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Fred Trump, the inheritance and the draft

A 1927 arrest, a “small loan” and bone spurs

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Was his father in the Klan?

Arrested at the scene, yes. A member, unknown.

On Memorial Day 1927 about 1,000 Klansmen marched in Queens and fought with police. The New York Times listed a Fred Trump of Devonshire Road, the address where Trump’s father lived, among seven men arrested; his charges were dismissed. [1]

The reports do not say whether he was a Klansman, a bystander or a marcher. When asked in 2015, Trump denied the story; there is no record establishing membership. [2][3]

The sources

  1. New York Times archive: Warren criticizes “class” parades; seven arraigned in Queens battle, 1 Jun 1927 ↗

    The original report listing a Fred Trump among those arrested and later discharged.

  2. Snopes: Was Donald Trump’s father arrested at a KKK rally? ↗

    Reviews the 1927 newspaper reports.

  3. PolitiFact: What’s known about Fred Trump’s arrest after a KKK riot, 28 Mar 2019 ↗

    Reviews what the records show and what they don’t.

The “small loan” and the bone spurs

Much more than a million dollars. A deferment that is real; a favor that is family lore.

Trump has said his father gave him “a small loan of a million dollars.” A 2018 New York Times investigation based on tax records found he received at least $413 million in today’s dollars from his father’s real-estate empire, much of it through tax schemes, including some the paper called outright fraud. The Trump family denied wrongdoing, and no charges followed. [1]

Trump received four student deferments and, in 1968, a medical deferment for bone spurs in his heels. In 2018 the daughters of Queens podiatrist Larry Braunstein, who died in 2007, told the Times their father had said he diagnosed Trump as a favor to Fred Trump, his landlord. They acknowledged it was family lore and that there are no records. [2][3]

The sources

  1. New York Times: Trump engaged in suspect tax schemes as he reaped riches from his father, 2 Oct 2018 ↗

    Investigation based on tax returns and financial records. Paywalled; the Trump family denied fraud.

  2. New York Times: Did a Queens podiatrist help Donald Trump avoid Vietnam? 26 Dec 2018 ↗

    The doctor’s daughters’ account, which they call family lore.

  3. CNN: Daughters of foot doctor say he made Trump bone-spurs diagnosis as “favor,” 26 Dec 2018 ↗

    Summary, including the draft-record history of four student deferments and a medical one.

WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THIS FILE

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