President George C. Marshall?

This is may be hard to accomplish, especially since Marshal was an extremely anti-political person, but let's say that Franklin D. Roosevelt, worried that his failing health will hurt his election chances and wanting to bring bipartisan balance and military pride to his ticket, manages to convince George Marshall to run as his VP in the 1944 election. Then FDR dies, and Marshal is President of the United States.

How would this turn out?
 
This is may be hard to accomplish, especially since Marshal was an extremely anti-political person, but let's say that Franklin D. Roosevelt, worried that his failing health will hurt his election chances and wanting to bring bipartisan balance and military pride to his ticket, manages to convince George Marshall to run as his VP in the 1944 election. Then FDR dies, and Marshal is President of the United States.

How would this turn out?

Bipartisan balance? Marshall was a Democrat.
 
Not to mention you're going to have a hard time convincing Marshall to give up his military position during the middle of a war.
 
Well, George Marshall was touted as a possible Democratic candidate if Harry Truman decided not to seek the nomination for the Presidency in 1948. Maybe if we had an Estes Kefauver like character run against Truman in the primaries, and come close or upset him New Hampshire, Truman could drop out and push for Marshall to run. The Democratic Party would certainly line up behind him from what I have heard, and he would have little trouble claiming the nomination. The election itself would likely look little different, though this time it would Marshall ahead in the polls, and Dewey trying to catch up.
 
If Marshall is in office at the time of Joe McCarthy's insanity, what happens there? Does it go anywhere? Does Joe eventually accuse the President of being a Communist?
 
Was Marshall even as popular as MacArthur or Eisenhower in that time period? Whenever there are lists or who would make good presidents his name keeps popping up.
I realize he was important in the US war-effort but he was no battlefield commander as MacArthur or Eisenhower.

Marshall had begun unveiling the Marshall Plan and was named the Person of the Year by the end of 1947. While he may not have been as popular as other generals, being used mainly for administrative purposes back in the states. Didn't keep him from being the front-runner to command Operation Overlord though.

Anyway, his one major flaw would be his refusal to recognize Israel as a nation, when nearly everybody else did. He got in quite a feud with Harry Truman over this, threatening to vote against the President if he did so. That doesn't mean he wouldn't later, since it was largely based on the fear that Israel would destabilize the Middle East, but it would mean he would take a more neutral path, with Israel largely depending upon Europe for support.

Korea would also be interesting. Marshall would likely have returned the United States Military to a level of readiness that was somewhat respectable, meaning we can better deal with the North Korean Invasion of South Korea. He basically gave MacArthur a blank check to do whatever required to bring North Korea under their control in hopes of uniting the peninsula. That doesn't mean that China would be carpet bombed with nuclear weapons, but there is a good chance that the armistice line would be much farther north than it is in OTL.

As for McCarthy, that is likely going to be one of the ugliest scenes to ever unfold in the political arena. He basically blamed Marshall for allowing China to go Communist, though not entirely on purpose; that he was not fit to command.
 
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