The commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) is normally the highest-ranking officer in the United States Marine Corps and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Joint Chiefs of Staff: composition; functions.
The CMC reports directly to the secretary of the Navy and is responsible for ensuring the organization, policy, plans, and programs for the Marine Corps as well as advising the president, the secretary of defense, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and the secretary of the Navy on matters involving the Marine Corps.
Under the authority of the secretary of the Navy, the CMC designates Marine personnel and resources to the commanders of Unified Combatant Commands.
Combatant commands: administration and support The commandant performs all other functions prescribed in Section 8043 in Title 10 of the United States Code Commandant of the Marine Corps or delegates those duties and responsibilities to other officers in his administration in his name.
As with the other joint chiefs, the commandant is an administrative position and has no operational command authority over United States Marine Corps forces.
The commandant is nominated for appointment by the president, for a four-year term of office, and must be confirmed by the Senate.
The commandant can be reappointed to serve one additional term, but only during times of war or national emergency declared by Congress.
By statute, the commandant is appointed as a four-star general while serving in office.
"The commandant is directly responsible to the Secretary of the Navy for the total performance of the Marine Corps.
This includes the administration, discipline, internal organization, training, requirements, efficiency, and readiness of the service.
The Commandant is also responsible for the operation of the Marine Corps material support system."
Since 1806, the official residence of the commandant has been located in the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C., and his main offices are in Arlington County, Virginia.
Responsibilities
The responsibilities of the commandant are outlined in Title 10, Section 5043, the United States Code and the position is "subject to the authority, direction, and control of the Secretary of the Navy".
As stated in the U.S. Code, the commandant "shall preside over the Headquarters, Marine Corps, transmit the plans and recommendations of the Headquarters, Marine Corps, to the Secretary and advise the Secretary with regard to such plans and recommendations, after approval of the plans or recommendations of the Headquarters, Marine Corps, by the Secretary, act as the agent of the Secretary in carrying them into effect, exercise supervision, consistent with the authority assigned to commanders of unified or specified combatant commands under chapter 6 of this title, over such of the members and organizations of the Marine Corps and the Navy as the Secretary determines, perform the duties prescribed
for him by section 171 of this title and other provisions of law and perform such other military duties, not otherwise assigned by law, as are assigned to him by the President, the Secretary of Defense, or the Secretary of the Navy".
List of commandants
38 men have served as the commandant of the Marine Corps.
The first commandant was Samuel Nicholas, who took office as a captain, though there was no office titled "Commandant" at the time, and the Second Continental Congress had authorized that the senior-most Marine could take a rank up to Colonel.
The longest-serving was Archibald Henderson, sometimes referred to as the "Grand old man of the Marine Corps" due to his thirty-nine-year tenure.
In the history of the United States Marine Corps, only one Commandant has ever been fired from the job: Anthony Gale, as a result of a court-martial in 1820.
|} Timeline
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DateFormat = yyyy Period     = from:1770 till:2030 TimeAxis   = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1770
Define $now = 2021
Colors     =   id:cmc value:rgb(1,0,0) legend: CMC   id:acmc value:rgb(0,0,1) legend: ACMC   id:time value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9)
