List of United States Marine Corps four-star generals


This is a complete list of four-star generals in the United States Marine Corps. The rank of general is the highest rank in the Marine Corps. It ranks above lieutenant general.
There have been 72 four-star generals in the history of the United States Marine Corps. Of these, 54 achieved that rank while on active duty, 17 were promoted upon retirement in recognition of combat citations, and one was promoted posthumously. Generals entered the Marine Corps via several paths: 29 via Officer Candidates School, 24 via Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps at a civilian university, 10 via the United States Naval Academy, 3 via Reserve Officers' Training Corps at a civilian university, and 6 via ROTC at a senior military college.

List of generals

Entries in the following list of four-star generals are indexed by the numerical order in which each officer was promoted to that rank while on active duty, or by an asterisk if the officer did not serve in that rank while on active duty. Each entry lists the general's name, date of rank, active-duty positions held while serving at four-star rank, number of years of active-duty service at four-star rank, year commissioned and source of commission, number of years in commission when promoted to four-star rank, and other biographical notes.
#NamePhotoDate of rankPositionYrsCommissionYCNotes
1
  • Commandant of the Marine Corps, 1944–1947.
21909 36 Awarded Medal of Honor, 1942.
*
  		• 01909 38
    2
  • Commandant, 1948–1951.
    		• 41917 31
    3
  • Commandant, 1952–1955.
  • Chairman, Inter-American Defense Board, 1956–1959.
    		• 71917 35
    4
  • Commandant, 1956–1959.
    		• 41921 35
    5
  • Commandant, 1960–1963.
    		• 41926 34 Awarded Medal of Honor, 1943.
    6
  • Commandant, 1964–1967.
    		• 41930 34
    7
  • Commandant, 1968–1971.
    		• 41935 33 U.S. Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization, 1973–1977.
    8
  • Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, 1968–1971.
    		• 21936 33
    9
  • Assistant Commandant, 1971–1972.
    		• 11938 33 Awarded Medal of Honor, 1950.
    10
  • Assistant Commandant, 1971.
    		• 01937 34
    11
  • Commandant, 1972–1975.
    		• 41935 37 Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, 1969–1971.
    12
  • Assistant Commandant, 1972–1975.
    		• 31940 32
    13
  • Commandant, 1975–1979.
    		• 41941 34 Awarded Medal of Honor, 1944.
    14
  • Assistant Commandant, 1975–1978.
    		• 31942 34
    15
  • Assistant Commandant, 1978–1979.
  • Commandant, 1979–1983.
    		• 51942 36
    16
  • Assistant Commandant & Chief of Staff, 1979–1981.
    		• 31945 34
    17
  • Assistant Commandant & Chief of Staff, 1981–1983.
  • Commandant, 1983–1987.
    		• 61950 31
    18
  • Assistant Commandant, 1983–1986.
    		• 31950 33
    19
  • Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command, 1985–1988.
    		• 31952 33
    20
  • Assistant Commandant, 1986–1988.
    		• 21952 34
    21
  • Commandant, 1987–1991.
    		• 41952 35
    22
  • Assistant Commandant & Chief of Staff, 1988–1990.
    		• 21952 36
    23
  • Assistant Commandant & Chief of Staff, 1990–1992.
    		• 31956 34 Associate Deputy Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1992–1999; Director, National Air and Space Museum, 2000–present.
    24
  • Commandant, 1991–1995.
    		• 41957 34 President, United Service Organizations, 1996–2000.
    25
  • Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command, 1991–1994.
    		• 31957 34
    26
  • Assistant Commandant, 1992–1994.
    		• 21960 32
    27
  • Assistant Commandant, 1994–1996.
    		• 21962 32
    28
  • Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic & Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Command, 1994–1997.
    		• 31962 32
    29
  • Commandant, 1995–1999.
    		• 41964 31
    30
  • Assistant Commandant, 1996–1998.
    		• 21965 31
    31
  • Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command, 1997–2000.
    		• 31965 32 U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, 2002–2003.
    32
  • Commander in Chief, U.S. Southern Command, 1997–2000.
    		• 31964 33
    33
  • Assistant Commandant, 1998–2000.
    		• 21966 32
    34
  • Commandant, 1999–2003.
  • Supreme Allied Commander Europe & Commander, U.S. European Command, 2003–2006.
    		• 71967 32 National Security Advisor, 2009–2010.
    35
  • Commander in Chief, U.S. Southern Command, 2000–2001.
  • Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2001–2005.
  • Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2005–2007.
    		• 71967 33 Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2008.
    36
  • Deputy Commander in Chief, U.S. European Command, 2000–2002.
    		• 21966 34
    37
  • Assistant Commandant, 2000–2002.
    		• 21967 33
    38
  • Assistant Commandant, 2002–2005.
    		• 31968 34
    39
  • Commandant, 2003–2006.
    		• 31968 35
    40
  • Commander, U.S. Strategic Command, 2004–2007.
  • Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2007–2011.
    		• 71971 33
    41
  • Assistant Commandant, 2005–2008.
    		• 31969 36
    42
  • Commandant, 2006–2010.
    		• 41970 36
    43
  • Supreme Allied Commander Transformation & Commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command, 2007–2009.
  • Commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command, 2009–2010.
  • Commander, U.S. Central Command, 2010–2013.
    		• 61972 35 U.S. Secretary of Defense, 2017–2018.
    44
  • Assistant Commandant, 2008–2010.
  • Commandant, 2010–2014.
    		• 61970 38 First naval aviator to become commandant.
    45
  • Assistant Commandant, 2010–2013.
  • Commander, International Security Assistance Force & Commander, U.S. Forces - Afghanistan, 2013–2014.
  • Commandant, 2014–2015.
  • Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2015–2019.
    		• 91977 33
    46
  • Commander, International Security Assistance Force & Commander, U.S. Forces - Afghanistan, 2011–2013.
    		• 21976 35
    47
  • Commander, U.S. Southern Command, 2012–2016.
    		• 31976 36 U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, 2017; White House Chief of Staff, 2017–2019.
    48
  • Assistant Commandant, 2012–2016.
    		• 41974 38
    49
  • Commandant, 2015–2019.
    		• 41975 40
    50
  • Commander, U.S. Africa Command, 2016–2019.
    		• 31976 40
    51
  • Assistant Commandant, 2016–2018.
    		• 21979 37
    52
  • Assistant Commandant, 2018–present.
    		• 21984 34
    53
  • Commander, U.S. Central Command, 2019–present.
    		• 11979 40
    54
  • Commandant, 2019–present.
    		• 11981 38

