View source for General of the Armies

{{Short description|Highest rank in the United States Army}}
{{distinguish|General of the Army (United States)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox military rank
| name           = General of the Armies<br/> of the United States
| native_name    =
| image          = Flag of General of the Armies (Culver flag, 1922).svg
| image_size     = 150px
| caption        = Flag of General of the Armies, presented to Pershing in 1922
| image2         = General John Joseph Pershing head on shoulders.jpg
| image_size2    = 
| caption2       = General of the Armies [[John J. Pershing]], the only person to hold the rank during his own lifetime
| image3         =
| image_size3    =
| caption3       =
| country        = {{flagu|United States}}
| service branch = {{army|United States}}
| abbreviation   =
| rank           = 
| NATO rank      = 
| Non-NATO rank  = 
| formation      = {{start date|1919|09|03}}
| abolished      =
| higher rank    = None
| lower rank     = [[General of the Army (United States)|General of the Army]]
| equivalents    =None
| history        =
}}

'''General of the Armies of the United States''', more commonly referred to as '''General of the Armies''', is the [[United States military seniority|highest military rank]] in the [[United States]]. The rank has been conferred three times: to [[John J. Pershing]] in 1919, as a personal accolade for his command of the [[American Expeditionary Forces]] during [[World War I]]; to [[George Washington]] in <!--DO NOT CHANGE TO 1776-->1976<!--THE CHANGE WAS *POSTHUMOUS* 1976 IS CORRECT-->, as a [[posthumous promotion|posthumous honor]] during the [[United States Bicentennial]] celebrations; and posthumously to victorious Civil War commander [[Ulysses S. Grant]] in 2024.

The grade is sometimes described as a [[Six-star rank|six-star general]], as being senior to the [[five-star rank|five-star grade]] of [[General of the Army (United States)|General of the Army]]. However, no six-star insignia was ever officially created, and Pershing, the only person to be General of the Armies during his own lifetime, never wore more than four stars.<ref name=Oliver_1983>{{cite book
|title=Why is the Colonel Called "Kernal"?
|first=Raymond
|last=Oliver
|newspaper=Air Force Historical Support Division
|publisher=Office of History, Sacramento Air Logistics Center
|place=McClellan Air Force Base, California
|date=August 1983
|url=https://www.afhistory.af.mil/FAQs/Fact-Sheets/Article/459010/why-is-the-colonel-called-kernal/
|page=20
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=August 8, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808032446/https://www.afhistory.af.mil/FAQs/Fact-Sheets/Article/459010/why-is-the-colonel-called-kernal/
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Whether Pershing's grade should rank as four, five, or six stars has been a subject of debate ever since the five-star grades were created in 1944.<ref name=HJRes519/> To make Washington unambiguously the highest ranking Army officer in 1976, Congress specified that his new grade of General of the Armies ranked above all other grades of the Army, past or present,<ref name=PL_94-479/> while the law authorizing Grant's promotion made his rank in parity with Pershing's rank.

The General of the Armies enjoyed several privileges not afforded to other generals, including a much higher salary and the right to retire at full pay and allowances. Even in retirement, Pershing—the only-ever living person with the rank—was the second-highest-paid official in the [[federal government of the United States|federal government]], after only the president of the United States.<ref name=Post-Gazette_1931-03-23/>

==History==
===Origin===
====Attempt to appoint Washington====
[[File:GeorgeWashingtonByRobertField.jpg|thumb|259x259px|The office of General of the Armies was created for [[George Washington]] in 1799, but he was not actually appointed until 1976.]]
The office of "General of the Armies of the United States" was created by an [[Act of Congress]] on March 3, 1799, which stated:

{{blockquote|
That a commander of the army 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.<ref name=Act_1799-03-03>Act of March 3, 1799 ({{USStat|1|752}}).</ref>
}}

The law was intended to elevate [[George Washington]], who was then a lieutenant general commanding the [[Provisional Army of the United States|provisional army]] being organized to fight the [[Quasi-War]] against France, but President [[John Adams]] never made the appointment, concerned it would infringe on the president's constitutional function as "commander-in-chief of the armed forces".<ref name=Attorney_General_1856>{{cite book
|title=Official Opinions of the Attorneys General of the United States
|volume=VII
|editor-first=C. C.
|editor-last=Andrews
|publisher=Robert Farnham
|place=Washington, D.C.
|date=1856
|chapter=Lieutenant General Scott's Case
|pages=422–424
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tl4LAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA422
|access-date=March 19, 2023
|archive-date=February 27, 2024
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227202723/https://books.google.com/books?id=Tl4LAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA422#v=onepage&q&f=false
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Washington died on December 14, 1799, and the grade lapsed on March 16, 1802, when not mentioned in the law that defined the peacetime military establishment.<ref name="faq_5_stars">.{{cite web |title=How many U.S. Army five-star generals have there been and who were they? |url=https://history.army.mil/html/faq/5star.html |publisher=[[United States Army Center of Military History|U.S. Army Center of Military History]] |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=May 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529123258/https://history.army.mil/html/faq/5star.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====American Civil War====
After the [[American Civil War]], Congress honored [[Ulysses S. Grant]] for his successful command of the [[Union Army]] by authorizing his promotion to the grade of [[general (United States)|general]] under the Act of July 25, 1866, which stated:

{{blockquote|
That the grade of "general of the army of the United States" be, and the same is hereby, revived....<ref name=Act_1866-07-25>Act of July 25, 1866 ({{USStat|14|223}}).</ref>
}}

Despite being titled "General of the Army" instead of "General of the Armies", the [[Comptroller General of the United States]] would rule in 1924 that the grade revived in 1866 for Grant (and later [[William Tecumseh Sherman|William T. Sherman]] and [[Philip Sheridan|Philip H. Sheridan]]) was the same grade that had been created for Washington in 1799 and revived for Pershing in 1919.<ref name=Trask_1996>{{cite book
|title=Defender of the Public Interest: The General Accounting Office, 1921–1966
|first=Roger R.
|last=Trask
|date=1996
|publisher=U.S. General Accounting Office
|place=Washington, D.C.
|page=179
|isbn=9780160487286
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fit3SGVPd30C&pg=PA179
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=February 27, 2024
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227202901/https://books.google.com/books?id=fit3SGVPd30C&pg=PA179#v=onepage&q&f=false
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

{{blockquote|
It thus appears that the office of general was first created in 1799 by the title of "General of the Armies of the United States;" that it was revived in 1866 as "General of the Army of the United States;" and that it was again revived in 1919 by the title of "General of the Armies of the United States." That it is one and the same office, that of general, is unquestioned.<ref name=4_Comp_Gen_317>{{cite book
|chapter=Army Pay – Retired General (4 Comp. Gen. 317)
|title=Decisions of the Comptroller General of the United States
|volume=4
|date=1925
|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office
|place=Washington, D.C.
|page=317
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3po26n8f7rwC&pg=PA317
|access-date=March 19, 2023
|archive-date=February 27, 2024
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227202724/https://books.google.com/books?id=3po26n8f7rwC&pg=PA317#v=onepage&q&f=false
|url-status=live
}}</ref>
}}

