"In this meticulously researched and well-written book, Rod Andrew provides the definitive account of the Marine Corps's fight for institutional survival in the aftermath of World War II. Andrew takes the reader from Capitol Hill to Korean War battlefields as he explores how the Service made a case for its strategic relevance in the early years of the Cold War." Nathan R. Packard, contributing author to Peace, War and Partnership: Congress and the Military since World War II
"For the Marine Corps to continue to provide its matchless operational capabilities in support of America's national security, the Corps' senior officers, members of Congress, and Defense Department leaders must know how Marines working with Congress helped enshrine those capabilities into law. There is no better description of the decades long battle to save and strengthen the Marine Corps through legislation than The Marines' Fight for Survival. It is without doubt the seminal account of those challenging years that every US Marine and supporter of Marines must read." Lieutenant General Paul K. Van Riper, US Marine Corps (Retired)
"Who would have thought, after the successes of the Marine Corps in WWII, that immediately after the war that same Corps would be fighting for its own existence within the Defense Department? In his book The Marines' Fight for Survival, Rod Andrew brought that multi-year fight to life in the most researched and well-documented book written to date. As a young lad who watched his father agonize over this battle, this remarkable book filled some blank spaces. I strongly recommend this brilliant account to any who believe that the 'Bended Knee' has never been a tradition of our Corps and never will be." Charles C. Krulak, General, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps
"Colonel Rod Andrew, USMCR (ret.) has produced on a superb history on the post WWII struggle of Marine Corps to survive as an institution in early Cold War. In fact, Navy Cross recipient and Marine Commandant Clifton B. Cates was astounded to find out that the newly established Department of Defense and its second Secretary, Louis A. Johnson, was seriously considering doing away with the entire Marine Corps in the name of service unification. Pulling no punches, Andrew chronicled the years-long fight for institutional Corps survival and ultimately showed that it was the legendary combat prowess of the Marines in the Korean War that did more toward saving the Corps than all their herculean pre-war efforts in the halls of Congress and within the confined of the Department of Defense combined. Korea made it evident that the nation simply had to have its Marines for future Cold War contingencies." C. P. Neimeyer, editor of On the Corps: USMC Wisdom from the Pages of Leatherneck, Marine Corps Gazette, and Proceedings
"Although the U.S. Marine Corps emerged from the Second World War riding high after many amphibious successes, the Marines faced serious institution threats from Congress, the executive branch, and the other armed services during the immediate post-war years. Rod Andrew skillfully dissects those threats during the military unification debates in the late 1940s in his book The Marines' Fight for Survival, and then he reveals how and why the Marines' hard-fought battles in the Korean War helped safeguard the Corps' survival in 1952." David J. Ulbrich, author of Preparing for Victory: Thomas Holcomb and the Making of the Modern Marine Corps, 1935-1943
