(Information from the Smithsonian, National Museum of American History)
At this point in our history, a total of 31 American Presidents also served in the military. Of those,12 reached the level of General.
| George Washington | General and
Commander in Chief, Continental Army 1775-1783 |
| Thomas Jefferson | Colonel,
Virginia Militia 1770-1779 |
| James Madison | Colonel,
Virginia Militia 1775-1781 |
| James Monroe | Major,
Continental Army 1775-1778 |
| Andrew Jackson | Major
General, U.S. Army 1814-1821 |
| William Henry Harrison | Major
General, Kentucky Militia 1812-1814 |
| John Tyler | Captain,
Virginia Militia 1812 |
| James K. Polk | Colonel,
Tennessee Militia 1821 |
| Zachary Taylor | Major
General, U.S. Army 1805-1815, 1816-1849 |
| Millard Fillmore | Major, Union
Continentals (home guard) 1861 |
| Franklin Pierce | Brigadier
General, New Hampshire Militia 1846-1848 |
| James Buchanan | Private,
Pennsylvania Militia 1814 |
| Abraham Lincoln | Captain,
Illinois Militia 1832 |
| Andrew Johnson | Brigadier
General, U.S. Army (Volunteers) 1862-1865 |
| Ulysses S. Grant | General,
U.S. Army 1866-1869 |
| Rutherford B. Hayes | Major
General, U.S. Army (Volunteers) 1861-1865 |
| James A. Garfield | Major
General, U.S. Army (Volunteers) 1861-1863 |
| Chester A. Arthur | Brigadier
General, New York Militia 1858-1863 |
| Benjamin Harrison | Brevet
Brigadier General, U.S. Army (Volunteers) 1862-1865 |
| William McKinley | Brevet
Major, U.S. Army (Volunteers) 1861-1865 |
| Theodore Roosevelt | Colonel,
U.S. Army (Volunteers) 1898 |
| Harry S. Truman | Colonel,
Army Officer Reserve Corps 1919-1945 |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower | General of
the Army, U.S. Army 1915-1948, 1951-1952 |
| John F. Kennedy | Lieutenant,
U.S. Naval Reserve 1941-1945 |
| Lyndon B. Johnson | Commander,
U.S. Naval Reserve 1940-1964 |
| Richard M. Nixon | Commander,
U.S. Naval Reserve 1942-1966 |
| Gerald R. Ford, Jr | Lieutenant
Commander, U.S. Naval Reserve 1942-1946 |
| Jimmy Carter | Lieutenant,
U.S. Navy 1946-1953 |
| Ronald Reagan | Captain,
U.S. Army 1942-1945 |
| George Bush | Lieutenant
(junior grade), U.S. Navy 1942-1945 |
| George W. Bush | First
Lieutenant, Texas Air National
Guard 1968-1973 |
Aren't majority commanders in chief? Doesn't that mean they held a key role during a conflict or war?
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