The Mystery of Gen. George C. Marshall

Where was the Army’s chief of staff on the morning of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor?

A U.S. Marine firing detail stands at attention with the Arizona Memorial in background during a memorial service on Dec. 7, 2011, for the 70th anniversary of the attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in 1941. Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

Commentary

Gen. George Marshall appeared Dec. 7, 1945, before a joint congressional committee on the subject of the Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, which occurred exactly four years earlier. The legislators had many questions for Marshall, who had been the U.S. Army’s chief of staff.