Was Trump a ‘draft dodger’?
Ronald Kuby, a criminal and civil rights lawyer and talk show host, appeared on WABC-AM in New York City on July 15, 2015, three days before Donald Trump made his controversial comments about the Vietnam War military service of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Kuby highlighted the multiple student deferments Trump himself had received, and how he finally got a medical exemption that staved off the draft.
Trump “was a Vietnam draft dodger,” Kuby said.
We asked Kuby what he meant and he explained, “I use the term broadly to mean anyone who took advantage of deferments to avoid being drafted.”
PunditFact decided it was worth taking a closer look at what the term “draft dodger” actually means, and whether Trump’s actions fit the definition. Read the whole story here.
Our Sources
WABC Radio,Kuby interview, July 15, 2015
Smoking Gun, Deferments Helped Trump Dodge Vietnam, April 28, 2011 (Updated July 18, 2015)
National Archives and Records Administration, Selective Service record: Donald Trump
Politico, Donald Trump evades specifics on his draft deferment, July 19, 2015
ABC News, Donald Trump Says He Does Not Owe John McCain Apology, July 19, 2015
Huffington Post, Here's How Donald Trump Defended Questioning John McCain's Military Record, July 19, 2015
George Washington University Law Review, Selective Service: Some Certain Problems and Some Tentative Answers, March 1969
Pacific Northwest Labor and Civil Rights Projects - University of Washington, Vietnam War: Draft Resistance
Ynetnews.com, Websites on draft-dodging to be probed, Sept. 15, 2015
Aaron Friedberg, In the Shadow of the Garrison State: America’s Anti-statism and its Cold War Grand Strategy, Princeton University Press, 2000
ABA Journal, Jan. 21, 1977: Carter pardons Vietnam-era draft dodgers, Jan. 1, 2014
Phil Ochs, The Draft Dodger Rag, 1965
Gettysburg Times, LBJ hopes to stop draft dodging, April 21, 1967
Email interview, Michael Tigar, professor of the practice of law emeritus, Duke Law School, July 20, 2015
Email interview, Ronald Kuby, attorney and radio host, WABC, July 20, 2015
