Chapter 3 A politician who came out of a military academy

For Thanksgiving in 2004, we went north once.On the way home we made another detour to Lexington, Virginia. The place name Lexington is really misleading, because it is everywhere in the United States.The most famous is Lexington, a small town near Boston, Massachusetts, because it is the starting point of the Americans' independence from Britain.According to a Chinese friend, "That is the Yan'an of Red China".However, can you imagine that in China, because Yan'an is famous, every province casually calls its small town "Yan'an"?Certainly not.However, Americans are like this. They are so naive that they are a little ridiculous. They are proud of Lexington, so let’s say, let’s also be called Lexington.In this way, the United States is full of Lexington.

Lexington, Virginia is a place steeped in history.It is also home to the Virginia Military Institute.We've been here once before.Only, it was Christmas break, we walked around the campus, but didn't get to visit its museum, it was closed for the holidays.This time, I just want to make up for this shortcoming. Founded in 1839, the Virginia Military Institute is the oldest state military academy in the United States.This school always gives you a very strange feeling, it looks like a military academy.It might be ridiculous to say that, but a politician coming out of a military academy is, strangely, that's how it feels.That feeling didn't come from its heavy security, it didn't have soldiers and sentries guarding the door, not even a guard.We were familiar with the way, and drove straight into the campus.

Even in the inner area, there is only a thin rope at the entrance, with a small sign hanging on it, reminding you: no one should enter.However, it looks like a very simple and serious face as a whole, in contrast to the loose or academic atmosphere of ordinary American universities.The building is a light gray castle surrounded by a circle, like a well-defended city wall.On such a background, there is a bronze statue of a Confederate general, with four red brackets in front of it, holding ancient bronze cannons.The atmosphere of the military academy was immediately created. The college's museum is at the other end of the lawn.This museum is not big, but the building is carefully designed.It is not exactly the same as the architectural style of the surrounding colleges, but it is very harmonious.Small museum, but very rich exhibits.First of all, it is a college that is attracting students, so the clever introduction of the history of the college itself occupies a certain proportion.For example, it has two displays of the interior of student housing, one during the Civil War and one of the current student housing.It not only allows you to see the historical changes, but also allows students who intend to enter the school to have a general idea of ​​their living environment.

Lexington is not only the post-war home of General Lee, the Confederate general during the Civil War, but also the burial place of the most famous Confederate general, known as "Stonewall" Jackson. The statue next to the cannon is General Jackson.Therefore, the Civil War is naturally a major theme of the museum. In the exhibition hall, there are works of art on the theme of the Civil War collected by a family for 75 years in three generations.Before that, we have seen many oil paintings of this theme, but most of them showed grand war scenes.But this family has a unique collection vision.They focus on showing personal subjects related to the war.Artworks were created mostly in the immediate aftermath of the war, when the artist's perception was still completely fresh.So there are many moving details.On the dilapidated walls, there are still life paintings of military kettles, satchels and military caps; the family members of the Northern Army are separated from their relatives; soldiers rubbing their hands in the snow and ice; No longer the screws on the war machine, but each living person.

In the small museum exhibition hall, there is actually a horse, of course, it is a specimen.This is the mount of General "Stonewall" Jackson.Soldiers at that time cherished their mounts very much, and General Li's mount was buried next to him.General Li's burial place is a small church. General Li is inside, and his mount "Traveler" is quietly guarding outside the door. There is an important reason for General Jackson's important position here. The general was an instructor in this school.Such celebrity stories are not uncommon in this school.For example, in World War II, the famous General Patton was not only a student of this school, but three generations of his grandparents all came out of this school.

General Patton's grandfather, Colonel Patton, was a student of the Virginia Military Institute's class of 1855.Colonel Patton died on the battlefields of the Civil War in 1864.After his death, the soldiers under him gave his bloody clothes and the shrapnel that hit him to his wife.Mrs. Barton took it and carefully kept it together with his handkerchief and wallet.Thirteen years later, General Patton's father, Patton II, joined the school's class of 1877.After graduation, he did not enlist in the military and moved out of Virginia.However, he sent his son Patton III, who later became General Patton, back to Virginia and sent him to this school as a student of the class of 1907.

Interestingly, the most outstanding soldier of the Patton family couldn't handle the exams when he was studying in this school.In a situation like this, the school generally advises students to leave the military academy and transfer to an ordinary university, otherwise they will not get a diploma.Patton III finally chose to transfer to the West Point Military Academy in the north and become a graduate there.When the school told the story to the visitors, it mentioned that the school has stricter requirements for students than the West Point Military Academy, which is probably a little bit proud.

We are very grateful for the existence of West Point Military Academy, otherwise, Patton III would never become General Patton.Not only did World War II lose a famous general, but history also lost a lot of interesting stories. The most important location of this museum is not for "Stonewall" Jackson, nor for the great General Patton, but for another "World War II general" who graduated from the Virginia Military Institute - General Marshall (George CatlettMarshall). The statue of General Marshall is on the side of "Stone Wall" Jackson.Looking at the two statues, the feeling is really different.Not only is the era different, but also the personal temperament is different.General Jackson is heroic, showing the chicness of a soldier and the confidence of a battlefield commander, with a hint of wildness that cannot be restrained.But General Marshall is so different, he is rigorous, even though he is in military uniform, he is neat and tidy, and his eyes have a kind of profundity beyond soldiers.

As a general, General Marshall was a very special soldier.He was a soldier and a statesman all in one. Marshall was born on the last day of 1880, fifteen years after the Civil War ended.The Marshall family often proudly mentioned that this family had produced a great figure in American history, that is, Justice Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court who laid the foundation of American justice.However, when General Marshall was born, his family was just an ordinary family, and he was just an ordinary kid in a small town in Pennsylvania. Marshall's father was running a small business, but the boy insisted on joining the army and being a soldier.Later, people always said that he was like a child "Tom Sawyer" written by Mark Twain.In his fifty years of service to the country, he has gone through eight presidents, from the military to politics.His experience seems to symbolize the process of thousands of ordinary Americans gradually discovering their abilities in life, and it also seems to symbolize the gradual growth of the United States itself in an international society full of powerful people.

Marshall originally planned to go to West Point Military Academy, and later, decided to join the Virginia Military Institute.His older brother was a student of the school's class of 1894.Before entering college, Marshall heard a conversation between his brother and his mother. The brother told his mother that he did not believe that his brother could read it.This made the strong Marshall very breathless, and he vowed to let his brother see his good grades in the future. In the first year of the 20th century, in 1901, Marshall emerged from the circle of gray castles as the top student, graduating from the Virginia Military Institute.When he graduated, he was the commander of the cadets.At that time, the cadets in the military school wore European-style military uniforms with beautiful long buttons. On Marshall's hat, there was an ornament more than a foot high. They looked like little roosters.At the same time as graduation, he married his bride back at home.

