Legacy Lecture | Devising D-Day: Marshall and OVERLORD

For more than two years during World War II George C. Marshall was the major proponent for invading northern France as opposed to British proposals—often endorsed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt–to instead invade French North Africa and Italy in the Mediterranean. This debate quickly became a highly divisive controversy within the Grand Alliance—one that almost wrecked the Allied coalition. Marshall eventually won this debate, only to be denied the actual command of Operation OVERLORD in favor of his protégé Dwight Eisenhower. This presentation will explore Marshall’s pivotal role in the controversy—and the related reasons why he was then denied command of the operation. Dr. Mark A. Stoler is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Vermont, where he taught from 1970 to 2007. He received his B.A. from the City College of New York (1966), and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1967, 1971). He is the author of George C. Marshall: Soldier-Statesman of the American Century and Allies and Adversaries: The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Grand Alliance, and U.S. Strategy in World War II, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Book Award of the Society for Military History. He was editor of The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, vols. 6 and 7, with Larry I. Bland and Daniel D. Holt. The views expressed in this lecture are those of the speaker/s and do not necessarily reflect those of the George C. Marshall Foundation