Pershing would inherit several of his unique perquisites as General of the Armies through this legislative continuity with the Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan grade, including a much higher salary than other generals and the right to retire at full pay instead of three-quarters pay.<ref name=4_Comp_Gen_317/>

===John J. Pershing (1919)===
[[File:John Pershing.jpg|thumb|upright|[[John J. Pershing]] was General of the Armies from September 3, 1919, until his death on July 15, 1948.]]
During [[World War I]], Congress authorized the ''ex officio'' grade of general for the [[United States Army Chief of Staff|chief of staff of the Army]] and the commander of the [[American Expeditionary Forces]] (AEF) in France, but only during the wartime emergency.<ref name=Act_1917-10-06>Act of October 6, 1917 ({{USStat|40|410}}).</ref> Unlike the 1866 grade, which was a permanent personal appointment, the 1917 grade was only held while occupying a specific office. Army chief of staff [[Tasker H. Bliss]] and AEF commander [[John J. Pershing]] were commissioned emergency generals on October 8, 1917, with [[Peyton C. March]] succeeding Bliss as chief of staff and emergency general on May 20, 1918.<ref name=NYT_1917-10-09>{{cite news
|title=Are Full Generals Now
|newspaper=The New York Times
|place=New York City
|date=October 9, 1917
|page=5
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1917/10/09/archives/are-full-generals-now-president-signs-commissions-of-bliss-and.html
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 5, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705191650/https://www.nytimes.com/1917/10/09/archives/are-full-generals-now-president-signs-commissions-of-bliss-and.html?searchResultPosition=35
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name=NYT_1918-05-21>{{cite news
|title=Rank of General for Bliss and March
|newspaper=The New York Times
|place=New York City
|date=May 21, 1918
|page=6
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1918/05/21/archives/rank-of-general-for-bliss-and-march-former-gets-brevet-title-for.html
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 5, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705191106/https://www.nytimes.com/1918/05/21/archives/rank-of-general-for-bliss-and-march-former-gets-brevet-title-for.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

====Attempt to appoint March with Pershing====
When the war ended, Pershing and March were due to lose their emergency grades and revert to major general, so on June 18, 1919, President [[Woodrow Wilson]] asked Congress to promote both men to permanent general in a way that gave Pershing precedence over March.<ref name=NYT_1919-07-19>{{cite news
|title=Wants The Highest Rank For Pershing
|newspaper=The New York Times
|place=New York City
|date=July 19, 1919
|page=5
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1919/07/19/archives/wants-the-highest-rank-for-pershing-president-recommends-that-he-be.html
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 5, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705202138/https://www.nytimes.com/1919/07/19/archives/wants-the-highest-rank-for-pershing-president-recommends-that-he-be.html?searchResultPosition=8
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name=Wilson_1919>{{cite book
|title=Supplement to the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Covering the Second Term of Woodrow Wilson, March 4, 1917, to March 4, 1921
|publisher=Bureau of National Literature
|date=1921
|page=8761
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WYg_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA8761
|access-date=March 19, 2023
|archive-date=February 27, 2024
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227202819/https://books.google.com/books?id=WYg_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA8761#v=onepage&q&f=false
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Six weeks later, the [[United States House Committee on Armed Services|House Military Affairs Committee]] reported out two bills authorizing Pershing and March to each be appointed General of the Armies.<ref name=HR_7594>{{cite book
|chapter=Report No. 185
|title=House Reports (Public), 66th Congress, 1st Session
|volume=1
|date=1919
|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office
|place=Washington, D.C.
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BBI5AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA41-PP1
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 5, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705224847/https://books.google.com/books?id=BBI5AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA41-PP1
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name=HR_7595>{{cite book
|chapter=Report No. 186
|title=House Reports (Public), 66th Congress, 1st Session
|volume=1
|date=1919
|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office
|place=Washington, D.C.
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BBI5AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA41-PP3
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 5, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705224847/https://books.google.com/books?id=BBI5AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA41-PP3
|url-status=live
}}</ref> To ensure that Pershing would outrank March, Pershing's bill also repealed the 1917 law that gave the Army chief of staff precedence over all other Army officers.<ref name=Washington_Post_1919-09-07>{{cite news
|title=News of Army and Navy: Precedence of Gen. Pershing Over Chief of Staff Approved by Officers
|newspaper=The Washington Post
|place=Washington, D.C.
|date=September 7, 1919
|page=38
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/31543187/
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 6, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706080954/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/31543187/
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name=Act_1917-05-12>Act of May 12, 1917 ({{USStat|40|46}}).</ref>

Congress and Pershing both opposed March's promotion, having clashed with him during the war, so March's bill did not pass and he reverted to major general. He was later advanced to general on the retired list.<ref name=Smythe_1981>{{cite journal
|title=The Pershing-March Conflict in World War I
|first=Donald
|last=Smythe
|journal=Parameters
|volume=XI
|issue=4
|year=1981
|page=60
|url=https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters/vol11/iss1/32/
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 6, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706082907/https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters/vol11/iss1/32/
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

====Pershing appointment====
[[File:Pershing 1919 commission.png|thumb|upright|President [[Woodrow Wilson]] accidentally gave Pershing a [[commission (document)|commission]] to be a [[General (United States)|general]] instead of a General of the Armies.]]
On September 3, 1919, President Wilson signed [[s:Public Law 66-45|Public Law 66-45]], providing:

{{blockquote|
That the office of General of the Armies of the United States is hereby revived...[for] a general officer of the Army who, on foreign soil and during the recent war, has been especially distinguished in the higher command of military forces of the United States...and any provision of existing law that would enable any other officer of the Army to take rank and precedence over said officer is hereby repealed....<ref name=PL_66-45>[[s:Public Law 66-45|Public Law 66-45]] ({{USStat|41|283}})</ref>
}}

The bill had been rushed through Congress in only two days so that [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] [[Newton D. Baker]] could hand Pershing his new commission as soon as he arrived from France on September 8, when his emergency grade would expire.<ref name=NYT_1919-09-04>{{cite news
|title=Names Pershing To Permanent Rank
|newspaper=The New York Times
|place=New York City
|date=September 4, 1919
|page=3
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1919/09/04/archives/names-pershing-to-permanent-rank-president-rushes-generals.html
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 6, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706114935/https://www.nytimes.com/1919/09/04/archives/names-pershing-to-permanent-rank-president-rushes-generals.html?searchResultPosition=5
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name=NYT_1919-09-09>{{cite news
|title=General Deeply Moved By Hearty Welcome
|newspaper=The New York Times
|place=New York City
|date=September 9, 1919
|page=2
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1919/09/09/archives/general-deeply-moved-by-hearty-welcome-lips-tremble-as-baker-reads.html
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 6, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706114934/https://www.nytimes.com/1919/09/09/archives/general-deeply-moved-by-hearty-welcome-lips-tremble-as-baker-reads.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

