Davin News Server

On Sun, 01 Dec 2024 17:48:30 +0000,  Lee says...  

> > Sorry you mental midgets in California don't get to dictate the
> > composition of the US military.
> 
> 
>     But five-draft-deferments billionaires do?

Wellll... you don't HAVE to be a billionaire. Millionaires will do, too.

Dear Col. Holmes,

"I am sorry to be so long in writing. Almost daily since my return to England I have thought about writing, about what I want to and ought to say.

First, I want to thank you, not only for SAVING ME FROM THE DRAFT, but for being so kind to me last summer, when I was as low as I have ever been."

=====

To avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War during his college years, Bill Clinton used the political influence of a U.S. Senator, who employed him 
as an aide. Col. Eugene Holmes, an Army officer who was involved in Clinton's case, issued a notarized statement during the 1992 presidential 
campaign:

"I was informed by the draft board that it was of interest to Senator Fullbright's office that Bill Clinton, a Rhodes Scholar, should be admitted to 
the ROTC program. 

I believe that he purposely deceived me, using the possibility of joining the ROTC as a ploy to work with the draft board to delay his induction and 
get a new draft classification."

=====

Clinton's Draft Avoidance

To give an illustration of how a prominent leader avoided the draft in 
favor of college, I searched the Internet for Bill Clinton's ROTC letter 
and his involvement in the Vietnam War demonstrations in England.  The 
following is what I found.

Bill Clinton's actions toward the draft was not a separate case, but his 
actions, and those of his family and friends using influence were 
reflected throughout the United States by thousands of other American 
families. The vast majority of male students attending colleges and 
universities were very concerned by and fearful of the draft.  Most did 
not go to Bill Clinton's extremes.

   
August 19, 1964 - Clinton registers for the draft
--[Washington Post Sep 13 92]

September 1964 - Clinton, age 18, enters Georgetown University
--[The Comeback Kid, CF Allen and J Portis, p. 20]

November 17, 1964- Clinton is classified 2-S (student deferment). This 
will shield him from the draft throughout his undergraduate years.
---[Wash Post Sep 13 92]

February 16, 1968 - "The Johnson administration unexpectedly abolished 
graduate deferments."
--[Wash Post Sep 13 92]

March 20, 1968 - Clinton, age 21, is classified 1-A, eligible for 
induction, as he nears graduation from Georgetown.
--[Wash Post Sep 13 92]

Comment: Bill Clinton was the only man of his prime draft age classified1-
A by that draft board in 1968 whose pre-induction physical examination was 
put off for 10.5 months. This delay was more than twice as long as anyone 
else and more than five times longer than most area men of comparable 
eligibility.
--[Los Angeles Times Sep 02 92]

Summer 1968 - Political and family influence keeps Clinton out of the 
draft. Robert Corrado -- the only surviving Hot Springs draft board member 
from that period -- concluded that Clinton's draft statement (the long 
delays) was the result of "some form of preferential treatment." According 
to the Times, "Corrado recalled that the chairman of the three-man draft 
panel ... once held back Clinton's file with the explanation that 'we've 
got to give him time to go to Oxford,' where the semester began in the 
fall of 1968.

Corrado also complained that he was called by an aide to then Senator J. 
William Fulbright urging him and his fellow board members to 'give every 
consideration' to keep Clinton out of the draft so he could attend Oxford.

Throughout the remainder of 1968, Corrado said, Clinton's draft file was 
routinely held back from consideration by the full board. Consequently, 
although he was classified 1-A on March 20, 1968, he was not called for 
his physical exam until Feb 3, 1969, while he was at Oxford.
Clinton's Uncle Raymond Clinton personally lobbied Senator Fulbright, 
William S. Armstrong, the chairman of the three-man Hot Springs draft 
board, and Lt. Comdr. Trice Ellis, Jr., commanding officer of the local 
Navy reserve unit, to obtain a slot for Clinton in the Naval Reserve.

