John McCain has impeccable credentials as a military hero.  Is that enough to make him a good Commander in Chief?  History is not a good predictor one way or the other.  Twelve U. S. Presidents have achieved the rank of Brigadier General or above.  

They include George Washington—ranked in the top three of most lists of “greatest presidents” [along with Abraham Lincoln, (Captain), and Franklin D. Roosevelt who did not serve]—and Dwight Eisenhower, Ulysses Grant and Andrew Jackson among the standouts.

Among the worst presidents were Warren G. Harding, (no military service), Franklin Pierce, (Brigadier General), William Henry Harrison, (Major General) James Garfield (Brigadier General) and the worst president was James Buchanan (a private).  Buchanan was the only president to have served only as an enlisted man—Lincoln served as a private but was also a Captain.  In fairness to Garfield, he was assassinated after six months in office and we don’t really know how good he might have been in the role of president.

Among presidents who were mid-level military officers before becoming president are James Monroe, Lyndon B. Johnson, William McKinley, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford.  Military rank, then, has little correlation with how successful a candidate will be as President of the United States and as Commander in Chief.  Character, on the other hand, does matter. 

John McCain’s “maverick” status would seem to be a much better predictor of how he will behave as president.  The author once worked with a forensic psychiatrist whom he came to know and respected.  The doctor was often called upon to testify in court about a defendant’s propensity for violence (or some other trait relevant to his sentencing) or about the need to involuntarily commit someone to a mental hospital.  His expression, “the best predictor of behavior is to look at past behavior,” became a cliché for most of the people who worked with him on a regular basis; but it was no less true for becoming a cliché. 

So what does that have to do with McCain’s military service? In An Essay on Criticism, Alexander Pope wrote “A little learning is a dangerous think; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again.”  

Will McCain’s mid-level military rank, coupled with his demonstrated arrogance and strong-minded personality, make him less likely to rely on the expertise of his top military commanders or would he be more likely to go with his shoot-from-the-hip snap judgments based on what he thinks is best, relying on his own personal experience?  As a lackluster student at the Naval Academy McCain earned membership in the "Century club" for earning at least 100 demerits per year for infractions of rules.  Of superior ranks wielding power over him McCain once said "it was bull---- and I resented the hell out of it."

At the time he was shot down over North Vietnam, John McCain was a Lt. Commander, one pay grade lower than President Lyndon Johnson had held when he was in the Navy.  Johnson was the worst micro-manager of a war in the nation's history and drove his Generals nuts! 

McCain’s record is what it is.  Vote for him if you want to, or don’t vote for him if you don’t want to, but don’t be misguided by his “war hero” status.  It may be the least relevant thing we know about McCain when we decide what kind of president he might be.

The author is a disabled American veteran who has served in three branches of military service.  He was a Navy Corpsman assigned to the Fleet Marine Force while on active duty; he completed his reserve obligation in the Army National Guard.  He achieved the rank of SFC (E-7).