US Presidential Trivia Question

One US president has served as Commander in Chief, not only as president, but twice while not in that office. Easy question for the history buffs. Who is he, and when?

In addition to serving as Commander in Chief of US forces as President of the United States from April 1789 until March 1797, General George Washington served as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army from June 1775 through the end of the American Revolution in 1783. There was no executive branch at the time. John Hancock and others served as president of the First and Second Continental Congress, though that job was more akin to being Speaker of the House than it was to being head of state.

Washington was also commissioned as Commander in Chief in 1798 by then President John Adams during the Quasi-War with France, into 1799. Adams felt that if a hot war came to pass that he was far less qualified to run the Army than was the former president. This is the only time in history that a US president willingly conceded that authority to someone perceived to have greater expertise in military affairs. Washington was feeling old and as you probably know, died in late 1799. While he was technically "Commander in Chief" at that time, he relied heavily on Major General Alexander Hamilton who was also pressed into service at that time for that crisis.