General of the Armies That a Commander of the United States shall be appointed and commissioned by the style of General of the Armies of the United States and the present office and title of Lieutenant General shall thereafter be abolished. The rank of General of the Armies was intended for bestowal upon George Washington, who held the rank of "General and Commander-in-Chief" which was a grade senior to all American major generals and brigadier generals from the American Revolutionary War. However, only a few months after the Congressional proposal, Washington died on December 14, 1799. The United States Army at that time had
General of the Armies appoint Douglas MacArthur to the rank of "General of the Armies" and have this position be considered a six-star general rank. The proposal for MacArthur's promotion to a new rank was begun on July 23, 1945. The Army draft for the promotion specified three key points regarding the renewed proposal for General of the Armies: At the beginning of August 1945, a member of MacArthur's staff drew a single sketch of a five star general insignia superimposed in its center with a sixth star of rank. This sketch was the first known design for a "six star general" insignia, but