"Neither started hostilities because he had issues with his father."

But only political considerations held FDR from overtly starting hostilities. He did everything in his power to get the Axis to attack the US because of the powerful Isolationist movement in the US and more than a little common sympathy for the Nazis. I'll refer you to my post in the "worst president" thread where I posted a link to a copy of memo outlining how to start a war without seeming to.

Want to hear something funny? The day before Pearl Harbor, December 6th, the Chicago Tribune headlined a outraged report that Roosevelt's administration had prepared a plan for invading Europe, D Day style, all they while he was on the election trail and every in stump speach promised he would "not send our boys to war". If the Japanese had found a way not to attack the US despite the increasing US provocations, FDR's political legacy might be very different in deed.

To my knowledge Roosevelt never wore a uniform (that was Churchill and Stalin) but he flew to North Africa to be photographed with the troops for the propaganda and political benefits. He was facing a fourth re-election after all.

Lincoln's election was considered extremely divisive, and not just in the South which seceded over it. Draft riots, war protests, newspapers displaying open Southern sympathies and slashing Lincoln and the war, all that continued up to the point Grant finally got some traction. Then, after years of claiming the war wasn't about slavery, Lincoln freed the slaves! Only it was just the slaves in the states the Union didn't control, the Southern states not yet defeated and not the slave in states that fought with the Union. A totally useless proclamation, a politicaly ploy to prevent Britain from entering the war on the South's side. Nothing more than a distraction at the time, I'm afraid.

Lincoln was never photographed in uniform, but he sure made it to the lines to see the men and be seen by reporters after every victory few and far between they were until 1863. He faced a difficult re-election, too. You really think politicians have changed that much?

Please note I'm not trying to tear down either of these men. I just find the myths that have grown up around them so different from the reality It amazes me how people turn to them and why particularly when people have gone off the deep end in times like these.