According to what we have heard, Donald Trump is the most patriotic president since Dwight D. Eisenhower.
As presidents, both stood as the head of our military. Eisenhower was the 34th president of the United States, serving two terms, from 1953 to 1961.
As a five-star General in the United States Army, he served as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe during World War II. No need to say more about President Eisenhower’s patriotism.
Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, was born in 1946, shortly after World War II had ended. Back in those days we had what was called a “draft” which made all young men between the ages of 19 to 26 eligible to be drafted for a military service requirement of 21 months.
Deferments from the “draft” were given to full-time students, to young men whose service would cause hardship upon his family and to individuals who had a medical condition that would make it difficult to serve.
In 1964, Trump began his college career at Fordham University and after two years he transferred to Wharton and graduated in 1968 with a B.S. in economics. During those four years, Trump received four deferments, one for each of the years he attended college.
The United States entered the Vietnam war in 1965 and involvement ended in 1973. While in school, Trump in 1966 was deemed fit for military service based upon a medical examination and in July 1968, after graduating Wharton, a local draft board classified him as eligible to serve.
However, in October 1968, he was given a medical deferment due to “bone spurs” in his heels.
It didn’t hurt that his father, Fred Trump, a successful builder in his own right, preferred that Donald join him in the business. Only recently did the two daughters of the New York podiatrist who had made the diagnosis say that their father did it as a favor to the doctor’s landlord, Fred Trump.
During the war, there were many young men who opposed the war and staged numerous protests. Some even went to Canada to avoid being drafted. Whether right or wrong, there was substance behind their behavior.
But what about all the young men who were not as privileged as Trump who served and suffered serious injuries or died?
They did not have the connections to keep them from being drafted. For all Trump supporters who fought in the war, why aren’t they questioning the fact that Trump evaded the draft. The fix was in.
The bottom line: Donald Trump, the President of the United States, was in fact, a “draft dodger.”
And now, he has the fate of other young men in his hands if he decides, even on a whim, that we should once again go to war. Veterans who voted for Trump, you should be ashamed. How would you have liked to have him in the foxhole with you? Do you think he would have had your back? No way, especially since he was suffering from “bone spurs”.
Alvin H. Goldberg
Great Neck
