Marshall, Alfred (b. July 26, 1842, London, Eng.—d. July 13, 1924, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire) British economist, one of the founders of English neoclassical economics. The first principal of University College, Bristol (1877-81), and a professor at the University of Cambridge (1885— 1908), he reexamined and extended the ideas of classical economists such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo. His best-known work. Principles of Economics (1890), introduced several influential economic concepts, including elasticity of demand, consumer's surplus, and the representative firm. His writings on the theory of value proposed time as a factor in analysis and reconciled the classical cost-of-production principle with the theory of marginal utility. See also classical economics.
Marshall, George C(atlett) (b. Dec. 31, 1880, Uniontown, Pa., U.S.—d. Oct. 16, 1959, Washington, D.C.) U.S. Army officer and states¬ man. After graduating from the Virginia Military Institute, he served in the Philippines (1902-03) and in World War I. He was later an aide to Gen. John Pershing (1919-24) and assistant commandant of the army’s infantry school (1927-33), where he taught many future commanders. As chief of staff of the U.S. Army (1939—45), he directed army operations throughout World War II. After his retirement in 1945, Pres. Harry Tru¬ man sent him to China to mediate the civil war there. As secretary of state (1947—49), Marshall proposed the European aid program known as the Marshall Plan and initiated discussions that led to the formation of NATO. He resigned because of ill health but was called back by Truman to become secretary of defense (1950-51) and to prepare the armed forces for the Korean War. In 1953 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.
Marshall, John (b. Sept. 24, 1755, near Germantown, Va.—d. July 6, 1835, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.) U.S. patriot, politician, and jurist. In 1775 he joined a regiment of minutemen and served as a lieutenant under Gen. George Washington in the American Revolution. After his discharge (1781), he served in the Virginia legislature and on Virginia’s executive council (1782-95), gaining a reputation as a leading Federalist. He sup¬ ported ratification of the U.S. Constitution at the state’s ratifying conven¬ tion. He was one of three commissioners sent to France in 1797-98 (see XYZ Affair); he later served as secretary of state (1800-01) under Pres. John Adams. In 1801 Adams named Marshall chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, a post he held until his death. He participated in more than 1,000 decisions, writing 519 himself. During his tenure, the Supreme Court set forth the main structure of the government; its ground¬ breaking decisions included Marbury v. Madison, which established judi-
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cial review; McCulloch v. Maryland, which affirmed the constitutional doctrine of “implied powers”; the Dartmouth College case, which protected businesses and corporations from much government regulation; and Gib¬ bons v. Ogden, which established that states cannot interfere with Con¬ gress’s right to regulate commerce. Marshall is remembered as the principal founder of the U.S. system of constitutional law.
Marshall, Paule orig. Paule Burke (b. April 9, 1929, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. writer. She was born to Barbadian parents and attended Brooklyn College. Her autobiographical first novel, Brown Girl, Brown- stones (1959), was acclaimed for its acute rendition of dialogue. Her short story “Reena” (1962) was one of the first pieces of fiction to feature a college-educated, politically active black woman as its protagonist. Her most eloquent statement of her belief in black Americans’ need to redis¬ cover their African heritage is the novel Praisesongfor the Widow (1983). The Fisher King (2000) is a story of love and family conflict.
Marshall, Thomas R(iley) (b. March 14, 1854, North Manchester, Ind., U.S.—d. June 1, 1925, Washington, D.C.) U.S. politician. As gov¬ ernor of Indiana (1909-13) he sponsored a broad program of social leg¬ islation. In 1912 he was elected vice president on a ticket with Woodrow Wilson. He became the first vice president in nearly 100 years to serve two terms (1913-21). When Wilson suffered a stroke that partially para¬ lyzed him in 1919, Marshall refused to assume the powers of the presi¬ dency without a congressional resolution and written requests from first lady Edith Wilson and the president’s doctor. A popular public official, he was heard to remark during a tedious debate, “What this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar.”
Marshall, Thurgood (b. July 2, 1908, Baltimore, Md., U.S.—d. Jan. 24, 1993, Bethesda, Md.) U.S. jurist and civil-rights advocate. He received his law degree from Howard University in 1933. From 1936 he worked for the NAACP, becoming its chief counsel in 1940. He won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court of the United States, includ¬ ing the landmark Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and others that established equal protection for African Americans in housing, voting, employment, and education. He served as U.S. solicitor general (1965— 67) before being appointed in 1967 to the Supreme Court by Pres. Lyn¬ don B. Johnson, becoming the first African American Supreme Court justice. Marshall was a steadfast liberal during his tenure on the Court, and he maintained his previous views concerning the need for equitable and just treatment of the nation’s minorities by the state and federal gov¬ ernments. He retired in 1991.
Marshall Islands officially Republic of the Marshall Islands
Island country, central Pacific Ocean. It is composed of two parallel chains of low-lying coral atolls: the Ratak, or Sunrise, to the east and the Ralik, or Sunset, to the west. The chains lie 125 mi (200 km) apart and extend some 800 mi (1,290 km) northwest to southeast. The islands and islets number more than 1,200. Area: 70 sq mi (181 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 56,300. Capitaclass="underline" Majuro. The indigenous people are Micronesian. Lan¬ guages: Marshallese, English (both official). Religion: Christianity (Prot¬ estant, Roman Catholic, other Christians). Currency: U.S. dollar. The largest atoll is Kwajalein, consisting of about 90 islets, with a total land area of 6 sq mi (16 sq km). Much of Kwajalein is used as a missile-testing range by the U.S. military, which provides a major source of revenue to the Mar¬ shall Islands. Subsistence farming, fishing, and the raising of pigs and poul¬ try are the principal economic activities. The Marshall Islands is a republic with two legislative houses; its head of state and government is thejjresi- dent. The islands were sighted in 1529 by the Spanish navigator Alvaro Saavedra (or de Saavedra). Germany purchased the islands from Spain in 1885 and declared them a protectorate the following year. Japan seized them in 1914 and after 1919 administered them as a League of Nations mandate. During World War II the U.S. seized Kwajalein and Enewetak, and the Marshall Islands were made part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands under U.S. jurisdiction in 1947. Bikini and Enewetak atolls served as testing grounds for U.S. nuclear weapons from 1946 to 1958. The Marshall Islands became an internally self-governing republic in 1979. It signed the compact of free association with the U.S. in 1982 and became fully self-governing in 1986. The compact was amended in 2004.
Marshall Plan (1948-51) U.S.-sponsored program to provide eco¬ nomic aid to European countries after World War II. The idea of a Euro¬ pean self-help plan financed by the U.S. was proposed by George Marshall in 1947 and was authorized by Congress as the European Recovery Pro¬ gram. It provided almost $13 billion in grants and loans to 17 countries
and was a key factor in reviving their economies and stabilizing their political structures. The plan’s concept was extended to less-developed countries under the Point Four Program.