Why Veterans Run

Military Service in American Presidential Elections, 1789-2016

By: Jeremy M. Teigen

Narrated by: David A. Wood

The assumptions that military service helps candidates attract votes - while lacking it harms a candidate’s chances - has been an article of faith since the electoral coronation of George Washington in 1789. Perhaps the most compelling fact driving the perception that military service helps win votes is the large number of veterans who have held public office. Some candidates even exaggerate their military service to persuade voters. However, sufficient counter-examples undermine the idea that military veterans enjoy an advantage when seeking political office.

In Why Veterans Run, Jeremy Teigen explains the tendency of parties to elevate those with armed forces experience to run for high office. He describes the veteran candidate phenomenon by examining the related factors and patterns, showing why different eras have more former generals running and why the number of veterans in election cycles varies. With both quantitative and qualitative analysis, Why Veterans Run investigates each postwar era in US electoral history and elaborates why so many veterans run for office. Teigen also reveals how election outcomes with veteran candidates illuminate the relationship between the military and civilian spheres as well as the preferences of the American electorate.

The book is published by Temple University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2018 Temple University - Of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education (P)2018 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"An empirically rich and theoretically grounded contribution...an important study of a question as old as the Federalist Papers and as fresh as the next election." (Peter Feaver, author of Armed Servants: Agency, Oversight, and Civil-Military Relations)

"A timely survey of veterans running for political office in America, starting with the first vet, George Washington." (Karl Rove)