Hail to the Chiefs

There was a time -- starting the moment George Washington left office -- that being a military heavyweight wasn't seen as one of the big qualifications for being president. The Civil War (six) and World War II (six) produced the highest number of president veterans--most who served as generals. If there's a pattern here -- military service or expertise turning into excellence as commander-in-chief in wartime or in peacetime -- it escapes me.

George Washington: Trenton was one of his greatest hits.
John Adams: Learned to be commander in chief on the job.
Thomas Jefferson: Learned on the job.
James Madison: Learned on the job--fought actual war.
James Monroe: Learned on the job.
John Quincy Adams: Learned on the job.
Andrew Jackson: Knew his way around a battlefield. (References.)
Martin Van Buren: Learned on the job.
William Henry Harrison: Did someone say 'Tippecanoe'?
John Tyler: Learned on the job.
James K. Polk: Learned on the job. Enthusiastically.
Zachary Taylor: Soldier.
Millard Fillmore: Learned nothing on the job.
Franklin Pierce: Mexican War combat veteran.
James Buchanan: Learned on the job.
Abraham Lincoln: Learned on the job (served in Illinois militia during Blackhawk's War).
Andrew Johnson: Learned on the job.
U.S. Grant: The Civil War brought out the best in him and the blood out of everyone else.
Rutherford B. Hayes: Civil War combat veteran.
James A. Garfield: Civil War combat veteran
Chester A. Arthur: Civil War quartermaster.
Grover Cleveland: Avoided Civil War draft by paying a substitute. Learned on the job. Twice.
Benjamin Harrison: Civil War combat veteran.
William McKinley: Civil War combat veteran.
Theodore Roosevelt: Noted equestrian with enthusiasm for Cuba.
William Howard Taft: Learned on the job.
Woodrow Wilson: Learned on the job.
Warren Harding: Learned on the job.
Calvin Coolidge: Learned on the job.
Franklin D. Roosevelt: Former assistant secretary of the Navy.
Harry S Truman: World War I combat veteran.
Dwight D. Eisenhower: Ike. Mentioned something about a "military-industrial complex."
John F. Kennedy: PT-109.
Lyndon B. Johnson: World War II combat veteran (Army).
Richard M. Nixon: World War II, Navy; played mean game of poker.
Gerald Ford: World War II combat veteran (Navy).
Jimmy Carter: Navy nucular engineer.
Ronald Reagan: Learned on the job (warmed up dispatching National Guard to Berkeley).
G.H.W. Bush: World War II combat veteran (Navy).
Bill Clinton: Otherwise engaged during Vietnam draft. Learned on the job.
G.W. Bush: Air National Guard (1970s); carrier landing (2003).

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