Media stressed that Clinton had avoided Vietnam service when he visited there, but ignored Bush's military service in reporting on his first visit

Written by Ben Armbruster & Rob Morlino

Published

At the time of President Bill Clinton's November 2000 visit to Vietnam -- the first by a U.S. president since the end of the Vietnam War -- numerous media reports noted Clinton's lack of service during the conflict, in many cases specifically referring to his having “avoided service” and noting that it was Clinton's first visit to the country. In contrast, network and cable news coverage of President Bush's recent visit to Vietnam as part of his trip to Southeast Asia has largely failed to note that Bush had never been to Vietnam, and no reports have thus far mentioned that during the Vietnam War, Bush was instead in the Texas division of the Air National Guard and requested transfer to Alabama so he could work on a Senate campaign. Both Clinton's and Bush's trips occurred late in their presidencies, and the merits of their military service were issues in the 1992 and 2004 presidential campaigns, respectively.

A few media outlets have juxtaposed Bush's current trip to Vietnam with his choice to serve in the National Guard during the Vietnam War. For example:

  • On the November 17 edition of NPR's Morning Edition, NPR White House correspondent Don Gonyea reported: “This is President Bush's first ever trip to Vietnam. As a young man, he secured a spot in the Texas Air National Guard, thus avoiding service in the war in Southeast Asia. Now he arrives here as president of the United States at a time of another unpopular war.”
  • A November 17 Los Angeles Times article noted that Bush's arrival in Vietnam “was shadowed by an issue that was politically difficult for him when he first ran for president, just as it was for Clinton: the question of military service during the Vietnam War.” The article added that “there was new attention to an issue that is politically painful for him in 2006: whether the Iraq war is turning into a new generation's equivalent of the torturous Vietnam conflict.”
  • A November 17 Washington Post article noted that “as a young man,” Bush “joined the Texas Air National Guard rather than serve in Vietnam.”
  • Also on November 17, The New York Times noted: “There is little question that by signing up to be a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard, the risk was low that he [Bush] would end up in Vietnam as a 23-year-old.”

As a July 28, 1999, Washington Post article reported, in May 1968, “at the height of the Vietnam War” and “12 days away from losing his student deferment from the draft,” “Bush stepped into the offices of the Texas Air National Guard at Ellington Field outside Houston and announced that he wanted to sign up for pilot training.” The Post article also noted that the National Guard “was seen as an escape route from Vietnam by many men his age.” According to the Post, the Guard “usually had a long waiting list” and Bush “scored only 25 percent on a 'pilot aptitude' test, the lowest acceptable grade” but, noting that “his father was then a congressman from Houston,” the article added that Bush “was sworn in as an airman the same day he applied.” Further, Media Matters for America has noted that there is substantial and uncontested evidence to suggest that Bush did not meet his Guard obligations.

By contrast with the print media outlets and NPR, television outlets have ignored Bush's record during the Vietnam War. In their November 16 prime-time reporting on Bush's Vietnam visit, MSNBC and CNN ignored Bush's military service, while Fox News presented no reports on Bush's trip. While ABC, NBC, and CBS did not report on Bush's trip in their November 16 evening news broadcasts, their respective morning news shows did, but those also failed to mention the controversies surrounding Bush's military service. In addition, a Media Matters review of all three cable networks' coverage on November 17 up to 2 p.m. ET found no mention of Bush's past military service in their reporting on Bush's trip to Southeast Asia.

In contrast, numerous reports on President Bill Clinton's November 2000 visit to Vietnam pointed out that he had “avoided service” during the conflict:

  • A November 15, 2000, AP report by Walter Mears noted, “Clinton's exercise of [American economic and military] power, while having avoided military service in Vietnam, prompts some veterans to look askance at his visit. [Former Army infantryman Tom] Corey, vice president of the 50,000-member Vietnam Veterans of America, says he has exchanged letters with Clinton. His feeling from the exchange, Corey said, is that 'he probably feels the guilt and pain of not doing that, not serving.' ”
  • On the November 16, 2000, broadcast of ABC's World News Tonight, anchor Peter Jennings noted, “The president has just arrived [in Vietnam] and he'll have a full day of activities tomorrow.” He added, “Bill Clinton opposed the war on principle and avoided service for himself.”
  • In a November 17, 2000, USA Today article, State Department reporter Bill Nichols wrote, “President Clinton began his historic visit to Vietnam on Thursday with a quiet arrival ceremony and a motorcade into town that was greeted by tens of thousands of Vietnamese. Clinton is the first U.S. president to visit Vietnam since Richard Nixon in 1969 and the first to visit a unified Vietnam. As a young man, Clinton protested against the war in Vietnam and avoided being drafted for service.”
  • In a November 17, 2000, Chicago Tribune article, foreign correspondent Michael Lev wrote, “The painful legacy of the war for America has meant a slow healing process that only now has created the opportunity for a U.S. president to talk about the war while in Vietnam. The fact that Clinton opposed the war and avoided military service makes it much more sensitive.”
  • On the November 20, 2000, edition of CNN Sunday Morning, during a report by senior White House correspondent John King about the end of Clinton's visit that included an interview with the president, anchor Miles O'Brien asked King, “John, in the course of that interview, did the president share with you any of his personal thoughts? This had to be an interesting pilgrimage for him given the fact that he avoided service in the military during the Vietnam era and yet here he is, the first president to visit post-war.”