I never ceased to enjoy reviewing our men and women in uniform and hope I started a new tradition for presidents. As commander in chief, I discovered it was customary for our uniformed men and women to salute whenever they saw me. When I'd walk down the steps of a helicopter, for example, there was always a marine waiting there to salute me. I was told presidents weren't supposed to return salutes, so I didn't, but this made me feel a little uncomfortable. Normally, a person offering a salute waits until it is returned, then brings down his hand. Sometimes, I realized, the soldier, sailor, marine, or airman giving me a salute wasn't sure when he was supposed to lower his hand. Initially, I nodded and smiled and said hello and thought maybe that would bring down the hand, but usually it didn't. Finally, one night when Nancy and I were attending a concert at the Marine Corps headquarters, I told the commandant of marines, "I know it's customary for the president to receive these salutes, but I was once an officer and realize that you're not supposed to salute when you're in civilian clothes. I think there ought to be a regulation that the president could return a salute inasmuch as he is commander in chief and civilian clothes are his uniform." "Well, if you did return a salute," the general said, "I don't think anyone would say anything to you about it."


The next time I got a salute, I saluted back. A big grin came over the marine's face and down came his hand. From then on, I always returned salutes. When George Bush followed me into the White House, I encouraged him to keep up the tradition.

Courtesy of Simon and Schuster

When military personnel salute the president, they are saluting the office of Commander in Chief not the particular man himself. He can wave, shake hands, say " Thanks soldier ", or whatever else he wants. But, for the president to return salutes is a breech of protocol.

The president is a civilian and not a member of the military. If the president is going to be a part of the military, then he needs to be issued a uniform befitting his rank. Do we want the president to wear a uniform ? Like a third world dictator ?

It's unseemly and actually quite rude.

Military personnel give each other salutes as a formalized greeting. It signifies the honor and privilege of being in the military.

Good to see Americans with their priorities in order.

Should the President render salutes to military personnel ?

The glorification of the president as a war leader is registered in numerous and substantial executive aggrandizements; but it is symbolized in other ways that, while small in themselves, dispose the citizenry to accept those aggrandizements. We are reminded, for instance, of the expanded commander in chief status every time a modern president gets off the White House helicopter and returns the salute of marines.

That is an innovation that was begun by Ronald Reagan. Dwight Eisenhower, a real general, knew that the salute is for the uniform, and as president he was not wearing one. An exchange of salutes was out of order. (George Bush came as close as he could to wearing a uniform while president when he landed on the telegenic aircraft carrier in an Air Force flight jacket).

We used to take pride in civilian leadership of the military under the Constitution, a principle that George Washington embraced when he avoided military symbols at Mount Vernon. We are not led — or were not in the past — by caudillos.

Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s prescient last book, “Secrecy,” traced the ever-faster-growing secrecy of our government and said that it strikes at the very essence of democracy — accountability of representatives to the people. How can the people hold their representatives to account if they are denied knowledge of what they are doing? Wartime and war analogies are embraced because these justify the secrecy. The representative is accountable to citizens. Soldiers are accountable to their officer. The dynamics are different, and to blend them is to undermine the basic principles of our Constitution.


Garry Wills, a professor emeritus of history at Northwestern, is the author, most recently, of “What Paul Meant.”

At public events , the president should show respect like any other civilian by placing a hand over his heart.

The proper way for civilians to display respect to the flag or the military is to place a hand over the heart.

Reagan was the first President who hadn't actually served (he was an anti-War demonstrator during WW1) since....I'm counting back, but I think either Hoover or Coolidge. So, partly out of ignorance, and partly to mask that, he started the practice.

After completing fourteen home-study Army Extension Courses, Reagan enlisted in the Army Enlisted Reserve[26] on April 29, 1937, as a private assigned to Troop B, 322nd Cavalry at Des Moines, Iowa.[27] He was appointed Second Lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps of the Cavalry on May 25, 1937, and on June 18 was assigned to the 323rd Cavalry.[28] His service number was 0 357 403.

Reagan was ordered to active duty for the first time on April 18, 1942. Due to his nearsightedness, he was classified for limited service only, which excluded him from serving overseas.[29] His first assignment was at the San Francisco Port of Embarkation at Fort Mason, California, as a liaison officer of the Port and Transportation Office.[30] Upon the approval of the Army Air Force (AAF), he applied for a transfer from the Cavalry to the AAF on May 15, 1942, and was assigned to AAF Public Relations and subsequently to the 1st Motion Picture Unit (officially, the "18th AAF Base Unit") in Culver City, California.[30] On January 14, 1943 he was promoted to First Lieutenant and was sent to the Provisional Task Force Show Unit of This Is The Army at Burbank, California.[30] He returned to the 1st Motion Picture Unit after completing this duty and was promoted to Captain on July 22, 1943.[27]

In January 1944, Captain Reagan was ordered to temporary duty in New York City to participate in the opening of the sixth War Loan Drive. He was re-assigned to the 18th AAF Base Unit on November 14, 1944, where he remained until the end of World War II.[27] He was recommended for promotion to Major on February 2, 1945, but this recommendation was disapproved on July 17 of that year.[31] He returned to Fort MacArthur, California, where he was separated from active duty on December 9, 1945.[31] By the end of the war, his units had produced some 400 training films for the AAF.[27]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan#Military_service

Reagan was the first President who hadn't actually served (he was an anti-War demonstrator during WW1) since...

If you'd actually read the sentence - he was the first that hadn't served since Hoover or Coolidge (I think Hoover). And yes, or no depending - Reagan never served in the military. He was of age during WW1, but demonstrated instead...

Reagan was the first President who hadn't actually served (he was an anti-War demonstrator during WW1) since....I'm counting back, but I think either Hoover or Coolidge. So, partly out of ignorance, and partly to mask that, he started the practice.

If you'd actually read the sentence - he was the first that hadn't served since Hoover or Coolidge (I think Hoover). And yes, or no depending - Reagan never served in the military. He was of age during WW1, but demonstrated instead.

Presidents have long been saluted, but they began returning salutes relatively recently. Ronald Reagan was thought to be the first. He had sought advice on the matter from Gen. Robert Barrow, commandant of the Marine Corps. According to John Kline, then Reagan's military aide and today a member of Congress from Minnesota, Barrow told the president that as commander in chief he could salute anybody he wished.http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/68754022.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsZ