"...American presidents traditionally make a point of avoiding military affectations. Dwight Eisenhower was a victorious general and John Kennedy a genuine war hero, but while in office neither wore anything that resembled military garb... There was a time when patriotic Americans from both parties would have denounced any president who tried to take political advantage of his role as commander in chief."

Here are some of my favorites, among dozens that were sent in. Henry Hanks from Crooow Blog came up with this one of Ulysses S. Grant. According to the dealer selling this print, "This image, issued during Grant's first Presidential term, shows the President (in a military uniform), presumably sitting in the White House surrounded by his family."

Kevin Madden sent this one of Bill Clinton being militarily garbed by the little woman.

And Billy Wilson found this one, depicting the father/daughter military garb dress-alike look that was so fashionable that year.

There were lots of great comments from readers, too.

"One thing that struck me about the photo on your site of Clinton in military garb. Not Clinton himself but the looks of utter indifference on the faces of the crew. Only Clinton is smiling. Contrast that with the pictures of President Bush and the crew of the Lincoln."

Tom Borchelt

"In the photo on your site, note the flag patch on the sleeve of Clinton's jacket; the blue field (the union) is facing to the rear. The flag is meant always to be worn with the union facing forward so that it looks as it would if the flag were blowing in the wind created by a forward movement. When the flag is worn on the right sleeve, the patch used is a reversed flag with the union on the right. With the standard flag, as in that picture, it looks like the wearer is retreating. I'd love to know where Clinton got that jacket. Could it possibly have been deliberate?"

Eve Tauss

"We have many things to remember Mr. Clinton by, but I must tell you this. My son was, and is, a Navy SEAL stationed at Coronado, California. On several occasions Mr. Clinton, while visiting San Diego, recruited SEALs to escort him on a run down the beach at Coronado. He wore a SEAL Team One ballcap during these runs. My son said that the SEAL command had difficulty finding volunteers to escort Mr. Clinton. SEALs are generally very conservative and were not big fans of Mr. Clinton. The photo ops made the newspapers (USA Today, Toledo Blade, et al.). I don't imagine these were political in nature, were they? At least Mr. Bush was a fighter pilot and knew what to do at the controls."

Timothy R. King

"Whether or not Bush should have worn a flight suit for his landing on the Lincoln, I don't see what else he could have worn. The S-3 is an ejection-seat aircraft. To ride in any of the four seats, you need to be in a fitted ejection harness that connects aircrew to the seat and survival gear. The flight suit is nominally required to make all that stuff work together. Besides, before the ban on public relations "goodwill rides," plenty of civilians decked themselves out in full flight gear for rides on Navy jets. Naval Air Station Pensacola's water survival schools have lots of celeb pictures. Barbara Mandrell, Joan Lunden, and Charlie Gibson were featured on the wall of fame when I went through. Dems are just mad that they didn't think of it first.

"My only complaint: he should have arrived in an two-seat F-18. Muuuuuuuuuuch cooler."

Joe Begley

"When I was a cadet at West Point in the late 1970s, President James Earl "Jimmy" Carter went jogging with the US Army troops along the Korean DMZ. I remember a picture in the "newspaper of record," which came to every cadet room, and followed us to our nearby training site at Camp Buckner. Of course, we had no choice of papers, and had the subscription fee deducted from our pay. President Carter may have been wearing an Army physical training shirt (military garb).

"President William Jefferson "Slick Willie" Clinton and much of his posse stayed onboard US Navy vessels during the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994. The Navy reported bathrobes (military garb) and towels missing (military garb accessories).

"FDR used to whistle up Navy vessels just to go fishing. It allowed him to appear vigorous, despite his confinement to a wheelchair. US Presidents taking political advantage of their role as commander-in-chief prior to this President? Never."

Anonymous

"I would like to point out that two democrats, Henry Waxman and Robert Byrd, are suddenly so concerned about the cost of this appearance that they felt compelled to make public statements. No concerns were ever issued when other presidents (including Bill Clinton) spoke from aircraft carriers or battleships. There were even no complaints when it was announced that he would be landing in a Viking instead of a helicopter. For a list of presidential appearances on naval vessels, may I direct you to the excellent DoD site of Naval History.

"I think the entire hysteria from the democrats is because they didn't anticipate the FLIGHT SUIT! Speaking as a woman, that was a fine looking Commander-in-Chief. Even the medical assistant I visited the next day said that he looked pretty good for an old guy. At any rate, having reviewed the articles and comments in the time between
when the speech was announced and AFTER the landing and speech, I am forced to conclude that this entire brouhaha (including Krugman's rant) is a desperate attempt to negate the flight suit, nothing more!"

Christa Cooper

"I note one major difference in the Clinton versus Bush Picture in military garb. Clinton needed his secret service detail close by to protect him from the military. They are nowhere to be seen in the Bush pictures. Tells you something!"

Charlie Miller

"I was watching 'Special Report with Brit Hume' on Fox News last night, where U.S. News and World Report's Michael Barone was a guest, and thought you might be interested in one of his quotes. While discussing the topic of President Bush's flight on to the Abraham Lincoln, he brought up the fact that you can 'find pictures of Bill Clinton in similar garb on the internet by doing a five minute Google search.' I wonder where he got that idea from?"

Sean Boots

Our National Review colleague Rick Brookhiser notes on NRO's The Corner that Presidents Washington and Madison appeared in military garb. And Pejman Yousefzadeh on his blog Pejmanesque has exhumed some devastating relics from down the memory hole showing how other (Democrat) politicians have spent public funds on military settings, garb, and other misadventures.

Posted by Donald L. Luskin at 12:35 PM | link    

Tuesday, May 06, 2003