[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 74 (Thursday, May 23, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H5555-H5560]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NO BRIDGE TOO FAR
Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 12, 1995, the gentleman
from California [Mr. Dornan] is recognized for 30 minutes as the
designee of the majority leader.
Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, I signed up for 60 minutes, but my colleague
from the beautiful adjoining Southern California district to the south,
which has some of the most beautiful surf in the Nation, I am
landlocked, Mr. Dana Rohrabacher, will follow me. I gladly gave him 30
minutes of my time. He has some very important things upon which he
will report to his district, the Nation, the Members of this House, all
through you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I just left Speaker Newt Gingrich's office, and he told
us earlier that if he got 235 signatures on a letter to Mr. Clinton
asking him in the name of duty, honor and country, to remove from his
legal pleadings to get out of giving Paula Corbin Jones, the young lady
who is claiming sexual harassment, alleging a case of something beyond
sexual harassment, at the high end of it, that category where it is a
crime, that he not have to give her her day in court, that he not
appear in court, because, among many other frivolous reasons, that he
should be considered an active duty military officer as the Commander-
in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States.
He refers to a not obscure, but not often used, act of this Congress
in 1940, and it is called the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act of 1940,
and that is what he is claiming through his lawyer, Bob Bennett, that
is a Republican activist and good friend of mine, Bill Bennett's older
brother, that Bob Bennett, the principal lawyer on what some people in
the press are calling Clinton's dream team, hoping for the same
impossible outcome as killer O.J. Simpson got, that they are claiming
this 1940 act.
Back to Speaker Gingrich. He said you get 236, of course I will be on
there, make it unanimous. Well, the gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Bob
Stump, who is the point man on this, I am flying tight wing on World
War II veteran Bob Stump, combat veteran, so this Korean peacetime
fighter pilot is right there with him, and in two days we got all 235
signatures. I just left Newt Gingrich's office. He is 236. We picked up
a couple of veterans on the Democrat side of the aisle, and we are off
and running with 238 signatures.
I will read the letter, in a moment when it arrives, to the
President, or the press release. The letter will be finally constructed
tomorrow, delivered to the White House tomorrow afternoon, on this
Memorial Day weekend, asking Mr. Clinton and company to take that
example of a pleading out of his case, to delay until 1997 Paula
Corbin's day in court, or if he were to win a second term, to delay it
until the next century, 2001 is when Mr. Clinton would leave office, at
noon on January 20 if he gets a second term, and then Paula Corbin
Jones can have her day in court.
Now, Mr. Speaker, you, who was one of the first signers of the letter
out of 238, I think you might have been so busy today, you missed the
inimitable Maureen Dowd, her column in the New York Times, America's
paper of record. All the news that fits--I mean all the news that is
fit to print. That was not deliberate. I have said it the other way so
often that I did not mean to do that. All the news that is fit to
print.
Maureen Dowd was going to title her column on Mr. Clinton ``Hiding
Behind the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act of 1940,'' and I will
explain that in some brief detail, what it is and what it is not. It
involves only civil cases, by the way, not criminal charges. It does
not cover sexual harassment. But Maureen Dowd told me she was going to
call her column ``Sergeant Bilk.'' I said well, I would have called it
``No Bridge Too Far.'' Cross my heart, that is what I said, Mr.
Speaker, right in that Speaker's lobby. And guess what she calls her
column? ``No Bridge Too Far.''
Above her name, which appears because she would be one of their
senior columnists, above her own name Maureen Dowd appears
``Liberties.'' It is kind of a top headline. And then a subject-
headline says, I can hear the music, ``He's in the Army now.'' And here
is her column, dateline ``Washington.'' That is where Maureen Dowd
covers the whole wild scene inside the Beltway, from right here in the
arena listening to the screams of the Christians and the roars of the
lions.
She says, ``As A society, we haven't preserved our sense of shame.''
Billy Graham signed off on that on May 2 in the rotunda.
{time} 1630
We have not preserved our sense of shame. ``But Bill Clinton is doing
his best'', his best--
To preserve our sense of shamelessness.
The President and his Rasputin, Dick Morris, have broken
creative new ground in brazenness.
First they snatch Republican positions counting, not
unreasonably, on the forgetfulness of voters and the
expediency of Democrats who want their Republican in the
White House to win. And now they are both embroiled in
kerfuffles on Capitol Hill, where it takes a lot to be called
shameless.
At my age, Mr. Speaker, when I come across a new word, it is a
thrill. When I was a young college kid I used to read a Bill Buckley
column and find five words I did not know. I now know that Bill Buckley
and I are peers because I have not read a column of his in at least 2
years where I have not known every word in the column, but this one is
a new one.
