This is a complete list of four-star generals in the United States Army, past and present. The rank of general (or full general, or four-star general) is the highest rank normally achievable in the U.S. Army. It ranks above lieutenant general (three-star general) and below General of the Army (five-star general).
Entries in the following list of four-star generals are indexed by the numerical order in which each officer was promoted to that rank while on active duty, or by an asterisk (*) if the officer did not serve in that rank while on active duty in the U.S. Army. Each entry lists the general's name, date of rank,[1] active-duty positions held while serving at four-star rank,[2] number of years of active-duty service at four-star rank (Yrs),[3] year commissioned and source of commission,[4] number of years in commission when promoted to four-star rank (YC),[5] and other biographical notes.[6]
Commander in Chief, U.S. Strike Command/U.S. Commander in Chief, Middle East, Africa south of the Sahara, and South Asia (USCINCSTRIKE/USCINCMEAFSA), 1963–1966.
Commander in Chief, U.S. Strike Command/U.S. Commander in Chief, Middle East, Africa south of the Sahara, and South Asia (USCINCSTRIKE/USCINCMEAFSA), 1966–1969.
Commander in Chief, U.S. Strike Command/U.S. Commander in Chief, Middle East, Africa south of the Sahara, and South Asia (USCINCSTRIKE/USCINCMEAFSA), 1969–1972.
(1951–) Served 12 years in the enlisted ranks before receiving his commission in 1981. First Army National Guard officer to achieve the rank of general.
In 1775, George Washington was appointed "General and Commander in Chief of the United Colonies" and all its forces. Although Washington ranked as a full general in the Continental Army, he resigned his commission prior to the establishment of the U.S. Army in 1784 and he is therefore considered never to have held the U.S. Army rank of general.[48] In 1798, Washington was commissioned lieutenant general in the U.S. Army and appointed Commander in Chief of the armies of the United States. The following year, Congress created the rank of General of the Armies of the United States, but Washington died before accepting it and the rank lapsed until 1866.[49] Washington was finally promoted to General of the Armies in 1976.
The grade of General of the Armies of the United States was revived in 1866, under the name "General of the Army of the United States" to honor the Civil War achievements of Ulysses S. Grant, the commanding general of the U.S. Army (CGUSA).[50] When Grant resigned his commission to become President in 1869, William T. Sherman was promoted to fill the vacant grade. Congress specified in 1870 that the rank would expire upon Sherman's retirement, but made an exception in 1888 to promote an ailing Philip H. Sheridan. This title is not to be confused with the later five-star rank of General of the Army.[51]
In 1917, the rank of general was recreated in the National Army, a temporary force of conscripts and volunteers authorized for the duration of the World War I emergency. To give American commanders parity of rank with their Allied counterparts, Congress allowed the President to appoint two emergency generals in the National Army, specified to be the chief of staff of the Army (CSA), Tasker H. Bliss and later Peyton C. March; and the commander of United States forces in France, John J. Pershing.[52] When March replaced Bliss as chief of staff, Bliss was continued in four-star rank by brevet as the U.S. military representative to the Supreme War Council.[53] In contrast to the previous grade of general held by Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, which was a permanent promotion, this new rank was a temporary appointment that was lost when the officer vacated the position bearing that rank, and while Pershing was ultimately advanced to General of the Armies in 1919, March and Bliss reverted to their permanent grades of major general in the Regular Army when the National Army disbanded in 1920.[54]
In 1929, the temporary rank of general in the Regular Army was reauthorized for the office of chief of staff, whose occupant reverted to major general at the end of his term but was allowed to retire as a full general. When the draft force was reconstituted for World War II as the Army of the United States in 1941, the President was authorized to appoint as many temporary generals in that organization as he deemed necessary. As with the National Army emergency generals, these appointments expired after the end of the war, although postwar legislation allowed officers to retire in their highest active-duty rank.[55]
1941–1991
Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody is promoted to general by Chief of Staff of the Army General George W. Casey (left) and her husband Craig Brotchie on November 14, 2008.
The modern rank of general was established by the Officer Personnel Act of 1947, which authorized the President to designate certain positions of importance to carry that rank. Officers appointed to such positions bear temporary four-star rank while so serving, and are allowed to retire at that rank if their performance is judged satisfactory.[56] The total number of active-duty four-star generals in the Army is limited to a fixed percentage of the number of Army general officers serving at all ranks.[57]
Within the Army, the chief of staff (CSA) and vice chief of staff (VCSA) are four-star generals by statute. Since World War II, the commanders of the Army formations in Europe (USAREUR) and East Asia (FECOM/USFK) have been designated four-star generals by reason of importance. Other designated four-star Army commands have included the various training, readiness, and materiel organizations.
The Army also competes with the other services for a number of joint four-star positions, the most prestigious of which are the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) and the NATO supreme allied commander in Europe (SACEUR).[58] Other joint four-star positions have included unified combatant commanders; certain NATO staff positions; and the wartime theater commanders in Vietnam (MACV), Iraq (MNF-I), and Afghanistan (ISAF/RS).
