And I'm not arguing the gist of the article. Not at all. Merely pointing out one exception I happen to know about.
Thank God for Rummy!
Donald Rumsfeld should only resign to accept the GOP nomination for President of the United States!
Further, people that worked with Newbold speculated it was because he did not like Rummy's management style (too hands on for his liking). Newbold at the time said he didn't want to put his family through yet another move, which would basically be a guarentee with the 4th star.
"Marine LtGen Newbold did resign, in essence, although he didn't speak out against Rummy when doing so. He had been rumored as possible Commandant of the Marine Corps material, but decided to retire rather than get his fourth star (citing fatigue and family concerns, IIRC)."
Rumored? There are lots of rumors. Read my tagline.
General Matthew Ridgeway retired two months before his term was up because he was unable to agree with the Eisenhower administration on the proper size of the U.S. Army. He wanted a big army fueled by the draft; Ike and his sec of defence Charlies Wilson wanted a smaller one (800,000 by the way!). He even got his book out a couple of years later, explaining his views. Not incidentally, twenty years later General Ridgeway was saying that the volunteer army would never work. We, of course, have the case of General MacArthur. The predecessors of the same Democrats who defended Truman on the basis of the principle of civilian supremacy over the military--a cornerstone of our constitutional system, are now put in the position that the Republicans were in 1951, which is to criticize the policy and applauid the servive of the generals without acknowledging the right of the military to determine public policy.
An extremely remote possibility.