What title did Congress grant George Washington effective July 4, 1976, during the U.S. Bicentennial?

Congress granted George Washington the title General of the Armies of the United States, effective July 4, 1976.

The appointment was made through Public Law 94-479, signed during the Bicentennial period. Washington received the honor posthumously, more than 175 years after his death, as a way to ensure that no United States Army officer would outrank him in the nation’s military history.

Washington had commanded the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and later became the first president of the United States. Before the 1976 legislation, he had held the rank of General of the Armies under an earlier 1919 congressional designation, but the new law clarified his precedence.

The title is distinct from the modern five-star rank General of the Army. Washington’s appointment was also not a new wartime command; it was an honorary and historic recognition tied to the Bicentennial.