Talk:James Stewart

message: I looked into this because I already debunked the same claim for Billy Mitchell, who was not promoted to Major General either. So, there seems to be no basis for this claim other than a dubious article (claiming that he was promoted at the same time as his MoF award in 1985, which is objectively untrue) and an Air Force video that probably got its erroneous information from Wikipedia. I checked the AF museum's bio of Stewart, which only lists him as a BG: https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196679/brig-gen-james-m-stewart/fbclid/brig-gen-james-m-stewart/, the Jimmy Stewart Museum (also lists him as BG):https://jimmy.org/jimmy-stewarts-biography/?fbclid=IwAR3xSuN-71xIG9aU-OSrsNFRuCS_yt2GwxUPJs41Xif1nOA7LJhwyB-rFuY, and his own papers at BYU (similarly saying BG): https://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/ltpsc/archival_objects/ref37_rom?fbclid=IwAR22PnOh-XuL85FFPG83YT8_X3szRFkSaOndpguvBlm4_dhNdExJKR4B4l0. 
I searched all of the bills from the 1980s on Proquest congressional, and found none mentioning Stewart except for a failed attempt to authorize the Congressional Gold Medal in the late 1980s. Significant because a retired promotion (even a strictly honorary promotion) has to be authorized by Congress, meaning it requires a bill as a prerequisite (the president cannot accomplish it unilaterally). For example, President Trump promoted Tuskegee airman Charles McGee to Brig. Gen. in 2020. But like any honorary promotion, this had to have congressional authorization. It's here in the defense bill for FY2020, 133 Stat. 1421: https://www.congress.gov/116/plaws/publ92/PLAW-116publ92.pdf. 
I emailed the Reagan Library yesterday since their holdings only include information on the Medal of Freedom. There was no promotion contemporaneous with that award, which is clear from the script they have on file here: https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/remarks-presentation-ceremony-presidential-medal-freedom-1. Their archivist wrote me this in response today:
"I did some research and was not able to find any material in which states that President Reagan promoted Jimmy Stewart to the retired grade of Major General.
I did some 'outside' research to see what I could find and, as you mentioned, this was supposedly done when he received the Medal of Freedom on 5/23/1985.
With this info, I checked the speech from that day and no mention of this was found.
I also researched anything on Jimmy Stewart to see if there was any material related to this and again, could not find anything.
Now, this could have been done via the Pentagon and/or via the Secretary of Defence but the Library does not contain that material as only Presidential material is kept here.
I would suggest, if you haven't done so already, to check with the Pentagon to see if they have any material for this."
Finally, found the video of the MoF presentation, which shows there was no promotion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgMM2j4xUR0. 
Anyway, I think this is pretty definitive, but not sure how to cite it. It's pretty obvious that if Reagan had done this, there would be a record at the Reagan library. This, and the absence of an implementing bill, or even a photo of Stewart wearing the rank, is fairly definitive.   — Preceding unsigned comment added by Foxtrot5151 (talk • contribs) 21:55, 12 July 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Thank you so much for your diligent research on this topic. It looks like it was added back in December 2020. I normally try to keep up with this page and remove uncited information, but I wasn't able to keep up with page changes then. Circular citations are the worst! Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 15:17, 13 July 2022 (UTC)

text: He was promoted to Major General (Honoree) for his work done after retirement for the Air force by the Chief of staff of the US Air force. He could use the title if he wanted to but his retirement pay stayed the same as a BG general. 2600:1015:A017:1EE6:3E9A:AD06:9678:A411 (talk) 06:59, 9 October 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  retired promotion claim 

message: The article says Jimmy Stewart entered the service after the US entered WW2.  The problem is that the US didn't enter the war until December 1941.  So it's important to note that Jimmy entered the military in early 1941, leaving Hollywood BEFORE the US was in WW2.  Jimmy thought service was important so he entered even before the US was geared for war.  So he wasn't the first Hollywood star to enter service in the patriotic fervor after Pearl Harbor, he went on the conviction of his own personal patriotism. 47.229.100.24 (talk) 05:34, 20 March 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Military Service 

message: Hello! This is to let editors know that :File:Annex - Stewart, James (Call Northside 777) 01.jpg, a featured picture used in this article, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for September 25, 2022. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2022-09-25. For the greater benefit of readers, any potential improvements or maintenance that could benefit the quality of this article should be done before its scheduled appearance on the Main Page.  If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you! Adam Cuerden (talk)Has about 7.9% of all FPs 18:03, 31 May 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Featured picture scheduled for POTD 

message: There is no such thing as an "amateur" licensed pilot, and that word should be deleted from the article. 2600:1011:B012:72CD:B5E0:AC6D:F048:3C7E (talk) 17:10, 25 June 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pilot Ratings 

message: Add under work heading "Carbine Williams" a 1952 film directed by Richard Thorpe. 98.18.61.250 (talk) 17:29, 3 November 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Add to "Work" 

message: This is incorrect. 
The term is Scots-Irish
Scotch is another name for Scottish Whisky 70.40.76.197 (talk) 04:16, 23 December 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Scotch-Irish 

message: James Stewart co-starred with Simone Simon in the 1938 movie "Seventh Heaven." 2600:1700:8670:C5C0:3DE7:6D56:CEC5:EFD7 (talk) 00:22, 26 February 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Movies