Eighty years ago today, on November 27, 1945 (October 23, 1945), Marshall was appointed as a mediator in the Chinese Civil War. On November 27, 1945, President Truman announced that he had appointed George Marshall as his special envoy to China, whose purpose was to mediate the growing civil war between Nationalist and Communist forces in the north. Marshall, who had just resigned from the top position in the army, accepted the appointment immediately. He said he would soon be traveling to China. The president chose Marshall for this special assignment because Batrick-Hurley had recently announced to the White House that he would resign as U.S. ambassador to China, a position he had been appointed to in 1944; he was also instructed to prevent the collapse of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government. His resignation came as a surprise to the White House. Mr. Hurley's resignation was accompanied by a pointed statement denouncing "career diplomats" who were undermining American policy in China, saying they had "publicly exhorted" the Communist Party that "unless the Communist Party accepts the control of the Kuomintang, the two militaries cannot be unified."