Soldiers and Politics
Soldiers and Politics
Exposing a Myth
When discussing the American military tradition, writers usually state that the US military has always been divorced from political affairs. Even cursory research into the subject reveals the opposite; the military has often played a major role in domestic politics, and for most of our history that role was considered normal and healthy. During the nineteenth century it was common practice for US generals to dabble in politics and to actually run for political office while still in uniform. Yet, such events are passed over lightly by historians, and many still write of an American military tradition stressing the noninvolvement of the military in politics throughout our history. That is a misreading of events, but the situation did change in the aftermath of World War II, especially around the time of the Vietnam War.
Keywords: American military tradition, George Washington, U. S. Grant, Winfield Scott, Zachary Taylor, American Civil War, Reconstruction, Korean War, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower, combatant commanders
Kentucky Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .