Closest sitting President has been to combat?

[Donnerwetter]

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

[engineer_comp_geek]

Moderator Note

@Eddie The Horrible

Obama dealing with congress?

Let’s keep the political jabs out of GQ, please.

[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

[Loach]

@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

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.

[Raguleader]

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.

[Martini_Enfield]

Did General Franco participate in combat during the Spanish Civil War?

[Raguleader]

@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).