# Closest sitting President has been to combat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-sitting-president-has-been-to-combat/756461 "2016-06-04T02:47:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-sitting-president-has-been-to-combat/756461/21 "2016-06-05T14:43:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Late in the morning of 30 April, with the Soviets less than 500 metres (1,600 ft) from the bunker, Hitler had a meeting with General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the Berlin Defence Area, who told him that the garrison would probably run out of ammunition that night and that the fighting in Berlin would inevitably come to an end within the next 24 hours. > **[Death of Adolf Hitler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#Suicide)** > > Adolf Hitler, chancellor and dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, committed suicide via a gunshot to the head on 30 April 1945 in the Führerbunker in Berlin\[a\] after it became clear that Germany would lose the Battle of Berlin, which led to the end of World War II in Europe. Eva Braun, his wife of one day, also committed suicide by cyanide poisoning.\[b\] In accordance with Hitler's prior written and verbal instructions, that afternoon their remains were carried up the stairs and throu... ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-sitting-president-has-been-to-combat/756461/22 "2016-06-05T20:12:19Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > Obama dealing with congress?😛 Let’s keep the political jabs out of GQ, please. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-sitting-president-has-been-to-combat/756461/23 "2016-06-05T20:35:54Z")
More recently, George W Bush made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Thanksgiving Day 2003 just months after Gulf War II started. It was definitely still an active war zone at the time. That was the first of several unannounced trips he made to both Iraq and Afghansitan during active combat. > **[Background: Bush's Surprise Visits To Iraq, Afghanistan](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/background-bushs-surprise-visits-to-iraq-afghanistan/)** > > Mark Knoller Reports That Former President Made Four Trips To Iraq, Two To Afghanistan During His Presidency ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-sitting-president-has-been-to-combat/756461/24 "2016-06-05T21:16:19Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > More recently, George W Bush made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Thanksgiving Day 2003 just months after Gulf War II started. It was definitely still an active war zone at the time. That was the first of several unannounced trips he made to both Iraq and Afghansitan during active combat. > > [Background: Bush's Surprise Visits To Iraq, Afghanistan - CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/background-bushs-surprise-visits-to-iraq-afghanistan/) During his last visit (shoe incident) he didn’t stick to just the airport and Green Zone. His motorcade was in the Red Zone on the Karada Peninsula. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-sitting-president-has-been-to-combat/756461/25 "2016-06-06T00:06:28Z")
If we’re including heads of state present in cities subjected to air raids, it raises the question of whether Emperor Hirohito or Prime Minister Tojo were present in Tokyo when it was bombed in 1942 and 1944-45. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-sitting-president-has-been-to-combat/756461/26 "2016-06-06T10:27:28Z")
Did General Franco participate in combat during the Spanish Civil War? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-sitting-president-has-been-to-combat/756461/27 "2016-06-06T13:57:59Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Did General Franco participate in combat during the Spanish Civil War? I do not know, but King Juan Carlos I famously took command of the Army during an attempted coup d’etat (he ordered the troops to return to their barracks, thus ending the coup and yanking the carpet out from under the officers leading it). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/closest-sitting-president-has-been-to-combat/756461.md?page=1)