Are there any relevent WWII veterans left in politics?

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

WWII vets controlled everything from the 50's to the 90's. Now, almost 70 years after the war ended, there aren't  a lot of them around, much less in politics.

Are there any WWII veterans that are still relevant in politics today?

[Brittain33]

WWII vets controlled everything from the 50's to the 90's. Now, almost 70 years after the war ended, there aren't  a lot of them around, much less in politics.

Are there any WWII veterans that are still relevant in politics today?

Inouye, Lautenberg, and Ralph Hall are WWII veterans. John Dingell joined up in 1944. Akaka is a veteran but probably fails the relevance test.

[CLARENCE 2015!]

A very good question- to be honest we VN veterans never got our time... sure our contemporaries did, but the draft dodgers and National Guardsmen did a bit better in politics then those of us who were over there

[Oakvale]

A very good question- to be honest we VN veterans never got our time... sure our contemporaries did, but the draft dodgers and National Guardsmen did a bit better in politics then those of us who were over there

That's very true. It's strange that the most succesful Vietnam-era Presidential candidates have been draft-dodgers - Clinton, Bush II, Romney... while those who actually served in Vietnam like Kerry and Gore have been less succesful.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Does Dingell count as a veteran? From reading it seems he was in the army and was planned on going in the invasion of Japan but that was of course halted by the atomic bombings.

Inouye though as the PPT definitely counts as relevant and was definitely in combat.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

A very good question- to be honest we VN veterans never got our time... sure our contemporaries did, but the draft dodgers and National Guardsmen did a bit better in politics then those of us who were over there

That's very true. It's strange that the most succesful Vietnam-era Presidential candidates have been draft-dodgers - Clinton, Bush II, Romney... while those who actually served in Vietnam like Kerry and Gore have been less succesful.

Well, there's McCain.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Well yes. So the losing candidate in the last three elections* has been a Vietnam era combat veteran, which just proves how much voters care about this stuff (that being: not at all)

*Well not really in Gore's case.

[Stranger in a strange land]

Well yes. So the losing candidate in the last three elections* has been a Vietnam era combat veteran, which just proves how much voters care about this stuff (that being: not at all)

*Well not really in Gore's case.

Fun fact: the losing candidate in each of the last five elections has been a combat veteran* (Bush Sr. and Bob Dole both saw combat in World War II). The last president to have actually seen combat was Bush Sr. The last one before him was JFK.

*asterisk applies to Al Gore.

[CLARENCE 2015!]

Al Gore was not a combat veteran... he was an Army journalist- he still chose to serve and was deployed to Vietnam when his father could hav egotten him out of either so he has my respect...but he is not a combat veteran

[minionofmidas]

A very good question- to be honest we VN veterans never got our time... sure our contemporaries did, but the draft dodgers and National Guardsmen did a bit better in politics then those of us who were over there

There's a class angle to that, of course.

[opebo]

Al Gore was not a combat veteran... he was an Army journalist- he still chose to serve and was deployed to Vietnam when his father could hav egotten him out of either so he has my respect...but he is not a combat veteran

But I think the asterisk referred to the fact that he actually won the election, clarence.

[Bacon King]

Al Gore was not a combat veteran... he was an Army journalist- he still chose to serve and was deployed to Vietnam when his father could hav egotten him out of either so he has my respect...but he is not a combat veteran

Just curious, but how do you define "combat veteran"? Sure, he was a journalist in an engineering brigade, but while he never shot at hostiles he still carried a rifle in a combat zone, and often went out into the field; he didn't just stay in his office writing newspaper articles.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The last British MP to be a veteran of the War died in 2007 (Piara Khabra, a man who also boasted the unusual distinction of being both a former Communist and a former member of the SDP).

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Inouye is definitely relevant.  I dunno how relevant Lautenberg and Hall are, though.

[Bacon King]

Inouye is definitely relevant.  I dunno how relevant Lautenberg and Hall are, though.

Doesn't Hall have a chairmanship?

[freepcrusher]

this is sort of off topic. But someone told me that the reason why most military personnel tend to lean more republican in the past is because in the old days (WWII, Korea) there was a draft so you had people from all backgrounds. Without the draft, a lot of people in the military are disproportionately from rural backgrounds.

[dead0man]

Did you forget your own thread?  (you did seem to go quiet after facts were placed on the table)  Yes, they are slightly more rural than the nation at large, but certainly not "disproportionately" so.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Relevant WWII veterans in other countries?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Relevant WWII veterans in other countries?

Most countries tend not to have 'relevant' politicians over the age of 80.

[minionofmidas]

Exactly.

[Brittain33]

Relevant WWII veterans in other countries?

Most countries tend not to have 'relevant' politicians over the age of 80.

Given that perspective, Italy (or possibly pre-Monti Italy) may qualify, it's generally known for having older leaders.

The President of Italy was of military age but fought against Mussolini, not in the army, per Wikipedia.

[Gustaf]

Relevant WWII veterans in other countries?

Most countries tend not to have 'relevant' politicians over the age of 80.

Given that perspective, Italy (or possibly pre-Monti Italy) may qualify, it's generally known for having older leaders.

The President of Italy was of military age but fought against Mussolini, not in the army, per Wikipedia.

IIRC, a few years back there was a minister in the Berlusconi government who had been a member of a fairly shady type of unit on the fascist side in WWII.