The nation that will insist upon drawing a broad line of distinction between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking by cowards.
-- Sir William Francis Butler
In a career that paralleled the emergence of the United States as an international power, Marshall was a participant in every significant event contributing to the nation's status as a superpower. From his first combat duty in the Philippines at the turn of the century, through both World Wars, into the cold war and the Korea conflict, Marshall was a key figure in devising and implementing U.S. military strategies and foreign policies. Stoler emphasizes the years 1939-1951, while Marshall served as World War II army chief of staff, special presidential representative to China, secretary of state at the beginning of the cold war, and Korean War secretary of defense.