The United States Constitution names the President of the United States the commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces. However, previous service in the military is not a pre-requisite for the position of president. As of the 2008 presidential election, no member of the U.S. Marine Corps or U.S. Coast Guard has yet been elected President. The most frequent military experience is Army/Army Reserve with 15 presidents, followed by State Militias at 9, Navy/Naval Reserve at 6 and the Continental Army with 2 presidents serving. The following list outlines the military service of each president before becoming the commander in chief.
See also: List of United States Presidents by military rank| President | Service | Rank | Active Service |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barack Obama | None | None | None |
| George W. Bush | Texas Air National Guard | First Lieutenant | Stateside service during Vietnam War (1968–1973). |
| Bill Clinton | None | None | None |
| George H. W. Bush | United States Naval Reserve | Lieutenant | World War II (1942–1945) Distinguished Flying Cross |
| Ronald Reagan | United States Army Reserve, United States Army Air Corps | Captain | Stateside service during World War II (1942–1945); Army Reserve (1937–1942) See also: List of United States Presidents by military rank and Ronald Reagan for more information on military service. |
| Jimmy Carter | United States Navy | Lieutenant | World War II at the United States Naval Academy Sea duty and stateside service 1946-1953 during the Korean War |
| Gerald Ford | United States Naval Reserve | Lieutenant Commander | World War II (1942–1945; combat on USS Monterey, discharged in 1946) |
| Richard Nixon | United States Naval Reserve | Commander | World War II (1942–1945) |
| Lyndon B. Johnson | United States Naval Reserve | Commander | World War II received Silver Star medal after airplane he was riding in was attacked by enemy aircraft |
| John F. Kennedy | United States Navy | Lieutenant | World War II received Navy and Marine Corps Medal and Purple Heart |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower | United States Army | General of the Army | Stateside service during World War I. Served as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II (1942–1945). Visited troops in Korea in December 1952. Entire active-duty career spanned from 1915 until 1969 (excepting his two terms as president and Commander-in-Chief). |
| Harry S. Truman | United States Army, United States Army Reserve | Colonel | World War I (1917–1918); was then transferred to the army reserve and retired in 1953. |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | Navy (Civilian) | Assistant Secretary | Witnessed World War I while serving as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in France |
| Herbert Hoover | None | None | None; however he did help guide US Marines in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion |
| Calvin Coolidge | None | None | None |
| Warren G. Harding | None | None | None |
| Woodrow Wilson | None | None | None |
| William Howard Taft | None | None | None; United States Secretary of War 1904-1908 |
| Theodore Roosevelt | United States Army | Colonel | Spanish–American War – only U.S. President to receive the Medal of Honor (awarded posthumously in 2001) |
| William McKinley | United States Army | Brevet Major | American Civil War. Served in the 23rd Ohio Infantry under future President Rutherford B. Hayes; fought in the Battle of South Mountain, The Battle of Antietam, and in the Valley Campaigns of 1864. |
| Benjamin Harrison | United States Army | Brigadier General | American Civil War; Commanded an Infantry Brigade at the battles of Resaca, New Hope Church, Kennesaw Mountain, Marietta, Peachtree Creek and Atlanta; also Commanded a Brigade during Sherman's March to the Sea. |
| Grover Cleveland | None | None | None |
| Chester A. Arthur | New York State Militia | Brigadier General | Served as Quartermaster General before and during the American Civil War (1858–1865). |
| James Garfield | United States Army | Major General | American Civil War (1861–1863; commanded an Ohio Infantry Brigade at the Battles of Shiloh and Corinth; served as Chief of Staff for General William Rosecrans at the Battle of Chickamauga; left the army to serve in the United States House of Representatives). |
| Rutherford B. Hayes | United States Army | Major General | American Civil War. Served in the 23rd Ohio Infantry and commanded future President William McKinley; wounded at the Battle of South Mountain; also served at the Battle of Antietam and in the Valley Campaigns of 1864. |
| Ulysses S. Grant | United States Army | General of the Army | Mexican-American War and American Civil War; served 1843-1854 and 1861-1868. |
| Andrew Johnson | United States Army | Brigadier General | American Civil War; served as Military Governor of Tennessee in 1862. |
| Abraham Lincoln | Illinois State Militia | Captain | Black Hawk War (served three months in 1832); see Abraham Lincoln in the Black Hawk War. |
| James Buchanan | Pennsylvania State Militia | Private | War of 1812 |
| Franklin Pierce | United States Army | Brigadier General | Mexican-American War; commanded an Infantry Brigade at the Battle of Contreras (where he was wounded in the leg), Battle of Churubusco, and the Assault on Mexico City. |
| Millard Fillmore | New York State Militia | Major | American Civil War |
| Zachary Taylor | United States Army | Major General | War of 1812, Black Hawk War, Second Seminole War, Mexican-American War; entire career spanned from 1808 until 1848. |
| James K. Polk | Tennessee State Militia | Colonel | Joined local militia, but never fought in any war during his service |
| John Tyler | United States Army | Captain | War of 1812 |
| William Henry Harrison | United States Army | Major General | Northwest Indian War, War of 1812 |
| Martin Van Buren | None | None | None |
| Andrew Jackson | Tennessee State Militia, United States Army | General | American Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Creek War, First Seminole War |
| John Quincy Adams | None | None | None; however he was a witness to Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775 and reportedly was a non-participant in a Naval Battle between a British ship and a US ship he was on with his father during the American Revolution. |
| James Monroe | Continental Army | Major | American Revolutionary War; wounded at the Battle of Trenton; depicted holding the American flag behind General George Washington in the famous painting Washington Crossing the Delaware. |
| James Madison | Virginia militia | Colonel | American Revolutionary War, did not see action |
| Thomas Jefferson | Virginia militia | Colonel | Administrative position, did not see action. As Governor of Virginia, fled during British raid to avoid capture |
| John Adams | None | None | Adams served as chairman of the Continental Congress's Board of War (1776–1777), making him the simultaneous equivalent of today's Secretary of Defense and Chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee; was a semi-participant in a naval engagement between a British and US ship during the American Revolution. |
| George Washington | Virginia militia, Virginia Regiment, Continental Army | General of the Armies | French and Indian War, American Revolutionary War |
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—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
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All is possible.”
—Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503?–1542)
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—D.H. (David Herbert)
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—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)