In the haste to promote Pershing, Wilson accidentally nominated him to be a general in the Army instead of a General of the Armies, a difference that could have cost Pershing half his income when he retired.<ref name=ANJ_1919-09-20>{{cite news
|title=Confirmation of a General
|newspaper=Army and Navy Journal
|place=New York City
|date=September 20, 1919
|page=76
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gXYTgx7qXtAC&pg=PA76
|access-date=March 19, 2023
|archive-date=February 27, 2024
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227202726/https://books.google.com/books?id=gXYTgx7qXtAC&pg=PA76#v=onepage&q&f=false
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name=NYT_1924-08-19>{{cite news
|title=Gen. Pershing's Pay To Be Cut In Half
|newspaper=The New York Times
|place=New York City
|date=August 19, 1924
|page=19
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/08/19/archives/gen-pershings-pay-to-be-cut-in-half-will-lose-allowances-and.html
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 6, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706115840/https://www.nytimes.com/1924/08/19/archives/gen-pershings-pay-to-be-cut-in-half-will-lose-allowances-and.html?searchResultPosition=1
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

Official Army publications subsequently took care to spell out Pershing's title as General of the Armies, as distinct from the emergency generals of 1917 and the rank of general that was held by the chief of staff of the Army after 1929.<ref name=NYT_1921-07-10>{{cite news
|title=Pershing's Rank Is 'General Of Armies'
|newspaper=The New York Times
|place=New York City
|date=July 10, 1921
|page=18
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1921/07/10/archives/pershings-rank-is-general-of-armies-proper-title-shown-in-his-first.html
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 6, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706115840/https://www.nytimes.com/1921/07/10/archives/pershings-rank-is-general-of-armies-proper-title-shown-in-his-first.html?searchResultPosition=30
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name=NYT_1929-02-24>{{cite news
|title=Summerall A General
|newspaper=The New York Times
|place=New York City
|date=February 24, 1929
|page=33
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/02/24/archives/summerall-a-general-coolidge-signs-bill-giving-him-as-chief-of.html
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 6, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706115707/https://www.nytimes.com/1929/02/24/archives/summerall-a-general-coolidge-signs-bill-giving-him-as-chief-of.html?searchResultPosition=13
|url-status=live
}}</ref> In 1928, Secretary of War [[Dwight F. Davis]] even increased the 17-gun salute authorized for a General of the Armies to the 19 guns of a European [[field marshal]].<ref name=Boston_Globe_1928-12-14>{{cite news
|title=19-Gun Salute For Pershing Is Planned
|newspaper=The Boston Globe
|place=Boston, Massachusetts
|date=December 14, 1928
|page=14
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/431227288/
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 6, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706115839/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/431227288/
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

====Continued privileges during retirement====
[[File:State, War, & Navy Building - Washington, D.C..jpg|thumb|210x210px|The General of the Armies had a spacious office in the old [[Eisenhower Executive Office Building|State, War, and Navy Building]] until 1947.]]
Pershing transferred to the retired list on September 12, 1924, but continued to draw full pay and allowances, a privilege not granted to other generals.<ref name=4_Comp_Gen_317/>

Even after retiring, the General of the Armies maintained a spacious office in the old [[Eisenhower Executive Office Building|State, War, and Navy Building]] until it was relocated to the [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]] in 1947, years after ill health had permanently confined Pershing to [[Walter Reed Army Medical Center|Walter Reed General Hospital]].<ref name=Greensburg_Daily_News_1947-11-22>{{cite news
|title=Gen. Pershing's Office Is Now In The Pentagon
|first=George
|last=Moise
|newspaper=Greensburg Daily News
|place=Greensburg, Indiana
|date=November 22, 1947
|page=6
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/15061934/
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 6, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706150039/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/15061934/
|url-status=live
}}</ref> In 1939, Congress created the office of military secretary to the General of the Armies with the rank of colonel so Pershing's longtime aide, Captain George E. Adamson, could continue to manage Pershing's affairs after his own retirement.<ref name=S_1301>{{cite book
|chapter=Report No. 261
|title=House Reports (Miscellaneous), 76th Congress, 1st Session
|volume=2
|date=1939
|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office
|place=Washington, D.C.
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lbo6AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA8-PP1
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 6, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706150043/https://books.google.com/books?id=lbo6AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA8-PP1
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

===World War II===
There were several attempts to appoint senior [[World War II]] officers as Generals of the Armies, but none came to fruition.

====Attempts to appoint Marshall and Arnold====
[[File:George Marshall 1947.jpg|thumb|210x210px|[[Chief of Staff of the United States Army|Army chief of staff]] and Pershing protégé [[George C. Marshall]] resisted further appointments to General of the Armies while Pershing was still alive.]]
In August 1943, [[Chief of Naval Operations]] (CNO) [[Ernest J. King]] increased his efforts to create a grade higher than four stars after being outranked by his British counterpart at the [[First Quebec Conference]]. The Navy could even be outranked by the Army if Pershing died and Army chief of staff [[George C. Marshall]] inherited his title of General of the Armies with its ''de facto'' five-star rank, as retired CNO [[William V. Pratt]] warned King in January 1944.<ref name=Buell_1980>Buell (1980), pp. 362–365.</ref>

Marshall opposed any higher grade, saying he did not need one. King and Secretary of War [[Henry L. Stimson]] both suspected that as Pershing's longtime protégé, Marshall would resist any rank equivalent to General of the Armies while his mentor was still alive.<ref name=Buell_1980/><ref name=Pogue_1973_p365>Pogue (1973), pp. 365–367.</ref> Stimson did ask President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] to appoint Marshall as General of the Armies in September 1943 so he could command the [[Operation Overlord|planned invasion of France]] while remaining chief of staff, but Roosevelt ultimately gave the command to [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] instead.<ref name=Pogue_1973_p267>Pogue (1973), [https://books.google.com/books?id=FtDpDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT246 pp. 267] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227202727/https://books.google.com/books?id=FtDpDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT246#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=February 27, 2024 }}, 273.</ref>

In February 1944, King's lobbying led both houses of Congress to submit bills reviving the grades of General of the Armies and [[Admiral of the Navy]]. King wanted the American [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] to rank with the British [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|field marshal]]s on the [[Combined Chiefs of Staff]], raising both Marshall and [[United States Army Air Forces|Army Air Forces]] commander [[Henry H. Arnold]] to five-star General of the Armies.<ref name=Buell_1980/><ref name=Battle_Creek_Enquirer_1944-02-05>{{cite news
|title=Marshall's Status Examined Before Giving Higher Title
|newspaper=Battle Creek Enquirer
|place=Battle Creek, Michigan
|date=February 5, 1944
|page=2
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/204456167/
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 6, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706154659/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/204456167/
|url-status=live
}}</ref> However, [[United States House Committee on Armed Services|House Naval Affairs Committee]] chairman [[Carl Vinson]] wanted King and Marshall to have even higher rank, so the House bills inserted a five-star [[Fleet admiral (United States)|fleet admiral]] below a six-star Admiral of the Navy, which the Army was expected to match with its own five-star grade and a six-star General of the Armies. Even King thought six stars was too much, and public opposition convinced supporters of higher grades to defer legislation until after a successful [[Normandy landings|landing in Europe]].<ref name=Buell_1980/><ref name=Pogue_1973_p365/>