Mr. Rohrabacher, would you do me a favor? As you prepare your
succinct remarks and trenchant comments for tonight, would you go to
the big dictionary and look up this word, K-E-R-F-U-F-F-L-E-S,
kerfuffles. That is what Maureen Dowd says, and I will read this
sentence again. I love to learn a new word, ``And now they are both
embroiled.'' the President and his people on the other side of the
aisle, ``in kerfuffles on Capitol Hill, where it takes a lot to be
called shameless.''
[[Page H5556]]
``In a move that marks a new level of chutzpah in American politics,
Mr. Clinton's lawyers mentioned in their appeal to the Supreme Court'',
this is the Supreme Court across the street there on the east side of
this beautiful Capitol Hill, Mr. Speaker, ``on Paula Corbin Jones's
sexual harassment suit that the President may be protected by the
Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940, which was designed to
give American troops some protection from civil suits while on active
duty.''
And if people wonder why that is 1940 instead of 1941 or 1942,
remember, Mr. Speaker, that in this Chamber, in August of 1941, the
draft, which had been in existence for a year, was saved by one vote in
this Chamber. It past a little more comfortably in the Senate. And it
was because we were taking young men off the farms and out of high
schools and colleges and putting them in the military. No one could
foreclose on their home or hit them with a civil suit while they were
on active duty and pretty soon about to face the Japanese warlord's
treachery at Pearl Harbor.
Mr. BONO. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DORNAN. I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. BONO. It appears from your dialogue here that you are rather
emotional about an issue, and I may be going the wrong way, and I
certainly do not want to go against a colleague, but I though it would
be a nice gesture on our part to collect funds and buy a flak jacket
for the President.
I just want to make sure that that is not offensive to the line of
dialog that you are using here.
Mr. DORNAN. Well, you made a credible case earlier to me on the
floor, not just in humor, that if he pursued this and got a finding of
the Supreme Court that he truly was on active duty, at our press
conference, one of the press, Less Consolving, of a local radio
station, I think he is syndicated, said, ``Does that mean he would have
to test for HIV?'' Henry Hyde, our distinguished colleague and chairman
of the Committee on the Judiciary, said maybe he would have to go
through boot camp. An abbreviated one, to be sure. And imagine him on
active duty and all the repercussions and fallout from that.
Mr. BONO. I thank the gentleman.
Mr. DORNAN. I have just been joined by Mr. Bob Stump. I wish you
would take that microphone, chairman of the Committee on Veterans'
Affairs. Bob Stump has brought to me Newt Gingrich's signature. That
makes it 236. Susan Molinari called in from crib side with her brand
new baby.
Mr. STUMP. Yes.
Mr. DORNAN. I remember the baby's middle name, Ruby. I forget the
first name. Maybe it is Susan Ruby Paxon. So that makes it 236. So it
is official.
Let me just thank you, Mr. Chairman, and if you would tell us briefly
why you as a World War II veteran find this the bizarrest of stretches,
or as Maureen Dowd put it, ``No Bridge Too Far'', that Clinton's
pleadings in the Supreme Court on the Paul Corbin Jones case is
offensive to you a veteran.
Mr. STUMP. Mr. Dornan, let me just thank you for all your hard work
on this, and the reason we got so involved in this, it is so offensive
to anyone that has ever worn the uniform of the United States services.
The fact that this man that said one time that he did not like the
military and now he is trying to hide behind the service of the
military is incredible.
So I just want to thank you, and the Speaker signing that letter now
makes, and I thank we are waiting for one person to call in from the
airport that we somehow happened to miss, but that is 236.
Mr. BONO. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DORNAN. I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. BONO. I would like to enter into a question and answer process,
if I may, with you for a second.
I am baffled. You would assume that the President of the United
States and what he does would be considered news, especially if you are
a newspaper. Would that be a correct assumption?
Mr. DORNAN. Absolutely.
Mr. BONO. Do your find it interesting that a President who has now
stated that he is in the military and is using that for a defense and,
therefore, should not be brought before any justice system while he is
in the military, is only reported, and I get three papers, but it was
only reported in the Times.
I am just curious, and perhaps you have the answer, why would not the
Post and the Gannett paper give us that story? It is impossible that
they would be embarrassed to relate such a story, is it not?
Mr. DORNAN. Well, at our press conference, two reporters began to
argue, I do not like debates at press conferences, that it was only an
example. They asked who had read it. Well, Mr. Stump of Arizona had
read the Bennett part of their pleadings, I had, and it was more than
an example. It was a hint to the judge that we will put this in formal
language if you will go this far with this.
And I think the answer to your question is buried in the fact that in
a recent poll 91 percent of the elite news media, New York, Hollywood,
all the major papers, and all the major papers here except the
Washington Times, 91 percent said they voted for Clinton over George
Bush. So that is the reason.
I tell you what, I have here the one paper, the great Washington
Times, that has driven the story. I see they have a lead editorial that
says ``Bill Clinton Military Man?''
