Posted on 08/10/2004 11:57:57 PM PDT by Tamzee
Senator John Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate who is trading on his Vietnam war record to campaign against President George W Bush, tried to defer his military service for a year, according to a newly rediscovered article in a Harvard University newspaper.
He wrote to his local recruitment board seeking permission to spend a further 12 months studying in Paris, after completing his degree course at Yale University in the mid-1960s.
The revelation appears to undercut Sen Kerry's carefully-cultivated image as a man who willingly served his country in a dangerous war - in supposed contrast to President Bush, who served in the Texas National Guard and thus avoided being sent to Vietnam.
The Harvard Crimson newspaper followed a youthful Mr Kerry in Boston as he campaigned for Congress for the first time in 1970. In the course of a lengthy article, "John Kerry: A Navy Dove Runs for Congress", published on February 18, the paper reported: "When he approached his draft board for permission to study for a year in Paris, the draft board refused and Kerry decided to enlist in the Navy."
Samuel Goldhaber, the article's author who is now a cardiologist attached to the Harvard School of Medicine, spent 11 hours trailing Mr Kerry and still remembers that the subject of the Paris deferment came up during long conversations about Vietnam.
"I stand by my story," he told The Telegraph. "It was a long time ago, and I was 19 at the time, so it is hard to remember every detail. But I do know this: at no point did Kerry contact either me or the Crimson to dispute anything I had written."
Sen Kerry's campaign headquarters in Washington refused an opportunity to deny the report. Despite repeated telephone calls from The Telegraph, a spokesman refused to comment. Another Democrat official said merely: "In Vietnam, John Kerry proved his patriotism beyond question. Everyone knows that."
A senior Republican strategist, who asked not to be named, said: "I've not heard this before. This undercuts Kerry's complaints about Bush and it continues to pose questions as to his credibility among ordinary Vietnam veterans."
He said it would fuel concerns over the way Sen Kerry made a name for himself by leading anti-war protests in Washington and Boston in the late 1960s and early 1970s after he had completed his service in the US Navy, even while his former comrades continued to fight and die.
A newly-published biography of Sen Kerry by Douglas Brinkley, A Tour of Duty, makes no mention of the requested deferment or planned year in Paris. At the time, it was still unclear just how long America would remain in Vietnam, and it might have seemed that a year's deferral of service could render enlistment unnecessary.
According to the Democratic Party's version of Sen Kerry's military history, he joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Harvard through eagerness to do his duty, and sailed with the Navy for combat as soon as he graduated in 1966.
Sen Kerry won a gallantry medal for his service as a gunboat captain on the Mekong Delta, and was honorably discharged with three "purple heart" medals after sustaining three wounds. He has consistently presented himself as a leader who argued against the war only after fulfilling his duty in the field. Supporters argue that his war record makes him a more trustworthy leader than President Bush, who served sporadically in the National Guard at home.
"This means that Kerry didn't jump into all that heroic service until he was pushed, and it is a very nice piece of information," said Lucianne Goldberg, a prominent Republican campaigner.
Republican strategists for President Bush were already investigating Sen Kerry's record of three wounds sustained in Vietnam. "We find that he had only one day off sick - with three wounds? What exactly were these wounds?" she asked.
Mr Goldhaber recalled that, during a day spent with Sen Kerry and one assistant during his congressional campaign, he had described his involvement, service and decision to oppose the war in great detail.
"I am not at all surprised that he wants to be president, because he exuded ambition from the word go," said Dr Goldhaber. "At the time, the idea that he tried to persuade the draft board to let him spend a year in Paris was just a detail."
A spokesman for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign declined to comment.
I sent this around to my email newslist. I also pointed out that this directly contradicts what Jeh Johnson, sKerry handler was spouting on TV last night
Prairie
Continue his studies in Paris.
Yep on how to be for the commies and to be a traitor to America.
The ties of the Franchurian Dork Candidate, le Jacquestrap Kerri and the commies of France go way back before he was spawned.
Great find and post!
"He supports a volunteer Army, "if and only if we can create the controls for it. You're going to have to prepare for the possibility of a national emergency, however." Kerry said that the United Nations should have control over most of our foreign military operations. "I'm an internationalist. I'd like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations."
"On other issues, Kerry wants "to almost eliminate CIA activity. The CIA is fighting its own war in Laos and nobody seems to care." He also favors a negative income tax and keeping unemployment at a very low level, "even if it means selective economic controls."
"Kerry admitted he tried to avoid Vietnam by going to Paris, request turned down by the draft board. He joined the Navy so he wouldn't be drafted.
"What do you get when you put all that into the Democratic Spin Cycle?
"Kerry Volunteered for Vietnam!"
Excellent, unless the above was a Republican. Then he would have been a coward.
At least he went, which is better than many others (*cough-cough* Clinton! *cough-cough*). I'm sure that many actual heroes were also reluctant to go, and were hoping for cushier positions. This seems like a no-go politically.
He wanted to study Eurosocialism at its source.
NYT, May 24, 1970.
It's not dishonorable necessarily to state that as your objective in going to war, but I find it a little odd, having lived through the Vietnam era with a serviceman husband. The only thing he went to study firsthand was his mo so he could do the job he was assigned to do with the sole objective of winning the war and keep South Vietnam from falling to the communists.
Whether the men were drafted or enlisted voluntarily, they all went to fight to win.
As someone who is old enough to remember coming out of college during the draft--let me make a couple of observations that may clear up the seeming contradictions in Kerry's actions.
If you had a high draft lotter number, and no graduate deferment, you were going to serve as a regular army draftee when you were inducted.
Many college graduates, like myself, decided to volunteer for one of the Service's programs for college graduates to become officers--rather than spend our service committment as an enlisted man. Officers got perks, better pay, and the girls.
This isn't to say officers didn't go in harm's way. Marine and Army 2nd Lts. had exceptionally high casualty rates in Viet Nam. I don't know about Navy Ensigns--but the Navy was considered to be perhaps the safest of all the services. Charlie didn't have a navy and didn't swim.
Someone ought to look into Kerry's draft lottery number. My guess is he knew he was going in and made the decision to 'volunteer'.
bump to print
Pic by PhilDragoo .....
My only regret is that this stuff is not coming out, story after story, IN LATE SEPTEMBER (instead of early August)!!
We've known that for more then a year
Bump!
ping
Exploding the myth that brave Kerry said "send me!" to the fight... in his own words!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1189361/posts
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Thank you for finding another source on this matter Tamsey..This is important character proof. It doesn't matter that sKerrry asked for a deferment, but that he hide this fact behind his facade of "wanting to serve".
Most welcome. That was my point, also, the whole "Kerry bravely stepping forward as a patriot out to serve our country" is a ridiculous myth.
Kerry admitted doing what he could to stay out of the military and, when that didn't work, he did everything he could to stay out of combat and, when that didn't work, he gamed the medal-program to get his delicate butt back to the US in 4 months.
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