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Gore gives 'Talk' his views on Vietnam
October 5, 1999 WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As the conflict over the Vietnam War played out publicly in America's streets, so it did privately in the minds of two young men facing the draft: Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Clinton's thoughts on the war are well-known. His letters from the 1960's became a major issue in the 1992 campaign. Now Gore's wartime letters to his future wife, Tipper, are also under the microscope in a new article in "Talk" magazine. In one, Gore wrote of the war, "It's wrong. We're wrong. A lot of people won't admit it and never will, but we're wrong." Clinton felt the same way, describing Vietnam in a letter to a friend as, "A war I opposed and despised with a depth of feeling I had reserved solely for racism in America before Vietnam." At the same time, both admired peers who chose to fight. At Harvard, one of Gore's fellow freshmen left to join the military. It didn't go down well with the anti-war sentiment on campus, but Gore was moved. "I admire him a great deal," Gore wrote. "I admire his courage and rashness. I'm not sure he didn't do the right thing. Everybody here thinks he's a fool. They seem so smug and confident. It made me furious." Three years later, when Bill Clinton returned to Arkansas from Oxford University, he wrote of his own conflicting emotions. "Nothing could be worse than this torment, and I cannot rid myself of it," Clinton wrote. "I have been here all summer in a place where everyone else's children seem to be in the military." At first, Clinton was willing to be drafted, but he quickly changed his mind and, with help from his friends, got into the reserves eleven days before his induction date. In a 1969 letter to his ROTC officer, Clinton wrote: "Thank you for saving me from the draft," words that nearly sank his campaign in 1992. Gore chose the opposite path. He enlisted and served six months in Vietnam as an Army journalist, often in combat zones. What motivated Gore to enlist? In an interview with "Talk" magazine, Gore said, "It just wouldn't have been fair for me to pull strings while my childhood friends were forced to serve." Politics also played a role. Gore's father, Al Gore Sr., was in a desperate fight to hold on to his U.S. Senate seat. His opposition to the war was not popular in hawkish Tennessee. As soon as he enlisted, Gore appeared in uniform with his father at campaign appearances, but it wasn't enough. The senior Gore lost his seat in November 1970. Two months later, his son shipped out. As for Bill Clinton, he was at Yale, studying law and protesting the war. Gore never actually saw combat, but he told "Talk" magazine he was still in dangerous situations, guarding camp perimeters, and traveling in and over combat zones as a reporter. |
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MORE STORIES:Tuesday, October 5, 1999
• Gore's campaign manager hasn't repaid loan, lawyer says • Gore gives 'Talk' his views on Vietnam • Ventura rebuffs reporters pressing him on interview fallout • Bush confident he can garner support in traditionally Democratic New York • Supreme Court steps into campaign contribution controversy • Hastert denies Republicans have abandoned Earned Income Tax Credit idea • Albright, others to defend test ban treaty in Senate • House Democrats try to force action on $1 minimum wage increase • As HMO vote looms, industry reps give speaker $1,000-a-plate breakfast • WALTER MEARS: Front-runners turn to offense after stumbles • Gore pledges largest increase ever for special education • Bush, Forbes to spend millions on TV ads • Administration urges quick action on FAA bill | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
