The policies — determining who would be drafted and who would be deferred, who would serve and who would escape, who would die and who would live — were an antidemocratic disgrace ... I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well placed ... managed to wangle slots in reserve and National Guard units. Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to their country.
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About Colin Powell
Colin Powell was a 20th-century American general, diplomat and statesman. Colin Luther Powell was an American Army general, diplomat, and statesman who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005 and was the highest-ranking African American in the federal executive branch in American history until the election of Barack Obama as president in 2008. Originally a member of the Republican Party, he was the first African-American to hold the office. Read more on Wikipedia →