Bill Clinton illegally dodged the Vietnam draft
| Bill Clinton illegally dodged the Vietnam draft | |
|---|---|
| UNSUPPORTED | |
| "Bill Clinton broke the law to avoid being drafted and sent to Vietnam." | |
| Domain | Politics & Elections |
| Tactic | False Context |
| Era | Historical |
| First seen | 1992 |
| Origin | Reporting during the 1992 presidential campaign on Clinton's 1969 draft status, amplified by opponents |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-29 |
| Further reading: books on Politics & Elections | |
During the 1992 campaign, reporters revealed that Bill Clinton, then a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, had taken steps in 1969 to avoid induction into the military. Critics said he had "dodged the draft" illegally. The record shows Clinton maneuvered through the draft system in ways many young men of his generation did, and that he was evasive about it in 1992. It does not show that he broke the law.
What the evidence shows
- ROTC deferment. In the summer of 1969, Clinton agreed to join the ROTC program at the University of Arkansas law school, which gave him a deferment. He never enrolled.
- The letter. On December 3, 1969, he wrote to ROTC director Col. Eugene Holmes thanking him for "saving me from the draft" and describing his opposition to the war. The letter, published by ABC News in February 1992, was politically damaging but not evidence of a crime.
- The lottery. Clinton put himself back into the draft pool in the fall of 1969. In the first draft lottery, on December 1, 1969, his birthday drew number 311, too high to be called.
- No charges. No prosecutor or investigator ever alleged that Clinton violated Selective Service law. His shifting public accounts of these events in 1992 were the main subject of criticism.
Why it matters
Clinton's 1992 explanations were incomplete and changed as documents emerged, which is a fair subject for political judgment. "Illegally dodged the draft" is a stronger claim, and no one ever produced evidence that he broke the law.
Sources
- Bill Clinton, letter to Col. Eugene Holmes, December 3, 1969, as published by ABC News and The New York Times, February 1992.
- The Washington Post, "Clinton's Draft Odyssey," 1992 campaign coverage.
- David Maraniss, First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton, Simon & Schuster, 1995.