United States military seniority is the method by which the United States Armed Forces determines precedence among commissioned officers, in particular those who hold the same rank. Seniority is used to determine assignments, tactical commands, promotions and general courtesy. To a lesser extent, historical seniority is used to recognize status of honor given to early United States military leaders such as inaugural holders of certain ranks or those officers who served as leadership during major wars and armed conflicts.
In the United States Armed Forces, a lieutenant general is a three-star general officer in the United States Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force.
A general officer is an officer of high military rank; in the uniformed services of the United States, general officers are commissioned officers above the field officer ranks, the highest of which is colonel in the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force and captain in the Navy, Coast Guard, Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps (NOAACC).
References
1 2 Dates of rank are taken, where available, from the U.S. Army register of active and retired commissioned officers, or from the World Almanac and Book of Facts. The date listed is that of the officer's first promotion to general.
1 2 Positions listed are those held by the officer when promoted to general. Dates listed are for the officer's full tenure, which may predate promotion to four-star rank or postdate retirement from active duty.
1 2 The number of years of active-duty service at four-star rank is approximated by subtracting the year in the "Date of rank" column from the last year in the "Position" column. Time spent between active-duty four-star assignments is not counted, nor is time spent on special duty as an unassigned general of the Army.
1 2 The number of years in commission before being promoted to four-star rank is approximated by subtracting the year in the "Commission" column from the year in the "Date of rank" column.
1 2 Notes include years of birth and death; awards of the Medal of Honor, Congressional Gold Medal, Presidential Medal of Freedom, or honors of similar significance; major government appointments; university presidencies or equivalents; familial relationships with other four-star officers or significant government officials such as U.S. Presidents, cabinet secretaries, U.S. Senators, or state governors; and unusual career events such as premature relief or death in office.
↑ Commissioned general in the Continental Army, 1775; resigned, 1783; commissioned lieutenant general in the U.S. Army, 1798; promoted to General of the Armies, October 11, 1976, with date of rank July 4, 1976 (Public Law 94-479).
↑ Resigned, 1869, to serve as President; reappointed general and placed on the retired list, March 3, 1885.
1 2 Reverted to major general upon expiration of wartime legislation, June 30, 1920; advanced to general on the retired list, June 21, 1930, as highest grade held during World War I.
↑ Reverted to major general, November 20, 1930; retired as general, March 31, 1931.
↑ Reverted to major general, October 1, 1935; retired as general, December 31, 1937; recalled as major general, July 26, 1941; promoted to lieutenant general, July 27, 1941; promoted to general, December 18, 1941, with rank from September 16, 1936; promoted to general of the Army, December 18, 1944; rank made permanent, April 11, 1946; restored to active list, July 9, 1948; relieved of all commands, April 11, 1951.
↑ Retired as general, August 1939; recalled as major general, September 1941.
↑ Promoted to general of the Army, December 16, 1944; rank made permanent, April 11, 1946; retired as general of the Army, February 28, 1947; restored to active list, March 1, 1949.
↑ Retired from active service as general of the Army, 1948; recalled as general of the Army, December 1950; resigned, 1952, to run for President; reappointed general of the Army, March 1961.
↑ "General Orders No. 22". Headquarters, U.S. Air Force (digitized by NARA). July 26, 1945. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
↑ Retired as major general, January 31, 1945; recalled February 1, 1945; promoted to general, March 5, 1945; advanced to general on the retired list, July 12, 1946; retired, July 20, 1946.
↑ Retired as major general, April 30, 1946; advanced to general on the retired list, June 4, 1948.
↑ Retired as general, August 1963; recalled as general, September 1963.
↑ Retired as general, December 1959; recalled as general, January 1960.
↑ Retired as general, July 1970; recalled as general, August 1970.
↑ Retired as general, December 1974; recalled as lieutenant general, June 1977; retired as general, July 1981.
↑ Transferred from Army National Guard, 1920; retired, 1947; retained on active duty until 1973; advanced to general on the retired list, February 1970, with date of rank December 23, 1969.
↑ Haig served as White House chief of staff while on active duty as a general from May to July 1973. He retired from the Army in August 1973 and remained chief of staff as a civilian until September 1974, when he was recalled to active duty.
↑ Retired as general, August 1, 1973; remained White House chief of staff as civilian until 1974; recalled as general, September 1974.
↑ Office of the Judge Advocate General, United States Army (1915), The military laws of the United States, 1915, Volume 1, Issue 915 (also The military laws of the United States, 1915, Volume 1, Issue 915), Washington, DC: Government Printing Office
Cole, Ronald H.; Poole, Walter S.; Schnabel, James F.; Watson, Robert J.; Webb, Willard J. (1995), The History of the Unified Command Plan, 1946-1993(PDF), Washington D.C.: Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, archived from the original(PDF) on 2007-11-27, retrieved 2007-05-09
Heaton, Dean R. (1995), Four Stars: The Super Stars of United States Military History, Baltimore: Gateway Press
Meyer, Edward C.; Ancell, R. Manning; Mahaffey, Jane (1995), Who Will Lead? Senior Leadership in the United States Army, Westport: Praeger Publishers
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