The SAR MAGAZINE is the official quarterly publication of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution published quarterly.
Issue link: http://sar.epubxp.com/i/311328
SPRING 2014 13 Washington led the Continental Army to victory— and America to independence—and then resigned his commission on Dec. 23, 1783. After his second term as President of the United States, he had hoped to live a quiet life in retirement at Mount Vernon, but on July 3, 1798, President John Adams promoted Washington to Lieutenant General and Commander in Chief of all American armies raised for service during the Quasi-War with France. Neither Washington nor any army took the feld in this confict. Washington remained listed on the U.S. Army rolls as a Lieutenant General after his death on Dec. 14, 1799, through most of the 20th century. This meant that all four-star and fve-star generals outranked him. It rattled some folks that anyone should outrank George Washington. Congress sought to correct this as part of the nation's bicentennial celebration. Public Law 94-479 was passed by a joint resolution on Jan. 19, 1976, and stated that it was "ftting and proper that no offcer of the United States Army should outrank Lieutenant General George Washington." The law further established "the grade of General of the Armies of the United States," and provided that this grade would have "rank and precedence over all other grades of the Army, past or present." President Gerald Ford signed the law on Oct. 11, 1976, making Washington's appointment as General of the Armies effective on July 4, 1976. Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing had been given the title "General of the Armies" after World War I. Pershing remained a four-star general, but instead of silver stars, he wore gold stars. Toward the end of WWII, Congress considered promoting MacArthur to General of the Armies of the United States. Congress never followed through on this, and although it was discussed occasionally during the 1950s, Congress dropped the matter entirely when MacArthur died in 1964. At the time MacArthur's promotion to General of the Armies was being considered, the United States Army Institute of Heraldry designed an insignia for this rank that included six stars. The design consists of a ringlet of fve stars (the same insignia as a fve-star general) with a sixth star in the center. So, how many stars does General Washington have? The law promoting Washington to General of the Armies does not mention the number of stars associated with this rank. But the only extant insignia for this rank includes six stars. On Feb. 13, 2013, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) introduced H.R. 681 "to provide that Washington's Birthday be observed on February 22, rather than the third Monday in February." Wolf said, "President Washington exemplifes the best that America and Americans have to offer the world: principled leadership, personal bravery, a sense of duty and public service, patriotism, [a] recognition of our unique role in world history, and a reverence for his Creator. His enduring service deserves to be remembered on his actual birthday." We may be able to imagine how different the United States might be if we had not had Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt or Martin Luther King Jr. But it is diffcult to imagine that there would even be a United States without George Washington. Wolf has noted that Washington is "the only six-star general in the nation's history." He remains in the nation's memory, as he was in his own lifetime, the indispensable man. O O O O O O Endnotes 1 In addition to serving as the President General of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, Joe Dooley is also a charter member of the Army Historical Foundation. A shorter version of this article was published in the April 7, 2013, edition of The Washing- ton Examiner as "How the 'Indispensable Man' Became America's Only Six-Star General." 2 Although this article explores the question how many stars George Washington has, it seems appropriate at this point to touch on the stars worn by admirals in the United States Navy. A one-star admiral is a Rear Admiral (lower half); two stars is a Rear Admiral (upper half); three stars is a Vice Admiral; four stars is just plain Admiral. The same laws by which Congress established the rank of fve-star general also created the rank of fve-star admiral, or Fleet Admiral. Only four men have held the rank of Fleet Admiral. They were, in order of seniority, William D. Leahy, Ernest J. King, Chester W. Nimitz and William F. Halsey Jr. In 1903, Congress established a special rank for George Dewey, who was promoted to Admiral of the Navy. This rank was established to honor Dewey's service in the Spanish-American War. The law specifed that this rank was senior to other grades of admiral, but does not specify how many stars are associated with Admiral of the Navy. The image at right is another likeness of George Washington as General of the Armies. This image also was rendered by Chris Fisher and is based on the "Vaughan Portrait," left, by Gilbert Stuart. SPRING_14_sar5-21.indd 13 5/7/14 4:13 PM