President George C Marshall

We got Eisenhower. Marshall must stand a chance. Its sounds more likely than Emperor MacArtur or World War Three Patton.
 
Had the person who tried to murder Truman in 1950 had done so whilst Marshal was Sec of state and before the succession law changed Marshall would have been President
 
It is highly unlikely that General Marshal would receive a Presidential nomination as he held no combat command during World War II thus he was not in the Public mind as much as Eisenhower, MacArthur, Patton or some of the others.
 

mowque

Banned
Perhaps Eisenhower dies (before being nominated or anything), and Marshall is picked as another 'great war' leader type?
 
I was imaginign an earlier assassination attempt on Truman, both when Marshal was sec of state and before the ludcicours change in the succession rule to give it to the Speaker
 
I believe that he was a democrat.

He served as SecState and SecDef for Truman, so even if he was Republican, he can't have been very Republican.

My understanding is that a big obstacle to having Marshall elected (as opposed to stepping up after Truman is assassinated) is that he was blamed for "losing China." It doesn't seem that hard to keep Truman from sending Marshall to China, which deals with that problem.
 
He served as SecState and SecDef for Truman, so even if he was Republican, he can't have been very Republican.

My understanding is that a big obstacle to having Marshall elected (as opposed to stepping up after Truman is assassinated) is that he was blamed for "losing China." It doesn't seem that hard to keep Truman from sending Marshall to China, which deals with that problem.

Had he taken office in 1947 the 1948 election would have been been before the 'loss' of China
 
Marshall, like most members of the US military before WWII, was fairly non-partisan. He thought that military officers shouldn't belong to political parties because the military should be seen to be above partisanship. Eisenhower was in many ways similar. As late as 1952, Democrats felt they could draft him as their nominee. Like Eisenhower, if Marshall was in a position where he was being drafted, he'd pick a party somehow.

Marshall was associated with the Democrats because of his involvement with Truman, but that was done out of a sense of public service. I don't know if he would have self-identified as a Democrat. Someone who knows his biography better might be able to confirm any partisan leanings.

Marshall was originally intended to lead Overlord. FDR eventually overruled that because he felt Marshall was too valuable to the war effort in Washington. If that changes for any reason, Marshall would lead Overlord and essentially take over Ike's role in history. Ike would probably either be an Army Group commander like Bradley, or perhaps remain in Italy.

PODs could be either that FDR decides to send Marshall to Britain anyway and pick another person as replacement Chief of Staff, or that Marshall was never selected as Chief of Staff in the first place (originally many people thought Hugh Drum was going to become Chief of Staff instead in 1939) leaving him available to be selected for Overlord.
 
"Marshall was originally intended to lead Overlord. FDR eventually overruled that because he felt Marshall was too valuable to the war effort in Washington. If that changes for any reason, Marshall would lead Overlord and essentially take over Ike's role in history. Ike would probably either be an Army Group commander like Bradley, or perhaps remain in Italy.

PODs could be either that FDR decides to send Marshall to Britain anyway and pick another person as replacement Chief of Staff, or that Marshall was never selected as Chief of Staff in the first place (originally many people thought Hugh Drum was going to become Chief of Staff instead in 1939) leaving him available to be selected for Overlord."

Someone other than Marshall as Chief of Staff would probaly have lead to a different and less favorable outcome.
 
There is one path I can think of that might work and that is perhaps for victory to be less assured somewhat than it was in OTL 1944 and FDR, cognizant of his own health, picks Marshall as VP in order to assure a militarily competent successor. As VP, FDR would still have the benefit of Marshall's counsel and one can imagine Marshall maintaining an oversight role over the Pentagon.

Then FDR passes away in 1945 and Marshall succeeds him.

The hole here is in finding a way to make the outcome of the war less certain in that 1944 than OTL without some sort of utter debacle like a failure of Overlord. Maybe the Battle of Midway goes differently and drags the Pacific war on a bit?
 
Someone other than Marshall as Chief of Staff would probaly have lead to a different and less favorable outcome.
Lots of people, including FDR thought he was amazing. OTOH, he was the guy who was pushing for an invasion of continental Europe as early as '42, which sure doesn't sound like a good strategic thinker.

Would the US effort have been harmed by having someone else as Chief of Staff?
 
Top