WI: President wears military uniform

CalBear

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THAT WAS ANDREW JACKSON, THE 7TH PRESIDENT. NOT THOMAS JEFFERSON, WHO WAS THE 3RD PRESIDENT. HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW THIS?!?!?!?
How?

Just as a guess?

As his name implies he's from New South Wales, not New Hampshire.

Calm down and think before exploding
 

CalBear

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Nah, that was Jackson (who would have totally been on board with the whole military uniform thing).



He's not from the United States, you dick. Who was the 3rd Prime Minister of Australia?

I know you understand the report feature.

Use it next time
 
My 'vote' such as it is, aside from thoe already brought up, is perhaps if we get an even worse (if thats possible :eek::p) Great Depression coupled with a rise of some kind of junta-type system that places the military leader as President, but even Ill admit thats a pretty wacky idea :eek:
 
By "not taken seriously", he probably means that we don't think of the President as being part of the military. He's an elected civilian who tells the military what to do.

But the second President, Adams, never formally held a military rank. And he was a Puritan, so that kind of over-the-top display wouldn't appeal to him. And Jefferson isn't really the type to do that either.
To be fair, theirs was an era where formalized officers education was still a few ways off, officers were expected to either be elected via popularity or to place a down payment on their commission, and were supposed to grind for experience and loot by raiding Indian villages. Not for nothing the Spanish, French and Prussians made a big deal about how the colonial army didn't even know how to poop correctly. For a civilian, not having any military rank or experience wasn't exactly an impediment for a military career. Even if Adams himself had different thoughts about the military personally.

As for the OP, perhaps it could become a tradition early on for the president to appear in uniform while reviewing the presidential honor guard unit on the parade ground. After a while, the tradition sticks of wearing your dress breeches during parade review, and some presidents also find the uniform fashionable enough to wear to other events.
 
I have an image of a President, Colonel or Major, who was NOT enthusiastic about extra involvement abroad, wearing his uniform whilst making a speech at Arlington honouring a D-Day veteran who had been dishonourably discharged for being gay 3 generations earlier
 
Yeah, uniformed Mr President is only feasible if the USA is run by a classic junta. With any PoD post, say, 1700 that's unlikely at best, for... a number of reasons.
 
And Her Majesty sometimes wears uniform...

She is a figurehead though even if she wasn't the Monarchy is a self-contained thing that is officially neutral much like the military itself. The POTUS is both partisan as head of state and is head of government.

Keeping politicians in a distant position as 'managers' of the military rather than commanders is healthy and sensible. Getting tanks involved in elections doesn't tend to lend itself well.
 
The US has had a long time, ingrained fear of a standing army. I think for a President to regularly wear military uniform before the Civil War would be pretty close to ASB and unlikely until after something like WWII.

Could we have a President putting on a uniform for reviewin the troops, or something? Veterans Day celebrations? Ya. That's possible. Delivering the State of the Union? Only if the US is a repressive authoritarian society. (Like if McCarthyism/John Birchers took power.)
 
To be fair, theirs was an era where formalized officers education was still a few ways off, officers were expected to either be elected via popularity or to place a down payment on their commission...

The U.S. never had purchase of commissions. Company and sometimes regimental officers were elected; some regimental and all higher officers were appointed.
 
The U.S. never had purchase of commissions. Company and sometimes regimental officers were elected; some regimental and all higher officers were appointed.
Many would be officers and warheroes got their start financing their own volunteer regiments however.
 
I don't know if the US has the notion of separation of power. But in many democracy it would be inthinkable to have the head of government wearing a military uniform even if they had a military career.
 

GarethC

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And Her Majesty sometimes wears uniform...

Because she's the colonel-in-chief of many many regiments, not because she's the head of the armed forces as a whole. So the uniform she wears e.g for Trooping the Colour is specifically that of the Grenadier Guards, as the oldest regiment, IIRC.
 
Because she's the colonel-in-chief of many many regiments, not because she's the head of the armed forces as a whole. So the uniform she wears e.g for Trooping the Colour is specifically that of the Grenadier Guards, as the oldest regiment, IIRC.

It's a custom among world's royals which excludes the emperor of Japan, but that's because of its post-WWII demilitarization.
 
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