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Mark Stoler: Gen. George Marshall understood the wise use of authority

A lack of emphasis in the Army educational system and a promotion system that does not allow dissident views is what is keeping the United States Army from producing another Gen. George Marshall, according to an expert on U.S. diplomatic and military history who spoke at the Pownal Solomon Wright Library on Sunday.
Marshall, a military leader that went on to become Secretary of State, the third Secretary of Defense and win a Nobel Peace Prize, had a real understanding of authority and how it should be used, according to Mark Stoler, historian and biographer of Marshall.

Stoler said that when he was earning his Master's Degree in history at the University of Wisconsin in the 1960s he had long hair and a strong dislike for authority but then he found Marshall. Through Marshall, Stoler realized that it was not authority, it was abuse of authority — which Marshall would not tolerate.

"I've studied a lot of things but Marshall has a place in my heart," said Stoler. "He really understood authority."

Stoler, who earned his doctorate in military and diplomatic history, spent years teaching in various military schools, including the U.S....
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