====Creation of five-star grade====
[[File:Henry Stimson, Harris & Ewing bw photo portrait, 1929.jpg|thumb|250x250px|[[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] [[Henry L. Stimson]] insisted that the Army's [[General of the Army (United States)|five-star grade]] not be called General of the Armies.]]
With the [[Western Front (World War II)|invasion of Europe]] well underway by September 1944, the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] finally gave its blessing to a five-star grade on condition that it not be called General of the Armies, a title reserved for the higher rank held by Pershing.<ref name=Daily_News_1944-09-15>{{cite news
|title=Stimson For Higher Rank To Honor Our Top Generals
|first=Ruth
|last=Montgomery
|newspaper=Daily News
|place=New York City
|date=September 14, 1944
|page=M10
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/443366606/
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 6, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706155803/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/443366606/
|url-status=live
}}</ref> In a press conference on September 14, 1944, Stimson said:

{{blockquote|
I have been asked by members of Congress for the War Department's view on an amendment which will provide for similar advanced army rank. I have advised Congress that the War Department concurs in such proposed action. This concurrence, however, is contingent on the understanding that a distinction will be made between the title conferred by the new advanced rank and the title now accompanying the higher rank of 'The General of the Armies' held by General John J. Pershing.<ref name=Wiener_1971-01>Wiener (January 1971), p. 44.</ref>
}}

On December 14, 1944, [[s:Public Law 78-482|Public Law 78-482]] established the five-star grade of [[General of the Army (United States)|General of the Army]], preserving Pershing's status as the only General of the Armies and further stating that nothing would change about the 1919 law that had promoted him:

{{blockquote|
Nothing in this Act shall affect the provisions of the Act of September 3, 1919...or any other law relating to the office of General of the Armies of the United States.<ref name=PL_78-482>[[s:Public Law 78-482|Public Law 78-482]] ({{USStat|58|802}})</ref><ref name=Pogue_1973_p483>Pogue (1973), pp. 483–484.</ref>
}}

====Six-star debate====
{{see also|Six-star rank}}
By specifying that nothing about the General of the Armies would be changed by the law that created the five-star grades, Congress intended Pershing to remain the highest-ranking officer in the Army.<ref name=Mercury_1944>{{cite news
|title=5-Star Rank Commanders To Be Made
|newspaper=The Mercury
|place=Pottstown, Pennsylvania
|date=December 9, 1944
|page=2
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/86839377/
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 6, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706171356/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/86839377/
|url-status=live
}}</ref> This sparked a long-running debate over whether Pershing was now a six-star general; the senior five-star general; or even just a four-star general, as later argued by an influential pair of articles by [[Frederick Bernays Wiener]], who pointed out that the 1919 law that revived his office did not actually say that the General of the Armies outranked all other Army officers, but merely repealed a 1917 law that would have let the Army chief of staff outrank him.<ref name=Army_1978/><ref name=Wiener_1970-12>Wiener (December 1970), p. 32. "The final clause was aimed at so much of the Act of 12 May 1917 (''40 Stat. 46'') as had provided that the chief of staff 'shall take rank and precedence over all other officers of the Army.'"</ref><ref name=Smythe_1986>{{cite book
|title=Pershing: General of the Armies
|first=Donald |last=Smythe
|publisher=Indiana University Press
|place=Bloomington, Indiana
|date=1986
|page=260
}}</ref>

For the rest of Pershing's life, official publications consistently treated the General of the Armies as being one grade higher than a five-star general.<ref name=Military_Laws_1949>{{cite book
|title=Military Laws of the United States (Army), 1949
|edition=Ninth
|last=Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Army
|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office
|place=Washington, D.C.
|date=1950
|pages=40–42
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6NhZw687QwsC&pg=PA40
|access-date=March 19, 2023
|archive-date=February 27, 2024
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227203243/https://books.google.com/books?id=6NhZw687QwsC&pg=PA40#v=onepage&q&f=false
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name=Wiener_1971-01_AR_600-15>Wiener (January 1971), p. 44. "Paragraph 3 of AR 600-15, from 21 January 1945 until 14 August 1951, listed the three "highest grades of rank" as follows: "''a.'' General of the Armies of the United States; ''b''. General of the Army; ''c.'' General.""</ref> As late as 1951, Army regulations specified 19 guns to salute the General of the Armies, and only 17 guns for a General of the Army.<ref name=Greeley_Daily_Tribune_1951-04-17>{{cite news
|title=17 or 19 Gun Salute Argued For MacArthur
|newspaper=Greeley Daily Tribune
|place=Greeley, Colorado
|date=April 17, 1951
|page=2
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76510630/17-or-19-gun-salute-argued-for-macarthur/
|access-date=April 26, 2021
|archive-date=July 7, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707133513/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76510630/17-or-19-gun-salute-argued-for-macarthur/
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

Pershing himself never wore more than four stars.<ref name=Oliver_1983/> Army regulations let the General of the Armies design his own uniform, but by the time the five-star grade was created in 1944, Pershing was too infirm to consider updating his insignia.<ref name=Palladium-Item_1945-04-11>{{cite news
|title=Pershing's Aide Says General Could Wear Six Stars
|newspaper=Palladium-Item
|place=Richmond, Indiana
|date=April 11, 1945
|page=3
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/253418743/
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 7, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707133513/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/253418743/
|url-status=live
}}</ref> When Pershing died on July 15, 1948, a proposal to bury him in a uniform bearing six stars was rejected in favor of the four stars he had always worn.<ref name=Mossman_1991>{{cite book
|title=The Last Salute: Civil and Military Funerals, 1921–1969
|first1=B. C.
|last1=Mossman
|first2=M. W.
|last2=Stark
|date=1991
|publisher=Department of the Army
|place=Washington, D.C.
|page=33
|url=https://history.army.mil/books/Last_Salute/Ch4.htm
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 30, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730111826/https://history.army.mil/books/Last_Salute/Ch4.htm
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>

