[DannyTN]

"Does the phrase “draft dodger” have any meaning to people under the age of 55?"

To me, "draft dodger" is someone who fled the country or avoided the draft through an illegal or fraudulent means. It doesn't apply to someone who took advantage of school deferments, that were available to anyone willing to go to school.

[Blue Turtle]

...and here we go again. When it is a REPUB running, we know everything about their past. BUT WE KNOW NOTHING about Obama.

[JohnG45]

I actually think that the Vietnam draft contributed to the practice of graduate student assistants teaching classes in colleges and increase in government funded research by graduate students.

... took advantage of school deferments, that were available to anyone willing to go to school.

These statements are not completely accurate.

LBJ refused to allow graduate deferments thus blocking undergraduates from simply continuing on with a student deferment in graduate school. However, if you were already a graduate student, you were only allowed to complete the program that you were matriculated in. So a person, in a Masters program at the time, would only be allowed to receive a Masters degree with a student deferment and upon completion would immediately become vulnerable to the draft. The lucky ones here were the graduate students who were enrolled in a doctoral program since doctoral studies are more open ended and can go on for years before completion.