Joe Biden stated that he hopes his legacy is that he has reduced the chances of war, saying he was motivated to do so “because of Vietnam.”
Biden, 81, was first elected to the US Senate in 1972, at the age of 29, as the Vietnam War raged and hundreds of thousands of Americans were conscripted into the military.
He never served in the conflict himself, but instead received five student deferments and then a disqualification on medical grounds.
The disqualification was because he had suffered from asthma as a teenager, even though he was a student athlete.
Asked about his legacy during an interview with Univision on Wednesday, the president said, “I hope the legacy is that I kept my word, that – I said the reason I ran for office was to save the lives of ordinary people.” help and reduce the lives of ordinary people. the prospect of war and… because of Vietnam.”
President Biden said in an interview with Univision that he first ran for office to “reduce the prospect of war… because of Vietnam.” He said he hopes his legacy after more than 50 years of public service is that he kept his word
President Joe Biden at age 25. Biden attended the University of Delaware as an undergraduate and then to Syracuse for law school. He received five student draft deferments and one medical waiver
Biden as newly elected Democratic Senator from Delaware in December 1972
He continued, “The secret you have to ask yourself is: What are you willing to lose for? You discover what you are willing to lose, you have an idea of what you should do. And so I hope my legacy is that I was honest and straightforward and did what I said.”
Biden’s comments on the Vietnam War revived scrutiny of his own decisions and positions at the time.
Democrats have often criticized Donald Trump for not serving in Vietnam, but neither has Biden.
In 1972, he ran for Senate on a platform opposing President Richard Nixon’s escalation of the war and saying the U.S. should have left Vietnam years earlier.
Biden had already received five student deferments, first as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware, and later as a law student at Syracuse University, where he graduated in 1968.
A month after undergoing a physical examination in April 1968, Biden was subsequently classified “1-Y,” meaning he was only available for duty in the event of a national emergency.
In 2008, Obama campaign officials released Biden’s Selective Service records to the Associated Press as then-vice presidential candidate.
An Obama spokesperson said at the time that the exemption was “due to asthma as a teenager.”
It came despite him saying in his own book that he was a star athlete in high school and college and often mentioning his time as a lifeguard during the summer.
Biden’s 1961 Selective Service System registration card. After receiving a draft card, Biden received five student deferments and a medical exemption to avoid serving in Vietnam
Although he opposed the war during his first Senate campaign, he was also not one to attend protests against the Vietnam War.
Biden once said at a news conference that by the time people were marching and carrying banners, he was voting against the war in Washington and was in law school and married before that.
“I’m not a joiner… I was out of sync with, by the time the war movement was at its height, when I was in Syracuse, I was married. I studied law. I wore sport coats. I was not part of that,” Biden said in 1987.
Donald Trump at the New York Military Academy in 1964. He received five deferments and a medical exemption during the Vietnam War
Former President Donald Trump, born in 1946, unlike many members of his generation, also did not serve in the Vietnam War.
The ex-president received four deferrals while attending Fordham and then the University of Pennsylvania.
After graduating in 1968, he received a medical exemption. The reason was bone spurs in his heels.
It earned him the same “1-Y” rating as Biden.
Trump told a newspaper in 2016 that the bone spurs were “temporary” and “minor.” He also said he couldn’t remember when it stopped bothering him.
Former President Bill Clinton also came of age during the Vietnam War, but did not serve either.
He was also granted a tuition deferment and subsequently cleared to join ROTC at the University of Arkansas Law School.
This allowed him to attend Oxford University and not serve in ROTC.
President George W. Bush graduated from Yale in 1968, enlisted in the Texas Texas Air National Guard and did not go to Vietnam.