#4-091
To General Malin Craig
August 31, 1943 [Washington, D.C.]
Dear Malin,
I found your letter of August thirtieth on the desk this morning.1 I am deeply grateful for your generous expressions as well as for your thoughtfulness.
It is impossible for me to realize that four years have elapsed, as a matter of fact, four years and two months, since you and I shook hands on the day I took over the job you had carried out with such high efficiency and loyalty during the preceding four years. I had little idea of the troubles that were awaiting me; I knew there were to be great difficulties and extremely critical periods, but nothing approximating this war all over the world.
I opened a letter from you to Katherine and noticed your change of base. As it happened that evening I considered for a moment motoring by your apartment to see if you wouldn't have dinner with me at the Army-Navy Club. I was putting in an appearance at a British gathering, but finally decided I would go home and sit down and diet for dinner.
Katherine is still at Fire Island. I am not certain whether she will return before or after Labor Day, but she will go direct to Leesburg and finish out the hot weather there.
With affectionate regards and thanks,
Faithfully yours,
Document Copy Text Source: George C. Marshall Papers, Pentagon Office Collection, Selected Materials, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia.
Document Format: Typed letter.
1. Craig, Marshall's predecessor as chief of staff, lived at the Kennedy-Warren apartments in Washington, D.C. The editors have not found his August 30 letter.
Recommended Citation: The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, ed. Larry I. Bland and Sharon Ritenour Stevens (Lexington, Va.: The George C. Marshall Foundation, 1981– ). Electronic version based on The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, vol. 4, “Aggressive and Determined Leadership,” June 1, 1943–December 31, 1944 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), pp. 101–102.