General of the Army (United States)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Please see "General of the Army" for other nations which use this rank.

General of the Army is historically the second most superior rank in the United States Army, equivalent to a Field Marshal in other militaries. Its equivalent ranks in the other Armed Forces are Fleet Admiral and General of the Air Force.

Contents 1 Origins of the rank 2 First version 3 Second version 4 Modern usage 5 General of the Armies 6 See also

[edit] Origins of the rank

In an Act of the United States Congress on March 3, 1799, Congress provided "that a Commander of the United States shall be appointed and commissioned by the style of General of the Armies of the United States and the present office and title of Lieutenant General shall thereafter be abolished."

The proposed senior general officer rank was not bestowed, however, and when George Washington died, he was listed as a lieutenant general on the rolls of the United States Army. Thus, a policy was established (whose exact reasons are lost in history) that the senior-most general officer rank to be held in the Regular Army of the United States would be that of major general.

[edit] First version

On July 25, 1866, the U.S. Congress established the rank of "General of the Army of the United States" for Ulysses S. Grant. When appointed general of the Army, Grant wore the rank insignia of four stars and coat buttons arranged in three groups of four.

After Grant became president, he was succeeded as General of the Army by William T. Sherman, effective March 4, 1869. In 1872, Sherman ordered the insignia changed to two stars with the arms of the United States in between.

By an Act of June 1, 1888, the grade of lieutenant general was discontinued and merged in that of general of the Army, which was then conferred upon Philip H. Sheridan. (The cover of Sheridan's autobiography was decorated with four stars within a rectangle evocative of the four-star shoulder strap worn by Grant.) The rank of general of the Army ceased to exist upon the death of Sheridan on August 5, 1888 and the highest rank of the United States Army was again the two star major general rank.

Unlike the 1944 rank with a similar title, general of the Army in the 1866-1888 period was equivalent to a modern-day four star general. The unique title reflected the fact that only one officer could hold the rank at any time.

[edit] Second version

The second version of general of the Army, colloquially known as a "Five Star General" was created by Public Law 482 of the 78th Congress, passed on 14 December 1944, first as a temporary rank, then made permanent 23 March 1946 by an act of the 79th Congress. This was done to give the most senior American commanders parity of rank with their British counterparts. (The acts also created a comparable rank of fleet admiral for the Navy). The second General of the Army rank is considered separate from the 19th century version and the two are not considered comparable.

The insignia for general of the Army, as created in 1944, consisted of five stars in a pentagonal pattern, with points touching. The five officers who have held the 1944 version of general of the Army were:

•	George C. Marshall	16 December 1944
•	Douglas MacArthur	18 December 1944
•	Dwight D. Eisenhower	20 December 1944
•	Henry H. Arnold	21 December 1944
•	Omar Bradley	20 September 1950

The timing of the first four appointments was to correspond to the appointment of the U.S. Navy's five-star admirals to establish both a clear order of seniority and a near-equivalence between the services. The dates of rank for the corresponding five-star admirals are 15, 17, 19 December 1944 and 11 December 1945

A historical rumor suggests that the reason the rank of General of the Army was so named, instead of the United States military creating a rank of Field Marshal, is so that George Marshall would not be known as "Marshal Marshall." Most military sources agree that this had little to do with the naming of General of the Army, and more likely the rank was named after its 19th century counterpart and also since the rank of field marshal was considered by the U.S. military to be a strictly European rank.

Following the establishment of the United States Air Force in 1947, the equivalent rank of General of the Air Force was established. The only person to hold the rank of General of the Air Force was Henry H. Arnold, who was promoted to five-star rank in 1944 when the Army Air Force (AAF) was a component of the U.S. Army.

[edit] Modern usage

There have been no officers appointed to the rank of General of the Army since Omar Bradley and, in the 21st century U.S. military, further appointments are highly unlikely, unless the United States were to become involved in a major war on the scale of World War II.

In the 1990s, the Defense Department gave some indication that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would possibly one day be a position worthy of the rank General of the Army. This was little more of a rumor, however, with Congressional sources indicating there were no plans to promote even the most successful of modern day general officers to the rank of General of the Army.

In 1994 and 1995 there was some thought given by President Bill Clinton and his senior staff to nominating Colin Powell for the rank of General of the Army, but they decided against it because they could not guarantee it would pass Congress and also because General Powell was then viewed as a possible Republican presidential candidate in the 1996 election.

The rank of General of the Army is still maintained as a rank of the U.S. military, and could someday again be bestowed pending approval of the United States Congress. If appointed, the rank of General of the Army would carry a special pay grade just as the current ranks of officers do. Currently, official U.S. military policy is that General of the Army, General of the Air Force, and Fleet Admiral are only to be used in time of war where the commanding officer must be equal to or of higher rank than those commanding armies from another nation.

Regulations concerning the rank of General of the Army state that any officer holding the position will remain on active duty for life. It was for this reason that Dwight Eisenhower resigned his commission to serve as President of the United States, since the president cannot legally serve as an active duty U.S. military officer. Eisenhower's rank was restored by Congress after he left the White House, and is today commemorated on the signs denoting Interstate Highways as part of the Eisenhower Interstate System, which display five silver stars on a light blue background.

[edit] General of the Armies

An even higher rank, General of the Armies of the United States, has only been conferred twice in the history of the United States armed forces. The title of General of the Armies of the United States was created when General John J. Pershing accepted the commission on 8 September 1919, was retired with that rank on 13 September 1924. He held the rank until his death on 15 July 1948.

Joint Resolution of Congress, Pub.L. 94-479, dated 11 October 1976 provided for the posthumous appointment of George Washington to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States. Department of the Army Order 31-3, issued on March 13, 1978, with an effective promotion date of July 4, 1976.

[edit] See also

• List of U.S. military leaders by rank

U.S. commissioned officer ranks
	Student Officer	O-1	O-2	O-3	O-4	O-5	O-6	O-7	O-8	O-9	O-10	O-11 (wartime only)	Special Grade
Navy:	MIDN/OC	ENS	LTJG	LT	LCDR	CDR	CAPT	RDML	RADM	VADM	ADM	FADM	Admiral of the Navy
Marine Corps:	Midn	2ndLt	1stLt	Capt	Maj	LtCol	Col	BGen	MajGen	LtGen	Gen	(no equivalent)	(no equivalent)
Army:	CDT/OC	2LT	1LT	CPT	MAJ	LTC	COL	BG	MG	LTG	GEN	General of the Army	General of the Armies
Air Force:	Cadet	2nd Lt	1st Lt	Capt	Maj	Lt Col	Col	Brig Gen	Maj Gen	Lt Gen	Gen	General of the Air Force	(no equivalent)
Coast Guard:	CDT	ENS	LTJG	LT	LCDR	CDR	CAPT	RDML	RADM	VADM	ADM	(no equivalent)	(no equivalent)