User Panel
Posted: 5/6/2004 9:51:13 AM EDT
Just saw General Washington's face on purple heart (thanks DVDTracker).
Why is it that we have not had a President that was a General in the military in a while? |
|
|
|
|
Maybe because the only general with a fair chance of winning isn't interested in the job.
Al Haig and Wesley Clark ran for president. I wouldn't want to see either one in the White House. |
|
Public schools are not what they used to be |
||
|
Young whippersnappers |
||
|
There was one in the Dimwitic (Democratic) primaries right? What was his name and why didn't get very far.
|
|
Ike, Grant, Jackson, Harrison,Washington, Taylor, Pierce, Johnson, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Harrison were all Generals!
|
|
I did not now that! |
||
|
US Presidents who were Generals:
George Washington Andrew Jackson William Henry Harrison Zachary Taylor Franklin Pierce Andrew Johnson Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes James Garfield Chester Arthur Benjamin Harrison Dwight Eisenhower |
|
Yes but Johnson was the last one right? Why has there not been one in recent elections? Oopsy wrong Johnson! |
|
|
Carter went to the Naval Acadamy in1943, and did not actually get his commission until 1946.
|
|
Not since 1961(Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower) have we had a Genral in the white house. Why?
|
|
Good Point! |
|
|
I'm going to be a bit controversial here, but career military men/women BLOW at being the leaders of free countries. Ike is the only one from the modern era, and I suspect that he coattailed in on his fame from WWII. (not really up on the time frame in history, but who would want to run against Ike...) My rationale is simple. They are creatures of absolute hierarchy, and do not like to be questioned by those lower on said hierarchy, and it shows in their demeanor, and actions. This is what nailed Clark. You could see the rage in his eyes when reporters pushed him into a direction he didn't want to go. "Nobody screws with me, I'm the friggin General!"
I use my dear old dad as a great example. A great guy, but would have SUCKED as the elected leader of a free civilian population, even though he would have been pretty good as a pure Commander in Chief. |
|
You forgot Clinton. 4 Star Rear Admiral of the USS Lewinski. |
|
|
|
||
|
Pretty much every General named won the election on his ablilty during the last war, and rode that popularity to become president.
There has not be a major conflict the people have been behind in a while. The last one that might have had any chance to me would have been Powell, but he didn't want the job either. |
|
I did a few VIP's for Clinton on the West Coast, one in Hollywood was a bimbo fest! On the Plus side, it is not often you see Playboy/Penthouse material chicks in completely see-through knit dresses (shaved I might add) come up to the Magpoint!!!! |
||
|
Jimmy Carter was also a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. Anyone remember who Ross Perot's running mate was in 96. Admiral James Stockdale, one of the most senior ranking POWs of the Vietnam War. Guy got regular beatings just because. |
|||
|
I did more "protection" details for the Clinton administration than I ever care to admit to. And none were as good as what you are describing. I usually got stuck with gay rights dinners and stupid shit like that. The coolest was when Hitlery took us to former bloc countries... that was a paid 2 week vacation because our TSD guy gave about as much of a shit as e did when it came to sweeping any of her visiting locations. 2 weeks of sight seeing, souvenier shopping, and clubbing. Sometimes I forget I was there for "work". |
|
|
Zipper obviously you were sleeping during social studies. Both Grant and Ike were some sort of general. As were a lot more.
|
|
Did you actually read his post? He meant recent presidents, or you guys might be getting to old. |
|
|
That was the best VIP by far, he also spent an hour in some hotel that wasn't on the his Itinerary, like that is a surprise! When we got released, we got off of the Sunset strip and hit Santa Monica Blvd, just happened to be the Gay-Lesbian Parade day there, f'ing miles of FREAKS!!!! |
||
|
I'd sooner vote for Captain Crunch or Colonel Sanders. |
|
|
The Navy doesn't have "generals" and Carter never made Admiral.
|
|
|
|
My ancestor was his XO in his southern campaign. |
|
|
However, the thread is about Generals, whose counterpart would be Admirals. Carter was not an Admiral. |
|||
|
Funny how that works. Enter in '43, then '44, '45, and damn, graduate in '46. Who woulda thunk it! It is not a one year school. |
|
|
Air Force General LeMay ran for Vice President. I forget who was his Opposite Half.
|
|
That's the truth actually. Generals usually don't make good politicians, and are more action minded instead of negotiation minded. They don't have much of a clue about how the average joe lives or what their concerns are since they spent most of their lives living on a military base and around people who give them everything they ask for without question. |
|
|
I'm not sure if I could vote for Sherman, even if he was going to march in the Middle East. I'm still sore over his last march
|
|
I agree with all but the part in red. They have a LOT of knowledge of the outside world, since most of their troops (the young ones) just came from it. And they have to spend a lot of time working with the local community--about half of a base commander's job is dealing with folks who live and work in the area. Also, a general, no matter how high up, still has a boss who sometimes tells him "no," and has many other constraints within which he has to work, no matter how much he doesn't like it. Lastly, a GOOD general would surround himself with people who did tell him NO occassionally. The reason why generals don't make good politicians is because they wouldn't be out to make people feel good; they'd go out and fix the problems. In today's age that would alienate a bunch of special interest groups who then wouldn't have anything to scare people with. |
||
|
Same reason that John Kennedy was the last senator to get elected president. And William Howard Taft was the last federal judge to make it. They have a record. They have a paper trail of decisions made, and the consequences thereof, that provide just too much ammuniton for pundits.
|
|
Yup. |
|
|
Well I was thanking that here recently there has not been any Generals or Upper/Senior Military officials who have entered in to and had a successful election or campaign.
I see what you mean by they are good at what they do, but when it comes to the people they are not the best choice, nor do they know what would be best for us. I really wonder if there was something to do with money? |
|
Alexander Haig would have made a very good President in my opinion. He just ran at the wrong time when we had another pretty good guy running by the name of Ronald Reagan. |
|
|
Ike was the "hidden hand President" because he was so politically adept that nobody even knew he was at the wheel. When Francis Gary powers was shot down his poll numbers went up, cause it showed he was actually doing something about the Soviets. |
|
|
On the same token, had he bitched slapped Castro around in the 50's we'd have another vacation spot. From what I have read about Ike, he had a hard time making decisions himself and relied on others, even during WWII. However, I did read that in a biography of Truman. |
||
|
Right-on After working hard all of his life he is not going to take crap from guys like Gerado. |
|
|
If you mean Powell, I'd rather have John McCain... Powell is the ultimate RINO |
|
|
Hmmmm, I wonder how Patton would have been if he ran for president in the 50's. WW3?
|
|
Damn, I remember Eisenhower but I was just a little kid. "I like Ike."
|
|
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.