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Veterans Running for PresidentMilitary Vets Have Had Mixed Success in White House Campaigns
John McCain is seeking to be the fifth combat veteran to win the American presidency since World War II. George H. W. Bush was the last one.
Military veterans have experienced mixed success in American presidential campaigns since World War II and military experience has seldom been the defining characteristic of their candidacy. Their success has declined in recent years as WWI vets grow older. Since WWII, only four combat veterans have made it to the White House, George H. W. Bush being the last in 1988. Harry Truman was the only one to win re-election. Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Gerald Ford were the other two. Truman, who served as a captain in the field artillery in France during World War I, and General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who masterminded the Allied victory in Europe, were the first military veterans to win after WWII. Both faced non-veterans in their campaigns. Kennedy vs NixonThe 1960 campaign was the first to match two WWII veterans. Kennedy, a celebrated naval hero, edged Richard M. Nixon, who had served as a naval cargo officer in the South Pacific. Nixon came back to win in both 1968 and 1972. Vice President Lyndon Johnson became president after Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. He had volunteered in the Navy after Pearl Harbor but saw no action until President Roosevelt sent him to the Pacific as an observer in June 1942. He was awarded a controversial Silver Star after the plane he was on reportedly received enemy fire. In 1944 Johnson defeated Senator Barry Goldwater, a WWII air force veteran who had tried but failed to get a combat mission. Hubert Humphrey, Nixon’s Democratic opponent in 1968, was not a veteran. But the third party ticket of George Wallace and General Curtis LeMay had a very strong military record. Wallace was a staff sergeant who flew Army Air Corps combat missions over Japan. LeMay, a career officer, led bombing raids over Germany and served as chief of staff of the Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific. After WWII he commanded the U.S. Air Forces in Europe, organized the Berlin airlift, headed the new Strategic Air Command and led development of the intercontinental ballistic missile. He was labeled "Bombs Away LeMay." Nixon vs McGovernIn 1972 Nixon easily defeated Senator George McGovern, who flew 35 missions during WWII and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. Republicans labeled him a radical liberal for his opposition to the Vietnam war. The Republican team of Gerald Ford and Senator Bob Dole were both well recognized for their WWII heroics, but in 1976 they were defeated by Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale, two Korean Conflict veterans who did not see military action. It was the first post WWII campaign in which both presidential candidates and both vice presidential candidates had respected military records. Bush vs ReagonGeorge H. W. Bush, who flew 58 combat missions and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, lost the 1980 Republican nomination to Ronald Reagan, who had risen to captain in the army, mostly producing training films. Reagan defeated Carter in the 1980 general campaign and then Mondale in 1984. In 1988 George H. W. Bush easily defeated Michael Dukakis, who served with the Army in Korea. But Bush lost to Bill Clinton, a non-veteran, in 1992. In 1996 Clinton defeated Dole, a prominent U.S. Senator and WWII hero whose right arm was paralyzed by German machine gun fire. John McCain, a navy pilot who was shot down and spent five years as a Vietnamese prisoner of war, lost the 2000 Republican nomination to George W. Bush, who had a controversial career as a member of the Texas National Guard. Bush then defeated Democrat Al Gore, who had served several months in Vietnam. Kerry vs BushIn 2004 Bush defeated John Kerry, who had been awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for his navy service during the Vietnam War. Opponents challenged Kerry’s service in the "Swift boat" commercials and book. In his second try for the presidency in 2008, McCain was almost denied the GOP nomination by three non-veterans. And his Democratic opponent, another non-veteran, opened the general campaign by criticising both McCain and Bush for opposing an expansion of benefits for veterans. References:
McCain Quotes on the Middle East Final Total Primary Popular Votes
The copyright of the article Veterans Running for President in US President is owned by Carroll Trosclair. Permission to republish Veterans Running for President in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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