector—as he would during World War II with over 10 million citizen-soldiers. While serving as head of the War Plans Division in 1938, he found favor with Franklin D. Roosevelt and received appointment as military chief of staff until the end of the war.

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