A hopefully simple question: Is the president allowed to be an active member of the armed forces?
I ask because in my country when our king was crowned he had to resign from all his military posts because the civilian government regulates the military and the king is head of the government. If he remained in the military that would mean the military would be effectively be regulated by the military and you can see why that's not a desirable situation.
I know the POTUS is the commander-in-chief but his power is also limited by design by having Congress hold quite a bit of control over the military. And it would seem to me that allowing the POTUS to be an active member of the military would create a similar undesirable situation as it would with our king.
To my knowledge there is nothing that requires a presidential candidate to not be a member of the military. However I don't see how an active member of the military could possibly campaign as president the time consuming manor of these campaigns requires full time attention.
I believe Washington was still an active General when he became president, perhaps I'm mistaken there not sure?
Quote:To my knowledge there is nothing that requires a presidential candidate to not be a member of the military. However I don't see how an active member of the military could possibly campaign as president the time consuming manor of these campaigns requires full time attention.
I believe Washington was still an active General when he became president, perhaps I'm mistaken there not sure?
Washington was commander-in-chief of the continental army until 1783, president from 1789 to 1797, and then senior officer of the army from 1798 until his death in 1799. Though he could very well have still been a member of the armed forces, just not one with an official title.
The way our constitution is writen, the POTUS is a civilian. The Idea is for Civilian control of the military
So in theory if some General was to run and be elected at that point they would no longer be a member of the military? Interesting question DF never thought about it before.
When Eisenhower was elected, he gave up his active military status.
After his second term, he was active military again.
So I think the answer is no.
I asked my wife, because she knows more than I do -- she said that she believes that the armed services prohibits any active member from serving an elected office (or office required by political appointment by the President and approval by congress). They prohibit holding any office that may interfere with military duties.
Quote:So in theory if some General was to run and be elected at that point they would no longer be a member of the military? Interesting question DF never thought about it before.
Well, like I said, the king had to resign his military position before being crowned. He is allowed to wear a uniform because he's the head of the government and the government regulates the military. But he's not allowed to wear his original rank insignia but instead has to wear the royal insignia.
Quote:Washington was commander-in-chief of the continental army until 1783, president from 1789 to 1797, and then senior officer of the army from 1798 until his death in 1799. Though he could very well have still been a member of the armed forces, just not one with an official title.
You should read the biography of Washington by Ron Chernow. Washington is in my opinion the greatest American ever. What he went through and what he accomplished was incredible. The United States would not exist if he had not been around to make it happen.
Quote:I googled the question, "can the president be active military" and what I found was that the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which all the military personnel must abide by, prohibits partisan political activity.
Here's some discussion on it:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/dis...104x738636
This one is even better:
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/militaryl...tics_3.htm
So to very crudely summarize; the military serves the people and government of the USA regardless of the political affiliation of the people and government. Having an active member of the armed forces who is also active in politics would contradict this and is therefor not allowed.
Quote:You should read the biography of Washington by Ron Chernow. Washington is in my opinion the greatest American ever. What he went through and what he accomplished was incredible. The United States would not exist if he had not been around to make it happen.
The thing I liked most just reading snippets of his Wikipedia article is how he seemed to resist being elected President almost against his own will but still being incredibly aware of how he conducted himself in the office because he knew everything he'd do would set a precedent for his successors.
Quote:
The thing I liked most just reading snippets of his Wikipedia article is how he seemed to resist being elected President almost against his own will but still being incredibly aware of how he conducted himself in the office because he knew everything he'd do would set a precedent for his successors.
He led a ragtag army for 8 years against the world's top superpower, held it together through thick and thin, loss after loss, retreat after retreat, never gave up, but the greatest thing he did was after the war was won when he appeared before the Congress and resigned as Commander in Chief of the Army. The country could have become a military dictatorship, or Washington could have even declared himself king, and most people would have happily gone along with it because everyone worshipped the man. But when he went before Congress and turned in his commission as Commander in Chief and retired, that meant we would be a democratic republic and not a dictatorship. When King George III heard that Washington had done that, he called him "the greatest man of the age."
