General of the Armies Congress authorized the appointment of three-star lieutenant generals and four-star generals to be granted temporarily for service in the National Army. Tasker H. Bliss and John J. Pershing were promoted to general in October 1917, and Peyton C. March was promoted to that rank in May 1918. Hunter Liggett and Robert Lee Bullard were both promoted to lieutenant general on October 16, 1918. In 1919, by Congressional directive, the rank of General of the Armies was formally established and John J. Pershing became the first person to hold the rank. After the close of the First World War, the highest
General of the Armies the Army Personnel Office began attempting to resolve the confusion surrounding the status of General of the Armies. The Army Personnel Office determined that, because of the number of living five-star generals still on the Army rolls in 1964, to introduce a rank of General of the Armies would require a formal regulation dealing with seniority, insignia, and retirement benefits. The Army Judge Advocate General also advised that, should MacArthur receive promotion to rank of General of the Armies, salary and benefits associated with the much more firmly established rank of five-star General of the Army would have to be