Clinton Seen Mending Rift With Military

Two years ago, in the first months of his presidency, whenever Bill Clinton spoke at a military base his aides gritted their teeth and held their breath. The new President was the butt of sailors’ jokes when he visited the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, a target for hecklers at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the object of ill-concealed disrespect among more than a few senior officers in his own Pentagon.

But this weekend, as Clinton presided over three days of military pomp to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, those anxious moments--and the fear that more incidents of military insubordination might follow--seemed like ancient history.

From Pearl Harbor to Wheeler Army Air Field, Clinton reviewed armed forces units, fired off a salute that is getting almost snappy after two years of practice--and was never once heckled.

Officers, including Adm. Richard Macke, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, publicly lauded the President for his support of the armed forces and his tributes to the victors of the war with Japan. Enlisted soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines pressed eagerly against rope lines surrounding the sites where Clinton made public appearances, beaming when he walked over--as he always does--to shake some hands.

“He is the commander in chief,” said a Navy officer who, citing the sensitivity of the issue, asked not to be quoted by name.

That simple affirmation was not easy in coming, though. For two years, Clinton, alarmed by the bitterness he encountered in his first contacts with the military, waged a deliberate campaign to win the respect of its members. The President talked with senior officers, visited military bases, defended military salaries and veterans benefits--and even made a point of memorizing the armed forces’ insignia so he could address officers by their proper ranks.

As a result, while many veterans and current military personnel remain suspicious of this President who never wore a uniform, Clinton appears to have made real headway in neutralizing an issue that once loomed as a political crisis.

“It’s a lot better,” White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said. “And it’s not just a political issue. . . . It’s important because, in terms of military preparedness, he has to be effective as commander in chief. And it’s important to him personally because he has to order these men and women into harm’s way.”

Even many older veterans who were once open in their distaste for Clinton have begun to accept him, however reluctantly, as commander in chief.

“I don’t know who I’m going to vote for; I kind of like the things [House Speaker] Newt Gingrich is saying,” said Henry E. Erwin, 74, of Leeds, Ala., who received the Medal of Honor in 1945 for heroism in the Pacific and who attended the commemorations in Hawaii. “But this man is President of the United States. Regardless of political philosophy, we owe him respect.”

That is a long way from the early days of Clinton’s term in 1993, when the President couldn’t seem to put his foot right when it came to military affairs. Arriving in office under a cloud of suspicion because of his failure to serve during the Vietnam War--and a youthful letter that said the war had driven many Americans to “loathe” the military--Clinton created a new uproar by abruptly announcing a reversal of the armed forces’ ban on gays.

He also raised questions about his own leadership with a debacle in Somalia, where U.S. troops died in a mission that was ill-defined even inside the Administration.

Within weeks of the controversy over gays in the military--from which Clinton quickly retreated, allowing the Pentagon to devise its own policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell”--the President held a series of talks with senior officers, including Gen. Colin L. Powell, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to see how he could reach out to the armed forces.

Clinton told aides he wanted to make more visits to military bases and spend more visible time with troops--even if it might expose him to the occasional heckler. He welcomed troops returning from duty in Somalia and lavished them with praise, embracing the ceremonial aspect of being commander in chief.

He made a point of pledging to improve living conditions for enlisted personnel even as the Pentagon cut money from weapons-procurement programs and closed bases around the country. He also vowed to defend veterans benefits against Republican budget-cutters, even though many experts consider current veterans programs ripe for trimming.

Equally important, Clinton’s foreign policy team overcame some of its initial unsteadiness--and, after its stinging setback in Somalia, took greater note of the military’s advice on such issues as Haiti and Bosnia.

“We hear from a lot of officers on Bosnia, which is not an academic issue for these guys,” McCurry said. “They know that the Clinton policy, however ineffectual it has looked at times, is premised on keeping our troops out of the conflict.”

Several military officers, speaking anonymously, confirmed that assessment.

Of course, Clinton has not won every heart and mind in the military or among nation’s veterans--not by a long shot.

“He is still in deep trouble,” said Bernard Teigarr, 75, of Shell Beach, Calif., a D-day veteran who attended the ceremonies in Hawaii. “He hasn’t convinced me of anything.”

Indeed, Clinton can still stumble on occasion. At a ceremony this weekend, he referred at one point to the Japanese surrender aboard “the aircraft carrier Missouri”--producing an alarmed ripple in the audience, where even Army veterans knew the Missouri as a battleship.

“He’s going to get a lot of warship identification charts in his mail after that,” a Navy officer predicted, with a slight roll of his eyes.