US Presidents by Military Rank & Combat Experience (2021 UPDATE)

List of Presidents of the United States by Military Rank

The United States Constitution names the president of the United States the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. Many presidents, however, also served in the military before taking office; all but 13 of the 45 persons to become president have served.

Of the 32 presidents with military service, 31 have been commissioned officers, of whom five began their careers as regular officers (Jimmy Carter transferred to the Naval Reserve after five years in the Navy). There have been 13 presidents who held general officer rank (four regular officers, six militia officers, three volunteers).

Sources:
Britannica
Wikipedia

Disclaimer:
I do not own the photos. They were found by internet search and were edited to make them all the same size. Photos were compiled for educational purposes.

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[nineotindo]

Imagine you are teasing a E1, and a few years later he is the commander in chief

[MILITARYDATA]

from private to president. that's cool

[cobytang]

Teddy Roosevelt went from receiving the Medal of Honor from the president to becoming the person that hands out the Medel of Honors.

[pickelboii]

I swear Theodore Roosevelt has to be one of the biggest chads of American history

[jackfarnum]

Washington was given the General of the Armies rank posthumously in the 1970’s. Only John J. Pershing has actually held the rank while leading in the field.

[Evocati-Augusti]

There was a time we elected men for what they had already accomplished...not saying what they would...

[joshuamacaraig]

I'm a Filipino and I love History!! I find it interesting. Thank you for doing this videos. From Philippines with love!

[lazyidiotofthemonth]

okay 1st, Grant was the first person to be awarded General of the Army, and he did so long before EIsenhauer which means he is and always will be senior to Ike. 2nd, Ike had very limited combat command experience, having only commanded a battalion, and at no point ever personally commanded an Army. Ike was a political and administrative General, who was necessary for commanading multiple armies, but he had absolutely no combat command at all during World War II. Grant however had Commanded a Brigade, a Division, and then a Corps(It was called an Army but later in the war would have been a Corps strengthed formation), and finally an Army during 1862, all of which was engaged in combat, during which he force an enemy Army to Surrender. In 1863 He forced another Confederate Army to Surrender on July 4 1863 on the same day meade was unable to corner and force Lee's Army to surrender. He then took over an entirely seperate Army(Army of the Cumberland) under his command along with his existing command(Army of the Tennesee) and Relieved Union Forces at Chattanooga before Complete forcing a total Confederate withdrawl from the area. At the start of 1864 Grant was Made the first Lieutenant General since George Washington, and was placed in command of all Union Armies(which would result in an entirely new rank to be created along with a suborndinate rank below him and above Lieutenant General). Grant was the ultimate Commander of Every single Soldier in the Army, something Ike never was. Also How in the fuck is Reagan, a douche who spent the entire Second World War making training films more experience than JFK who commanded a PT BOAT Squadron, and did so in combat?

[otitmagistrado]

Fun fact: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day in July 4, 1826

[USNveteran]

Glad to see the put Theodore Roosevelt's Congressional Medal of Honor in there, the only US President to have been awarded it. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize. FLY NAVY!!!

[Mike]

South American States be like : „in our countries El Presidente is always 5 star general“

[zico]

Having military experience is a useful card when running for president in the USA.

[anubis]

Reagan was Non-Deployable which means no combat experience.

[phillipnagle]

LBJ's service was at best overstated. He was made a Lt. Com. right out of the gate, went on one flight that returned to base because of engine trouble was awarded a silver star for that. Ridiculous!

[TacoTot]

I had no idea that Abraham Lincoln had combat experience. It now makes sense that he was tactically proficient in killing all those vampires.

[gnedelcu]

Thank you for this video.
Bucharest, Roumanie

[kayoh_]

Wait, 14k views? I feel like this is the kind of video to have hundreds of thousands, good luck in the algorithm my dude!

[ryanrusch]

Fun story, despite being a God of a General, Ike never actually saw active combat.

[johndododoe]

You should make a similar list for the Roman republic, where the equivalent elected office was "consul" (2 people elected each year, which became known as the year of X and Y being consuls). Occasionally, one official was promoted to temporary emperor (imperator) for a short time.

[andrelee]

1:28 Why does Nixon's picture look so fake?! XD