AHC: A century of Veteran Presidents

Inspired by the overweight and bearded president threads, try to make a cohesive list of POTUSes who have seen combat while in military service.

Rules are similar to the others

1) Maximum of 3 terms per President

2) Try to keep it to mainstream parties and only 3 other parties if you provide a good case.

3) If an otl civilian is born with/or develops a condition or defect that keeps them from seeing combat, it cannot be butterflied.

4) Unless they were in combat and interested in politics, no celebrities w/o a good case.

5) Services included: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, National Guard, reserves, pre-NG militia, Coast Guard, and as Government employee Bonus if they've received a Medal of Honor or other prestigious award.

6) Can start and end wherever between 1789 and the present.

Here's a quick one. Please feel free to critique.

William McKinley (R-OH) 1897-1901 (Assassinated)
Theodore Roosevelt (R-NY) 1901-1909
Joseph B. Foraker (R-OH) 1909-1913
Theodore Roosevelt (P-NY) 1913-1917
Leonard Wood (R-NH) 1917-1925
Herbert Hoover (D-CA) 1925-1933 (Aided U.S. Marines during the Boxer Rebellion in China. Was offered the Democratic nomination in 1920.)
Henry S. Breckinridge (D-NY) 1933-1937 (Commanded a battalion during WWI, not much information other than that)
Theodore Roosevelt II (R-NY) 1937-1944 (Died of a heart attack)
Charles P. Taft II (R-OH) 1944-1949 (Again, not much information except that he served in WWI)
Harry S. Truman (D-MO) 1949-1953
Harold Stassen (R-MN) 1953-1957
John F. Kennedy (D-MA) 1957-1965 (Was Adlai Stevenson's VP-elect when the Illinois Governor died of a heart attack)
George Wallace (D-AL) 1965-1969 (Governor Wallace defeated Kennedy's pick Senator Johnson after claiming Johnson had lied about his combat service)
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (R-MA) 1969-1977
George McGovern (D-SD) 1977-1981
George H.W. Bush (R-TX) 1981-1989
Alexander Haig (R-PA) 1989-1993 (Haig became deeply unpopular for undoing much of the detente McGovern and Bush had done and many believed he had brought the country closer to War than any President since Wallace)
Robert Kerrey (D-NE) 1993-2001
Colin Powell (R-NY) 2001-2005 (After the capture of Osama Bin Laden three years after the terrorist attacked America, Powell announced he would not seek a second term)
John S. McCain (R-AZ) 2005-2013
Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) 2013-Present (First female President, first double amputee President.)

 
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Quentin was actually the youngest and was killed in battle, but he could be used as an Eisenhower analogue.

The toughest part was finding candidates between 1908 and 1932. Most of the civil war vets were dead or too old and it seemed the only military officers interested in politics were republicans. Same thing with the period between Vietnam and now.

Also, I can't really be sure of some of the presidents' service records (i.e. Breckinridge, Taft, Stassen). Hoover was a civilian, but since he aided Marines in combat, perhaps he could be made an honorary Marine or something like that?

I'd really like it if some of you guys tried your hand at this.
 
They're elected. Its a challenge thread like a century of bearded presidents or a century of over weight presidents.

Oh and I was thinking of using Kerry, but by 2012 he'd be in his late sixties and I though it'd be nice to have America's first female and (I think) Asian President and a vet in one candidate.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
If military service is a requirement, than wouldn't

everyone interested in a political career make a point of taking the oath at some point?

FDR could have resigned from the assistant secnav position in 1917 and ended up at sea - or in the Marine Corps, for that matter.

Wilson (born 1856) was the right age for service during the Plains Wars, and was in a reasonable age bracket for a general officer in the S-A War. HG Otis was born in 1837, and he served as a BG in the Phillippines.

Or are you asking for the "vet" in a given campaign to get elected?

Best,
 
everyone interested in a political career make a point of taking the oath at some point?

FDR could have resigned from the assistant secnav position in 1917 and ended up at sea - or in the Marine Corps, for that matter.

Wilson (born 1856) was the right age for service during the Plains Wars, and was in a reasonable age bracket for a general officer in the S-A War. HG Otis was born in 1837, and he served as a BG in the Phillippines.

Or are you asking for the "vet" in a given campaign to get elected?

Best,

It's just that every President happened to be a veteran.
 
William McKinley (R-OH): 1897-1901*
Theodore Roosevelt (R-NY): 1901-1909
Joseph Foraker (R-OH): 1909-1913
Theodore Roosevelt (P-NY): 1913-1917
John W. Weeks (P-MA): 1917-1923*
Irvine Lenroot (P-WI): 1923-1933
Newton Baker (DR-OH): 1933-1937
Frank Knox (P-IL): 1937-1944*
Leverett Saltonstall (P-MA): 1944-1953
Dwight Eisenhower (DR-TX): 1953-1961
Wayne Morse (P-OR): 1961-1965
Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (DR-MA): 1965-1973
George McGovern (P-SD): 1973-1981
John F. Kennedy (DR-MA): 1981*
Lloyd Bentsen (DR-TX): 1981-1989
Michael Dukakis (P-MA): 1989-1997
Robert J. Dole (DR-KS): 1997-2001

 
William McKinley (R-OH): 1897-1901*
Theodore Roosevelt (R-NY): 1901-1909
Joseph Foraker (R-OH): 1909-1913
Theodore Roosevelt (P-NY): 1913-1917
John W. Weeks (P-MA): 1917-1923*
Irvine Lenroot (P-WI): 1923-1933
Newton Baker (DR-OH): 1933-1937
Frank Knox (P-IL): 1937-1944*
Leverett Saltonstall (P-MA): 1944-1953
Dwight Eisenhower (DR-TX): 1953-1961
Wayne Morse (P-OR): 1961-1965
Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (DR-MA): 1965-1973
George McGovern (P-SD): 1973-1981
John F. Kennedy (DR-MA): 1981*
Lloyd Bentsen (DR-TX): 1981-1989
Michael Dukakis (P-MA): 1989-1997
Robert J. Dole (DR-KS): 1997-2001
John Kerry (P-MA): 2001-2005
Colin Powell (DR-NY): 2005-2013
Tammy Duckworth (P-IL): 2013-
 
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