April 16, 2025
The Partnership: George Marshall, Henry Stimson and the Extraordinary Collaboration that Won WW II
Edward Farley Aldrich
Author of "The Partnership: George Marshall and Henry Stimson and the Extraordinary Collaboration that Won WW II"
The Partnership: George Marshall, Henry Stimson and the Extraordinary Collaboration that Won WW II
Edward Farley Aldrich
Author of "The Partnership: George Marshall and Henry Stimson and the Extraordinary Collaboration that Won WW II"
Edward Farley Aldrich and George Bustin, introducer
Minutes of the 27th Meeting of the 83rd Year
George Bustin, Old Guard president, called the meeting to order and presided. Frances Slade led the invocation. The attendance at Springdale Country Club was 128. There were three guests: Andrew Lipka (guest of Jeff Lipkowitz), John Eory (guest of Ric Fernandez) and Rush Holt (guest of Adele Agin). Kathy Trenner read the minutes of the prior April 9 meeting. Finally, George reminded attendees about next week’s presentation by Phil Carchman, retired Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey.
George Bustin introduced the speaker, Edward Aldrich, a Wall Street banker and commodities trader. Mr. Aldrich graduated from Colgate University with a degree in economics and political science followed by an MBA in finance from Boston College. During his career in banking, he had spent many years propitiously using his lengthy commute on the Metro-North rail line between his Manhattan offices and his Westport, Connecticut home to accommodate his hobby, a love of history. Written over eight years, the result is a dual biography of two critical American leaders during World War II, Henry Stimson, Secretary of War, and General George Marshall, chief of staff of the U.S. Army. Based substantially on the papers, manuscripts, and diaries of Stimson, which reside in the Yale University Library, the author has created a thorough examination of the partnership of these two men that generated the Allies’ significant victory in World War II.
These two giants came from entirely different worlds, but united to collaborate to win the War. Stimson was an East Coast patrician, educated at Philips Academy, Yale University and Harvard Law School. Born in 1868, he was 72 years old when President Roosevelt tapped him to be Secretary of War in 1940. He had previously been a highly successful Wall Street lawyer, as well as serving several government public servant roles in his long career. On the other hand, born in 1880, Marshall came from a successful middle-class family near the Pittsburgh steel mills. He attended Virginia Military Institute (VMI) where his desire to command men was nurtured. He was commissioned into the U.S. Army upon graduation, beginning his long military career, where he gained particular accolades in teaching, planning, logistics and staff work. He headed FDR’s CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) during the Depression in the 1930’s. Known for his candor, Marshall was 58 years old when FDR appointed him Chief of Staff in 1939.
In 1940 the two major obstacles to World War II preparation were (1) time and (2) the U.S. position and preference for isolationism. Stimson and Marshall had side-by-side offices and intentionally left the door open between them. In the two years from 1940, the U.S. Army grew from 170 thousand men and 300 planes to 5.4 million men, 25,000 planes and 4500 tanks. They developed a brand new semi-automatic army rifle. They also directed the Pentagon to be constructed from September 1941 to Jan 1943, working round-the-clock in three shifts.
Their war challenges were resource allocation between the European theater and the Pacific, dealing with the ego of General Douglas MacArthur, and Britain’s preferred war strategy. The British, led by Churchill, were never in favor of a direct D-Day invasion, preferring to nibble around the edges of Hitler’s Germany, beginning with North Africa, then Sicily and up the Italian spine. Once Germany was defeated, these leaders were responsible for the decision to drop the two atomic bombs on Japan in August 1945, believing that the Japanese would otherwise fight to the end to protect their homeland.
Both men retired when the War ended. Stimson had had a heart attack on the day the bomb dropped on Nagasaki and retired to his Long Island estate. Marshall who was younger, also retired, but then answered Truman’s request for five more years of government service. He served as Secretary of State from January 1947 to January 1949, where he created the Marshall Plan for the rebuilding of post-war Europe.
Together these two men – both of high integrity and with a sense of duty -- created the strong American Army that defeated Germany and Japan to win World War II. They worked side-by-side, always conscious that in the US, civilian government maintains control over the military.
Respectfully submitted,
Julianne Elward-Berry
George Bustin introduced the speaker, Edward Aldrich, a Wall Street banker and commodities trader. Mr. Aldrich graduated from Colgate University with a degree in economics and political science followed by an MBA in finance from Boston College. During his career in banking, he had spent many years propitiously using his lengthy commute on the Metro-North rail line between his Manhattan offices and his Westport, Connecticut home to accommodate his hobby, a love of history. Written over eight years, the result is a dual biography of two critical American leaders during World War II, Henry Stimson, Secretary of War, and General George Marshall, chief of staff of the U.S. Army. Based substantially on the papers, manuscripts, and diaries of Stimson, which reside in the Yale University Library, the author has created a thorough examination of the partnership of these two men that generated the Allies’ significant victory in World War II.
These two giants came from entirely different worlds, but united to collaborate to win the War. Stimson was an East Coast patrician, educated at Philips Academy, Yale University and Harvard Law School. Born in 1868, he was 72 years old when President Roosevelt tapped him to be Secretary of War in 1940. He had previously been a highly successful Wall Street lawyer, as well as serving several government public servant roles in his long career. On the other hand, born in 1880, Marshall came from a successful middle-class family near the Pittsburgh steel mills. He attended Virginia Military Institute (VMI) where his desire to command men was nurtured. He was commissioned into the U.S. Army upon graduation, beginning his long military career, where he gained particular accolades in teaching, planning, logistics and staff work. He headed FDR’s CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) during the Depression in the 1930’s. Known for his candor, Marshall was 58 years old when FDR appointed him Chief of Staff in 1939.
In 1940 the two major obstacles to World War II preparation were (1) time and (2) the U.S. position and preference for isolationism. Stimson and Marshall had side-by-side offices and intentionally left the door open between them. In the two years from 1940, the U.S. Army grew from 170 thousand men and 300 planes to 5.4 million men, 25,000 planes and 4500 tanks. They developed a brand new semi-automatic army rifle. They also directed the Pentagon to be constructed from September 1941 to Jan 1943, working round-the-clock in three shifts.
Their war challenges were resource allocation between the European theater and the Pacific, dealing with the ego of General Douglas MacArthur, and Britain’s preferred war strategy. The British, led by Churchill, were never in favor of a direct D-Day invasion, preferring to nibble around the edges of Hitler’s Germany, beginning with North Africa, then Sicily and up the Italian spine. Once Germany was defeated, these leaders were responsible for the decision to drop the two atomic bombs on Japan in August 1945, believing that the Japanese would otherwise fight to the end to protect their homeland.
Both men retired when the War ended. Stimson had had a heart attack on the day the bomb dropped on Nagasaki and retired to his Long Island estate. Marshall who was younger, also retired, but then answered Truman’s request for five more years of government service. He served as Secretary of State from January 1947 to January 1949, where he created the Marshall Plan for the rebuilding of post-war Europe.
Together these two men – both of high integrity and with a sense of duty -- created the strong American Army that defeated Germany and Japan to win World War II. They worked side-by-side, always conscious that in the US, civilian government maintains control over the military.
Respectfully submitted,
Julianne Elward-Berry