So let me finish Maureen Dowd's column, stay right where you are, if
you have the time. Mr. Rohrabacher looked up the word in this big
dictionary and kerfuffles is not in the dictionary. So I will ask
Maureen if she is using a British dictionary. That one is so old,
though, it still has sodomy in it and does not have homophobia, so
maybe it has not been updated.
But here is the rest of Maureen Dowd's column, and then I will read
the lead editorial in today's Washington Times.
She says, and I will go back one sentence.
In a move that marks a new level of chutzpah in American
politics, Clinton's lawyers mentioned in their appeal to the
Supreme Court on Paul Corbin Jones's sexual harassment suit
that the President may be protected by the aforementioned act
of 1940, which was designed to give American troops some
protection from civil suits while on active duty.
President Clinton here thus seeks, these are the exact words of Bob
Bennett,
President Clinton here thus seeks relief similar to that
which he may be entitled as Commander in Chief of the armed
forces, and which is routinely available to service members
under his command. Not for criminal action.
Robert Bennett, the President's lawyer, said he had only cited the
act as an example that might extend to the Commander in Chief, not as
his main argument. But Mr. Bennett is getting paid too much money to
make the hideous mistake of reminding the public of one of Mr.
Clinton's improvidences--his maneuvering on the draft--in defense of
another--his wandering eye.
Some veterans groups and Bob Stump, the Arizona Republican who is
chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and I would add
for Maureen, since she spoke to me, the chairman of military personnel
subcommittee, myself, did not care for Mr. Clinton's opportunistic
enlistment--Hello sailor.
Mr. Stump is sending the President a letter signed by 170
Republicans, addendum, 236, the entire conference plus two Democrats,
asking him to withdraw his ``ignoble suggestion'', that is from our
letter, from the brief. Quoting from our letter:
The Founding Fathers wanted to enshrine the principle of
civilian control of the military in the Constitution and did
so by making the President the civilian Commander-in-Chief of
the armed forces.
And the same for the Secretary of War, now called the Secretary of
Defense, and the three service secretaries, Navy taking care of the
Marine Corps. All of them are civilians, and civilians rule in this
great land. And that is what makes us unique in all of American
history, Mr. Speaker.
Maureen continues from our letter ``You are not'' italicized, ``a
person in military service nor have you ever been.''
Also in the President's mailbag is a letter from Republican
Congresswomen: Our troops here of about 8 had a press conference
yesterday, demanding that Dick Morris, otherwise referred to as
Rasputin, be fired for doing
[[Page H5557]]
jury duty polling, jury duty polling, for Alex Kelly of Darien, CT, the
unsavory teenage burglar who fled the country after he was accused of
raping two young girls. He was a fugitive in Europe for 8 years living
the posh life of a ski bum while his parents supported him.--Family
values.
It is the worst thing an adviser to the President could be doing at
this time when crime and crimes against women are such a deep concern
to the American people, wrote Representative Jennifer Dunn on our side
of the aisle.
The Republican women are attempting to spruce up Mr. Dole gender-
wise, but they have a good feminist point. Ordinarily, in a case like
this, the Democratic women would be yelping, but there was only the
occasional brave mutter. Representative Nita Lowey of New York, ``This
is beyond the pale.''
One female Democratic lawmaker explained if this were a Republican
President and Dick Morris was helping an accused rapist, you know we
would be screaming. But it is not worth picking a fight. We just want
to win in '96.
So Democrats have suppressed their distress as Mr. Morris has helped
the Clintons shape-shift, when Hillary Clinton told Larry King, ``There
is no left wing in the Clinton White House,'' and when Mr. Clinton
embraced the radical Wisconsin plan to abolish welfare.
Maureen Dowd, that was not a radical plan. Governor Tommy Thompson's
plan is highly reasonable and it is going to sweep the Nation. That is
my own, Dornan, aside.
Maureen finishes, ``Until yesterday, homosexual groups had fumed as
the President slithered away from same sex marriage.'' What a great
verb, slithered away. ``But the overly eager White House announcement
yesterday that Mr. Clinton would sign a law denying Federal recognition
for same sex'', that is homosexual, ``marriages if they ever reached
his desk was too much. The Human Rights Campaign'', misnamed, ``the
largest homosexual rights group, accused the President of caving in to
the right wing, and disinvited George Stephanopoulos as a dinner
speaker.''
And here is Maureen Dowd's closing paragraph, Mr. Speaker. ``So Bill
Clinton is in the Army. He's against gay marriage. His adviser did work
for an alleged rapist. He moves from the left wing to the right wing
because what he really believes in is the West Wing.''
Mr. Speaker, unless you are one word ahead of me, we found it in the
dictionary. Our hats are off to Maureen Dowd, who is becoming the next
Bill Buckley. Kerfuffle is to become disheveled. Disturbance. A fuss. A
mess. So now I will read that sentence.
{time} 1645
And now both the White House and the Democrats in this Chamber are
embroiled in kerfuffles, disheveled, disturbances on Capitol Hill,
where it takes a lot to be called shameless.
