Gongol.com Archives: July 2025
July 25, 2025
In February 1947, George C. Marshall was the newly-confirmed Secretary of State. Having served as Chief of Staff of the Army for the duration of World War II, Marshall had already done incomparable service to the cause of preserving the free world. ■ Marshall was entitled to a peaceful retirement, but he continued to serve his country by taking the role of the nation's chief diplomat. Only a few weeks into his role, he delivered an address at Princeton University. Having seen war brought to a righteous end, Marshall remained gravely worried about the future. ■ "You should fully understand the special position that the United States now occupies in the world, geographically, financially, militarily, and scientifically, and the implications involved," he said. "The development of a sense of responsibility for world order and security, the development of a sense of overwhelming importance of this country's acts, and failures to act, in relation to world order and security -- these, in my opinion, are great musts for your generation." ■ Marshall, the generation of soldiers who served under him, and the European reconstruction plan that bore his name all contributed mightily to that "special position". They bought the United States nearly a century of peace. But the imperative lesson to take away from Marshall's approach is that our leadership in the world was a product of collaboration, alliances, and mutual aid -- not of dominance or exploitation. Marshall foresaw that strong friends overseas were better for America than clients or vassals. ■ "I think we seldom realize our own ignorance of what has happened in the past except by way of a chronological sequence of events with the related dates," he noted, "But the important thing is to understand the true significance, the lessons of these historical events and periods." We owe the respect to the past and the obligation to the future to be sure that we consult Marshall's time and consider how it applies today. If all we know are a few memorized names and dates, we don't really know our history at all. The lessons are just waiting there for us to learn.
