The Wartime Presidency By Andrew Polsky In 2012, the American
people will choose between two candidates for the Oval Office
who share in common something unusual — neither one has ever
spent a day in a military uniform. No presidential election
since 1944 has featured two major party candidates with no
military experience. The absence of a candidate with time in the
military has led some to bemoan the separation between civilian
life and military service. But the more immediate concern should
be whether a lack of military experience has an impact on how
well a president performs as a wartime leader. A quick glance at
the record of wartime commanders in chief suggests that prior
military service doesn’t correlate closely with success. Abraham
Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt rank as our most accomplished
wartime commanders in chief. Neither had significant military
experience. Lincoln served as a militia officer for a few weeks
during the Blackhawk War and never heard a shot fired in anger.
Roosevelt never se