Quote:He led a ragtag army for 8 years against the world's top superpower, held it together through thick and thin, loss after loss, retreat after retreat, never gave up, but the greatest thing he did was after the war was won when he appeared before the Congress and resigned as Commander in Chief of the Army. The country could have become a military dictatorship, or Washington could have even declared himself king, and most people would have happily gone along with it because everyone worshipped the man. But when he went before Congress and turned in his commission as Commander in Chief and retired, that meant we would be a democratic republic and not a dictatorship. When King George III heard that Washington had done that, he called him "the greatest man of the age."
To be fair; the world's top superpower never really threw its full force against the revolution and the Continental Army got considerable help from France, Spain and the Dutch Republic. But that doesn't affect his exemplary conduct after the US gained true independence.
Quote:To be fair; the world's top superpower never really threw its full force against the revolution and the Continental Army got considerable help from France, Spain and the Dutch Republic. But that doesn't affect his exemplary conduct after the US gained true independence.
None of our history textbooks at our schools (at least my school), doesn't deny the important roles that France, Spain, Holland, and even Russia, played in helping us win independence from GB. The Battle of Saratoga marked the turning point of the war when France finally decided to throw its full weight behind the Colonies. The irony is that 200 years later, America is the big Superpower trying to fight insurgents on their own soil, and competing with other Great Powers for influence.
From then on, the war went from a regional conflict, to a global conflict. The first shot was fired at Lexington and Concord, but the last shot was fired in India.
Quote:To be fair; the world's top superpower never really threw its full force against the revolution and the Continental Army got considerable help from France, Spain and the Dutch Republic. But that doesn't affect his exemplary conduct after the US gained true independence.
It's kind of similar to the Vietnam war in some ways. I'm sure the Vietnamese would say they won that war, while we say we never threw our full force against them, we just lost interest and went home. Granted, the American Revolution was a sideshow in a much bigger conflict between European powers. If GB had wanted to, they could have laid waste to the entire continent. But that would have been like burning down a building to get rid of ants.
Washington understood that the key to winning the war was to hold the army together, win just enough to bring other players in on our side (France in particular), and avoid getting destroyed in one big battle. And he managed to hold a starving army together for 8 years. No one else could have done that. He was never a great general in battle. He was constantly outmaneuvered by British generals. But Washington was a great general in every other way. Logistics, setting up spy networks, choosing subordinates, dealing with congress, and leading his men through incredible hardships.
The amazing thing was that he was never hit by a bullet. In the French and Indian War, he walked around in the middle of a battle, men being killed all around him, French soldiers shooting at him, and he never got hit. The Indians thought he was under some sort of divine protection. And during the revolution, in one battle against the British, to rally his men, he rode out between the two armies, sword raised, both sides let loose a volley, and when the smoke cleared, he was still sitting on his horse with his sword in his hand. His clothes got all nicked up with bullet holes, but he never got hit by a bullet.
Sorry to rattle on and on about George Washington. Obviously, my admiration for the man is deep.
Quote:The way our constitution is writen, the POTUS is a civilian. The Idea is for Civilian control of the military
What? - what part of the Constitution designates the office of president as civilian?
Quote:When Eisenhower was elected, he gave up his active military status.
After his second term, he was active military again.
So I think the answer is no.
Ike had been out of the military before he ran for President. He had civilian positions before running for the Republican nomination in 1952.
Quote:You should read the biography of Washington by Ron Chernow. Washington is in my opinion the greatest American ever. What he went through and what he accomplished was incredible. The United States would not exist if he had not been around to make it happen.
Also - read Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton. Very enlightening. I've long been on a small-time mission to convince people of Hamilton's greatness as opposed to his political adversary Thomas Jefferson.
Jefferson had much better public relations.
Quote:Also - read Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton. Very enlightening. I've long been on a small-time mission to convince people of Hamilton's greatness as opposed to his political adversary Thomas Jefferson.
Jefferson had much better public relations.
Not a big fan of Hamilton he was pretty much the champion for large centralized government.
Quote:Not a big fan of Hamilton he was pretty much the champion for large centralized government.
But Hamilton never could have dreamed the size of our Government now. He was even quoted once as saying: "A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing."
If only he could see our Country today...