Lautenberg’s Death Continues Sharp Decrease in Military Veterans in Senate

[Tx4obama]

Lautenberg’s Death Continues Sharp Decrease in Military Veterans in Senate

The death Monday of Frank R. Lautenberg, the five-term Democratic senator from New Jersey, brought the number of World War II veterans in the Senate to zero, the first time the Senate has been without a World War II veteran since the war itself.

Mr. Lautenberg’s death also continues the decline in the Senate of military veterans generally. The number of senators who had served in the military has been dropping since the late 1970s. In the 95th Congress, which convened in 1977, 81 of the 100 senators were veterans. That was a record high at least since 1945, which is as far back as the Senate Historical Office data goes.

In contrast, only 16 current senators have served in the armed forces.

-snip- (Chart)

When Mr. Lautenberg was first elected to the Senate in 1982, he entered a body that was still dominated by members with military experience. The Senate of the 98th Congress — which first convened in 1983 — had 76 veterans. But fairly quickly that number began to erode. Within 10 years it was down to 59. And as more veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam grew older and retired, the number of senators with military experience fell more and more rapidly.

There has been an especially large drop in veterans in the Senate, from 25 to 16, just since the 112th Congress ended in December 2012. And the decline in military experience among federal elected officials has also been apparent at the presidential level. In 2012, there was not a military veteran on either party’s ticket for the first time since 1932.

-snip-

Full article and Chart here: http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/with-lautenbergs-death-senate-lacks-a-world-war-ii-veteran/

[alarimer]

1. Well WWII veterans are pretty damn old at this point.

It was 70 years ago.

[Tx4obama]

2. The Republicans have been organizing to put GOP veterans in Congress

Here: (Republicans) http://www.iraqvetsforcongress.com/

and here: (Republicans) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Veterans_for_Congress

I think I saw another Republican group several months ago, can't remember the name.


I don't think I've seen a group for our side yet, but we got TWO (female) dem veterans elected in 2012: Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
The Republicans got SEVEN (all male).

-snip-
Duckworth is one of two freshmen Democrats who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. The other is Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who served near Baghdad for a year and was a medical operations specialist.

-snip-

Seven Republicans served in Iraq or Afghanistan. ... -snip-

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57553836/9-more-iraq-afghan-war-veterans-joining-congress/