From my embedded reporter in New Orleans, this list of presidential service records, thus ending a series of "who did and who didn't" emails:
Presidents who served in combat:
George Washington, American Revolution, Commander in Chief of Continental Army
James Monroe, American Revolution
Andrew Jackson, American Revolution, War of 1812, First Seminole War
William Henry Harrison, Indian wars in the NW territory, War of 1812
John Tyler, War of 1812
Zachary Taylor, War of 1812; Black Hawk, Second Seminole, and Mexican wars
Franklin Pierce, Mexican War
James Buchanan, War of 1812
Abraham Lincoln, Black Hawk War
Andrew Johnson, Civil War
Ulysses S, Grant, Mexican War, Civil War
Rutherford B. Hayes, Civil War
James Garfield, Civil War
Chester A. Arthur, Civil War
Benjamin Harrison, Civil War
William McKinley, Civil War; shot by a foreign national
Theodore Roosevelt, Spanish-American War
Harry Truman, WWI
Dwight Eisenhower, WWII; ended up as a four star general
John Kennedy, WWII (had PT boat blown up under him)
Lyndon Johnson, WWII
Richard Nixon, WWII
Gerald Ford, WWII
George Herbert Walker Bush, WWII (shot down)
Presidents who were in the military but saw no action:
James Madison
James Polk
Millard Fillmore
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan (kept out of combat due to bad eyesight)
George W. Bush (current president)
Presidents with no military experience:
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
John Quincy Adams
Martin Van Buren
Grover Cleveland
William Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Warren G. Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Franklin D. Roosevelt (though he served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and all four sons serve in WW2)
Bill Clinton (the only conscientious objector, so far, to be elected President)
Presidents in office during wartime:
George Washington, the end of the Revolution, war with Native Americans in Ohio
Thomas Jefferson, Tripolitan War against the Barbary pirates
James Madison, War of 1812 against the British
James Monroe, First Seminole War
Andrew Jackson, Blackhawk War
Martin Van Buren, Aroostook War; Second Seminole War
William Henry Harrison, Second Seminole War
John Tyler, Second Seminole War
James Polk, Mexican War
James Buchanan, beginning of the Civil War
Abraham Lincoln, remainder of the Civil War; killed by an enemy civilian at the end of the war
William McKinley, Spanish-American War; Boxer Rebellion
Woodrow Wilson, WW1
Warren G. Harding, formally concluded WW1
Franklin D. Roosevelt, start of WW2
Harry Truman, conclusion of WW2; start of Korean War
Dwight Eisenhower, conclusion of Korean War; beginning of Vietnam War
John Kennedy, Bay of Pigs Invasion; early days of Vietnam War
Lyndon Johnson, Vietnam War, Dominican Republic
Richard Nixon, end of Vietnam War
Ronald Reagan, invasion of Grenada
George H.W. Bush, invasion of Panama; war in Iraq 1
George W. Bush, war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, war in Iraq 2; peacekeeping in Iraq and Afghanistan
Presidents who did not preside over a war during their terms:
John Adams
John Quincy Adams
Zachary Taylor
Millard Fillmore
Franklin Pierce
Andrew Johnson
Ulysses S. Grant
James Garfield
Chester A. Arthur
Grover Cleveland
Theodore Roosevelt
William Taft
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Jimmy Carter (he was president at the start of the War on Terror, but just didn't know it at the time)
19 September 2007
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