Ever the Artful Dodger, Mitt Romney ran to France during the Viet Nam War
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
The Long & Short of it: Mitt Romney dropped out of college, which meant he was going to lose his student deferment. Then, he decided he could obtain additional deferments by doing missionary work. Where else but to France would a cushy kid go? So, he did, for two years. Then, he decided he wanted to return to the United States, so he re-enrolled in college, this time at a different one – BYU. That meant he could get ANOTHER deferment… which he did.
One thing’s for certain: MITT ROMNEY KNOWS HOW TO GAME THE SYSTEM.
While at Stanford, Mitt Romney was exempt from the draft because he had a 2-S student deferment which was given to most undergraduates. He kept it only one year. Similarly to his older brother, Scott, Mitt Romney left Stanford early to serve for 30 months as a missionary abroad, as is customary for devout Mormon men.
During those two years in France, from 1966 to 1968, he obtained another draft exemption as a missionary — which was very controversial, because critics complained that it disproportionately excluded Mormon men from service.
The Selective Service eventually limited church districts to one religious deferment every six months, which sharply reduced draft exemptions in Utah. But in Michigan, where Mitt Romney grew up, the small Mormon population there made it highly unlikely that others competed for the mission that Mitt Romney volunteered for, said Barry Mayo, a counselor at the time to the district bishop. After he returned from France, Mitt Romney transferred to Brigham Young University, and obtained another student deferment.
Three years after George Romney became the the Nixon administration‘s housing secretary, a journalist interviewed children of top administration officials about their views on the war. Then 23-year-old Mitt said, “If it wasn’t a political blunder to move into Vietnam, I don’t know what is.”
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All Gave Some, Some Gave All.
And ONE ran off to France to hide.
By David Pinar on Sep. 28, 2012

Mitt Romney resigned from college, then requested a draft deferment & exemption for missionary work in France.
The Vietnam War was one of the most troubling, challenging times for America. It was America’s most unpopular war, and it sharply divided our country. Some proudly enlisted and volunteered for duty. Some had to be drafted, but served their country and did their duty. Many protested against the war. And some even immigrated to Canada to avoid the draft. But as diverse their views and opinions were they shared one thing in common: they formed their opinions and then followed their convictions. But there was one who didn’t: Willard Mitt Romney.
That’s Mitt on the right in May 1966, at Standford University. Some students had organized a sit-in demonstration protesting the war, the draft, and university President Sterling’s support for the war. So Mitt joined a counter demonstration supporting the war in Vietnam and the draft. He thought those anti-war protestors should just shut up and prepare to be drafted and deployed. When he was running for President in 2007 he claimed in an interview with NBC that he wanted to serve and fight in Vietnam:
“I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and be representing our country there, and in some ways it was frustrating not to feel like I was there as part of the troops that were fighting in Vietnam”.
But when he was running for the Senate in 1994, he told the Boston Herald something a little different:

Mitt Romney, far right, holding “Speak Out Don’t Sit In” sign at a counterprotest at Stanford in 1966.
“It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam, but nor did I take any actions to remove myself from the pool of young men who were eligible for the draft“.
As Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott wrote long ago: “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”. Because once you start lying it quickly gets difficult keeping things straight. Yes, Mitt, you did take actions to remove yourself from being eligible for the draft. Four times. You got your first deferment in 1965, a student deferment while at Stanford. And then you took a religious deferment from 1966 through 1969, when you did your Mormon Mission in Paris. Where you dreamed longingly of Ann, while lounging at the beach.
While those you told to shut up and go to Vietnam were also on the beach, but under somewhat different conditions:
Anti-war demonstrator, draft dodger, draft server or volunteer, they all the courage to follow their convictions. While Mitt Romney said one thing and did another. Just like he did when he cares about all Americans, but then in a private fundraiser shows his disdain for 47% he says it’s not his job to care about.
And Romney’s actions avoiding the Vietnam war explains why it never occurred to him to honor and thank our men and women in uniform when he accepted his party’s nomination to be Commander in Chief. Let Vietnam War veteran, Virginia Democratic Senator Jim Webb explain it to you:
During the year I was in Vietnam, 1969, our country lost twice as many dead as we have lost in Iraq and Afghanistan combined over the past 10 years of war. Not a day goes by when I do not think about the young Marines I was privileged to lead. Those young Marines that I led have grown older now. They’ve lived lives of courage, both in combat and after their return, where many of them were derided by their own peers for having served. That was a long time ago. They are not bitter. They know what they did. But in receiving veterans’ benefits, they are not takers. They were givers, in the ultimate sense of that word. There is a saying among war veterans: “All gave some, some gave all.” This is not a culture of dependency. It is a part of a long tradition that gave this country its freedom and independence. They paid, some with their lives, some through wounds and disabilities, some through their emotional scars, some through the lost opportunities and delayed entry into civilian careers which had already begun for many of their peers who did not serve.
And not only did they pay. They will not say this, so I will say it for them. They are owed, if nothing else, at least a mention, some word of thanks and respect, when a presidential candidate who is their generational peer makes a speech accepting his party’s nomination to be commander-in-chief. And they are owed much more than that — a guarantee that we will never betray the commitment that we made to them and to their loved ones.
All gave some, some gave all. And one did neither.
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at 5:31 PM and is filed under - Did they REALLY say that?, - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home., - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News. Tagged: Barry Mayo, Boston Herald, Brigham Young University, France, Jim Webb, Mitt Romney, Selective Service System, United States, Vietnam, Vietnam War, Walter Scott, Young Marines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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