Tom Harmon: All-American, Ladies' Man, Would-Be Draft Dodger?
Before we get started, let me emphasize that I think Tom Harmon is one of the finest men to have attended the University of Michigan (which I also currently attend). The diary title is not an attempt to troll; regardless of whether or not Harmon desired to be a soldier, the fact is he was - and, from all accounts, an excellent one at that. That said:
Asked by a judge for whom I intern to assemble a collection of newspaper clippings from the early 1940s pertaining to Detroit councilmen who were bribed and ultimately imprisoned [Edit - this project was solely for the judge's amusement, the idea was NOT to inform any current proceedings. This was NOT legal research.], I happened to notice the name "Harmon" on a 1941 Detroit Free Press paper:
The main article reads:
"Harmon Saves Press Agents; Meets Actress at Deadline
The Detroit Free Press - Friday, September 19, 1941
A motion picture actress arrived at City Airport Friday and --
surprise! Tom Harmon was there to greet her.
Harmon, an obliging fellow who seldom tells a press agent where to
head in, has in recent months been photographed meeting (1) Anita
Louise, who accompanied him to the U. of M. senior ball; (2) Elyse
Knox, a move starlet in whom he declared he really had a romantic
interest; (3) Miss Everlyn Keyes, Thursday's arrival.
Miss Keyes, a brown-eyed blond who will join Harmon Friday in a
personal appearance in connection with their current films, almost
arrived without benefit of the All-American halfback.
Ten minutes before plane time, a cordon of press agents was combing
the airport station for Harmon.
"I told him to be here," one of them said distractedly between the
search of the airport restaurant and the men's lounge. "Besides, he
got a wire from the coast.
Harmon arrived as the orchid-bedecked Miss Keyes alighted from the plain.
"Is it romance this time?" a newly arrived reported asked hopefully.
Both principals shook their heads.
"She probably has 5,000 fellows on the coast," Harmon said.
"There's no romantic content in our relationship at all," Miss Keyes said.
The press agents began a hunt for the limousine, complete with driver,
which had been ordered for the occasion. It was missing, so Miss
Keyes went to the Hotel Book-Cadillac in Harmon's roadster."
Good for him, eh? Oddly placed in the midst of this article, however, is another about Harmon:
"Draft Deferment Denied
GARY, Ind., Sept. 18 -- (UP) -- Tom Harmon, Michigan's football hero,
tonight was denied a request for a 3-A draft deferment and was subject
to immediate call to service provided he pass his physical
examination, local Draft Board officials announced."
Beyond Harmon himself, there's an interesting link between the two articles that I stumbled upon by chance when I Googled the three young ladies mentioned in the main article.
As far as I can tell, a 3-A draft deferment is contingent upon "hardship to dependents." Who might those dependents have been?
Well, when Harmon entered the military, it was at the expense of his engagement to Elyse Knox, the second woman mentioned in the main article; they called off their engagement upon his draft. Might Harmon have sought the deferment in order to maintain this engagement?
In any case, there's a happy ending: During Harmon's stint in the military, Elyse married and divorced. Upon Harmon's return, the two rekindled their engagement, and were wed. Her wedding dress was made out of the silk from the parachute Harmon used as he famously bailed out of his crippled plane. The pair stayed together until his death in 1990.
Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool.
I also liked when Harmon called Miss Keyes a slut.
Asked by a judge for whom I intern to assemble a collection of newspaper clippings from the early 1940s pertaining to Detroit councilmen who were bribed and ultimately imprisoned [Edit - this project was solely for the judge's amusement, the idea was NOT to inform any current proceedings. This was NOT legal research.], I happened to notice the name "Harmon" on a 1941 Detroit Free Press paper:
The main article reads:
"Harmon Saves Press Agents; Meets Actress at Deadline
The Detroit Free Press - Friday, September 19, 1941
A motion picture actress arrived at City Airport Friday and --
surprise! Tom Harmon was there to greet her.
Harmon, an obliging fellow who seldom tells a press agent where to
head in, has in recent months been photographed meeting (1) Anita
Louise, who accompanied him to the U. of M. senior ball; (2) Elyse
Knox, a move starlet in whom he declared he really had a romantic
interest; (3) Miss Everlyn Keyes, Thursday's arrival.
Miss Keyes, a brown-eyed blond who will join Harmon Friday in a
personal appearance in connection with their current films, almost
arrived without benefit of the All-American halfback.
Ten minutes before plane time, a cordon of press agents was combing
the airport station for Harmon.
