What was Donald Trump's draft lottery number in 1969?
Executive summary
Donald Trump’s draft lottery number in the December 1, 1969 drawing was 356, a high number on a 1–365 scale (reported by CBS News, PolitiFact and others) [1] [2]. Multiple news outlets — including The New York Times and The Washington Post — say Trump had already received student and then a medical deferment before the lottery, meaning the high lottery number was likely irrelevant to his draft status [3] [4] [5].
1. The simple fact: his lottery number was 356
Contemporary and retrospective reporting consistently lists Donald Trump’s 1969 Selective Service lottery number as 356 out of 365, a figure Trump himself has cited in interviews and that has been repeated in major outlets [1] [2] [6].
2. What that number meant on paper — and why it didn’t tell the whole story
A 356 on a 1–365 scale was, by any standard, a “very high” number and would have put Trump far down the call list under the lottery system itself [1] [7]. But Selective Service officials and subsequent reporting stress that Trump’s classification history included multiple student deferments and, crucially, a medical deferment recorded in October 1968 — more than a year before the lottery — which made him not subject to induction under the rules then in place [4] [3].
3. Disagreement among narratives: luck of the number versus the deferments
Trump has long framed his avoidance of Vietnam as the result of “getting a very, very high number” in the lottery [2]. Journalistic reconstructions and the National Archives records instead emphasize that his medical classification predated the December 1969 lottery, and Selective Service spokespeople told The New York Times that because of that classification the lottery number would have been irrelevant to his eligibility [3] [4].
4. The timeline matters: college deferments, 1-A status, then medical 1‑Y
Reporting documents a sequence: several student deferments while in school, a shift to 1-A after graduating in 1968, and then a medical deferment noted later in 1968 [2] [8]. Different outlets interpret that timeline differently: some argue the medical deferment was decisive, others allow that both the deferment and the high lottery number reduced his odds of service — but the records make clear the medical classification existed before the lottery [4] [3].
5. Why journalists and fact-checkers flagged the discrepancy
The discrepancy between Trump’s public explanation (the lottery number “ultimately” kept him out) and Selective Service records prompted scrutiny because the medical deferment was in place before the lottery and therefore would have already exempted him from routine induction [3] [4]. Fact-check outlets and long-form reporting pointed out that Trump’s emphasis on the lottery understates the documented role of deferments [2] [6].
6. Broader context and alternative views in the reporting
Some analyses and commentators note that even if a man held a 1‑Y (limited) classification, or if deferments could be temporary, a high lottery number still offered practical protection while the draft actively called low numbers [9] [7]. Others — including Selective Service veterans quoted in major outlets — dismiss that as beside the point when an active medical classification already removed a registrant from normal induction [4] [3].
7. What the sources do and do not say
Available reporting establishes the lottery number and documents the earlier deferments, including a medical deferment in October 1968 [1] [4] [8]. Available sources do not mention a contemporaneous official reclassification after October 1968 that would have reinstated Trump as fully available before December 1969; they also do not say definitively whether a later reevaluation might have made the high lottery number redundant or merely redundant in practice [3] [4].
8. Bottom line for readers
The verifiable answer to “what was his draft lottery number?” is 356 [1] [2]. The more consequential question — what actually kept him out of service — is answered in the reporting by pointing to student and medical deferments predating the lottery, creating a clear divergence between Trump’s public emphasis on the lottery and contemporaneous Selective Service records [3] [4].