Which notable public figures cited bone spurs to avoid military draft or service?

1. The concrete record: Trump’s bone‑spur deferment and the Selective Service files

Contemporary reporting and Selective Service records show Donald Trump received five draft deferments during the Vietnam period — four for education and a later 1‑Y medical deferment attributed to bone spurs in his heels, which exempted him from induction at a time of large troop deployments ^[1]. The New York Times and other outlets document that the medical letter on heel bone spurs arrived after his college graduation in 1968 and that Trump later described the condition as “temporary” and “minor,” while his public recounting of details has sometimes been inconsistent with records ^[1].

2. How the diagnosis surfaced: doctors, favors and family connections

Investigations reported by The New York Times and USA Today recount family accounts that a Queens podiatrist, Dr. Larry Braunstein, diagnosed Trump with bone spurs and that the doctor’s daughters said the consultation was done as a favor to Trump’s father, Fred Trump — an allegation the family members have publicly related ^{[2] [3]}. Media accounts emphasize the potential conflict of interest created by property and social ties between the podiatrist and the Trump family, though those accounts rely on the daughters’ recollections and the historical record of rental ties rather than contemporaneous medical files ^[2].

3. Political reaction and the nickname ‘Cadet Bone Spurs’

The bone‑spur deferment became a political cudgel: veterans and opponents used it to question patriotism and privilege, most notably the late Sen. John McCain’s public admonitions and Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s repeated “Cadet Bone Spurs” jibes, framing the diagnosis as emblematic of affluent avoidance of service ^{[4] [3] [5]}. Campaign materials and surrogates have defended Trump’s account, and the episode resurfaced repeatedly as a focal point in debates about elite access to exemptions during the draft era ^{[6] [4]}.

4. Context: draft deferments, class and comparable cases

Journalistic analysis places Trump’s bone‑spur deferment in the broader context of Vietnam‑era deferments that disproportionately benefited wealthier men who could secure student deferments or sympathetic medical opinions; Business Insider and other outlets note that many prominent politicians also received deferments of various kinds, though not necessarily for bone spurs specifically ^[7]. This wider frame is used by critics to argue systemic inequities in who fought and who did not, while defenders point to the procedural legitimacy of documented deferments ^[7].

5. Unanswered questions and limits of the public record

Despite extensive reporting, gaps remain: the original medical documentation and contemporaneous clinical notes have not been fully published in the public domain, and accounts about whether the diagnosis was a favor come from later family recollections rather than primary contemporaneous medical records ^{[2] [3]}. The record shows Trump received the deferment and subsequently described the condition variously, but public reporting must stop short of proving medical intent or fraud absent more definitive archival medical evidence ^{[1] [2]}.

Conclusion: a narrow factual answer with wider implications

Factually, Donald J. Trump is the notable public figure documented as having cited bone spurs to avoid Vietnam‑era military service; the diagnosis is recorded in Selective Service histories and has been reported and contested in major outlets ^{[1] [2]}. The controversy around that single medical deferment has fueled broader debates about privilege, draft equity, and political narrative; those debates involve corroborated reporting, family testimony, and partisan interpretation but remain partially unresolved because primary medical records remain private or incomplete in public reporting ^{[3] [6]}.