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bar:nicholas     from: 1775 till: 1783  color:cmc      text:[[Samuel Nicholas|Nicholas]]  bar:burrows      from: 1798 till: 1804  color:cmc      text:[[William Ward Burrows I|Burrows]]  bar:wharton      from: 1804 till: 1818  color:cmc      text:[[Franklin Wharton|Wharton]]  bar:henderson    from: 1818 till: 1819  color:cmc  bar:henderson    from: 1820 till: 1859  color:cmc      text:[[Archibald Henderson|Henderson]]  bar:gale         from: 1819 till: 1820  color:cmc      text:[[Anthony Gale|Gale]]  bar:harris       from: 1859 till: 1864  color:cmc      text:[[John Harris (USMC)|Harris]]  bar:zeilin       from: 1864 till: 1876  color:cmc      text:[[Jacob Zeilin|Zeilin]]  bar:mccawley     from: 1876 till: 1891  color:cmc      text:[[Charles Grymes McCawley|McCawley]]  bar:heywood      from: 1891 till: 1903  color:cmc      text:[[Charles Heywood|Heywood]]  bar:elliott      from:
1903 till: 1910  color:cmc      text:[[George F. Elliott|Elliott]]  bar:biddle       from: 1911 till: 1914  color:cmc      text:[[William P. Biddle|Biddle]]  bar:barnett      from: 1914 till: 1920  color:cmc      text:[[George Barnett|Barnett]]  bar:lejeune      from: 1915 till: 1917  color:acmc  bar:lejeune      from: 1920 till: 1929  color:cmc      text:[[John A. Lejeune|Lejeune]]  bar:neville      from: 1920 till: 1923  color:acmc  bar:neville      from: 1929 till: 1930  color:cmc      text:[[Wendell Cushing Neville|Neville]]  bar:fuller       from: 1928 till: 1930  color:acmc  bar:fuller       from: 1930 till: 1933  color:cmc      text:[[Ben Hebard Fuller|Fuller]]  bar:russell      from: 1933 till: 1934  color:acmc  bar:russell      from: 1934 till: 1936  color:cmc      text:[[John H. Russell, Jr.|Russell]]  bar:holcomb      from: 1936 till: 1944  color:cmc      text:
[[Thomas Holcomb|Holcomb]]  bar:vandegrift   from: 1940 till: 1941  color:acmc  bar:vandegrift   from: 1944 till: 1948  color:cmc text:[[Alexander Vandegrift|Vandegrift]]  bar:cates   from: 1948 till: 1952  color:cmc text:[[Clifton B. Cates|Cates]]  bar:shepherd   from: 1946 till: 1948  color:acmc  bar:shepherd   from: 1952 till: 1956  color:cmc text:[[Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr.|Shepard]]  bar:pate   from: 1954 till: 1956  color:acmc  bar:pate   from: 1956 till: 1960  color:cmc text:[[Randolph M. Pate|Pate]]  bar:shoup   from: 1960 till: 1964  color:cmc text:[[David M. Shoup|Shoup]]  bar:greene   from: 1964 till: 1968  color:cmc text:[[Wallace M. Greene|Greene]]  bar:chapman   from: 1967 till: 1968  color:acmc  bar:chapman   from: 1968 till: 1972  color:cmc text:[[Leonard F. Chapman, Jr.|Chapman]]  bar:cushman   from: 1971 till: 1975  color:cmc text:[[Robert E. Cushman, Jr.|Cushman]]  bar:
wilson   from: 1975 till: 1979  color:cmc text:[[Louis H. Wilson Jr.|Wilson]]  bar:barrow   from: 1978 till: 1979  color:acmc  bar:barrow   from: 1979 till: 1983  color:cmc text:[[Robert H. Barrow|Barrow]]  bar:kelley   from: 1981 till: 1983  color:acmc  bar:kelley   from: 1983 till: 1987  color:cmc text:[[Paul X. Kelley|Kelley]]  bar:gray   from: 1987 till: 1991  color:cmc text:[[Alfred M. Gray, Jr.|Gray]]  bar:mundy   from: 1991 till: 1995  color:cmc text:[[Carl Epting Mundy, Jr.|Mundy]]  bar:krulak   from: 1995 till: 1999  color:cmc text:[[Charles C. Krulak|Krulak]]  bar:jones   from: 1999 till: 2003  color:cmc      text:[[James L. Jones|Jones]]  bar:hagee   from: 2003 till: 2006  color:cmc text:[[Michael Hagee|Hagee]]  bar:conway   from: 2006 till: 2010  color:cmc text:[[James T. Conway|Conway]]  bar:amos   from: 2008 till: 2010  color:acmc  bar:amos   from: 2010 till: 2014  color:
cmc text:[[James F. Amos|Amos]]  bar:dunford      from: 2010 till: 2012  color:acmc  bar:dunford      from: 2014 till: 2015  color:cmc      text:[[Joseph F. Dunford, Jr.|Dunford]]  bar:neller       from: 2015 till: 2019  color:cmc      text:[[Robert Neller|Neller]]  bar:berger       from: 2019 till: $now  color: cmc     text:[[David Berger|Berger]] See also
Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps
Military Secretary to the Commandant of the Marine Corps
Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps
References
Notes
General
External links
