It’s commanplace to see the President visit troops, and occasionally even in a theater of service. But what is the closest a sitting President been to actual combat? I know Lincoln was visting a fort around Washington DC in 1864 when the Confederates were firing on it, but what other cases are there? And for that matter have there been other major leaders who were in combat situations while they were in office?
didn’t Madison have to bail out of the White House as Washington was coming under attack by the British? I think they left just minutes before the white house was invaded
FDR met Churchill on a ship in the Atlantic, which was a major theatre of the war at the time (‘Battle of the Atlantic’ vs. Nazi U-boats).
He also met with Churchill another 11 times, and with Stalin, but I think those locations were farther from the actual front lines.
Lincoln was present during the Battle of Fort Stevens in the northwestern part of D.C. in 1864. https://www.nps.gov/cwdw/learn/historyculture/president-lincoln-under-direct-fire-at-fort-stevens.htm
Duh. I should have read the OP more carefully.
Washington actually led troops himself during the Whiskey Rebellion. However, the rebels gave up and fled rather than fight him.
For most of history, that was the rule, rather than the exception. You would think that it would have meant less frequent wars, but it didn’t seem to work that way.
King Albert I of Belgium personally led his troops on the front lines during World War I.
Obama dealing with congress?
But that was before he became President.
George VI and Elizabeth declined to flee London to their home in the countryside (Coventry?) during the blitz.
What other personal acts of leadership did George do during the war? As I’ve understood it, he was a big plus to the morale of the English people during the war.
Dude, that’s what the vice president is for.
He was commander in chief of The Home Guard (AKA “Dad’s Army”). The Imperial War Museum in London has a Sten Gun made especially for him that he carried around in his car in case German paratroopers suddenly decided to drop in.
And his daughters learned to wrench trucks, which was totally cool! Oldest was Over There and brought back a GVI ha’penny. She sent a picture of Dover Castle and I asked she had gone into the tunnels.
“Where they planned the evacuation of Dunkirk? Hell, YEAH!”
I choose to assume her sisters are mine, based on my proximity when they were conceived. This one I have no doubts about.
OP asked for
I’d say the King of Belgium qualifies.
Napoleon III, Wilhelm I of Prussia, and Otto von Bismarck were all at the Battle of Sedan. Napoleon was captured in that battle.
Churchill went to watch the crossing of the Rhine in March, 1945, seen here on the eastern bank with Monty and Brooke. Brooke later wrote “I honestly believe that he would really have liked to be killed on the front at this moment of success… He had often told me that the way to die is to pass out fighting when your blood is up and you feel nothing.”
Osama bin Laden was at the Battle of Jaji during the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. Wikipedia gives “Robert Fisk (2005). The Great War For Civilisation, p. 4.” as their citation.
Was he the president of a division of his family’s construction business?
(Yes, I see your point. It brings up an interesting question of what constitutes a geopolitical leader these days.)