====Attempts to appoint MacArthur====
[[File:Douglas MacArthur promotion order to General of the Armies.jpg|thumb|upright|There were multiple unsuccessful attempts to promote [[Douglas MacArthur]] to General of the Armies after the [[Korean War]].]]
In January 1955, Congressional supporters of General of the Army [[Douglas MacArthur]] introduced legislation to appoint him General of the Armies, backdated to his 75th birthday on January 26.<ref name=SJRes26>[[s:Senate Joint Resolution 26, 21 January 1955|Senate Joint Resolution 26]] (January 21, 1955).</ref> The proposal stalled in the [[United States House Committee on Armed Services|House Armed Services Committee]] after the [[United States Department of Defense|Defense Department]] opposed it on the grounds that promoting only MacArthur would downgrade all other five-star officers and "arouse interservice, intraservice and popular misunderstanding and controversies."<ref name=Herald-Post_1955-05-10>{{cite news
|title=Proposed Honor For MacArthur Stirs Opposition
|newspaper=El Paso Herald-Post
|place=El Paso, Texas
|date=May 10, 1955
|page=12
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/12467999/
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=January 28, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128065405/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/12467999/
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name=Long_Beach_Independent_1955-05-11>{{cite news
|title=Oppose MacArthur Promotion
|newspaper=Long Beach Independent
|place=Long Beach, California
|date=May 11, 1955
|page=9
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/74022339/
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 7, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707150954/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/74022339/
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Another attempt was still pending in Congress when MacArthur died on April 5, 1964.<ref name=Military_Review_1966>{{cite journal
|title=How High Are The Stars?
|first=Joseph P.
|last=Roth
|journal=Military Review
|volume=XLVI
|issue=6
|date=June 1966
|pages=95–100
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A8CJKu9g3oMC&pg=RA5-PA95
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=February 27, 2024
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227203320/https://books.google.com/books?id=A8CJKu9g3oMC&pg=RA5-PA95#v=onepage&q&f=false
|url-status=live
}}</ref>
Further efforts were made to grant a posthumous promotion to MacArthur following his death.<ref>{{cite book |title=Congressional Record Proceedings and Debates of the 88th Congress, First Session Vol. 110 No.9 |date=April 6, 1964 |publisher=Government Printing Office |chapter=The Late General Douglas MacArthur |pages=6869–6878 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/sim_congressional-record-proceedings-and-debates_march-19-april-6-1964_110/page/6868/mode/2up }}</ref>

===George Washington (1976)===
In September 1953, the ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' reported that because George Washington had never been appointed General of the Armies in 1799, he remained a lieutenant general who was now outranked by 45 other generals, living and dead.<ref name=NYT_1953-09-28>{{cite news
|title=45 U.S. Officers Outrank George Washington
|newspaper=The New York Times
|place=New York City
|date=September 28, 1953
|page=27
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/09/28/archives/45-u-s-officers-outrank-george-washington-congress-authorized.html
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 7, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707153445/https://www.nytimes.com/1953/09/28/archives/45-u-s-officers-outrank-george-washington-congress-authorized.html?searchResultPosition=2
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Citing this low rank, Senator [[Edward Martin (Pennsylvania politician)|Edward Martin]] introduced a bill in April 1954 to appoint Washington posthumously as General of the Armies.<ref name=CR_1954-04-28>{{cite book
|title=Congressional Record
|date=April 28, 1954
|volume=100
|pages=5656–5657
|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7nebrPvGXL4C&pg=PA5656
|access-date=March 19, 2023
|archive-date=February 27, 2024
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227203245/https://books.google.com/books?id=7nebrPvGXL4C&pg=PA5656#v=onepage&q&f=false
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

Twenty-two years later, a veterans group in the district of Representative [[Mario Biaggi]] observed that Washington had still not been promoted, prompting Biaggi to sponsor a [[joint resolution]] to elevate Washington to General of the Armies as part of the [[United States Bicentennial]] celebration in 1976.<ref name=NYT_1976-10-13>{{cite news
|title=Washington Gets Star
|newspaper=The New York Times
|place=New York City
|date=October 13, 1976
|page=40
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/13/archives/washington-gets-star.html
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 7, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707153445/https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/13/archives/washington-gets-star.html?searchResultPosition=3
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

When the [[United States House Committee on Armed Services|House Armed Services Committee]] met to consider the resolution, a committee counsel acknowledged that it was still debatable whether Pershing was ever more than a four-star general, but Representative [[F. Edward Hébert]] asserted that the language of this resolution did make Washington a six-star general, saying, "We have three grades—general, General of the Army, and this is General of the Armies of the United States."<ref name=HJRes519>{{cite book
|title=Full Committee Consideration of H.J. Res. 519 to Provide For the Appointment of George Washington to the Grade of General of the Armies of the United States, Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, Ninety-Fourth Congress, Second Session, August 3, 1976
|date=1976
|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office
|place=Washington, D.C.
|pages=3–5
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yIofAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3
|access-date=March 19, 2023
|archive-date=February 27, 2024
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227203438/https://books.google.com/books?id=yIofAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q&f=false
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

Representative [[Lucien Nedzi|Lucien N. Nedzi]] objected that Washington's stature was already so high that giving him a modern Army rank just made Congress look ridiculous. "It's like having the Pope offer to make [[Jesus|Christ]] a [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]]."<ref name=Palm_Beach_Post_1976-08-26>{{cite news
|title='Promotion' Voted for Washington
|newspaper=The Palm Beach Post
|place=West Palm Beach, Florida
|date=August 26, 1976
|page=D16
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/133912608/
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 7, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707153445/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/133912608/
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

====Washington appointment====
[[File:Orders 31-3.jpg|thumb|upright|[[United States Secretary of the Army|Secretary of the Army]] [[Clifford Alexander Jr.|Clifford L. Alexander Jr.]] signed the order to promote George Washington to General of the Armies on March 13, 1978, 179 years after the grade was originally created for him.]]
Deeming it "fitting and proper that no officer of the United States Army should outrank Lieutenant General George Washington on the Army list," [[s:Public Law 94-479|Public Law 94-479]] declared that:

{{blockquote|
(a) for purposes of subsection (b) of this section only, the grade of General of the Armies of the United States is established, such grade to have rank and precedence over all other grades of the Army, past or present.

(b) The President is authorized and requested to appoint George Washington posthumously to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States, such appointment to take effect on July 4, 1976.<ref name=PL_94-479>[[s:Public Law 94-479|Public Law 94-479]] ({{USStat|90|2078}})</ref>
}}

