What did Bill Clinton’s 1969 letter to Colonel Harold Holmes actually say, and where can the full text be read?
Executive summary
The document in question is a December 3, 1969 letter from a 23‑year‑old Bill Clinton to Colonel Eugene Holmes thanking him for “saving me from the draft,” acknowledging that he had not fully disclosed his opposition to the Vietnam War, and apologizing for having “deceived” Holmes about the depth of his anti‑war convictions [1] [2]. The full text was widely published during the 1992 presidential campaign and can be read in archival news reproductions — notably The New York Times, the Congressional Record, PBS/Frontline — and is cataloged among materials at the Clinton Presidential Library [1] [3] [4] [5].
1. Background: why the letter surfaced and its immediate context
The letter became a campaign flashpoint in February 1992 after news organizations obtained and published it amid questions about Clinton’s 1969 draft status and his dealings with ROTC at the University of Arkansas [2] [6]. At the time Clinton had been reclassified from 1‑A to 1‑D after agreeing to enter ROTC, a reclassification that helped avoid a large draft call in September 1969, and that administrative history is part of the controversy surrounding the letter [6] [2].
2. What the letter actually says — core passages and tone
In the letter dated December 3, 1969, Clinton opens with thanks for Holmes’s kindness and specifically thanks him for “saving me from the draft,” then moves on to confess that he had “deceived” Holmes by not fully revealing his opposition to the war and the draft, recounts participating in anti‑war organizing in Britain, and explains political calculations about his deferment and future law‑school plans [1] [2]. The letter is lengthy and combines personal gratitude, political self‑explanation, and candid reflections on conscience and strategy — elements that campaign observers later judged both damaging and revealing [1] [2].
3. Where the full text can be read today
The New York Times published the full letter in February 1992 as part of its campaign coverage and reproductions of that publication remain an accessible authoritative copy [1]. The text was also printed verbatim in the Congressional Record in 1996 when lawmakers reprinted the letter for the official record [3]. PBS’s Frontline archived the letter on its site during its Clinton investigations, and the Clinton Presidential Library’s declassified documents collection lists related 1969 draft materials and holdings that include correspondence and contemporary records [4] [5].
4. The principal disputes and Colonel Holmes’s later comments
Colonel Eugene Holmes, the ROTC commander named in the letter, later criticized Clinton and said he felt deceived, accusing Clinton of deliberately defrauding the military; Holmes’s public statements and a notarized affidavit entered the debate over what actually transpired in 1969 [7] [8]. At the same time, other contemporaneous statements attributed to Holmes — and released by the Clinton campaign — suggested he had not clearly remembered the Clinton case or had treated Clinton “just like I would have treated any other kid,” creating competing narratives about Holmes’s recollection [7].
5. Political uses, mischaracterizations and factual clarifications
The letter was seized upon by opponents and commentators in 1992 as evidence of opportunism or disloyalty, and some public figures distorted its language to suggest Clinton “abhorred the military,” a claim fact‑checked and corrected by media watchdogs who noted Clinton never wrote that phrase [2] [9]. The release itself was politically charged — ABC News and other outlets played roles in obtaining and disseminating the text — and the campaign framed the publication as a preemptive move to limit damage [2].
6. What the primary sources confirm and what remains beyond them
Primary reproductions cited above confirm the letter’s date, the “saving me from the draft” phrase, Clinton’s apology to Holmes for not revealing the depth of his anti‑war views, and references to anti‑war organizing in Britain [1] [2]. The assembled public record also confirms that the text was printed in major newspapers, archived by PBS/Frontline, and entered into the Congressional Record and presidential library holdings [1] [4] [3] [5]. If any claim about private motives or behind‑the‑scenes draftboard influence is asserted beyond those texts, those specifics fall outside what the provided sources definitively document [6] [8].
Conclusion: the letter is unambiguous in thanking Colonel Holmes for securing a deferment, in expressing Clinton’s private opposition to the Vietnam War and his remorse about not disclosing that opposition to Holmes, and in acknowledging political considerations; the complete text is available in contemporary newspaper reproductions (The New York Times), in the Congressional Record, on PBS/Frontline archives, and in Clinton Library collections cited above [1] [3] [4] [5].