The thing that stands out from the list of old-time veteran presidents is how many were generals--and big name ones at that: Washington, Jackson, Taylor, Grant, and Roosevelt. Recent veteran candidates simply don't match that military fame and success. Colin Powell, had he run, is the only recent example I can think of who really matches names like Eisenhower.

Also, Truman and Kennedy are exceptions that prove the rule because they owed their political rise to, respectively, machine politics and nepotism more than their military record--and both barely won elections. Truman, in particular, did not seem to benefit from his military background when challenging MacArthur over Korea.