Edward Farley Aldrich

Just finished The Partnership: George Marshall, Henry Stimson and the Extraordinary Collaboration That Won World War II by Edward Farley Aldrich, a dual biography on two extraordinary men who devoted their lives to the service of the United States.

A weakness of multi person biographies is that tendency to get lost between the transition from one subject to the next, an issue that I noticed when recently reading Scott Anderson’s The Quiet Americans. Unlike The Quiet Americans which dealt with four subjects though Aldrich is only addressing two main subjects and he does it impeccably.

When looking back at their lives one can’t help but notice the similarities between two men who came from vastly different backgrounds. Henry Stimson had a patrician background trained as a lawyer who served as an artillery officer in World War I. He also served as a United States Attorney for the Southern District, a two time Secretary of War, Secretary of State and the original wiseman who drifted between private practice, public service and trusted advisor to multiple presidents. George Marshall a man of a simple background from Uniontown, Pennsylvania who attended both VMI and West Point. Commissioned as a lieutenant who served on General Pershing’s Staff in World War I, numerous staff and training positions who ultimately served as Chief of Staff during the entirety of World War II and finished his career as Secretary of State, with his career highlight in this role being as the author of the European Recovery Act better known as The Marshall Plan and The Secretary of Defense.

Both men dedicated their lives to the United States giving some of their best efforts to successful creation of the military that successfully prosecuted a two theater war.

A cradle to grave biography that spends sufficient time on the lives of these men both before and during World War II.

An impeccably interesting and readable book 5 star book.… (meer)