Now to the Washington Times. Bill Clinton, Military Man, lead
editorial.
When Bill Clinton famously declared that he loathed the military
while doing his best to stay out of it, he was obviously not yet
familiar with some of the fringe benefits that military service
affords. But the President wants those benefits now, even though he has
never spent a day in uniform, though perhaps Mr. Clinton thinks that
his spiffy leather bomber jacket counts, the one with the Velcro where
he puts on the First Armored Division patch and mixes it in with other
visits to uniforms. Remember, Mr. Speaker, this is to be the year of
Clinton posing in uniforms. Posing with Catholic schoolgirls and
schoolboys in their uniforms but voting for partial birth infanticide.
Posing with police officers anywhere in the country at the drop of a
hat but with his own State troopers of Arkansas having condemned him
for using them to procure. And now he is posing with the military at
every drop of the hat. Just spoke to the Coast Guard Academy, and it is
to be the year of Mr. Clinton surrounded by uniforms.
So the Washington Times continues: The benefit the President is
groping for is the protection from civil litigation provided to active
duty military personnel under the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act
of 1940.
I will be putting in at the end of this, Mr. Speaker, Clinton's
infamous disgraceful letter to Colonel Eugene Holmes, who was head of
the ROTC at the University of Arkansas in 1969. He has been the head
for a decade. I spoke to him last night. I will have something about
his words later. Then I am going to put in Colonel Holmes' letter from
September 7, 1992, which I put in the Record that day, the only paper
in America, in America that published those two letters, the 1969
letter and the 1992 letter in their fulsome horror, could have changed
the election, the only other paper in America, the only paper that put
them in was this Washington Times.
So my staff will get those over to me, which I know they are working
on. I will put those in at the end of this 30 minutes.
Perhaps Mr. Clinton thought that this new and audacious gambit would
go unnoticed. That seems to be what his lawyer Robert Bennett was
hoping: If you read the 24-page petition through the first time, you
would miss it. That is what Bennett says, it hit me in the face on the
first reading, the paragraph pushing the military service claim, Mr.
Bennett told the Washington Times. But Mr. Clinton cannot always be
that lucky. The chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs
noticed the claim and has expressed his outrage as he just did here on
the House floor and in a letter to the President. The commander of the
American Legion is similarly nonplussed. They plan a press conference
today--we had it; it was terrific--suggesting that the issue is not
going to be dispelled with the wave of Mr. Bennett's legal hand.
According to Joseph Cammarata, who together with Gilbert Davis, I
have spoken to them, represents Paula Jones in her lawsuit: The
President's claim is not only legally inappropriate, it is
inappropriate in light of those who served and those who have died in
our military over the centuries.
Perhaps if the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act actually provided a
shield to Mr. Clinton, it would have been worth it to the White House
to weather the well-earned scorn now being heaped on the President.
What I said, Mr. Speaker, is he should give Robert Bennett the Johnny
Cochran award. Anything that works, no matter how shameless, lying,
distorted, twisted, or ignominious. But the claim is almost little more
than a bad joke, suggesting that Mr. Bennett has been driven to
extraordinary and desperate measures to block the discovery process.
For starters, as Daniel Ludwig, national commander of the American
Legion, points out, the Commander in Chief is a civilian. The President
isn't subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He is not
eligible for military retirement. His service doesn't fit the legal
definition of active duty. It is bizarre that anyone would suggest the
civilian President of the United States is on active duty.
I would add to that, as I did before, or Mr. William Perry, Secretary
of Defense.
Back to the Times: That was certainly the ruling of the Los Angeles
County superior court in Bailey versus Kennedy and Hills versus Kennedy
to avoid being sued over damages from a traffic accident. President
John F. Kennedy asserted that the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act
protected him as Commander in Chief. It wasn't such a moral stretch for
Mr. Kennedy who, after all, had worn a Navy uniform in combat and had
been wounded when his boat was cut in two by a Japanese destroyer. But
it was such a legal stretch that the judge in LA denied John F.
Kennedy's motion without even writing an opinion.
I just learned something reading that in the Washington Times. I
didn't know John F. Kennedy had an automobile accident out there.
The President should also have consulted the Supreme Court's
interpretation of the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act in the 1943 case
of Boone versus Lightner. The defendant had speculated in the market
unwisely and had done so with money improperly taken from his own
daughter's trust fund. When sued by the daughter, the defendant relied
on the SSRA and the fact that he was a uniformed Army captain in
wartime. The high court ruled the captain was not protected from
litigation because he had a desk job and was himself a lawyer. Thus
unlike the GI in the foxhole, he would certainly be able to make his
court appearances.
The court's language is piquant, saying that charges struck at his
honor as
[[Page H5558]]
well as his judgment. Does that sound like Paula Corbin Jones? It does
to this Air Force captain, me.
The justices concluded that discretion is vested in the courts to see
that the immunities of the act are not put to such an unworthy use.
