Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 1, 1993 TAG: 9309080403
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT F. MARRYOTT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The center was named in honor of George Catlett Marshall, former Army chief of staff, secretary of state, secretary of defense, and author of the Marshall Plan for the economic and political reconstruction of Europe after World War II. The center will emphasize the United States' commitment to cooperation on defense matters among the United States, the European nations and the independent states of the former Soviet Union, and will work toward completing Marshall's vision for a united, peaceful and secure Europe.
In remarks at the dedication ceremony, Secretary of Defense Les Aspin noted that only a portion of Marshall's vision for a revitalized Europe has been realized, and stressed that 46 years and one cold war later, the nations of Europe and the United States have a chance to complete the unfinished portion of the Marshall Plan nullified by Soviet intransigence as the Cold War was launched.
``We now have an unprecedented opportunity to rededicate ourselves to Marshall's vision,'' Aspin said. ``That vision was for Europe whole and free.''
German Minister of Defense Volker Ruehe expressed appreciation for America's help after the war, and added that Europe and America must now muster the same support to the East. ``We are called upon to deal with a terrible legacy handed down by the Communist dictatorships,'' he continued. ``This is a task common to all of us, to Europe and to America.'' Exciting and promising words from the defense ministers of two of the world's most economically viable nations!
That this new center's name did not garner much press in the United States is not surprising. This is consistent with the current generation's lack of understanding of Gen. Marshall and his vision of community.
Marshall himself is a forgotten giant in many parts of the world today, especially in the United States. The May 1993 airing of the excellent PBS documentary, ``George Marshall and the American Century,'' is the first full-length biography of Marshall to be produced in American broadcasting - 35 years after his death.
Marshall's accomplishments are legendary. One of the postwar world's pre-eminent statesmen, he was the only professional soldier to receive the Nobel Prize for Peace. In fact, he is better known for winning a peace than for organizing the Allies' victory in World War II.
As significant as his accomplishments were, the important aspects of Marshall's life were his vision and his leadership. Without his vision, his views on the world community and his ability to convey his ideas, there would not have been a NATO, a Truman Doctrine, nor a Marshall Plan, all leading to the eventual demise of Soviet-style communism in Europe.
The idea that the United States would offer help to rebuild its former enemies was revolutionary, and difficult to sell to the American public and to Congress. Marshall's magnificent record of honesty, and his vigorous efforts to convince the American people of the program's necessity, made the European Recovery Program a reality. But Stalin rejected the Marshall Plan because he feared its consequences for the Soviet empire's closed society, and considered it an insidious form of American imperialism.
Now, 46 years later, the Berlin Wall is down and the Soviet Union is gone. The United States and its European allies have the opportunity to assist in the rebuilding of Eastern Europe and the republics of the former Soviet Union.
The Marshall Plan was not a welfare program for Europe. Its basic tenets apply today: political and economic stability in democratic, free-market societies; mutual cooperation and respect for the priorities of the aid recipients; facilitation of American business participation in rebuilding damaged economies; and encouragement of international free trade. Without these elements of economic stability, political stability in the regions affected remains unlikely.
At the dedication ceremony in Germany, I learned that one of the principal Defense Department officials responsible for naming the center received the George Marshall Leadership Award in 1983 as a distinguished graduate of the Army's ROTC program, and attended a four-day seminar at the George C. Marshall Foundation in Lexington. The young man told me that the seminar was one of the most memorable experiences of his life. He never forgot Marshall nor the importance of preserving the ideals and values of all that he stood for.
Winston Churchill wrote, ``Succeeding generations must not be allowed to forget his [Marshall's] achievements and his example.'' With the broadcast of the PBS documentary, the establishment of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, and with young people such as the one mentioned above remembering this great man, Churchill's admonition will be satisfied.
The challenge to the United States and to the George C. Marshall Center is enormous, one that the nations of Eastern Europe and the republics of the former Soviet Union will be watching very closely.
Expectations are high! The United States and its allies, particulary Germany, must not let the hopes and expectations of these struggling nations go unfulfilled. We must keep the example of Marshall alive, and, as Aspin suggested, complete the unfinished work of the European Recovery Program.
\ Robert F. Marryott, a retired rear admiral and former superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy and former president of the Naval War College, is president of the George C. Marshall Foundation in Lexington.
by CNB