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Bill Clinton Letter To Holmes

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Katie Miramontes Mr. Lindsay Arkansas History April 20, 2017 Bill Clinton’s Letter to Col. Holmes In this letter written by then student of the University of Arkansas, William Jefferson Clinton, addresses his ROTC officer, Col. Eugene Holmes, about his army draft induction. Clinton openly thanks Col. Holmes for ‘saving’ him from the draft and admitted he may have been deceptive about the depth of his anti-war beliefs when he enrolled in the program. Clinton did what he could, quite cleverly one might add, at avoiding the draft with clear ulterior motives. As a primary document, it is important to recognize the basic identifications of this letter and analyze the authors intent. This document was written as a letter by Clinton addressed to Col. Holmes in December of 1969. Clinton was a student at the University of Arkansas and only twenty-three years old at the time. Col. Holmes was the boss of the man who had been communicating with Clinton regarding the ROTC program and draft induction, Col. Jones. This letter created such a stir with Col. Jones that although all of Clinton’s …show more content…

Retired Lt. Col. Clinton D. Jones, who was responsible for recruiting candidates into the program, stated that Clinton would not have been accepted into the ROTC if he had been forthright about his receival of the draft induction. In his letter, Clinton obscures the fact that he intentionally did not tell his recruiter, Jones, about the induction. Clinton referred to the letter as an ‘induction notice’ and a ‘draft notice’. He mentioned he had not intended to deceive anyone by failing to disclose that he had received it. Clinton stated he had a change of heart and asked that his deferment be canceled so he could take his chances on the draft, just as his roommate from the University of Arkansas had

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