Clinton secured a "standard enlisted man's billet, not an officer's slot 
which would have required Clinton to serve two years on active duty 
beginning within 12 months of his acceptance." This Navy Reserve 
assignment was "created especially for the Bill Clinton at a time in 1968 
when no existing reserve slots were open in his hometown unit."

According to the LA Times, "after about two weeks waiting for Bill Clinton 
to arrive for his preliminary interview and physical exam, Ellis said he 
called (Clinton's uncle) Raymond to inquire - 'What happened to that 
boy?' According to Ellis, Clinton's uncle replied - 'Don't worry about it. 

He won't be coming down. "It's all been taken care of.' "
--[LA Times Sep 02 92]

Fall 1968 - Because of the local draft board's continuing postponement of 
his pre-induction physical, Clinton is able to enroll at Oxford Univ.
--[Wash Post Sep 13 92]

February 2, 1969 - While at Oxford, Clinton finally takes and passes a 
military physical examination.
--[Washington Times Sep 18 92]

April 1969 - Clinton receives induction notice from the Hot Springs AR 
draft board. Clinton however claims that the draft board told him to 
ignore the notice because it arrived after the deadline for induction.
--[Wash Post Sep 13 92]

June-July 1969 - Clinton receives a second induction notice with a July 28 
induction date and returns home.
--[Wash Times Sep 18 92]

July 11, 1969 - Clinton's friend at Oxford, Cliff Jackson, writes, 
"Clinton is feverishly trying to find a way to avoid entering the Army as 
a drafted private. I have had several of my friends in influential 
positions trying to pull strings on Bill's behalf."
-- [LA Times Sep 26 92]

Clinton benefited from yet another lobbying campaign in order to evade 
this induction notice. "Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton, 
who has said he did not pull strings to avoid the Vietnam-era draft, was 
able to get his Army induction notice canceled in the summer of 1969 after 
a lobbying effort directed at the Republican head of the state draft 
agency." Arrangements were made for Clinton to meet with Col. Williard A. 
Hawkins who "was the only person in Arkansas with authority to rescind a 
draft notice. ... The apparently successful appeal to Hawkins was planned 
while Clinton was finishing his first year as a Rhodes scholar in England. 
Clinton's former friend and Oxford classmate, Cliff Jackson -- now an 
avowed political critic of the candidate -- said it was pursued 
immediately upon Clinton's return to AR in early July 1969 to beat a July 
28 deadline for induction."
-- [LA Times Sep 26 92]

Comment: Jackson's statement is contrary to Clinton's repeated assertions 
that he received no special treatment in avoiding military service. "(I) 
never received any unusual or favorable treatment." [LA Times Sep 02 92]
August 7, 1969 - Clinton is reclassified 1-D after he arranges to enter 
the ROTC program at the University of Arkansas.
--[Wash Post Sep 13 92]

According to Cliff Jackson, Clinton's Oxford classmate, Clinton used the 
ROTC program to "kill the draft notice, to avoid reporting on the July 28 
induction date, which had already been postponed. And he did that by 
promising to serve his country in the ROTC, number one, to enroll in the 
law school that fall ... and he never enrolled."
--[Wash Times Sep 17 92]

Comment - Clinton's admission into the ROTC program again runs contrary to 
his repeated statements that he received no special treatment in order to 
evade military service. Col. Eugene Holmes, commander of the University of 
Arkansas ROTC program, said Clinton was admitted after pressure from the 
Hot Springs draft board and the office of Senator J. William Fulbright (D-
AR).

Again, Clinton was receiving preferential treatment. In addition, records 
from the Army reveal that Clinton was not legally eligible for the ROTC 
program at that time.   Army regulations required recruits to be enrolled 
at the university and attending classes full-time before being admitted to 
an ROTC program.