I am going to remember those words. To defend yourself from a charge
that you exposed yourself and offended a 23-year-old young lady who had
just been hired by the State of Arkansas, by the CEO of the State of
Arkansas, the Governor. When Mr. Clinton traveled in his Guard
airplanes in Arkansas, he would have been called a code 2. The
President of the United States is code 1 in the Coast Guard, Army,
Navy, Air Force, Marine airplane, code 2 is Vice President Gore in this
case, any one of our 50 Governors and any U.S. Senator or Congressman.
We are all code 2. I was in an Air Force base as the airdrome officer
when they said a code 4 was coming in. That would be a major general.
The place turned upside down.
I had never seen a 2-star in my life. One day when they said a code 1
was coming in, I froze in fear. It was President Eisenhower. No, a code
1, excuse me, President, yes, President Eisenhower. A code 2 is pretty
special. That is what the CEO is of the State of Arkansas, second only
to the President in military respect.
So this is an amazing series of legal cases here, such an unworthy
use in that case, whatever I said it was, Boone versus Lightner.
The Washington Times concludes: Mr. Clinton seems willing to use any
ruse, however unworthy of his office it may be, to delay answering
what, if anything, he was doing or trying to do in an Arkansas hotel
room, second floor mezzanine, Excelsior Hotel, Little Rock, with Paula
Jones. This ignoble pleading is a slap in the face of the millions of
men and women who either are serving on active duty or have served on
active duty in the armed forces of the United States, Mr. Stump and Mr.
Dornan wrote in the letter to their congressional colleagues.
He concludes that the President's most recent legal maneuver makes a
mockery of the laws meant to protect the honorable men and women who
serve their country. True. Just stop the legal goofiness, Mr.
President, the Times concludes. Raise your right hand and get on with
it.
I would add, giving the young woman her day in court.
Here is my press release today, Mr. Speaker. Washington, D.C.: It is
disgraceful that while the rest of the Nation is honoring our fallen
heroes of military service this long Memorial Day weekend, Bill Clinton
is seeking shelter behind a military he once claimed to loathe, in an
attempt to delay the sexual harassment suit filed by Paula Corbin
Jones. On May 15, 1996, attorneys for Mr. Clinton filed an appeal with
the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to delay the sexual harassment lawsuit
filed by Paula Jones, former Arkansas State employee, under the
supervision, all the way up to the top of the Arkansas pyramid, of then
Governor Bill Clinton.
Lawyers for Clinton try to use the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief
Act of 1940, passed because we were, I repeat, we were drafting young
men. I repeat some of the things that Mr. Stump and I said in the
letter we circulated on the floor. Repeat again the purposes of the
act. And this should be in this formal Record today, it is persons in
the military service who are devoting their entire energy to the
defense needs of the Nation, not traveling around on his two Air Force
747's campaigning and reimbursing only a first class ticket.
I will put the rest of my press release in with my closing line that
he mocks his job as civilian Commander in Chief and the honorable men
and women who have given their lives to the protection of this great
Nation. Tomorrow I go up to Annapolis for the graduation. I spent last
Friday at West Point. Believe me, we are turning out honorable men and
women.
Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the following material:
Text of Bill Clinton's Letter to ROTC Colonel
The text of the letter Bill Clinton wrote to Col. Eugene
Holmes, director of the ROTC program at the University of
Arkansas, on Dec. 3, 1969:
I am sorry to be so long in writing. I know I promised to
let you hear from me at least once a month and from now on I
will, but I have had to have some time to think about this
first letter. Almost daily since my return from England I
have thought about writing, about what I want and ought to
say.
First, I want to thank you, not just for saving me from the
draft, but for being so kind and decent to me last summer
when I was as low as I have ever been. One thing which made
the bond we struck in good faith somewhat palatable to me was
my high regard for you personally. In retrospect it seems
that the admiration might not have been mutual had you known
a little more about me, about my political beliefs and
activities. At least you might have thought me more fit for
the draft than ROTC.
Let me try to explain. As you know, I worked for two years
in a very minor position on the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee. I did it for the experience and the salary but
also for the opportunity, however small, of working every day
against a war I opposed and despised with a depth of feeling
I had reserved soley for racism in America. Before Vietnam, I
did not take the matter lightly, but studied it carefully and
there was a time when not many people had more information
about Vietnam at hand than I did.
I have written and spoken and marched against the war. One
of the national organizers of the Vietnam Moratorium is a
close friend of mine. After I left Arkansas last summer, I
went to Washington to work in the national headquarters of
the Moratorium, then to England to organize the Americans
here for demonstrations Oct. 15 and Nov. 16.
Interlocked with the war is the draft issue which I had not
begun to consider separately until early 1968. For a law
seminar at Georgetown I wrote a paper on the legal arguments
for and against allowing the Selective Service System, the
classification of selective conscientious objection for those
opposed to participation in a particular war, not simply
participation in war in any form.
