John Wayne dodged the draft during WWII. He had a variety of deferments and he finally settled on a 2A for being a Hollywood actor.
Here is my favorite quote about John Wayne from Robert Mitchum:
“John Wayne had four-inch lifts in his shoes. He had the overheads on his boat accommodated to fit him. He had a special roof put in his station wagon. The son of a bitch, they probably buried him in his ■■■■■■■ lifts. Sure I was glad to see John Wayne win the Oscar … I’m always glad to see the fat lady win the Cadillac on TV, too."
The thinking that Wayne felt increasingly guilty about his service avoidance eventually led to his hyper-partisanship/nationalism in later years makes a lot of sense to me.
Taking this at face value, sounds like Rush Limbaugh, too.
Having said that, “service avoidance”?
From Wkipedia
America’s entry into World War II resulted in a deluge of support for the war effort from all sectors of society, and Hollywood was no exception. Wayne was exempted from service due to his age (34 at the time of Pearl Harbor) and family status (classified as 3-A – family deferment). Wayne repeatedly wrote to John Ford saying he wanted to enlist, on one occasion inquiring whether he could get into Ford’s military unit, but consistently kept postponing it until after “he finished just one or two pictures”.[3]:212 Wayne did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1-A (draft eligible), but Republic Studios was emphatically resistant to losing him since he was their only A-list actor under contract. Herbert J. Yates, President of Republic, threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract,[3]:220 and Republic Pictures intervened in the Selective Service process, requesting Wayne’s further deferment.[3]:213
U.S. National Archives records indicate that Wayne, in fact, did make an application[33] to serve in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor to the modern CIA, and had been accepted within the U.S. Army’s allotted billet to the OSS. William J. Donovan, OSS Commander, wrote Wayne a letter informing him of his acceptance into the Field Photographic Unit, but the letter went to his estranged wife Josephine’s home. She never told him about it. Donovan also issued an OSS Certificate of Service to Wayne
I’m as far to the right as anyone can be. I don’t respect draft dodgers regardless of their politics.
That includes John Wayne, Dick Cheney, Rush, Bill Clinton and anyone else you can think of.
Wayne could have faced lawsuit if he enlisted in violation of his studio contract, and the studio worked to ensure he was not drafted:
Wayne repeatedly wrote to John Ford saying he wanted to enlist, on one occasion inquiring whether he could get into Ford’s military unit, but consistently kept postponing it until after “he finished just one or two pictures”. Wayne did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1-A , but Republic Studios was emphatically resistant to losing him since he was their only A-list actor under contract. Herbert J. Yates, President of Republic, threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract . . .John Wayne - Wikipedia
