At a Pentagon ceremony, Hoisington and Anna Mae Hays were promoted to brigadier general, becoming the first women generals in U.S. military history.
On June 11, 1970, at a ceremony held at the Pentagon, Elizabeth Hoisington and Anna Mae Hays were formally promoted to the rank of brigadier general, becoming the first two women to hold general officer rank in the history of the United States Army and the broader U.S. armed forces.
This ceremony represented the culmination of nearly three decades of service by Hoisington, who had enlisted in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942 and risen steadily through the ranks, including distinguished wartime service in the European theater during World War II. Her promotion, alongside Hays, shattered a rank ceiling that had existed since the founding of the U.S. military, opening the highest echelons of military leadership to women for the first time.
The promotion received substantial national media attention as a milestone in the broader movement toward gender equality in American public life, occurring amid the growing second-wave feminist movement. As Director of the Women's Army Corps at the time, Hoisington's elevation to general officer rank also had direct institutional significance, giving the WAC a leader with the same formal authority as her male counterparts commanding other Army branches.
The legacy of this promotion endures in the career paths of thousands of women who followed in the decades since, eventually rising to four-star rank and combat command positions unimaginable in 1970.