Debi and Irwin Unger take exception to this [usual] heroic depiction [of Marshall] in their elegant and iconoclastic biography, which pokes innumerable holes in Marshall’s reputation for leadership and raises intriguing questions about how such reputations get made. Marshall emerges not as the incarnation of greatness but as an ordinary, indecisive, “less than awe-inspiring” man who achieved an unexceptional mix of success and failure.
Looking up Debi and Irwin Unger and Stanley Hirshson on the Internet, Iwas not surprised to find that they appear to be Jewish. Jews do not like Marshall because as Secretary of State he opposed Truman's immediate recognition of Israel when it was created. Marshall thought it might create problems in the Middle East. Jews also resent the fact that Allied leaders -- including FDR, Churchill, and Marshall -- delayed invading Europe until D-Day. Jews feel that the Anglos allowed more Jews to die while they were preparing the assault. Of course, more Anglos would have died, and the invasion might have failed, without that preparation. Nevertheless, many Jews hate the Anglo leadership, including Marshall, for not trying to stop the Holocaust years earlier than they did. Interestingly, the review states:
They also laud Marshall’s determination, in the face of opposition from much of the American public, to prioritize the war in Europe over the fight against Japan and, over British objections, to make a major attack across the English Channel the focal point of Allied strategy rather than operations in the Mediterranean.
Of course, these decisions helped speed up the rescue of Jews from the Holocaust, just not by enough to win more praise from the authors.
Thus, I find this biography to be flawed by the prejudices of the authors.
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