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On Wed, 26 Mar 2025 01:44:33 +0000,  Mitchell Holman says...  

>     Trump's father had one of his tenants
> send a "doctors note" to the draft board. 
> Which has disappeared. 
> 
>     See the difference?

No... not really.

BILL CLINTON: AGE 21... CLASSIFIED 1-A

Got Senator to defer.

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