Prompt Cast
The Evolution of High Ranks in the United States Military
TLDR The highest rank in the United States military has evolved over time, with the creation of the rank of General of the Army and Fleet Admiral during World War II. While there is a rank above the five-star general, known as the general of the armies, no one has been promoted to this rank since Ulysses S. Grant.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The podcast episode discusses the rank above a five-star general in the United States military and the two men who have been awarded it.
02:01
The upper ranks of the American military have changed over time and according to the military's needs, with George Washington only reaching the rank of Lieutenant General, the highest rank at the time, and no Lieutenant Generals in the American Army until 1855.
03:53
After the Civil War, the rank of General of the Army was created and awarded to Ulysses S. Grant, who used four silver stars as his insignia, and this rank was later held by three other men in the 19th century before there were no more generals higher than the rank of Major General until the start of World War I when the current system of general ranks was established.
05:51
During World War II, the United States created the rank of General of the Army and Fleet Admiral to establish a strict hierarchy within the Allied nations, with the insignia of five stars, and four men were raised to the rank of General of the Army and four admirals were raised to the rank of Fleet Admiral.
07:45
The rank of General of the Army was also given to Omar Bradley in 1950, but no one has been promoted to this rank since then, and the idea of creating a rank of Field Marshal was abandoned due to the awkwardness of George Marshall being called Field Marshal Marshal.
09:31
The United States has a rank above that of the five-star general of the army, known as the general of the armies, which was given to General Pershing and later posthumously to George Washington, and there was a proposal to promote Douglas MacArthur to a six-star rank, but it was dropped.
11:20
The proposal to promote Douglas MacArthur to a six-star rank was dropped due to the complexities and political issues surrounding advancing him above his World War II contemporaries, but Ulysses S. Grant was posthumously promoted to the rank of general of the armies, making him the third person to hold that rank.
