It’s one of those questions that just won't go away. Depending on who you ask, Donald Trump is either a master strategist who knew how to play a broken system or a "draft dodger" who used family connections to stay home while others went to war. Honestly, the truth is tucked away in old Selective Service records and the memories of a few people in Queens. To understand if did trump avoid the draft, you have to look past the campaign trail rhetoric and into the actual timeline of 1968.
That year was brutal. It was the height of the Vietnam War. While thousands of young men were being shipped off to the jungle, a 22-year-old Trump was graduating from the University of Pennsylvania. He was athletic, tall, and by all outward appearances, perfectly healthy. Yet, he never laced up a pair of combat boots.
The Five Deferments: A Paper Trail
Most people think it was just one lucky break that kept him out. Nope. It was a series of steps. Trump actually received five separate deferments during the Vietnam era.
The first four were standard student deferments (known as 2-S). He got these while attending Fordham University and then the Wharton School of Finance. This was pretty common for guys with the means to stay in school. But the real controversy kicks in after graduation. In July 1968, his status changed to 1-A. Basically, that meant "you’re eligible, pack your bags."
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Then, suddenly, everything changed. In September 1968, Trump underwent an Armed Forces Physical Examination. One month later, he was reclassified as 1-Y. This was a conditional medical deferment. It meant he was only fit for service in a national emergency. Since Vietnam wasn't an officially declared "emergency" in that legal sense, he was essentially off the hook.
The Bone Spur Mystery
For decades, the "medical reason" was just a vague footnote. It wasn't until the 2016 campaign that Trump specified the issue: bone spurs in his heels.
He’s been a bit fuzzy on the details since then. Sometimes he says it was one foot; later, he said it was both. In a 2016 interview with The New York Times, he couldn't even recall the name of the doctor who signed the letter, citing the passage of time.
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"I had a doctor that gave me a letter—a very strong letter on the heels," Trump said.
This is where it gets interesting—and a bit murky. In 2018, a bombshell report suggested the diagnosis might have been a "favor." The daughters of Dr. Larry Braunstein, a podiatrist who practiced in a building owned by Fred Trump, told the Times that their father often bragged about helping the younger Trump avoid the draft as a courtesy to his landlord.
The "High Lottery Number" Defense
You’ve probably heard Trump say he didn't go because he had a high draft number. He’s mentioned it a lot.
"I actually got lucky because I had a very high draft number," he told CBS in 2011. He recalls watching the draft lottery on TV and seeing his number, 356, come up near the very end.
Technically, he’s right about the number. June 14 birthdays were assigned 356 in the 1969 lottery. But there’s a catch. The lottery didn’t even start until December 1969. By then, Trump had already been disqualified for over a year because of the 1-Y medical deferment. The lottery number didn't save him; the bone spurs did. The number was just extra insurance he never actually needed.
Was It Legal?
Basically, yes. Taking student deferments was legal. Getting a medical exemption from a licensed doctor was legal. Whether it was "fair" is a moral question, not a legal one.
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Critics, including the late Senator John McCain, often pointed out that the draft system favored the wealthy. If you had a father who owned the building your doctor worked in, your chances of finding a "disqualifying" medical condition were much higher than a kid from a working-class neighborhood.
Actionable Insights: How to Fact-Check Historical Records
If you want to dig deeper into these types of claims yourself, don't rely on social media clips. Here is how you can verify military and draft records:
- Request Selective Service Records: You can actually request draft cards and classification ledgers through the National Archives (NARA). Much of Trump's record is already public due to FOIA requests.
- Understand Classification Codes: Learn what the letters mean. 1-A is fit for duty. 2-S is student. 4-F is permanently disqualified. 1-Y (Trump’s code) was a specific "qualified only in war" status used during that era.
- Check the Timeline: Compare the date of a medical diagnosis with the date of the draft lottery. Often, the "luck" people claim happened after the medical paperwork was already filed.
At the end of the day, Donald Trump avoided the draft through a combination of four years of college and a medical diagnosis that remains a point of intense debate. While the records confirm the "what," the "why" remains a matter of perspective between family "lore" and official military paperwork.
Next Step: You can verify these specific classifications for yourself by visiting the National Archives Selective Service Records page to see how the 1-Y and 4-F statuses were applied during the 1960s.