"I told him to be here," one of them said distractedly between the
search of the airport restaurant and the men's lounge. "Besides, he
got a wire from the coast.
Harmon arrived as the orchid-bedecked Miss Keyes alighted from the plain.
"Is it romance this time?" a newly arrived reported asked hopefully.
Both principals shook their heads.
"She probably has 5,000 fellows on the coast," Harmon said.
"There's no romantic content in our relationship at all," Miss Keyes said.
The press agents began a hunt for the limousine, complete with driver,
which had been ordered for the occasion. It was missing, so Miss
Keyes went to the Hotel Book-Cadillac in Harmon's roadster."
Good for him, eh? Oddly placed in the midst of this article, however, is another about Harmon:
"Draft Deferment Denied
GARY, Ind., Sept. 18 -- (UP) -- Tom Harmon, Michigan's football hero,
tonight was denied a request for a 3-A draft deferment and was subject
to immediate call to service provided he pass his physical
examination, local Draft Board officials announced."
Beyond Harmon himself, there's an interesting link between the two articles that I stumbled upon by chance when I Googled the three young ladies mentioned in the main article.
As far as I can tell, a 3-A draft deferment is contingent upon "hardship to dependents." Who might those dependents have been?
Well, when Harmon entered the military, it was at the expense of his engagement to Elyse Knox, the second woman mentioned in the main article; they called off their engagement upon his draft. Might Harmon have sought the deferment in order to maintain this engagement?
In any case, there's a happy ending: During Harmon's stint in the military, Elyse married and divorced. Upon Harmon's return, the two rekindled their engagement, and were wed. Her wedding dress was made out of the silk from the parachute Harmon used as he famously bailed out of his crippled plane. The pair stayed together until his death in 1990.
Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool.
I also liked when Harmon called Miss Keyes a slut.
That is totally too much info. If your judge finds out about this (assuming that you are not lying about who you are/what you are doing) you are gonna be in serious trouble.
There's nothing inappropriate here. I added a small edit to clarify that the project is in no way legal research. He found the articles at a local library, I copied and assembled the articles in my spare time so that he could read them and share them with visitors.
Nothing special.
tax dollars hard at work
Just kidding, excellent find. Vapid celebrity news sounds so much more interesting in old-timey newspaper speak. Good story.
Unpaid ;-)
I clicked expecting to find a 100 year old troll. That was a surprisingly interesting read. Thanks, dude.
Interesting stuff. If he did want to dodge the draft, I don't blame him. We were not at war at this time. In 1941, the U.S. government conducted its only peacetime draft in history. I would imagine that this was quite controversial (especially as FDR publicly insisted that he had no intention of declaring war). At any rate, after we did enter the war, Harmon joined the military, and served with distinction.
Draft dodger? The father of NCIS star Mark Harmon? Bite your tongue.
A draft dodger specifically refers to someone who illegally tries to avoid compulsory military service. What Harmon apparently did, was to ask for a legal loophole out of the draft. When that loophole was denied, he went and served honorably.
Additionally, as another poster points out. Pearl Harbor had not yet happened yet. Much of America was in the isolationist mindset and didn't understand a peacetime draft. Once America was at war from the attack on Dec. 7th, 1941, attitudes changed across America, including Harmon's.
This really is a non-story coupled with a poor word choice.
No need to comment if you didn't read the post... and you clearly didn't read the post.
I did read your post. Apparently you didn't read mine.
In your title you say "Tom Harmon.....Would-Be Draft Dodger?". Potential Draft Dodging has nothing to do with anything that Harmon did or the newspaper article that you use.
Draft Dodging is where someone "illegally" avoids compulsory military service. That is not what Harmon attempted to do. Harmon legally applied for a loophole, was denied the legal loophole and then accepted himself getting drafted in the only peacetime draft in US history. Your title gives the impression that Harmon was flirting with an illegal activity.
The beauty of headlines is that the impression that they give is of no consequence once the impressed actually read the post.
Regardless, I'll hold that my headline isn't misleading in the least, and I even qualify it in the first line of body text.
If you read that post and were honestly hung up on the headline, you've really missed it.
My guess is that you didn't realize that legally applying for a loophole is not draft dodging, because it doesn't make sense to put a crime in your title for something that no one is accusing him of doing.
This is such an inane argument, buddy. It's a harmless headline, the answer to which is made clear in the article itself: No. I'm pretty confident that anyone who knows who Tom Harmon is will also know that he was in fact in the military. That knowledge alone defeats any speculation that could conceivably be wrought by the headline should one choose to pass judgement without reading the article.
