Is Donald Trump's draft record a big deal? Depends on where you get your news.
In the late 1960s there was a military draft. Men about my age have the rules seared into their minds, but readers younger than 60 may not have a clear understanding of the situation. Here's a quick summary.
The system in place at the time openly endorsed the notion of "channeling", in the words of General Hershey, head of the draft. The draft rules were intended to encourage certain behaviors and discourage others, thus the word channeling. Attending college was good behavior, so young men making steady progress in college got a deferment, potentially until the war was over. Men who dropped out of college or even dropped a single class and therefore failed to make steady progress toward a degree lost their deferments.
Getting arrested was bad. Judges gave young men the choice of jail or immediately volunteering for the service.
There were complicated medical rules. 1-A meant fully healthy, 1-Y meant small impairment, 4-F meant unsuitable. Young men with financial means often got friendly doctors to give them a diagnosis of a problem and elevated it up to something serious. At the time there was a widespread--but far from universal--attitude that the war was a mistake and it would be a shame for some nice young man to serve and possibly be killed for a mistake.
Bottom line: finagling and conniving to beat the draft was commonplace. Some viewed it as sensible and even patriotic to avoid the draft; after all, being drafted was defined as the punishment for mis-behavior. Others saw it as selfish, but a necessary evil; let someone else be the sucker. Others saw it as "cheating" and wrong. The country was conflicted.
When Bill Clinton ran for president in 1972 his draft record became a subject of criticism--deferments in college, then a Rhodes scholarship to Britain, and then a begging letter to his draft board asking to be exempted. This behavior was commonplace, but not highly regarded, especially in hindsight and especially for someone running for Commander in Chief. He was criticized strongly.
Dick Cheney received 5 deferment during his period of draft eligibility and was quoted as having said that he had "other things" he hoped to do other than serve in the military. He was a hawk and was former Secretary of Defense. There was little criticism of him.
Donald Trump was exactly of the age to be subject to the Vietnam draft. He got student deferments and had, he reports, bone spurs in his heels which got him a student and then medical exemption. The bone spurs sufficient to exempt him from the draft cured themselves and now Trump cannot even remember which foot--or possibly both--had them.
The NY Times, Washington Post, and the online portal Huffington Post have front page articles on Donald the Draft Dodger. Meanwhile, Fox News, Breitbart, the Washington Times have nothing whatever on the subject, not even stories buried deep. The experience with Cheney suggests that having a history of finagling on the draft only hurts a person politically if it appears to confirm a political charge of dovishness or weakness. Cheney the hawk was given a political pass. Trump, with a bellicose stance toward ISIS, is also given a pass by the conservative press, at least so far.
Liberals and doves are uncomfortable with bringing up the subject. Too many of their own have done more or less what Trump did. They live in glass houses.
If the story has the potential of hurting Trump is has to do with the angle of "privilege", not patriotism. Trump stirred up a hornet's nest with criticism of the Khan family who charged that Trump had not sacrificed for this country, with Trump saying that yes he had, by by being in business and building great structures. Trump's populist campaign is built around criticism of crony capitalism, of pay-to-play donations by special interests, of the outsized power of money to rig the system. The Democratic counter to Trump's populism is to note points of hypocrisy: the ties made in China, Trump "university", etc.
Trump's behavior was commonplace, but it was the commonplace behavior of the privileged classes who had friendly doctors and who could sit out the Vietnam war in Ivy League colleges while the unlucky poor guys went to serve in their place. I was at Harvard at the time. I saw the behavior and personally lived it. I stayed in school and was darned glad to be there. I worked the system.
So did Trump.
1 comment:
I was at that age, too. Scared the hell out of me. One day, the hawks in Congress decided that there were too many kids in college who were only there to avoid the draft. Bunch of draft dodgers they said. So, they decided to test everyone. I think it was in 1966. Anyway, one Saturday morning every man in college had to report to a college testing room and take the test. It was sort of an SAT type test. There was even a booklet with a helmet on the front to prepare you for the test. The deal was, if you flunked the test, you lost your 2S deferment. Talk about pressure. Pass or die. Well, we all took the test and waited for the results. Then the debates started. What if you were a music major or an art major or philosophy major? How would the test apply to them? They might flunk it, but still deserve to be in college. So, finally it was decided to drop the test. No one ever got their results. It was like it never happened. Strange times.
There was only one way to avoid the draft without going to Canada ("girls say yes to boys who say no") enticed many to head north. On the other hand, if you knew somebody, you could get into the National Guard. My dad knew somebody. Make no mistake, every guy in the National Guard was there to avoid the draft. There were no exceptions. We considered ourselves lucky. Because of all the protests on campuses and the streets, our main function was riot control. We practiced that a lot.
Sadly, others were not so lucky. Two kids on my Little League team were killed and a fraternity brother, as well. All for nothing. Strangely, my Nike sneakers are made in Vietnam.
War is simply old men sending young men to fight and die. The young men have to trust the old men that it's for a good reason. For Vietnam, no one ever answered the question "What are the fighting for?" That's why it was a bad war. My fear is that Trump may get us into another war, just to feed his ego. The big shot, who avoided any kind of service, could do some real damage. When you have that kind of responsibility, you'd better get it right. The question is, would Trump get it right?
Post a Comment