Although President [[Gerald Ford]] signed the law on October 11, 1976, no further action was taken to promote Washington until February 1978, when a military driver studying for a promotion board asked his passenger, General [[Donn A. Starry]], whether Washington now outranked Pershing. The [[Specialist (rank)|specialist five]]'s question to a four-star general triggered a chain of inquiries that caused the [[United States Department of the Army|Department of the Army]] to issue [[s:File:Orders 31-3.jpg|Orders 31-3]] on March 13, 1978, posthumously promoting Washington to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States, effective from the [[United States Bicentennial|200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence]] on July 4, 1976.<ref name=Army_1978>{{cite magazine
|title=Washington is Now No. 1: The Story Behind a Promotion
|first=Brooks E.
|last=Kleber
|magazine=Army
|date=June 1978
|pages=14–15
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCxEAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA3-PA14
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=February 27, 2024
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227203247/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCxEAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA3-PA14#v=onepage&q&f=false
|url-status=live
}}</ref> When the question was asked again in 1992, the [[United States Army Institute of Heraldry|U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry]] considered Pershing's rank to be equivalent to five stars and junior to Washington.<ref name=IoH_1992>{{cite journal
|title=Mailcall: A six-star general?
|journal=Army Reserve Magazine
|publisher=Chief, U.S. Army Reserve
|place=Washington, D.C.
|volume=38
|issue=4
|date=Winter 1992–93
|page=6
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=genV3prfqi8C&q=%22six-star%20general%22
|access-date=March 19, 2023
|archive-date=February 27, 2024
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227203326/https://books.google.com/books?id=genV3prfqi8C&q=%22six-star%20general%22#v=snippet&q=%22six-star%20general%22&f=false
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

===Ulysses S. Grant (2024)===
[[File:Ulysses S Grant by William F Cogswell, 1868.jpg|thumb|293x293px|[[Ulysses S. Grant]] was posthumously promoted to the rank of General of the Armies in 2024.]]
In September 2021, joint resolutions authorizing the President to appoint [[Ulysses S. Grant]] posthumously to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States were introduced in the House and Senate by a bipartisan Congressional delegation from his home states of Ohio, Missouri, and New York. In a letter to the secretary of defense, three of the bill's sponsors argued that by reestablishing the General of the Armies grade with "precedence over all other grades of the Army, past or present," the 1976 law authorizing Washington's promotion had effectively lowered the grade to which Grant was appointed in 1866.<ref name=NYT_2022>{{cite news
|newspaper=The New York Times
|first=James
|last=Barron
|title=Is Ulysses S. Grant Due for a Promotion?
|date=April 27, 2022
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/27/nyregion/ulysses-s-grant-promotion.html
|access-date=October 8, 2022
|archive-date=May 4, 2023
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230504225820/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/27/nyregion/ulysses-s-grant-promotion.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name=letter_2022>{{Cite web |url=https://www.blunt.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senate-unanimously-passes-blunt-brown-resolution-celebrating-200th-anniversary-of-the-birth-of-ulysses-s-grant |title=Letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin from Ann Wagner, Roy Blunt, and Sherrod Brown, April 22, 2022 |access-date=October 8, 2022 |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221009130228/https://www.blunt.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senate-unanimously-passes-blunt-brown-resolution-celebrating-200th-anniversary-of-the-birth-of-ulysses-s-grant |url-status=live }}</ref>

Supporters of Grant's promotion hoped the law would pass in time for his 200th birthday on April 27, 2022, the date of rank specified in the bill, which was titled the "Ulysses S. Grant Bicentennial Recognition Act". The joint resolutions were referred to the [[United States House Committee on Armed Services|House Armed Services Committee]] and [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]], neither of which took any action.<ref name=NYT_2022/><ref name=Grant_joint_resolutions>[https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-joint-resolution/58 H.J. 58] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221008223524/https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-joint-resolution/58 |date=October 8, 2022 }} and [https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/26 S. J. 26] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221008223525/https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/26 |date=October 8, 2022 }}, 117th Congress.</ref> Instead, the annual defense policy bill used different language to authorize Grant's appointment to the grade of General of the Armies, adding a clause that tied his rank and precedence to that of Pershing.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/press-releases/sasc-and-hasc-release-text-of-fy23-ndaa-agreement|title= SASC AND HASC RELEASE TEXT OF FY23 NDAA AGREEMENT|author= <!--Not stated-->|date= December 7, 2022|website= United States Senate Committee on Armed Services|publisher= |access-date= December 8, 2022|quote= |archive-date= September 23, 2023|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230923185454/https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/press-releases/sasc-and-hasc-release-text-of-fy23-ndaa-agreement|url-status= live}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite tweet |last=Simpson |first=Brooks D. |author-link=Brooks D. Simpson |user=BrooksDSimpson |number=1844824822205088223 |date=October 11, 2024 |title=Someone got promoted! |access-date=October 12, 2024 |quote=[with scanned attachment copy of April 19, 2024, [[U.S. Department of Defense]]] Memorandum for the Secretary of the Army; Subject: Posthumous Advancement on the Retired List; . . . General Ulysses S. Grant . . . to the grade of General of the Armies . . .}}</ref>

====Grant authorization====
Section 583 of the [[National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023|James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023]], signed into law on December 23, 2022, states:
{{blockquote|
The President is authorized to appoint Ulysses S. Grant posthumously to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States, equal to the rank and precedence held by General John J. Pershing pursuant to the Act titled "An Act Relating to the creation of the office of General of the Armies of the United States", approved September 3, 1919 ({{USStat|41|283}}, ch. 56).<ref name=HR_7776>Act of December 23, 2022 [[James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023]] ([https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7776 H. R. 7776] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221219162434/https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7776 |date=December 19, 2022 }}).</ref>
}}In compliance with the law signed by President [[Joe Biden]], the [[United States Secretary of Defense|secretary of defense]], [[Lloyd Austin]] approved and issued a memorandum to the [[United States Secretary of the Army|secretary of the Army]] to posthumously advance Grant to General of the Armies on April 19, 2024.<ref name=":0" />

==Insignia==
[[File:US-O10 insignia.svg|thumb|upright|Pershing never wore more than four stars as General of the Armies.]]
[[File:Great Seal of the United States (obverse).svg|thumb|upright|Instead of the regulation bronze "U.S." collar insignia, Pershing wore a gold eagle representing the [[Great Seal of the United States]].]]
No insignia was ever officially specified for the General of the Armies, who was allowed to define it for himself.<ref name=faq_5_stars/>

Upon being appointed General of the Armies in 1919, Pershing continued to wear the four silver stars and gold collar eagle that he had selected for his insignia as a general in 1917, when Army regulations authorized generals to prescribe their own shoulder and collar insignia. Pershing and Generals [[Tasker H. Bliss]] and [[Peyton C. March]] all chose to wear four silver stars on their shoulders, instead of the previous insignia of two silver stars and a gold eagle. Pershing and Bliss also replaced the regulation bronze "U.S." insignia on their collars with a gold eagle representing the [[Great Seal of the United States]].<ref name=faq_5_stars/><ref name=Wiener_1945-11_p51>Wiener (November 1945), pp. 51–52. "Pershing, Bliss, and March all went back to the earlier insignia of four stars. Pershing and Bliss both wore the arms of the U. S. in gold on their collars....AR 600-35, October 14, 1921, prescribed one, two, three, and four stars for the several grades of general officers, but continued the provision permitting the General of the Armies and generals to wear such collar insignia as they might prescribe...."</ref><ref name=Daily_News_1944-12-17>{{cite news
|title=Five-Starrers May Not Carry 5-Star Insignia
|newspaper=Daily News
|place=New York City
|date=December 17, 1944
|page=55
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/443471857/
|quote=Pershing made only one change to designate his super-title. In place of the "U. S." customarily worn on an officer's collar, he wears a miniature of the Great Seal of the United States.
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 5, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705191125/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/443471857/
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

