Quote from hoodooman:
In the trenches
In the rear echelon
Neither, they are AWOL
THE LIST OF GENERALS who went on to serve as president is short and almost wholly Republican. In fact, with the exception of George Washington, who famously eschewed party politics of any kind, Andrew Jackson, regarded as the spiritual father of the Democratic Party, mid-19th century Franklin Pierce , the nine other generals who became president hewed firmly to the GOP tradition.*
In modern times, the trend is even more clear. All of the generals who have tested the waters in recent decades have been Republicans.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur, hero of the Pacific war against Japan, delivered the keynote speech at the 1952 Republican convention in hope of winning one more campaign. The victor at the convention would be another general: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Allied Supreme Commander in World War II. Ike would go on that year to be the last American general elected as president.
Alexander Haig, a general during the Vietnam war and former secretary of state, sought in 1988 to portray himself as the natural heir to the departing Ronald Reagan.
Colin Powell, who talked to both Democrats and Republicans about a presidential bid in 1996, carefully left the door open to both parties as he flirted with the idea. In his 1995 autobiography, âAn American Journey,â he declared âI am a fiscal conservative with a social conscience.â