At that time, it was after the Spanish-American War.Spain lost the war and sold its colony of the Philippines to the United States for $20 million.The United States therefore needs to expand its military and begin stationing troops overseas. In 1902, Marshall also entered the U.S. Army, bid farewell to his bride, and was stationed in the Philippines; until he retired 49 years and seven months later, Marshall was the U.S. Secretary of Defense and a five-star general.That's another story. A year later, in 1903, Marshall returned to the United States. In 1907 and 1908, Marshall graduated with honors from the Infantry Academy and the Officer Academy respectively.During World War I, he served as Chief of Staff to General Pershing in France. On September 1, 1939, just as Hitler was attacking Poland, General Marshall took office as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army.People always take it for granted that the United States has always been a military power.The truth is quite the opposite.The United States has long been unwilling to get involved in conflicts and wars in Europe, and its standing army is very limited.When General Marshall took office, he had only 174,000 poorly equipped soldiers.The U.S. military was then ranked seventeenth in the world, behind countries like Bulgaria and Portugal.Facing a dangerous world situation, General Marshall quickly promoted the U.S. military. In World War II, the U.S. military had a combat force of eight million people who could adapt to the global battlefield.Without this force, it would have been impossible for the Allies to defeat the armies of Nazi Germany and Japan. Strictly speaking, General Marshall was different from General Patton in that he was not a general who commanded battles on the front line.According to the Americans, his position is "Napoleon on the table".During World War II, he planned and directed an almost impossible dispatch in France to transfer 600,000 American soldiers and 900,000 tons of military supplies over long distances.All the operations were carried out secretly at night, and the Germans did not find out. When the Second World War was about to win, the Allies would begin to attack France and retake Europe from the Germans.Everyone felt that General Marshall should be sent to Europe.Once, President Roosevelt even told General Eisenhower that when the Civil War was mentioned today, everyone remembered the generals and commanders on the battlefield, but who would remember who the chief of staff was.I don't want General Marshall to be completely forgotten fifty years from now.The entire war was dispatched by him there, and his contribution was no less than that of the generals on the battlefield.Therefore, I really want to send him to Europe as a commander.However, in the end, President Roosevelt found that he could not find anyone who could really replace General Marshall's current position.So he still said to General Marshall: "I think if I send you abroad, I won't be able to sleep at night." General Marshall stayed without saying a word.He still lays on his desk in the War Department every day, like a lizard.War not only requires bravery, especially in large-scale modern wars, the military supplies needed by millions of soldiers must always keep up.Not only do aircraft, cannons, firearms and ammunition need to be delivered to soldiers in a timely manner, but what soldiers eat and drink cannot be interrupted for a day.It takes the wisest general to strategize. Many people complained about General Marshall, thinking that he was more remarkable than General Eisenhower who had been in the White House for eight full years, and that he had more credit than General MacArthur.However, at the end of the "World War II", General Marshall was indeed not as famous as them.After the war, General Marshall did not write his recollections as well as others.He said that if he had written it, he would have written 100 percent of the facts, but this would certainly hurt the feelings of some of his colleagues, so let's not write it. In June 1947, two years after the end of World War II, the discerning Harvard University, realizing that General Marshall was such an excellent general who was different from his peers, decided to award General Marshall an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.Before the 8,000 guests present at the degree ceremony, Harvard President Conant said that General Marshall was not only a soldier, but also a statesman.His ability and character, in the history of the United States, only one person can be compared with him.He did not say who that person was, but everyone present knew that Principal Conant was referring to George Washington, the founder of the United States. Conant is right.Marshall was not only a general, but also a statesman.For General Patton, a classmate of General Marshall, soldiers were soldiers. Patton was obsessed with the life of a general who galloped across the battlefield, dispatched troops, and commanded large-scale battles. General Patton always had the illusion that the great spirit of Alexander the Great was attached to him.He was a soldier through and through, and had an inflated air of a general.However, George Washington and George Marshall, as generals, had the ability to restrain and surpass themselves.They have the ability to make the ego disappear and completely integrate their career with a career.Reflecting on these two historical figures today, American historians lament that their qualities seem unattainable. However, if General Washington gave himself completely to the cause of American freedom, then General Marshall set his sights on the peace of Europe and the world. On June 5, 1947, General Marshall stood at Harvard University to receive this honorary degree.It has been two years since the end of World War II.But what about Europe?The Allied victory had been completely overwhelmed by a new kind of anxiety and tension.British Prime Minister Winston Churchill asked: "What has become of Europe now? It is a heap of broken bricks and rubble, a large cemetery, a land where plague and hatred are still bleeding from wounds." Yes, although Europe has finally defeated the Nazis , got peace, however, it became a huge war ruins. Europe has no products to sell in exchange for money, and the democracies it is expected to build and grow are in jeopardy.Two years have passed, not because the Europeans didn't work hard, but because they didn't have the minimum start-up capital. In fact, this is the state of Europe after the First World War.In such a state, dictatorship and power are imminent, and war is also imminent.If the situation cannot be improved, and the world will be reincarnated again, the world will always be turbulent like malaria, and peace will become a luxury. It was at this time that General Marshall became the Secretary of State of the United States.He felt that he had been wrongly entrusted with such a task, and the reason was that he was not a verbal man, he could not speak eloquently.Have you ever heard that the foreign minister of a big country is not good at speaking?He came out of the Virginia Military Academy with a simple gray castle, stood in the courtyard of Harvard University surrounded by red school buildings with noble academic temperament, faced eight thousand guests, without rhetoric, no pride in past achievements and today's recognition , He was just worried and told the truth: "I must tell you that the world situation today is very serious." Then, he expressed his vision for the restoration of Europe. That is the famous Marshall plan. The goal of the Marshall Plan was that, in the face of the threat of the Cold War, the United States extended a helping hand, gave Europe start-up funds, quickly restored the European economy, and ended possible greater chaos in European and international politics. However, the United States is a country with a parliamentary democracy. If you spend a penny, you must get the approval of the people and the parliament.The United States has always drawn a clear line from the wars of conflicting interests in Europe from a conceptual point of view.Therefore, the United States sent troops in World War I just to make peace. Europe after World War II was basically the same situation as after World War I.The American people have just sacrificed a large number of their children, and now it is difficult to think about sending a large amount of money to troubled Europe. General Marshall was a man of action and was not good at speeches, but now he forced himself not only to go to Congress but to travel all over the country to speak to the people.He said with a wry smile that it was like a politician running for senator and president there.He not only inspired the people with the ideal of world peace, but also understood the principles of world economic interaction.In the end, the Marshall Plan was finally accepted by the American people. From 1948 to 1952, the United States assisted 16 European countries with 13 billion U.S. dollars, equivalent to 88.2 billion U.S. dollars in 1997, all of which were used to restore the European economy.The Marshall Plan was very effective. After the war, Europe quickly stood up and had a foundation for its own start and development.This is not only a successful example of economic aid, but also provides a way of thinking for the international community. At the end of World War I, France, the victorious country, demanded excessive compensation from the defeated Germany.As a result, the people of Germany were destitute and desperate.As the people panicked, Hitler's Nazi party took the opportunity to rise up, and eventually to harm the world, first of all its neighbor France.General Marshall used his plan to spread the idea to the world that poverty not only breeds evil, but also encourages totalitarianism and ultimately threatens peace.The international community has a responsibility to eradicate poverty and foster democratic ideals. He also conveyed the message to the world that the winner of a war may not be a proud conqueror and exploiter, but a friend and rescuer of the people of the defeated country.Therefore, the Marshall Plan also included West Germany at that time, and the Federal Republic of Germany quickly recovered and developed into a modern country. In 1953, General Marshall was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. We walk out of the museum.The autumn sun is shining warmly through the branches and leaves.A gust of wind blows, and the golden autumn leaves fall, covering the green autumn grass that has not yet turned yellow. The lawn is just like the style here, meticulous.We walked to the statue of General Marshall again, passing some young cadets from time to time.They will be lucky to have a soldier's soul in such a school with a long history and fine traditions. The soul of a soldier is not only brave and resourceful, but also integrates life into mission.