Thanks InvisibleChurch.
Posted on 08/10/2013 8:45:19 PM PDT by InvisibleChurch
Pershing was promoted to assuage national pride, not because of a change in the TO&E.
This is a nice thing ... but Washington would have rejected it.
And we should listen to his wisdom and obey his desire.
I thought US Grant did as well.
I did not know that. I thought he was just five star.
Wikipedia agrees with you. My recollection is two fold: I served in a Pershing Missile unit, and part of the doctrine was the “fact” that Pershing was made six star to equal his European allies, who were field-marshals. The other is clear recollections from the time of Washington’s posthumous promotion to Pershing’s six-stars in the press.
From the wikipedia entry:
In 1944, with the creation of the new five star rank General of the Army, Pershing was acknowledged[citation needed] as the highest-ranking officer of the United States military. When asked if this made Pershing a six star General, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson commented that it did not, since Pershing never wore more than four stars but that Pershing was still to be considered senior to the present five-star generals of World War II.[citation needed]
I never knew that much about Pershing. I just read his wiki biography. Now my interest is piqued. Looks like a trip to the library is in order.
As it happens, several years ago I bought Freeman's 6 volume bio of the General on eBay, and in Volume III (Planter and Patriot), pasted on the back leaf was a NY Times article with the headline:
45 U.S. Generals Outrank George Washinton.
It had a portion of a portrait by Charles Wilson Peale, and a subhead on each side of this graphic: Congress Authorized Promotion Yet No Action Was Taken on the left, and on the right was But First President Heads the List of Secondary Officers
WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 [1953] (AP)--
Somebody ought to do something about George Washington's promotion.
More than a century and a half after Congress authorized his advance from lieutenant general to general the promotion appears to be still pending somewhere in the Army organization.
A check up today of the list of general officers, alive and dead, showed General Washington's name forty-sixth down on the list, leading the rank of lieutenant generals but outranked by a General of the Armies, several Generals of the Army and a flock of generals.
snip...
The RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list
>>We could easily be living in Greater Britain if it were not for him.<<
“Morrow all! Kidney pie for breakfast!”
There would be none of us left since would slit our own wrists...
his living years are an example of the scripture, Esther 4:14, “for such a time as this...” his life chose him... and heeded the call every step of the way, as did Moses and Abraham... tears come to my eyes when i am hit with the design of it all... Providence...
you’re welcome
In this masterful book, David McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence -- when the whole American cause was riding on their success, without which all hope for independence would have been dashed and the noble ideals of the Declaration would have amounted to little more than words on paper.Based on extensive research in both American and British archives, 1776 is a powerful drama written with extraordinary narrative vitality. It is the story of Americans in the ranks, men of every shape, size, and color, farmers, schoolteachers, shoemakers, no-accounts, and mere boys turned soldiers. And it is the story of the King's men, the British commander, William Howe, and his highly disciplined redcoats who looked on their rebel foes with contempt and fought with a valor too little known.
At the center of the drama, with Washington, are two young American patriots, who, at first, knew no more of war than what they had read in books -- Nathanael Greene, a Quaker who was made a general at thirty-three, and Henry Knox, a twenty-five-year-old bookseller who had the preposterous idea of hauling the guns of Fort Ticonderoga overland to Boston in the dead of winter.
But it is the American commander-in-chief who stands foremost -- Washington, who had never before led an army in battle. Written as a companion work to his celebrated biography of John Adams, David McCullough's 1776 is another landmark in the literature of American history.
Because he set the example of serving only 2 terms and then retired to Mount Vernon, no president following him had the ability to run for a third term, until the egomaniac FDR. Washington was not power hungry like the politicians today.
Giving up power is so unusual that King George refused to believe Washington had done this. He said if it were true Washington would be "the greatest man" in the world.
And so he was.
thank you very much
The Navy did something similar for Nimitz:
"The rank Admiral of the Navy was seen as a six-star rank during World War II,[2] with the establishment of the rank of five-star fleet admiral. It was during this time that the Department of the Navy specified that the new 1944 version of the rank of fleet admiral was to be junior to Dewey's rank of Admiral of the Navy. During the preparations for the invasion of Japan, a proposal was raised by the Navy Department to appoint Chester W. Nimitz to the rank of Admiral of the Navy, or grant him some equivalent rank."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_of_the_Navy_(United_States)
Since Washington's rank was actually "General and Commander in Chief," it's fitting that he be the highest ranking General ever, since none has held a title like that after him.
Giving up power is so unusual that King George refused to believe Washington had done this. He said if it were true Washington would be "the greatest man" in the world."
He also gave up power at the the end of the Revolutionary War when he resigned his military commission.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
