War heroics not the key to White House

[thedrifter]

War heroics not the key to White House

From George Washington to George Herbert Walker Bush, war has molded generations of United States presidents.

But 2004 may mark the decline of military service as a presidential political plus, historians and political scientists say.

World War II veterans have aged out of contention, leaving candidates of the foreseeable future to run on what they did ? or did not do ? in Vietnam, Panama, Grenada and the Persian Gulf wars.

The popularity, size and nature of these conflicts do not carry as much gravity and, consequently, are not as beneficial.

Moreover, war-hero status has not always guaranteed the presidency, and blatant avoidance of military duty has not barred successful candidates.

Democrat Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th president, was elected to two non-consecutive terms after hiring a substitute to fight for him in the Civil War.

Hardly heroic.

In 1892, the Civil War general Benjamin Harrison lost to Cleveland.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who pushed the Japanese across the Pacific and accepted the emperor?s surrender, was too prickly and imperious to pursue a candidacy.

The relative importance of war records has also been tempered by political strategy, national climate, the economy and a range of other issues.

"In any particular election, war records will be relevant. The issues of war and peace remain important in American elections," said Richard Boyd, chairman of the Department of Government at Wesleyan University in Middletown.

Matt Glassman, a political scientist and researcher at Yale University, said, "You?re always better off serving honorably. But with regard to Vietnam, it?s not a damning problem if you didn?t serve."

This year, more than ever, military records are a proxy for character, said Ron Heiferman, chairman of the History Department at Quinnipiac University in Hamden.

"The issue really is one of being candid and honest," he said.

This year a decorated career military officer, Gen. Wesley Clark, fell flat.

The leading challenger, Sen. John Kerry, is a veteran politician who was awarded medals for valor under fire in Vietnam.

Kerry volunteered for the Navy after graduating from Yale and then requested a transfer from the relative safety of a blue-water guided missile frigate to a small, brown-water Swift Boat.

Kerry was awarded a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for actions in the Mekong Delta.

The incumbent, George W. Bush, sidestepped combat in Southeast Asia, staying stateside to fly supersonic interceptors in the Air National Guard.

While piloting an F-102 Delta Dagger is less dangerous than close combat with the Viet Cong, flying fighter planes is a risky business with a high attrition rate.

That does not necessarily swing the election to Kerry, said Arthur Paulson, professor of political science at Southern Connecticut State University.

"The war record depends on context and the candidate?s appeal. (Dwight) Eisenhower had great appeal and performed successfully. But being a war hero is not a blank check," he said.

HISTORY LESSON

Twenty-three presidents, from Washington to George H.W. Bush, served in the military.

Some, like Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Bush the elder, performed personally heroic acts.

Roosevelt charged up San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War.

JFK helped rescue the crew of PT boat 109 after it was split in two by a Japanese destroyer off the Solomon Islands in 1943.

Bush the elder became the youngest Navy flier and won the Distinguished Flying Cross after his TBF Avenger bomber was shot down in 1944.

Other presidents put in undistinguished service.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M.

Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan all fulfilled World War II obligations.

Bush, the last of the World War II presidents, was defeated in 1992 by Bill Clinton, who conspicuously avoided the draft during Vietnam.

As in Cleveland?s defeat of Harrison, the 1992 election revolved around other issues.

The Clinton campaign?s mantra, "It?s the Economy, Stupid," turned out to be correct.

Four years later, Clinton defeated Robert Dole, a decorated World War II platoon leader wounded in Italy.

Thus ended the historic election of a veteran of every U.S. war up to Vietnam:

Four were Revolutionary War vets; two served in the Mexican-American War; one served during the Blackhawk War; six were officers in the Civil War; one in the Spanish-American War; one in World War I; and seven in World War II.

So many men served in the Civil War and in World War II that veterans of the conflicts inevitably rose to the presidency, Glassman said.

Vietnam consumed fewer men and women and many, like Clinton, escaped service.

During Vietnam, thousands of potential soldiers entered alternate service, took advantage of student and other deferments, or moved out of the country, greatly reducing the pool of future candidates.

The political value of Vietnam service tends to turn around those who skirted the war and others who served honorably, Glassman said.

FADING IMPORTANCE

Paulson predicted that the respective records of Kerry and Bush will not have much effect on the upcoming election.

"Bush?s bellicosity encourages Kerry to bring up his war record," Paulson said.

Democrats are also questioning Bush?s service in the Texas Air National Guard?s so-called "champagne squadron" of the privileged and wealthy.

"If the Democrats raise questions without strong evidence they?ll face a great negative price," Paulson said. "The Vietnam record is not that important."

Boyd said Kerry and Bush remain framed by Cold War perceptions of the parties.

"Republicans since Vietnam have been the party trusted to maintain military security. Bush can exploit that, even though he didn?t serve. Kerry can?t, even though he did," Boyd said.

Heiferman said Bush has brought the military records issue on himself.

"Bush is very disingenuous. He says he supported the Vietnam War, but got into the Texas Air National Guard," he said.

Boyd said the long service required of National Guard troops in Iraq also puts Bush on the spot.

"In this context, so many are making sacrifices. The president making this request needs credibility and experience, so Bush?s National Guard record aroused interest," he said.

Glassman said veterans of the Persian Gulf actions, including the invasion of Iraq, will likely be candidates for public office, and possibly the presidency, in a decade.

Since the number serving was modest and all volunteer, war service will cease to be a major factor in elections, he said.

"I think military experience will always remain an issue in a campaign.

The necessity of military service is fading," Glassman said.

So too is the victorious general turned president, the experts said.

Few professional military officers are likely to follow James Monroe, Rutherford B. Hayes, William Henry Harrison or William McKinley into the White House.

Clark, in the tradition of George Washington, Zachary Taylor and Dwight D. Eisenhower, portrayed himself as a selfless war hero, Paulson said. Unlike his military predecessors, however, Clark had to participate in partisan primaries.

"Before primaries, military people could remain aloof," Glassman said.

No more.

"Clark had tremendous difficulty using his non-partisan good-guy portrayal," Glassman said.

His public speaking was less than stellar and he had difficulty defining himself as a Democrat, he said.

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant never had to campaign. If he had, the Civil War hero might not have been elected.

Finally, history shows clearly that lack of military service need not be a hindrance, Heiferman said.

Neither Abraham Lincoln nor Franklin D. Roosevelt was a combat veteran, he said, yet they guided the country successfully through the bloodiest wars in U.S. history.


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Abram Katz can be reached at akatz@nhregister.com or 789-5719.

?New Haven Register 2004

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Sempers,

Roger