one was governor of New York before the race and the other was governor of New York after the race.

One rumor was that after one flying mission that was near the Japanese and unnecessarily risky, he was ordered by FDR to not repeat that action.

He was not a pilot, but his role was to observe and report back. His role got him involved with the big-money people within military-industrial complex. When he was running a VP candidate and Eisenhower was warning about the ever increasing military-industrial complex, Ike may have been thinking specifically about him.

There was a long discussion about this in the old Kerry forum and that was years ago so I could be wrong. I should have qualified my remark by saying I was relying on memory.

It was printed in Esquire, I believe.

It showed LBJ's a little of LBJ's rough-and-tumble personality.

First, it must be known that JFK and LBJ each had their own helicopters and their own pilots.

After JFK was assignated and LBJ was the president, he was walking out of habit to his old helicopter.

The pilot for the Marine One helicopter was apparently trying to be helpful and said: "Sir. Your plane is over here."

Without missing a beat, LBJ reportedly responded: "Son, they're all my planes."

Thanks for the thread, cthulu.

1932 FDR and Hoover for sure.

There was, as you say, a different view of military service. FDR and Hoover both made significant contributions in World War I as bureaucrats.

They were of the leadership class.

Obama's actually too young for that to be an issue. So we'll reach the point where the candidates are no longer subject to questions about what they did as regards Viet Nam and the draft.

Then in time there will be candidates who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and it'll all come up again - though I guess not the draft, but those candidates will be able to claim they voluntarily put themselves on the line for their country.

IIRC he had a legit medical issue that kept him out of the draft, but I could be wrong.

kinda like the rest of his career.

They say Reagan's instructional films for the military were the best tactical use of him to fight the Axis.

But if so, why the hell were Jimmy Stewart and Ted Williams (much bigger stars) flying combat missions?

I had to look up Mondale, he served in the Army (Korean War).

It was a known fact, but to refresh your memory, read the following link.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkennedyJ.htm

The people listed are the ones in each election that were in the military. In many of them both candidates had been.

We could have had John Kerry, an award winner and a "winter solider", but no, Doonesbury said he looked like Herman Munster, and Howard Dean wanted the podium, where he yeehawed us into a second term for Bush.

I take a candidate much more seriously when he talks about defense and security, and a host of other issues, when they have that military experience.

I'm not the only one...