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GREAT COMMUNICATION SECRETS OF GREAT LEADERS
THE STATESMAN
Truman so admired Marshall that he twice called him into his cabinet, first as
secretary of state and later as secretary of defense. It was in the former role
that Marshall gained recognition as a humanitarian. In a speech at Harvard
when he was given an honorary degree, Marshall spoke of Europe’s suffering
and slow recovery and its need for assistance in the wake of the war.
The remedy lies in breaking the vicious circle and restoring confidence of
the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of
Europe as a whole. . . . It is logical that the United States should do what-
ever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the
world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured
peace. Our policy is not directed against any country or any doctrine but
against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos. Its purpose should be the
revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence
of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist. 29
Direct and to the point, Marshall made the case for providing political sta-
bility by ensuring economic viability. This speech introduced the European
Recovery Act, soon known as the Marshall Plan. This plan fostered coopera-
tion among nations, staved off communist expansionism, and laid the founda-
tion for a more united Europe. Years later, after he had retired, Marshall was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in part for his efforts at helping to rebuild
Europe. Acknowledging the irony, even modest dissent, of giving a soldier an
award for peace, Marshall said in his Nobel address:

The cost of war is constantly spread before me, written neatly in many
ledgers whose columns are gravestones. I am greatly moved to find some
means or method of avoiding another calamity of war. 30

COMPASSIONATE ALOOFNESS
Very few people called him George; he was always the General. He had an
aloofness to him that terrified junior officers, but to Marshall it was a way of
getting to the point: A commander’s time is limited, and he must maximize his
31
effectiveness. Yet Marshall, like all good commanders, viewed his soldiers as
people; the genesis of the USO show was Marshall’s requesting entertainment
for his troops stateside before the war. During the prewar mobilization, Mar-
shall directed his staff to prepare a summary of messages that newly enlisted
men were sending home; many of these messages were complaints.
Forrest Pogue, Marshall’s biographer, estimates that Marshall spent
“twenty minutes a day” reviewing these summaries and personally answering
some of the complaints himself. Marshall also visited with the troops as well