Nine officers have ever held the five-star rank in United States history, and none of them are alive today. Five were Generals of the Army, four were Fleet Admirals, and one of the Generals of the Army was later redesignated General of the Air Force. The last survivor, Omar N. Bradley, died on April 8, 1981, and no one has been promoted to five stars since he received his in 1950.
The Nine Five-Star Officers
Every appointment except Bradley’s happened in a tight window between December 1944 and December 1945. The promotion dates were staggered day by day, alternating between the Army and the Navy so neither branch could claim seniority over the other.
Generals of the Army
- George C. Marshall, promoted December 16, 1944
- Douglas MacArthur, promoted December 18, 1944
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, promoted December 20, 1944
- Henry H. Arnold, promoted December 21, 1944, and later redesignated General of the Air Force on May 7, 1949
- Omar N. Bradley, promoted September 20, 1950
Arnold is the only person ever to hold the title General of the Air Force. The redesignation reflected his role as wartime head of Army Air Forces and the founding senior officer of the Air Force after it became an independent branch in 1947.1U.S. Air Force. Henry H. Arnold
Fleet Admirals
- William D. Leahy, promoted December 15, 1944
- Ernest J. King, promoted December 17, 1944
- Chester W. Nimitz, promoted December 19, 1944
- William F. Halsey Jr., promoted December 11, 1945
Leahy’s December 15 promotion date put him one day ahead of Marshall, giving him top seniority in the entire group.2The George C. Marshall Foundation. Marshall and the Five-Star Rank
Why the Rank Was Created
Congress established the five-star rank on December 14, 1944, through Public Law 482. American commanders were running joint operations alongside British field marshals, who technically outranked every U.S. four-star officer, and that mismatch created command problems in a coalition war. The law created General of the Army for the Army and Fleet Admiral for the Navy, capped each branch at four officers on the active list at any one time, and was originally set to expire six months after the war ended. In 1949, following the Air Force’s separation from the Army, Congress added General of the Air Force and applied it to Arnold.
Why No One Has Received a Fifth Star Since 1950
The rank was never meant to be a permanent fixture of peacetime rank structure. Later legislation made it permanent for those who already held it, but the underlying purpose stayed the same: five stars are for an American commander who needs rank parity with allied officers of equivalent seniority in a coalition fight.2The George C. Marshall Foundation. Marshall and the Five-Star Rank
That situation has not arisen since Korea. Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan were all commanded by four-star officers without the coalition-rank problem that drove the 1944 law. The president can nominate a five-star officer at any time with Senate approval, so no new statute is needed to revive it. The political will simply has not appeared.3Arlington National Cemetery. Five-Star Officers
Officers Who Outrank the Five-Star Group
A separate set of titles sits above the five-star tier in precedence, and these officers are often confused with the nine five-star holders. They are not part of that count.
Three officers hold the title General of the Armies of the United States. John J. Pershing received it in 1919 for commanding American forces in World War I; he continued to wear four stars, and the rank carried no distinct insignia. George Washington was appointed posthumously in 1976 under Public Law 94-479, which specified that he would “rank first among all officers of the Army, past or present.”4U.S. Congress. Public Law 94-479 Ulysses S. Grant received the same title through the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.3Arlington National Cemetery. Five-Star Officers
The naval equivalent is Admiral of the Navy, created by special act of Congress and conferred on George Dewey in 1903 for the Battle of Manila Bay. Dewey is the only person ever to hold it, and no one has received it since his death in 1917.