From my work I came to believe that the draft system itself
was illegitimate. No government really rooted in limited
parliamentary democracy should have the power to make its
citizens fight and kill and die in a war they may oppose, a
war which even possibly may be wrong, a war which in any case
does not involve immediately the peace and freedom of the
nation.
The draft was justified in World War II because the life of
the people collectively was at stake. Individuals had to
fight if the nation was to survive, for the lives of their
countrymen and their way of life. Vietnam is no such case.
Nor was Korea an example where, in my opinion, certain
military action was justified, but the draft was not for
reasons stated above.
Because of my opposition to the draft and the war I am in
great sympathy with those who are not willing to fight, kill
and maybe die for their country (i.e. the particular policy
of a particular government) right or wrong. Two of my friends
at Oxford are conscientious objectors. I wrote a letter of
recommendation for one of them to his Mississippi draft
board, a letter which I am more proud of than anything else I
wrote at Oxford last year. One of my roommates is a draft
resister who is possibly under indictment and may never be
able to go home again. He is one of the bravest, best men I
know. His country needs men like him more than they know.
That he is considered a criminal is an obscenity.
The decision not to be a resister and the related
subsequent decisions were the most difficult of my life. I
decided to accept the draft in spite of my beliefs for one
reason to maintain my political viability within the system.
For years I have worked to prepare myself for a political
life characterized by both practical political ability and
concern for rapid social progress. It is a life I still feel
compelled to try to lead. I do not think our system of
government is by definition corrupt, however dangerous and
inadequate it has been in recent years. (The society may be
corrupt, but that is not the same thing, and if that is true,
we are all finished anyway.)
When the draft came, despite political convictions, I was
having a hard time facing the prospect of fighting a war I
had been fighting against, and that is why I contacted you.
ROTC was the one way left in which I could possibly, but not
positively, avoid both Vietnam and resistence. Going on with
my education, even coming back to England, played no part in
my decision to join ROTC. I am back here and would have been
at Arkansas Law School because there is nothing else I can
do. In fact, I would like to have been able to take a year
out, perhaps to teach in a small college or work in some
community action project and in the process to decide whether
to attend law school or graduate school and how to begin
putting what I have learned to use.
But the particulars of my personal life are not nearly as
important to me as the principles involved. After I signed
the ROTC letter of intent, I began to wonder whether the
compromise I had made with myself was not more objectionable
that the draft would have been, because I had no interest in
the ROTC program in itself and all I seemed to have done was
protect myself from physical harm. Also, I began to think I
had deceived you, not by lies--there were none--but by
failing to tell you all the things I'm writing now. I doubt
that I had the mental coherence to articulate then.
At that time, after we had made our agreement and you had
sent my ID deferment to
[[Page H5559]]
my draft board, the anguish and loss of my self-regard really
set in. I hardly slept for weeks and kept going by eating
compulsively and reading until exhaustion brought sleep.
Finally on Sept. 12, I stayed up all night writing a letter
to the chairman of my draft board, saying basically what is
in the preceding paragraph, thanking him for trying to help
in a case where he really couldn't, and stating that I
couldn't do the ROTC afterall and would he please draft me as
soon as possible.
I never mailed the letter, but I did carry it on me every
day until I got on the plane to return to England. I didn't
mail the letter because I didn't see, in the end, how my
going in the Army and maybe going to Vietnam would achieve
anything except a feeling that I had punished myself and
gotten what I deserved. So I came back to England to try to
make something of this second year of my Rhodes scholarship.
And that is where I am now, writing to you because you have
been good to me and have a right to know what I think and
feel. I am writing too in the hope that my telling this one
story will help you to understand more clearly how so many
fine people have come to find themselves still loving their
country but loathing the military to which you and other good
men have devoted years, lifetimes of the best service you
could give. To many of us, it is no longer clear what is
service and what is disservice or if it is clear the
conclusion is likely to be illegal.
Forgive the length of this letter. There was so much to
say. There is still a lot to be said, but it can wait. Please
say hello to Col. Jones for me.
Merry Christmas.
Bill Clinton.
____
A Colonel Sets the Record Straight
[Sept. 7, 1992, Memorandum for Record]
Subject: Bill Clinton and the University of Arkansas ROTC
Program
There have been many unanswered questions as to the
circumstances surrounding Bill Clinton's involvement with the
ROTC department at the University of Arkansas. Prior to this
time I have not felt the necessity for discussing the
details. The reason I have not done so before is that my poor
physical health (a consequence of participation in the Bataan
Death March and the subsequent 3 years internment in Japanese
POW camps) has precluded me from getting into what I felt was
unnecessary involvement. However, present polls show that
there is the imminent danger to our country of a draft dodger
becoming Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United
States. While it is true, as Mr. Clinton has stated, that
there are many others who avoided serving their country in
the Vietnam War, they are not aspiring to be the President of
the United States.