Also of note, I think the connotations of pursuing a "loophole" are pretty bad as well.
DON'T DEFAME TOM HARMON!!
It could be a harmless headline, but it is still a bad choice of words to reference the crime of draft dodging, which has nothing to do with what Harmon tried to do.
Your title would be similar to finding an article that Harmon applied for a furlough and it was denied and then writing a title, "Harmon was Absent With Out Leave?"
I'm warming up to your logic, but I still think it was a reasonable choice of words.
I think your analogy stinks, though.
"I think your analogy stinks, though."
Harmon asks if he can exercise a law that would allow him to legally avoid the draft. It is denied and he obeys the draft law. You title it the crime of would be draft dodging.
Harmon asks if he can exercise a law that would allow him to legally take a leave of absence. It is denied and he obeys the law and stays on active duty. You title it the crime of AWOL.
How are they different.
You make a good point that the term is meant to apply to someone who illegally avoids conscription, but "draft dodger" in America has been applied as a pejorative, especially by militants (i.e. 'hawks'), to anyone who takes action to evade the draft.
My father did whatever he could to avoid the draft in the '60s. First he went to school (legal). But then that didn't count anymore, and his number came up. So he drove up to the UP, to a town he knew which had already lost 40 percent of its graduating class to that stupid, stupid war, and thus weren't sending any more boys. The legality of that is questionable. My father then started a farm, for the sole purpose of earning an agricultural deferment. And if that didn't work he was ready to move to Canada rather than fight in Southeast Asia.
Would you call him a draft dodger? He didn't do anything illegal, but he was certainly called such plenty of times. So was Bill Clinton, if you recall, for his efforts to evade the draft.
I think he used it in the title for ironic context (those who would most be likely to jump to Harmon's defense no matter what he'd done are the same people who'd be quick to call someone who evaded the draft a "dodger.") It's a bit inflammatory -- my editor wouldn't have allowed it -- but I don't think it's that big a deal. Count my vote with the OP on this one.
Thank you for agreeing that draft dodging is a term meant to apply to people who break the law. Yes it is correct that people incorrectly use the term for political gain. I don't see why he would need to 'add irony' with an incorrect word choice that is "inflammatory."
Thanks for addressing the use of "dodger" within his title. As I was reading the post I was bothered by the fact that he was nothing close to a "dodger" yet its use in the title was suggestive by saying "would-be."
Thanks. That was an interesting post. I have Harmon's book. I still need to read that.
"She probably has 5,000 fellows on the coast," Harmon said.
"There's no romantic content in our relationship at all," Miss Keyes said.
This sounds all too much like the last few girls I've dated
This sounds all too much like the last few girls I've dated
But I agree that the header is poorly written. It has very negative conotations where you seem to not want to imply any in the body. Good work overall.
I like the headline. Once you've read the diary it's pretty obvious that's a jokey type word choice.
Nice research.
Thank you for posting this.
I think it's funny how we decry the massive media fawning today over Heisman hopefuls and All Americans, as if that's not how it was done in the old days. Yet here's the old old days, and All American football players are attending coteries with starlets. Can't you just see Harmon as, say, a USC or Florida quarterback giving "aw shucks" answers to reporters today?
As jmblue noted, Pearl Harbor wouldn't happen until early the following December, although the country was gearing up for war, and many men enlisted in 1941 before war was declared. However, Harmon's attitude toward the draft was reflective of the times among the upper classes (and those who fancied they would "make it.") In fact, his story is exactly reminiscent of the plot from a popular Bob Hope movie that came out that summer, Caught in the Draft. I wouldn't hold it against him -- until the Germans* Japanese bombed Pearl, dodging the draft was yet to carry a stigma.
* leave it alone, i'm on a roll.
This is true, although opposition to the war went beyond the upper classes. The memory of WWI (when 300,000 Americans were killed or wounded in only one year of fighting) was still pretty fresh in peoples' minds. Many felt that that war had not been worth the sacrifice and did not want to suffer another bloodbath overseas. (And of course, people did not then know about the concentration camps.) As for Japan, I don't think many ordinary Americans paid much attention to what they were doing until Pearl Harbor.
She played Scarlett O'Hara's sister in Gone with the Wind.
There are those out there who claim Harmon was a coward in WWII, abandoning his plane too early, possibly endangering others later as he returned to safety. I've seen message board posts (giant grain of salt) that claim at military functions Old 98 would get the Old Silent Treatment.
As I understand it he was exonerated after an investigation and a report by the War Department--it concluded that the rumors were unfounded. He also received the Silver Star.
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