Legislative history of United States four-star officers

Although four-star officers appeared in organizations like the Continental Army before the United States of America was founded in 1776, the legislative history of four-star officers in the United States uniformed services began in 1799, when Congress authorized the grade of General of the Armies of the United States for former president George Washington, who was commanding the forces being raised for the Quasi-War with France as a lieutenant general but died without being promoted.^[1]

Congress revived Washington's never-used grade in 1866 with the title "General of the United States Army" and created a corresponding grade of admiral in the Navy. Unlike modern four-star grades, promotions to the 1866 grades were permanent and personal, vacating any previous grade and surviving any job change, like any other grade on the active list. Essentially decorative, permanent four-star grades on the active list carried full active-duty pay for life and were awarded sparingly to senior commanders after a war: after the Civil War to Army generals Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Philip Sheridan, and to Navy admirals David G. Farragut and David D. Porter;^[2][3] after the Spanish-American War to George Dewey, with the title Admiral of the Navy;^[4] after World War I to John J. Pershing, with the title General of the Armies;^[5] and after World War II to one temporary four-star officer in every armed service.^[6][7]

In 1915, Congress created a second category of four-star grades that lasted only while performing an specific function. These were temporary boosts in rank held while serving in important jobs, or as a personal grade during a wartime emergency. Upon leaving an office designated to carry four-star rank, or at the end of the war that authorized emergency or temporary four-star grades, officers reverted to their permanent two-star grade on the active list, although they typically regained their fourth star on the retired list.^[8][9] Modern four-star grades are descended from the functional grades of 1915, not the decorative grades of 1866, and continue to work in substantially the same way, as codified by the Officer Personnel Act of 1947 and the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act of 1980, which established the current unified framework for officer promotions in every armed service.^[10]

After World War II, Congress imposed strict limits on the number of four-star officers authorized for each service, but escalating global military commitments during the Cold War created many more four-star positions outside the services in joint and allied organizations. By 2024, the six armed services—Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, Coast Guard—and the National Guard each had a four-star chief and vice chief and statutory or invited membership on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The three larger services—Army, Navy, Air Force—were authorized additional four-star officers for internal positions, and a separate pool of general and flag officers was authorized for joint-duty assignments outside the services.^[11] Of the two non-armed uniformed services, the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps was headed by a four-star assistant secretary for health, if a commissioned officer, but the highest rank in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps was three-star vice admiral.^[12][13]