#2-579
To General John J. Pershing
October 18, 1941 Washington, D.C.
Dear General:
I have just this moment read your very gracious note of October 16th,
which I appreciate tremendously. I always get a great deal of satisfaction out of
my talks with you and am only sorry that they are so infrequent.1
The last three or four days have been pretty much the worst of all, with the
pressing problems of the Japanese, the Russian situation, the British Near East
problems, further developments of our own army augmentation and
reorganization of the personnel element, and now straight political pressure that
is occurring steadily regarding release from command.
You comment on Senator Clark’s attack.2 This one was in the paper, but
there are many others somewhat similar directed at me or at the War Department
generally. The most difficult phases of my problem are the unnecessary or rather
the avoidable rumpuses. I mean the tactless or unfortunate methods of
accomplishing reliefs. I am already deep in the matter of controlling those
individuals who are so fearful of their own command that they are inclined to
terrorize everybody else below them. It doesn’t matter much how great the
deficiencies are in leadership, I find myself very impatient with the man in the
field who orates too much, and tactlessly, to his subordinates. The job is hard
enough at best, and it is awfully hard for these higher commanders in the field,*
but under present conditions in the development of the Army some finesse is
required.
I have just signed a letter to an old friend of mine whose relief from
command of the Second Division is recommended, General Greely.3
I gave your message to Katherine and she is really anxious to join with me
in the next luncheon date I have with you.
Affectionately,
G. C Marshall
* This does not refer to Lear4
Document Copy Text Source: John J. Pershing Papers, General Correspondence, Library of
Congress, Washington, D.C.
Document Format: Typed letter signed.
1. Pershing had written: “You can scarcely realize how much pleasure it gives me to
have you come out [to Walter Reed General Hospital] for luncheon with me. Aside
from your personal presence, it gives me an opportunity to keep more or less in touch
with what is going on in the Army. I am happy to know that everything seems to be
doing quite well, although I do hear once in a while considerable criticism as to the
discipline in some of the divisions. And in this morning’s paper I notice that Bennett
Clark has criticized General Lear for relieving General Truman. These things are to be
expected and to some extent are unavoidable. Thank heaven I was free from all that
sort of thing in the A. E. F.” (Pershing to Marshall, October 16, 1941, GCMRL/G. C.
Marshall Papers [Pentagon Office, Selected].)
2. In a letter to the chief of staff dated September 11, Lieutenant General Ben Lear had
requested that Major General Ralph E. Truman, commanding general of the Thirty-fifth
Division (National Guards of Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska) be relieved from
command. This was done at the end of the month. (Haislip Memorandum to The
Adjutant General, September 29, 1941, NA/RG 165 [OCS, 8136–25].) Truman
decided to resign rather than accept another assignment. When Lear sent senior
senator from Missouri Bennett Champ Clark a telegram informing him of Truman’s
decision, Clark released his reply to the press. “It is, of course, the old Army game
which does not intend to leave a National Guard officer, no matter how efficient, in
command of a National Guard division. You are trying to blame the tactical defeat
which your Army suffered on Truman and various other National Guard officers, which
is exceedingly unfair. You should retire yourself rather than make General Truman the
goat.” (New York Times, October 16, 1941, p. 11.) Major General Truman was
Senator Harry S. Truman’s cousin.
3. No copy of the chief of staff’s letter to Major General John N. Greely was retained in
the Marshall papers. Greely was assigned to the Army Group, Washington, D.C., and
directed to organize a military mission to the Soviet Union.
4. Marshall added the asterisks and postscript in his own hand.
Recommended Citation: The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, ed. Larry I. Bland, Sharon
Ritenour Stevens, and Clarence E. Wunderlin, Jr. (Lexington, Va.: The George C. Marshall
Foundation, 1981– ). Electronic version based on The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, vol. 2,
“We Cannot Delay,” July 1, 1939-December 6, 1941 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1986), pp. 648–649.