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 officers in the United States Lieutenant Generals and Generals reverted to their permanent ranks of Major General, except for Pershing. Pershing retired from the United States Army on 13 September 1924, and retained his rank of General of the Armies of the United States until his death in 1948. He was later considered a five or six-star general as the result of the creation of the General of the Army rank in 1944. The rank of general was reauthorized in 1929 as a unique temporary rank of the Army Chief of Staff starting with Charles Pelot Summerall. The main purpose of this was to give