Skill of military service transfers to political leadership

When Johnny comes marching home again, he sometimes runs for Congress. Jeannie, too.

Since George Washington became president, war veterans have played a disproportionate role in American life, culture and politics. A dozen generals have become president, and several times — in 1848, when Lewis Cass ran against Zachary Taylor; in 1852, when Franklin Pierce ran against Winfield Scott; and in 1880, when James Garfield ran against Winfield Scott Hancock — two generals opposed each other for the presidency.

Every president from 1933 to 1991, with the exception of Jimmy Carter, who graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946, was involved in World War II. For a long period, a majority of senators were World War II veterans. Korean War veterans such as Charles Rangel of New York and Warren B. Rudman of New Hampshire, along with Vietnam War veterans such as Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and John McCain of Arizona, have played major roles on and off Capitol Hill.

Now, with World War II, Korea and Vietnam retreating into the past, a new era of political veterans is dawning, and a group of activists is mobilizing to recruit Iraq and Afghan veterans, along with veterans of national-service programs like the Peace Corps, to run for office at a time when trust in government is at alarming lows.

“The lack of leadership is not about the lack of leaders,” said Emily Cherniack, founder and executive director of New Politics. “We have leaders. They’re just not running for office, because they’re not part of the political ecosystem.”

One of them who did run is Rep. Seth Moulton, who represents the northeastern colonial corner of Massachusetts in the House with an unusually attractive profile: four tours in Iraq as a Marine Corps infantry officer (including two as a special assistant to Gen. David Petraeus), followed by civilian tours at the Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School of Government.

“I think about three of the roles the Marines talk about — honor, courage, commitment — and I know that we need all three in politics, especially the element about making a commitment to your country over your own interests or your party’s interests,” said Moulton, a Democrat elected in 2014.

This is not the first time a generation of veterans, matured by military service and willing to fight domestically for the values they fought for globally, set their sights on political office. Two Navy second lieutenants, Richard M. Nixon of California and John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, ran for the House in 1946, the first elections after World War II. They dominated American political life for decades and collided in the 1960 presidential election.

Two other World War II veterans would be tied forever as public servants and as political rivals. Robert J. Dole, of Kansas, and George H.W. Bush, of Connecticut, would serve consecutive terms as chairs of the Republican National Committee during difficult days in the Watergate era. They followed each other as Republican vice-presidential nominees. They competed against each other twice, in 1980 and 1988, for the GOP presidential nomination. They served as consecutive Republican presidential nominees. And then, in their 90s, they reached a gentle rapprochement and today serve as symbols of the selflessness of service.

“Military service gives people a firsthand understanding about what it’s like to be asked to take on serious responsibility,” said James E. Wright, a former Marine who served as president of Dartmouth College and is the author of a history of the American veteran. “All of them today are volunteers, and they all have demonstrated their determination to make a difference.”