If anyone could have been vulnerable on grounds of avoiding military service, it was Cleveland. During the Civil War, he was drafted but instead of leaving his law practice, he bought his way out by paying $150 to a substitute, a perfectly legal option under the Conscription Act of 1863. Cleveland's "draft dodging" was not an issue when he was elected the 22d and 24th President. As Allan Nevins wrote, "He was completely lacking in martial spirit."

By far the President with the toughest role as Commander in Chief was Abraham Lincoln. The breakup of the Union meant that the Confederacy's guns at times were within shelling distance of the capital. Lincoln took charge boldly, prodding his generals into action, dismissing one after another who were incapable of commanding the Army of the Potomac. Halfway through the Civil War, Lincoln's own leadership led to his choice of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant to lead the Union forces.

What military experience did Lincoln bring to Commander in Chief? His own last rank was private in the Illinois militia. He enlisted in a company of volunteers to halt a tribe of Indians who were on the warpath in the state, was elected captain and was reprimanded twice (for failing to stop his men from stealing liquor and getting drunk, and for discharging a weapon in camp). Then, after 30 days, he re-enlisted as a private for 20 days in another company and, when his time was up, again enlisted as a private for 30 days as an intelligence scout. In less than three months of military service, for which he earned $125, the only action he saw, as he later said, was against mosquitoes. Lincoln's Antiwar Views

Furthermore, Lincoln's antimilitary views were delivered in the House of Representatives when he was a Congressman strongly opposed to the war against Mexico in 1848. He called military glory "that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood -- that serpent's eye, that charms to destroy."

Future Presidents had notable Civil War records, particularly Grant. In addition, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur and Benjamin Harrison all had once held the rank of brigadier or major general. (Andrew Johnson served as military governor of Tennessee before Lincoln chose him as his running mate in 1864.) The last of the Civil War officers in the White House was William McKinley, who had gone from private to brevet major and then, as President, was Commander in Chief of the "splendid little war" against Spain -- an imperial American war that brought fame and the Presidency to Col. Theodore Roosevelt.