‘Followed Rules’ on Draft, Clinton Insists

MANCHESTER, N.H. —  Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton acknowledged Saturday that he made an effort to have his Army induction notice canceled in the summer of 1969, but he insisted he had no recollection of seeking the assistance of two influential Republicans.

“Whatever the rules were, I followed them,” Clinton said. “I don’t remember whether I did it by mail or by meeting, but whatever the rules were at the time, I followed the established procedures.”

Clinton was responding to a Times story published Saturday reporting that two former Republican Party aides in Arkansas had arranged for him to meet with the late Col. Willard A. (Lefty) Hawkins, director of the state’s Selective Service office, to plead his case for having his induction notice canceled.

Questions about his draft history followed Clinton on a swing through New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, where his political advisers see prospects for a Democratic sweep in a presidential election for the first time since 1964.

Clearly exasperated by the attention devoted to his effort to avoid being drafted during the Vietnam War, Clinton suggested that those people who are now remembering long-forgotten details about the episode may be acting out of political motivation.

“All these Republicans keep coming up with new and different stories,” he told reporters. “They change their stories every time and then you want me to respond to it.”

In the past, Clinton has insisted that he did not pull any strings to avoid the draft. But he has never fully explained how he managed to persuade his draft board to cancel his induction notice at a time he was arranging to enter a reserve officers training program.

Clinton received his induction notice in the spring of 1969 at the end of his first year of studying as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University in England. By the time he returned to Oxford the next fall, he had obtained a draft deferment based on his pledge to join the ROTC the following year. Instead, he entered the draft lottery, received a high number but was never called.

Cliff Jackson, a former friend and Oxford classmate of Clinton’s who has since become a political foe, told The Times he assisted the young Clinton in getting his induction notice canceled. At the time, Jackson was working as a research assistant in the Arkansas GOP headquarters.

In addition, Van Rush, the executive secretary of the state GOP at the time, said he intervened with Hawkins “to open the door” for a meeting with Clinton.

In response to the Times story, Clinton acknowledged that he began looking for an alternative after his draft induction notice arrived.

“I was actively working to find an alternative to induction, another service alternative,” he said. “I found out about the ROTC thing. They were eager to have me there and told me it was just routine procedure. That’s what I did.”

Clinton indicated that he had searched his personal papers in response to questions from The Times regarding his actions during this period, but was unable to find anything about how he persuaded the draft board to cancel his induction notice.

Clinton clearly felt nostalgic about his return to New Hampshire, where his presidential candidacy survived a barrage of questions about his past--including the draft issue--during the state’s primary in February.

His motorcade made an unscheduled stop at a doughnut shop that Clinton had frequented during the primary. And his speech in Manchester was so laden with fond remarks for the people of New Hampshire that listeners could have easily forgotten that Clinton did not win the state’s primary--he finished second to former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas.

“I told you when I left here (after the primary) that, unlike George Bush, I would never forget New Hampshire,” he said. “If I am elected on Nov. 3, I will not take the Granite State for granted.”

Today on the Trail . . .

Gov. Bill Clinton campaigns in Carlisle, Indianola and Des Moines, Iowa, and Baltic, S.D.

President Bush concludes a two-day whistle-stop train tour, with stops in the Michigan communities of Plymouth, Wixom, Holly and Grand Blanc.