George Washington was Commander-in-Chief long before he was America's first president.

His military service sat a president.

Twelve presidents were U.S. Army generals.

Lawyer is the only calling to appear more consistently on the first CV.

Reverence for the military is woven into the fabric of the Republic, but soldier statesmen have fallen out of fashion.

Dwight Eisenhower, the hero of World War II, is the only general to have held the presidency

since 1900. The shadow of Vietnam still falls heavy on American

politics but no one who served there will ever be president now. With 136 days to go, this is checks and balance.

I'm John Priddo, the Economist's US editor, and this is a podcast about the 2020 elections.

Each week we take one big theme shaping American politics and explore it in depth.

Today. depth. Today, what's the military's place in politics? America is in the midst of its worst civil military crisis for a generation.

President Trump's call to use military force to quell protests caused alarm up and down the chain of

command. Its consensus on the role of the US military and political life unraveling.

In this episode we'll hear about rising disquiet in the ranks.

Cast an eye back to the row between the president and a top general that nearly started

World War III.

And hear how one young Republican veteran in the current Congress

navigates the delicate civil military balance. With me as ever to talk about all of this is Charlotte Howard, the Economist's New York Bureau Chief, and John

Fasman, the Washington correspondent.

Charlotte, how are you doing? How's the past week gone, your end?

My week has gone pretty well so far. I'm gearing up for the economist's live Zoom reading of

Midsummer Night's Dream in which I've been cast as Titania and I see that as a definite

...