FOREIGN RELATIONS: End of a Mission

For more than a month George Catlett Marshall had stood by in China, awaiting release from his year-long mission: to mediate a compromise conclusion of China's civil war. This week President Truman recalled him to Washington. The official reason: "to report in person the situation in China." The real reason: to pave the way for resumption of normal diplomatic relations with Nanking.

General Marshall himself gave the signal for his return. His delicate tasks had won him respect and affection from both Communist and Kuomintang leaders, but his mission had been almost hopeless from the start. In...