List of Presidents of the United States by military service

The United States Constitution names the President of the United States the commander in chief of the US armed forces. However, previous service in the military is not a pre-requisite for the position of president. As of the 2008 presidential election^[update], no member of the US Marine Corps or US 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[1]	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 1952.
Harry S. Truman[2]	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	None	None	None; however 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
Benjamin Harrison	United States Army	Brigadier General	American Civil War
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; left the army to serve in the United States House of Representatives).
Rutherford B. Hayes	United States Army	Major General	American Civil War
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
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	North Carolina 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
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

Notes

1. ^ President Lyndon B. Johnson's Military Service Lyndon Baines Johnson Library & Museum
2. ^ "Military Personnel File of Harry S. Truman". Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. http://www.trumanlibrary.org/hstpaper/rg407.htm. Retrieved 1 January 2009. 

Presidential trivia lists