Commentary It is now Memorial Day, and I want to focus on the historic role of the commander-in-chief. Ten generals have been president of the United States, all of whom served in combat: Washington, Jackson, William H. Harrison, Taylor, Pierce, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, and Eisenhower. In addition, Theodore Roosevelt was a much decorated combat colonel and William McKinley a decorated Civil War captain. Harry Truman was an artillery captain on the Western front in World War I. John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford were all decorated junior officers in the United States Navy in World War II (and they entered the House of Representatives together in 1946). President Carter was a Navy submariner between wars. George H.W. Bush won the Distinguished Flying Cross when he was 20, as a combat pilot in the Pacific. A number of Prominent military officers ran unsuccessfully for president, including General …