    Tombstone generals

    The Act of Congress of March 4, 1925, allowed officers in the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard to be promoted one grade upon retirement if they had been specially commended for performance of duty in actual combat. Combat citation promotions were colloquially known as "tombstone promotions" because they conferred all the perks and prestige of the higher rank including the loftier title on their tombstones but no additional retirement pay. The Act of Congress of February 23, 1942, enabled tombstone promotions to three- and four-star grades. Tombstone promotions were subsequently restricted to citations issued before January 1, 1947, and finally eliminated altogether effective November 1, 1959. The practice was terminated in an effort to encourage senior officer retirements prior to the effective date of the change to relieve an overstrength in the senior ranks.
    Any general who actually served in a grade while on active duty receives precedence on the retirement list over any tombstone general holding the same retired grade. Tombstone generals rank among each other according to the dates of their highest active duty grade.
    The following list of tombstone generals is sortable by last name, date of rank as lieutenant general, date retired, and year commissioned.
    NamePhotoDate of rank Date retiredCommissionNotes
    1 1900 U.S. Minister to South Africa, 1944–1948.
    2 1905
    3 1909
    4 1913
    5 1917
    6 1917
    7 1917 Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, 1953–1961.
    8 1917
    9 1917
    10 1921
    11 1919 Awarded Medal of Honor, 1928.
    12 1917
    13 1922
    14 1921
    15 1923 Brother of Air Force General Nathan F. Twining.
    16 1917
    17 1925

    Timeline

    By the Act of March 21, 1945, Congress permitted the President to appoint the Commandant of the Marine Corps to the grade of general. Alexander Vandegrift, then Commandant, was promoted from lieutenant general to general on April 4, 1945, to rank from March 21 of that year. He thus became the first Marine to serve in the grade of general. The Office of the Commandant was permanently fixed at the grade of four-star general under authority of the Act of August 7, 1947. All Commandants since that date have been entitled by law to serve in the grade of general and, in accordance with the provisions of, to retire in that grade.
    In April 1969, the Senate passed and sent a bill to the White House that makes the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps a four-star general when the active duty strength of the Marine Corps exceeds 200,000. On May 5, 1969, President Richard Nixon signed the bill, and Lieutenant General Lewis William Walt was promoted to that rank on June 2, 1969, thus becoming the first Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps to attain four-star rank. Legislation allowing the Assistant Commandant to wear the four-star insignia regardless of the strength of the Marine Corps was approved by President Gerald Ford on March 4, 1976.
    On November 22, 1985, General George B. Crist was promoted to four-star rank and on November 27, he assumed the position of Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. His appointment marked the first time a Marine headed a unified command and the first time the Corps had three four-star generals on active duty at the same time. Since 1985, a number of Marines have served in joint positions holding four-star rank, and it is no longer uncommon for the Corps to have four or five four-star generals on active duty at the same time.
    In 2005, General Peter Pace became the first Marine to be appointed as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief military advisor to the President of the United States and most senior appointment in the United States armed forces. Previously, in 2001, General Pace was the first Marine officer to be appointed as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
    The standard tour length for the commandant is four years; two years for the assistant commandant ; for a combatant commander, three years; and a total of four years served in consecutive two-year terms for the chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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