Fall 1969 - Clinton returns to Oxford for a second year. Clinton was 
supposed to be at the Arkansas Law School. However, according to Cliff 
Jackson, "Sen. Fulbright's office and Bill himself continued to exert 
tremendous pressure on poor Col. Holmes to get him [Clinton] to go back to 
Oxford."
--[Wash Post Sep 13 92]

September 14, 1969 - The Arkansas Gazette, published in Little Rock, 
headlined a draft suspension was reportedly planned by the President.

Comment - The article, citing a source, said Selective Service reforms 
when implemented, would only permit the conscription of 19-year-old men. 
In addition, the source said "the Army would send to Vietnam only 
enlistees, professional soldiers, and those draftees who volunteered to 
go." The source contended that these reforms, combined with troop 
withdrawals, "would put pressure on the Congress to enact draft 
legislation already proposed by the President ... and set up a lottery to 
conscript only 19-year-old men," the Gazette reported.

From his letter to Col. Holmes, Bill Clinton said "....Finally, on Sept. 
12 I stayed up all night writing a letter to the chairman of my draft 
board,...... I never mailed the letter, but I did carry it on me every day 
until I got on the plane to return to England.".   It is very probable 
that Bill Clinton was in the United States and well aware of the above 
proposal on Sep 14, 1969.  Bill Clinton was 23 years old.

September 19, 1969 - "President Nixon, facing turmoil on college campuses, 
suspended draft calls for November and December of 1969 and said the 
October call would be spread out over three months."
--[Wash Post Sep 13 92]

The President also indicated that if the Congress did not act to establish 
a lottery system, he would remove by executive order the vulnerability to 
the draft of all men age 20 to 26.
Comment - Again, Clinton was 23 years old.

September-October 1969 - "At some point, Clinton decided to make himself 
eligible for the draft and said in February 1992 his stepfather had acted 
in his behalf to accomplish this. Newsweek, attributing the information to 
campaign officials, said this all happened in Oct 1969.  Clinton 
spokesperson Betsey Wright ... said she believed it took place in 
September. The difference is potentially significant. ... If Clinton did 
not act to give up his deferment until October, he could have known he 
faced no liability from the draft until the following summer, that he 
could take his chances with the lottery and find alternative service if he 
got a low number."
--[Wash Post Sep 13 92]

October 1, 1969 - "Nixon announced that anyone in graduate school could 
complete the full year."
--[Wash Post Sep 13 92]
Comment - Clinton is now safe from the draft through June 1970.

October 1969 - President Nixon suspends call-up of additional draftees 
until a draft lottery is held in December.
October 15, 1969 - Clinton organized and led anti-war demonstrations in 
London.
-- [Wash Times Sep 18 92]

Comment - According to McSorley, Clinton's demonstrations "had the support 
of British peace organizations" such as the British Peace Council, an arm 
of the KGB-backed World Peace Council.
October 30, 1969 - Clinton is reclassified 1-A, eligible for induction.
--[Wash Times Sep 28 92]

Comment - "Clinton said he put himself into the draft by contacting his 
draft board in September or October and asking to be reclassified 1-A. ... 
It is not clear, however, whether that occurred at Clinton's urging or 
whether his failure to enroll at University of Arkansas automatically 
canceled his 1-D deferment."
Clinton has never produced any evidence to substantiate his claim that he 
initiated his reclassification.

November 16, 1969 - Clinton organized and led anti-war demonstrations in 
London.

December 1, 1969 - Clinton draws #311 in the first draft lottery.
--[Wash Times Sep 18 92]

Comment - Clinton was virtually assured that he would not be drafted 
because of the high lottery number.
December 3, 1969 - While still in England, Clinton writes to Lt. Col. 
Eugene Holmes, , commander of the University of Arkansas ROTC Program and 
states, "From my work I came to believe that the draft system is 
illegitimate ... I decided to accept the draft in spite of my beliefs for 
one reason - to maintain my political viability."
     
Clinton's ROTC Letter As Entered in Congressional Record (Page: H5550) 
7/30/93