The tremendous implications of the possibility of his
becoming Commander-in-Chief of the United States's Armed
Forces compels me now to comment on the facts concerning Mr.
Clinton's evasion of the draft.
This account would not have been imperative had Bill
Clinton been completely honest with the American public
concerning this matter. But as Mr. Clinton replied on a news
conference this evening (Sept. 5, 1992) after being asked
another particular about his dodging the draft, ``Almost
everyone concerned with these incidents are dead. I have no
more comments to make.'' Since I may be the only person
living who can give a first-hand account of what actually
transpired, I am obligated by my love for my country and my
sense of duty to divulge what actually happened and make it a
matter of record.
Bill Clinton came to see me in my home in 1969 to discuss
his desire to enroll in the ROTC program at the University of
Arkansas. We engaged in an extensive, approximately two (2)
hour interview. At no time during this long conversation
about his desire the program did he inform me of his
involvement, participation, and actually organizing protests
against the United States involvement in Southeast Asia. He
was shrewd enough to realize that had I been aware of his
activities, he would not have been accepted into the ROTC
program as a potential officer in the United States Army.
The next day I began to receive phone calls regarding Bill
Clinton's draft status. I was informed by the draft board
that it was of interest to Senator Fullbright's office that
Bill Clinton, a Rhodes Scholar, should be admitted to the
ROTC program. I received several such calls. The general
message conveyed by the draft board to me was that Senator
Fullbright's office was putting pressure on them and that
they needed my help. I then made the necessary arrangements
to enroll Mr. Clinton into the ROTC program at the University
of Arkansas.
I was not ``saving'' him from serving his country, as he
erroneously thanked me for in his letter from England (dated
Dec. 3, 1969). I was making it possible for a Rhodes Scholar
to serve in the military as an officer.
In retrospect I see that Mr. Clinton had no intention of
following through with his agreement to join the Army ROTC
program at University of Arkansas or to attend the University
of Arkansas Law School. I had explained to him the necessary
of enrolling at the University of Arkansas as a student in
order to be eligible to take the ROTC program at the
university. He never enrolled at the University of Arkansas,
but instead enrolled at Yale University after attending
Oxford. I believe that he purposely deceived me, using the
possibility of joining the ROTC as a ploy to work with the
draft board to delay his induction and get a new draft
classification.
The Dec. 3 letter written to me by Mr. Clinton, and
subsequently taken from the files by Lt. Col. Clint Jones, my
executive officer, was placed into the ROTC files so that a
record would be available in case the applicant should again
petition to enter into the ROTC program. The information in
that letter alone would have restricted Bill Clinton from
ever qualifying to be an officer in the United States
military. Even more significant was his lack of veracity in
purposely defrauding the military by deceiving me, both in
concealing his anti-military activities overseas and his
counterfeit intentions for later military service. These
actions cause me to question both his patriotism and his
integrity.
When I consider the calibre, the bravery, and the
patriotism of the fine young soldiers whose deaths I have
witnessed, others whose funerals I have attended . . . . .
When I reflected on not only the willingness, but eagerness
that so many of them displayed in their earnest desire to
defend and serve their country, it is untenable and
incomprehensible to me that a man who was not merely
unwilling to serve his country, but actually protested
against its military, should ever be in the position of
Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces.
I write this declaration not only for the living and future
generations, but for those who fought and died for our
country. If space and time permitted I would include the
names of the ones I knew and fought with, and along with them
I would mention by brother Bob, who was killed, during World
War II and is buried in Cambridge, England (at the age of 23,
about the age Bill Clinton was when he was over in England
protesting the war).
I have agonized over whether or not to submit this
statement to the American people. But, I realize that even
though I served my country by being in the military for over
32 years, and having gone through the ordeal of months of
combat under the worst conditions followed by years of
imprisonment by the Japanese, it is not enough. I'm writing
these comments to let everyone know that I love my country
more that I do my own personal security and well-being. I
will go to my grave loving these United States of American
and the liberty for which so many men have fought and died.
Because of my poor physical condition, this will be my
final statement. I will make no further comments to any of
the media regarding this issue.
Eugene J. Holmes,
Colonel, U.S.A., Ret.
____
No Bridge Too Far
(Maureen Dowd)
As a society, we haven't preserved our sense of shame. But
Bill Clinton is doing his best to preserve our sense of
shamelessness.
The President and his Rasputin, Dick Morris, have broken
creative new ground in brazenness.
First they snatch Republican positions, counting (not
unreasonably) on the forgetfulness of voters and the
expediency of Democrats who want their Republican in the
White House to win. And now they are both embroiled in
kerfuffles on Capitol Hill, where it takes a lot to be called
shameless.
In a move that marks a new level of chutzpah in American
politics, Mr. Clinton's lawyers mentioned in their appeal to
the Supreme Court on Paula Corbin Jones's sexual harassment
suit that the President may be protected by the Soldiers' and
Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940, which was designed to give
American troops some protection from civil suits while on
active duty.