In 1937, Pershing created a custom [[full dress uniform]] to attend the [[coronation of George VI and Elizabeth|coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth]], denoting his rank with four gold stars embroidered on each sleeve.<ref name=Gettysburg_Times_1937-04-28/> Full dress uniforms for other general officers used silver stars, including the custom uniform that Army chief of staff [[Malin Craig]] designed for himself the following year.<ref name=Meixsel_2005/>

Because the General of the Armies prescribed his own insignia, later tradition held that Pershing could have worn as many stars as he wanted. Claimed one expert in 1976, "if a General of the Armies wants to wear six stars, he can. Or seven. Or 10, I guess."<ref name=Tennessean_1976-08-04>{{cite news |title=House Panel to Promote Washington |newspaper=The Tennessean |place=Nashville, Tennessee |date=August 4, 1976 |page=11 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/111717643/ |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=July 5, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705211937/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/111717643/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The creation of the five-star grades in 1944 led to suggestions that Pershing clarify his seniority by adopting a six-star insignia, but by then he was too ill.<ref name=Palladium-Item_1945-04-11/><ref>{{cite book |date=1987 |title=Army magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bzdEAQAAIAAJ&q=%22general+of+the+army+for+marshall%22 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Association of the United States Army |page=60 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430071159/https://books.google.com/books?id=bzdEAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22pershing%22+%22stimson%22+%22general+of+the+army%22&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22general+of+the+army+for+marshall%22 |archive-date=April 30, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=International News Service |date=April 10, 1945 |title=Six Stars Urged for General Pershing |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/58561781/?terms=%22pershing%22%2B%22six%2Bstars%22 |newspaper=The Evening News |location=Harrisburg, Pennsylvania |page=9 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116131233/https://www.newspapers.com/image/58561781/?terms=%22pershing%22%2B%22six%2Bstars%22 |archive-date=January 16, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Willbanks |first=James H. |date=2013 |title=Generals of the Army: Marshall, MacArthur, Eisenhower, Arnold, Bradley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R9OkC2GUCmMC&pg=PA1914 |location=Lexington|publisher=University Press of Kentucky |page=i |isbn=978-0-8131-4214-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cray |first=Ed |date=2000 |orig-year=1990 |title=General of the Army: George C. Marshall, Soldier and Statesman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gwq6WvWxe6oC&pg=PA491 |location=New York |publisher=Cooper Square Press |page=491 |isbn=978-0-8154-1042-3}}</ref> When Pershing died in 1948, funeral planners considered affixing a six-star insignia to his uniform, but instead buried him with the four stars he wore in life.<ref name=Mossman_1991/>

==Special privileges==
===Compensation===
As General of the Armies, Pershing was paid much more than other generals. The 1919 law that promoted Pershing gave the General of the Armies the same annual pay of {{US$|13500|1919|long=no}} that was set in 1870 for General William T. Sherman, plus {{US$|8000|1919|long=no}} in allowances.<ref name=Post-Gazette_1931-03-23>{{cite news |title=Highest Paid Official, After Hoover, Is Pershing |newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |place=Pittsburgh |date=March 23, 1931 |page=26 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/89492414/ |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=July 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705191014/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/89492414/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

All other generals fell under the [[Joint Service Pay Readjustment Act]] of 1922, which set the pay for a major general at {{US$|8000|1922|long=no}}. Higher ranks had the same pay as a major general plus a personal money allowance of {{US$|500|1922|long=no}} for a lieutenant general, {{US$|2200|1922|long=no}} for a general, or {{US$|5000|1922|long=no}} for a general of the Army.<ref name=Wiener_1945-11>Wiener (November 1945), p. 55. "The present situation is additionally unfortunate in that the retired pay for a Lieutenant General or a General (or for a General of the Army under the 1944 Act) is just exactly the same, penny for penny, as the retired pay of a Major General. This is a consequence of the fact that the ''pay'' for all of these grades is the same, while the personal money allowance lapses on retirement."</ref> Including food and housing, the annual compensation for a general of the Army in December 1944 was {{US$|14951|long=no}}, versus {{US$|21500|long=no}} for the General of the Armies (respectively equivalent to ${{inflation|US|14951|1944|fmt=c}} and ${{inflation|US|21500|1944|fmt=c}} in {{inflation/year|US}}).<ref name=Wiener_1971-01_p47>Wiener (January 1971), p. 47. "A general of the Army at the pay scale of December 1944 received only $8,000 pay, plus (assuming dependents) a quarters allowance of $1,440 and a subsistence allowance of $511, and, in addition, a personal money allowance of $5,000."</ref>

===Retirement===
The General of the Armies retired with full pay and allowances, another benefit created for Sherman and inherited by Pershing, who continued to receive $21,500 for the rest of his life.<ref name=Wiener_1945-11/> Even in retirement, he drew a higher annual compensation than any other official in the [[federal government of the United States|federal government]] except the president of the United States.<ref name=Post-Gazette_1931-03-23/>

Other generals retired at three-quarters pay and no allowances. When Army chief of staff [[Charles Pelot Summerall|Charles P. Summerall]] retired in 1931, his annual compensation fell to only $6,000, three-quarters of a major general's pay.<ref name=Wiener_1945-11/>

===Uniform===
Starting in 1933, the General of the Armies was allowed to design his own uniform, as were current and former Army chiefs of staff.<ref name=Meixsel_2005>{{cite journal
|title=A Uniform Story
|first=Richard |last=Meixsel
|journal=The Journal of Military History
|volume=69
|date=July 2005
|issue=3 |pages=791–800
|doi=10.1353/jmh.2005.0172 |s2cid=159484676 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/184812/summary
|quote=Army regulations had been modified in 1933 to read "[a]ll articles of uniform for wear by the General of the Armies, the Chief of Staff, and a former Chief of Staff are such as each may prescribe for himself" (see AR 600-40, dated 22 June 1931 and change no. 1, dated 21 July 1933).
|url-access=subscription
}}</ref> Pershing used this authority to create the unique uniform he wore to the 1937 coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, styled after the full dress uniform introduced by the Army in 1902 but discontinued in 1917. Whereas the 1902 uniform portrayed the rank of a general officer by embroidering silver stars on each sleeve, Pershing's 1937 uniform sleeves bore four gold stars.<ref name=Gettysburg_Times_1937-04-28>{{cite news
|title=Pershing to Attend Coronation in Snappy Attire of Own Design
|agency=Associated Press
|newspaper=Gettysburg Times
|location=Gettysburg, PA
|date=April 28, 1937
|page=2
|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/45926981/
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 5, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705192206/http://www.newspapers.com/image/45926981/
|url-status=live
}}</ref> When Army chief of staff Malin Craig designed his own custom uniform in 1938, he returned to the usual silver stars.<ref name=Meixsel_2005/>

Pershing's estate donated his General of the Armies uniforms to the [[Smithsonian Institution]],<ref name=Arizona_Republic_1948-07-22>{{cite news
|title=Pershing Will Provides Trust Fund Of $150,000 For Sister
|newspaper=Arizona Republic
|place=Phoenix, Arizona
|date=July 22, 1948
|page=3
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/117604543/
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 5, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705192033/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/117604543/
|url-status=live
}}</ref> including the 1921 service coat with four silver stars that he wore as Army chief of staff and the 1937 full dress coat with four gold stars that he wore to the coronation.

