George Marshall: Washington’s Birthday Remarks at Princeton University

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

In his first speech as secretary of state, Marshall hoped to shock people out of complacency, much as he had in his in prewar preparedness speeches. Returning to a theme that figured prominently in many of his wartime speeches, he argues that the world looked to the United States for leadership and that the United States needed to assume this role. As he had not in his earlier speeches, however, Marshall emphasizes that Americans needed to shape a new foreign policy for this new era. With the war over, “there is a natural tendency to relax, and to return to business as usual, politics as usual, pleasure as usual.” Yet, the present situation was “even more critical.” Marshall, who had studied the situation in Europe, warns Americans to avoid the mistakes of the Versailles Treaty and international settlement following World War I, particularly the United States' retreat to isolationism.

After World War I, the victorious allies, contrary to the hopes of President Woodrow Wilson, imposed a punitive peace on Germany in 1919. Required to pay reparations to the European Allies, Germany also lost territory and was forced to accept responsibility for starting the war and severe limits on the size of its military. Generally opposed to reparations and suspicious of the League of Nations, a new international organization designed to maintain international peace through collective action, the U.S. Senate rejected the Versailles Treaty and refused to join the League of Nations. The United States withdrew into isolation and remained aloof from international concerns when a new world war threatened in the 1930s. Without the United States, the world's largest economy and leading naval power, the League of Nations proved unable to halt Japanese, Italian, or German aggression, which eventually brought about World War II.

Americans, Marshall argues, needed to study history to avoid the mistakes of the past and to inspire people, shape the world around them, and make it a better and more peaceful place. They needed to recognize the unique position of the United States “financially, militarily, and scientifically” in the postwar world and accept “responsibility for world order and security.” Elsewhere, “fear and famine” prevailed. In the international arena, “order has yet to be brought out of confusion,” and peace “has yet to be secured.” With the world exhausted, only American leadership and assistance could restore shattered economies and democratic governments. The United States must not again sit idle while the international system devolves into chaos and opens the door to war. In this address Marshall offered no specific recommendations for American aid to Europe. He left those for his most important foreign policy address, delivered at Harvard University three and a half months later. Marshall here prepared the ground for the stunning proposals and reorientation of that forthcoming speech.