Some interesting, idle, and ultimately useless statistics about Presidents of the United States and their military service:
–Most common service branch: Army. Fifteen former Presidents served in the U.S. Army, almost three times as many as served in the second most common branch. Six former Presidents served in the Navy. Nine served in various state militias. No Presidents have served in the Air Force or the Marine Corps. Only one President has served in the National Guard (George W. Bush).
–Since John F. Kennedy’s election in 1960, the Navy has had a stranglehold on the office, with six out of nine Presidents being former Navy officers (Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and George H.W.Bush.)
–Highest rank obtained by a President: George Washington, who was made General of the Armies of the United States posthumously by Gerald Ford, ensuring that Washington will always outrank any other General. Runner-up is Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was General of the Army in WWII. Third place goes to Ulysses S. Grant, who was a Lieutenant General during the Civil War, and a four-star General in 1866.
–Number of Presidents who were Generals: twelve.
–All Presidents who enlisted became officers during their careers, with one exception: James Buchanan, who attained the rank of Private in the Pennsylvania State Militia.
–Only President who served while being Commander-in-Chief: George Washington. (There are claims that James Madison briefly took command of an artillery battery during the British assault on Washington in the War of 1812, which would make him the second CINC to have seen military service while being President.)
–Only President to have been a Prisoner of War: Andrew Jackson, who was captured by the British while serving as a messenger boy with the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.
–Highest decorated President: Theodore Roosevelt, who received the Medal of Honor posthumously.
This information brought to you by the Department of Useless Statistics To Settle Beer Arguments.
8 Comments
July 3, 2008 at 7:05 am
Department of Useless Statistics To Settle Beer Arguments
You work in a library too?
July 3, 2008 at 7:06 am
A responsible Marine would kick Congress’ collective ass and have 4/5ths of them arrested for treason.
July 3, 2008 at 7:54 am
Ooh-freaking-rah. I like to think it’s more that no Marine would put up with all the bullshit of politicians trying to play the middle and keep everyone happy. Most would tell it like it is, thus pissing lots of people off and ruining their chances of getting elected. It’s a sad state of affairs.
July 3, 2008 at 3:05 pm
“Nine served in various state militias. … Only one President has served in the National Guard (George W. Bush).”
Hmmm… So is the National Guard the state militia, or isn’t it? How many of those Army guys were RA officers and how many held reserve commissions? Is the Reserve different from the Guard?
July 3, 2008 at 3:18 pm
The ones who were in state militias served before the establishment of the National Guard, so I didn’t count them as National Guard.
Quite a few of the Presidents had reserve commissions (Nixon and Bush 41 were in the Navy Reserve, for example), but I counted them as Navy or Army because the reserve *is* a part of its active-duty parent service, and most of the reserve officers actually served in combat. The pre-NG state militias, on the other hand, were not part of the U.S. Army.
One*could* argue that Bush 43 should actually be listed as Air Force (which would make him the only President to have served in the USAF), since the dual enlistment system means that anyone enlisting in the NG also enlists in the Army or Air Force.
July 3, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Y’know, Caleb at NRAhab was a Coastie. We’ve never had one of them in the Oval Office, have we?
This adds even more of an imperative to the Nominate Ahab For Everything plan…
July 5, 2008 at 7:19 pm
The difference between Marines can be astounding.
Let me mention two Marines now currently in politics. John Murtha and Jim Webb. Both Democrats. But I think I like Webb a bit more than Murtha.
July 6, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Right, you want Marines?
You want Dan Rather or Jeremiah Wright?