==Equivalence with Admiral of the Navy==
[[File:Théobald Chartran - Admiral George Dewey - NPG.86.144 - National Portrait Gallery.jpg|thumb|245x245px|[[Admiral of the Navy]] [[George Dewey]] held a unique grade often treated as the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] equivalent of General of the Armies.]]
On March 2, 1899, Congress created the grade of [[Admiral of the Navy]] to honor [[George Dewey]] for his victory at the [[Battle of Manila Bay]]. Only Dewey ever held this grade, which is often treated as the [[United States Navy]] equivalent of General of the Armies, although the two grades never overlapped since Dewey died on January 16, 1917, two years before Pershing's appointment.<ref name=Gazette_1919-08-21>{{cite news
|title=U. S. Military Rank: Special Army Titles Proposed for Pershing and March
|newspaper=The Gazette
|place=Montreal, Quebec
|date=August 21, 1919
|page=7
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/419434969/
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 5, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705190836/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/419434969/
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

Admiral of the Navy and General of the Armies were permanent grades awarded as personal accolades for past service, unlike the later ''[[ex officio]]'' ranks of admiral and general. Both grades carried the same annual pay of $13,500 for life, and the proposal to create more Admirals of the Navy in 1944 continued to tie their compensation to the General of the Armies.<ref name=House_Naval_Affairs_1944>{{cite book
|title=Hearings Before the Committee on Naval Affairs of the House of Representatives on Sundry Legislation Affecting the Naval Establishment, 1944
|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office
|place=Washington, D.C.
|date=1944
|page=1339
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ap00u8BA3IIC&pg=PA1339
}}</ref>

After Dewey was mistakenly nominated to be an [[Admiral (United States)|admiral]] in the Navy instead of Admiral of the Navy in 1899 and had to be renominated in 1903, the Navy carefully distinguished between Dewey's grade and the rank of admiral that was held by the three fleet commanders from 1915, and the Chief of Naval Operations from 1916.<ref name=NYT_1903-03-15>{{cite news
|title=Dewey Again Nominated
|newspaper=The New York Times
|place=New York City
|date=March 15, 1903
|page=9
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1903/03/15/archives/dewey-again-nominated-slight-error-necessitates-a-new-commission.html
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=July 5, 2022
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705191310/https://www.nytimes.com/1903/03/15/archives/dewey-again-nominated-slight-error-necessitates-a-new-commission.html?searchResultPosition=1
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
|title=1913 Navy Regulations (including updates through December 1, 1918)
|chapter=Chapter 11 (Rank, Command, and Duty)
|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office
|place=Washington, D.C.
|date=1913
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hPQcAQAAMAAJ&q=%22admiral+of+the+navy%22+%22admiral%22
|access-date=September 24, 2021
|archive-date=February 27, 2024
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227204252/https://books.google.com/books?id=hPQcAQAAMAAJ&q=%22admiral+of+the+navy%22+%22admiral%22#v=snippet&q=%22admiral%20of%20the%20navy%22%20%22admiral%22&f=false
|url-status=live
}}</ref> The Army took similar care to distinguish between Pershing's grade and the rank of general held by the chief of staff of the Army from 1929, after Pershing was mistakenly nominated to be a [[General (United States)|general]] in the Army instead of General of the Armies in 1919.<ref name=NYT_1921-07-10/><ref name=NYT_1929-02-24/>

Because Dewey and Pershing were both treated as if they held grades higher than admiral or general, before World War II they were sometimes thought to be on par with a British [[Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy)|admiral of the fleet]] or [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|field marshal]].<ref name=Gazette_1919-08-21/> When the five-star grades were created in 1944, the initial legislation called them Admiral of the Navy and General of the Armies. However, [[United States House Committee on Armed Services|House Naval Affairs Committee]] chairman [[Carl Vinson]] inserted a five-star [[fleet admiral (United States)|fleet admiral]] below Admiral of the Navy, which he wanted to be a six-star grade.<ref name=Pogue_1973_p365/> Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson then required that the five-star Army grade not be called General of the Armies, which he thought was also a higher rank.<ref name=Daily_News_1944-09-15/>

Although the 1944 proposal to create six-star grades was dropped, Army and Navy regulations in 1951 still authorized only 17 guns to salute a five-star officer, and 19 guns for an Admiral of the Navy or General of the Armies.<ref name=Greeley_Daily_Tribune_1951-04-17/><ref name=All_Hands_1955>{{cite magazine
|title=How Many Stars Does 'Admiral of the Navy' Rate?
|magazine=All Hands
|date=January 1955
|page=23
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iKnqzC24-yAC&pg=PA23
|access-date=January 2, 2021
|archive-date=February 27, 2024
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227204252/https://books.google.com/books?id=iKnqzC24-yAC&pg=PA23#v=onepage&q&f=false
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[General officers in the United States]]
* [[Six-star rank]]
* [[United States Army officer rank insignia]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite book
|title=Master of Sea Power: A Biography of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King
|first=Thomas B. |last=Buell
|publisher=Little, Brown and Company
|place=Boston, Massachusetts
|date=1980
}}

*{{cite book
|title=George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory, 1943–1945
|first=Forrest C. |last=Pogue
|author-link=Forrest Pogue
|publisher=Penguin Books
|place=New York City
|date=1973
}}

*{{cite journal
|title=Three Stars and Up: Part Five
|first=Frederick B. |last=Wiener
|author-link=Frederick Bernays Wiener
|journal=Infantry Journal
|volume=LVII
|pages=51–55
|date=November 1945
}}

*{{cite journal
|first=Frederick B. |last=Wiener
|author-link=Frederick Bernays Wiener
|title=How Many Stars for Pershing?
|journal=Army
|date=December 1970
|pages=28–34
}}

*{{cite journal
|first=Frederick B. |last=Wiener
|author-link=Frederick Bernays Wiener
|title=Five is Higher Than Six When Fact and Legend Clash
|journal=Army
|date=January 1971
|pages=42–48
}}

{{US officer ranks}}
{{United States uniformed services comparative ranks}}
{{Highest Military Ranks}}
{{Star officer ranks}}
{{George Washington}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:General of the Armies}}
[[Category:Military ranks of the United States Army]]
[[Category:Military ranks]]
[[Category:1919 establishments in the United States]]

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