Although President Roosevelt was, by the very designation of the American Constitution, Commander-in-Chief of all branches of the US military, the person whom the President depended on most to help walk him through virtually all vital military and diplomatic decisions was the quiet, self-effacing American general, George C. Marshall.  In a time of prima donna generals in love with their egos (for instance, American Generals Patton and MacArthur and English General Montgomery) Marshall quietly worked in Washington behind the scenes, coordinating the war effort between the White House and Congress ... and somehow keeping the egotistical generals working together to advance the Allied war effort.

He was a man of few words, but whose every word was trusted by all ... for he was widely recognized as a man of great integrity.

Perhaps most illustrative of his character was the moment when it was time to designate a general to lead the massive Allied crossing of the English channel on D-Day, to begin the liberation of Western Europe ... a command that would put the name of the general who led the effort on record forever as one of  the greatest generals of all time (and probably a strong candidate for the U.S. presidency some day).  Everyone knew that this distinct honor belonged to the highly capable, hard-working General Marshall.  Roosevelt knew this too, but felt that he would be lost in the swirl of Washington and Allied politics with Marshall in Europe and not at his side.  It was up to Roosevelt to pick the general who would receive this great honor.  But instead he called on Marshall to pick the one who would lead the D-Day operation. Roosevelt confessed that the honor belonged to Marshall, but begged him to stay in Washington where the President ... and the country ... still needed him badly. So Marshall took a piece of paper, and on it wrote the name of a subordinate General, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and passed it to the President indicating that Eisenhower would be the one to lead the assault.

Eisenhower was surprised to receive the honor, but performed well, and stepped into history as the war's most memorable general ... and on the basis of that fame eventually became President of the United States.  Marshall gave up that honor ... in order to continue to serve the country rather than his own personal career.   There was a truly great man.

The next president, Truman, was well aware of this quality of greatness in Marshall, and asked him to serve as his Secretary of State.  Those were critical days when Europeans ... even the former enemy Germans ... needed to be put back on their feet lest the hard-won peace in Europe should slip away again.  And America indeed succeeded brilliantly in this effort (1947-1952) ... through the generosity of a great international assistance program that Truman and Marshall put together to rebuild the economies of Western Europe ... a program that came to be known far and wide as "The Marshall Plan."