Why was Donald Trump deferred from the Vietnam draft?
Executive summary
Donald Trump avoided service in the Vietnam-era draft through a combination of four college (student) deferments and a subsequent medical deferment for “bone spurs,” a sequence confirmed by Selective Service records and contemporary reporting [1][2]. The medical exemption is disputed—surrounded by allegations that it was obtained through influence and testimony that Trump himself said he feigned injury—while historians note the draft system routinely advantaged wealthier, better‑connected men [3][4].
1. The concrete mechanics: five deferments on the record
Selective Service records assembled by reporters show Trump received four student deferments while he was in college and, after graduating in 1968, was granted a medical deferment classified as a “1‑Y” (later reclassified 4‑F), attributed to bone spurs in his heels—an official pathway that kept him from being drafted into Vietnam [2][1].
2. The disputed origin of the bone‑spur diagnosis
The origin and seriousness of the bone‑spur finding remain contested: reporting has linked the medical note to a Queens podiatrist who rented office space from Trump’s father, a detail that critics say suggests influence, while Trump’s campaign has pointed to a high draft lottery number as the real practical reason he did not serve—claims that fact‑checkers and archival records show are inaccurate about the full sequence of deferments [5][6][7].
3. Testimony and accusation: did Trump admit to faking it?
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, testified to Congress that Trump told advisors he “made up a fake injury” to avoid Vietnam—an allegation Cohen presented while saying he was tasked with tamping down criticism of the deferment—an assertion that, if true, points to intentional avoidance rather than strictly procedural deferments [3].
4. Context: a system stacked for privilege
Historians and journalists emphasize that Trump’s experience was far from unique for affluent young men of the era; the draft system and deferment categories (students, minor medical ailments) disproportionately benefited those with money, education, or connections, and many men of Trump’s generation used lawful exits from service [4][8]. Critics such as Senator John McCain framed Trump’s bone‑spur exemption as symptomatic of how the wealthy evaded frontline service [9].
5. What remains uncertain and why records leave open questions
Several specifics about the 1968 medical exemption cannot be fully corroborated because many draft‑era medical records were not preserved and the precise contents of the original medical letters are disputed in public reporting; investigative accounts rely on Selective Service classifications, contemporaneous reporting, campaign statements, and witness testimony rather than a single definitive medical file [2][7].
6. Competing narratives and political stakes
Supporters present the deferments as legitimate, procedural outcomes—Trump’s defenders point at the lottery and official classifications—while critics view the pattern as emblematic of privilege and, in some accounts, intentional evasion; the debate has been sustained by documentary records on deferments and by testimonial allegations such as Cohen’s, creating a politically charged, partly evidentiary and partly testimonial dispute [7][3].
Conclusion: why he was deferred — and why debate persists
In sum, the documented reason Trump did not serve in Vietnam was that he obtained four student deferments followed by a medical deferment for bone spurs, a sequence that removed him from the draft pool; whether that final medical finding reflected genuine disability, misuse of influence, or deliberate misrepresentation is disputed in sources ranging from Selective Service records and investigative reporting to eyewitness testimony and political rebuttals, and full resolution is limited by incomplete archival medical documentation [2][1][3].