Why wasn't Tom Hagen considered to be a "wartime" consigliere?

Michael would have been in the same boat with him had he not gone to war and distinguished himself in combat.

I always thought that the implication was that Hagen was an excellent peacetime consigliere because he always looked for the least risky way to expand the family business, and as a lawyer was also mostly focused on making things as legit (or at least as legit-seeming) as possible. Vito knew, though, that during a war risk and illegitimacy were necessary if one was to survive, and ruthlessness was the name of the game. Sonny didn't have Tom's smarts but he was much, much more ruthless.

as above Michael and the Don were protecting Hagen from the murderous shite that was about to go down

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Why bring Tom Hagen to arbitration when you can bring Luca Brasi?

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Well Luca was long gone by then, but at that point Vito was still alive and "semi retired" and was brilliant when it came to understanding the streets so he was obviously the better choice for being the counselor for the big retaliation, even if it couldn't happen until after he died, he could still help plan it.

Tom Hagen would have been a tremendous mafia asset in the 70s and 80s, but his skill set was not nearly as valuable in the 40s and 50s when there was still a big connection to street thuggery throughout the families.

His assets were his white collar connections and corporate mindset. That's why not having him in Godfather 3 as a foil to Michael in a more modern age was so devastating to the film.

All Duval wanted was fare value for the part he knew would be essential in they movie and Coppola tried to low-ball him and he walked. Instead, we got expanded Sophia Coppola, George Hampilton and generic mob guy badguy Joe Montegna.

To say it was a drop-off in story and casting is an understatement.

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Tom Hagen would have been a tremendous mafia asset in the 70s and 80s, but his skill set was not nearly as valuable in the 40s and 50s when there was still a big connection to street thuggery throughout the families.

His assets were his white collar connections and corporate mindset. That's why not having him in Godfather 3 as a foil to Michael in a more modern age was so devastating to the film.

All Duval wanted was fare value for the part he knew would be essential in they movie and Coppola tried to low-ball him and he walked. Instead, we got expanded Sophia Coppola, George Hampilton and generic mob guy badguy Joe Montegna.

To say it was a drop-off in story and casting is an understatement.

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I completely agree, in the second and third Godfather books (I know not exactly Mario Puzo originals and came out much later) Tom is utilized for that, and I think he may even be a senator in Nevada and ends up whacking a Chicago boss.

But to your point, I agree supposedly the commission was set up to keep the peace and so they could work with whoever was good for business but I don't think that ideal of working with a lot of non Italian and non jewish people really took hold until the 60s on (as in in the 50s they were probably still stuck in the old world ways as most of the bosses were actually born in Italy at that point, and they definitely didn't think highly of Irish people).

ETA: I'd even argue that the entire story would not be what it was without Tom Hagen and it would have been just another decent mob movie. Them taking Tom in and letting him be a consigliere (who wasn't made) was such a taboo thing that it was perfect for a movie and in places like NYC (and other mobbed up areas) at the time you know a lot of the viewers were drawn in by that dynamic. Its also a redeeming quality for Vito and Sonny, and I guess Michael to a degree but Michael was cold to everyone when he came back from the war.