``President Clinton here thus seeks relief similar to that
to which he may be entitled as Commander in Chief of the
Armed Forces, and which is routinely available to service
members under his command.''
Robert Bennett, the President's lawyer, said he had only
cited the act ``as an example'' that might extend to the
Commander in Chief, not as his main argument.
But Mr. Bennett is getting paid too much to make the
hideous mistake of reminding the public of one of Mr.
Clinton's improvidences (his maneuvering on the draft) in
defense of another (his wandering eye).
Some veterans' groups and Bob Stump, the Arizona Republican
who is chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
did not care for Mr. Clinton's opportunistic enlistment.
(Hello, sailor).
Mr. Stump is sending the President a letter, signed by 170
Republicans, asking him to withdraw his ``ignoble
suggestion'' from the brief: ``The Founding Fathers wanted to
enshrine the principle of civilian control of the military in
the Constitution and did so by making the President the
civilian Commander in Chief of the Armed Services. You are
not a person in military service, nor have you ever been.''
Also in the President's mailbag is a letter from Republican
Congresswomen demanding that Dick Morris be fired for doing
jury-related polling for Alex Kelly of Darien, Conn., the
unsavory teen-age burglar who fled after he was accused of
raping two girls. He was a fugitive in Europe for eight
years, living the posh life of a ski bum, while his parents
supported him. (Family values.)
``it is the worst thing an adviser to the President could
be doing at a time when crime and crimes against women are
such a deep concern to the American people,'' wrote
Representative Jennifer Dunn.
[[Page H5560]]
The Republican women are attempting to spruce up Mr. Dole
gender-wise, but they have a good feminist point. Ordinarily,
in a case like this, the Democratic women would be yelping,
but there was only the occasional brave mutter. ``This is
beyond the pale,'' said Representative Nita Lowey of New
York.
One female Democratic lawmaker explained: ``If this were a
Republican President and Dick Morris was helping an accused
rapist, you know we would be screaming. But it's not worth
picking a fight. We just want to win in '96.''
So Democrats have suppressed their distress as Mr. Morris
has helped the Clintons shape-shift--when Hillary Rodham
Clinton told Larry King ``There is no left wing of the
Clinton White House,'' and when Mr. Clinton embraced the
radical Wisconsin plan to abolish welfare.
Until yesterday, gay groups had fumed as the President
slithered away from same-sex marriage. But the overly eager
White House announcement yesterday that Mr. Clinton would
sign a law denying Federal recognition for same-sex marriages
if it ever reached his desk was too much. The Human Rights
Campaign, the largest gay-rights group, accused the President
of carving in to the right wing, and disinvited George
Stephanopoulos as a dinner speaker.
So Bill Clinton is in the Army. He's against gay marriage.
His adviser did work for an alleged rapist. He moves from the
left wing to the right wing because what he really believes
in is the West Wing.
____
Clinton's Latest Discraceful Dodge
``It is disgraceful that while the rest of the nation is
honoring our fallen heroes of military service this weekend,
Bill Clinton is seeking shelter behind the military he once
claimed to loath, in an attempt to delay the sexual
harassment lawsuit filed by Paula Jones,'' commented
Congressman Robert K. Dornan, Chairman of the House National
Security Subcommittee on Military Personnel, after the
announcement that Bill Clinton will use The Soldier's and
Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940 as part of his legal
defense before the United States Supreme Court.
On May 15, 1996, attorneys for President Clinton filed an
appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to delay the
sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Paula Jones, a former
Arkansas state employee under the supervision of then-
Governor Bill Clinton.
Lawyers for Clinton contend that the Soldiers' and Sailors'
Civil Relief Act of 1940 provides temporary protection from
civil suits while the President is in office. This Act
requires that civil litigation against members of the armed
services be postponed while they are on active duty.
According to his plea, ``President Clinton here thus seeks
relief similar to that which he may be entitled as Commander
in Chief of the Armed Forces.''
However, the purpose of the Act is to allow the United
States to fulfill the requirements of national defense, by
enabling ``persons in the military service . . .'' to
``devote their entire energy to the defense needs of the
Nation.'' Furthermore, this Act clearly states that only
members of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast
Guard, and officers of the Public Health Service when
properly detailed, are eligible for such relief. This Act
goes further in defining the term ``military service'' to
include the period during which one enters ``active service''
and ends when one leaves ``active service.''
Under the Constitution, Bill Clinton is the civilian
Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. The Founding Fathers
wanted to enshrine the principle of civilian control of the
military in the Constitution and did so by making the
President the civilian Commander in Chief.
``Bill Clinton has never been an active duty member of the
military. In fact, in 1969, he dodged the draft and ran from
his obligations to both his military and his country. And now
as the civilian Commander in Chief, he mocks the honorable
men and women who have given their lives to the protection of
our great nation.''
____________________