Cultural icon and outstanding American actor.
John Wayne represented the strong, silent cowboy or soldier and idealized American values of his period.
Recent criticism of John Wayne’s machismo on and off screen has cast doubt on his reputation.
Even at his peak, John Wayne’s refusal to serve in World War II infuriated people.
Today, we know why, which may surprise you.
Over 16 million Americans served in WWII, but John Wayne, born Marion Mitchell Morrison, did not.
Hollywood was supposed to help the war effort like everyone else. Why did “The Duke” not enlist? Clark Gable, Henry Fonda, and Jimmy Stewart fought beside him. Was John Wayne a draft dodger, as many say?
The actor was becoming famous in Hollywood when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Wayne, 34, wasn’t a huge star, but Stagecoach (1939) boosted his self-confidence.
George Bancroft, John Wayne, Louise Platt in Stagecoach (1939)
Stagecoach’s box-office triumph made Wayne famous. His Hollywood status expanded with each passing year. Given this, World War II was exceedingly inconvenient. His career was booming, and getting drafted or enlisted could have ruined it.
Some accounts say Wayne feared losing his career.
In the 1940s, “The Duke” made a lot of money, which was crucial since his marriage to Josephine Alicia Saenz had ended and he had four children to raise.
Marc Eliot proposed another reason Wayne didn’t fight in 2014. In “American Titan: Searching for John Wayne,” Eliot believes Wayne was having an affair with Marlene Dietrich. Wayne declined to fight to save his relationship with Dietrich.
“When she came into Wayne’s life, she juicily sucked every last drop of resistance, loyalty, morality, and guilt out of him,” Eliot wrote.
Wayne requested a 1943 3-A draft deferment. As sole provider for a large family, he was deferred from military service. Maybe we shouldn’t blame Wayne alone. Republic Studio President Herbert Yates requested deferral on his behalf.
After Gene Autry volunteered to fly for the Army Air Corps, Yates lost his golden goose. He didn’t want Wayne, his second moneymaker, to wear the uniform and leave.
To retain his lone A-list actor, the Republic Studio President threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he left.
Contacted John Ford
After making additional movies, Wayne intended to enlist, but he never did, according to acquaintances. The Duke frequently wrote to John Ford, the famed Irish director, asking to join his military regiment.
Wayne wrote to Ford in 1942, “Have you any suggestions on how I should get in? Could you assign me to your outfit, and would you want me?
Ford produced Navy Department documentaries while working at the Office of Strategic Services (Flickr / Kate Gabrielle). Director of the 1943 propaganda film December 7th: The Movie, he was on Omaha Beach on D-Day with his camera.
Ford yelled to Wayne “to get into it” during the war. The director protested that the actor was prosperous while other men died in Europe and the South Pacific.
Wayne was awarded a place in the Field Photographic Unit despite critics calling his application “half-hearted effort”. However, Wayne’s wife Josephine received the letter.
She never informed her spouse.
In the end, Hollywood, Wayne, and the government decided that the famous actor should be awarded 2-A status and deferred in “support of national interest.”
Wayne, who starred in thirteen wartime pictures, told friends that making movies to encourage the military was ideal.
Some claim Wayne came closest to World War II by playing others on screen. On an entertainment tour in 1943 and 1944, he visited South Pacific U.S. bases and hospitals. The Hollywood star tried to raise military morale, but scarred battle veterans were hard to convince.
When Wayne walked onstage in Australia, the audience booed.
Duke had four children and an old injury that prevented him from getting an officer’s commission in the military. The powers that be recognized Duke’s huge screen impact on national morale. He traveled extensively to raise support and exposed us to our foreign wars. Let no one blame him for not fighting like others. Film scholar James Denniston tried to put things in perspective by saying, “He was the real deal, no matter where he showed up.”
William Manchester shared his tale of serving in the Pacific in a New York Times Magazine story. Injured and evacuated, Manchester saw John Wayne, the great American actor and cultural icon.
After my evacuation from Okinawa, I witnessed Wayne’s humiliation at Aiea Heights Naval Hospital in Hawaii. Navy corpsmen carried litters down the hospital theater each night so men could see movies. One night, they surprised us.
John Wayne emerged from the curtains sporting a 10-gallon hat, bandana, checkered shirt, two guns, chaps, boots, and spurs before the picture. He smiled with aw-shucks, covered his face, and said, “Hi guys!” He was met with dead stillness. A person booed. Suddenly, everyone booed. This man represented the phony machismo we hated, so we didn’t listen. He tried to be heard, but we drowned him out, so he quit and fled, he said.
Two decades after his death, The Unquiet American, a BBC documentary, revealed why Wayne didn’t serve in WWII.
According to filmmakers
Wayne made several little justifications. One example? The actor said he didn’t have a typewriter to fill out forms.
“It was career-driven. Wayne maneuvered things so he didn’t have to sign up and could fill the gap left by other Hollywood stars,” The Unquiet American’s producer James Kent told The Independent in 1997.
“Later he found himself a flag-waver and arch Commie-baiter with no military record.”
According to John Wayne: American, his refusal to serve haunted him forever. Guilt drove his post-war patriotism. Many called Wayne a draft dodger.
“He would become a ‘superpatriot’ for the rest of his life trying to atone for staying home,” Pilar Wayne, his wife, wrote.
In 1979, John Wayne died of stomach cancer. President Jimmy Carter posthumously awarded Wayne the Presidential Medal of Freedom one year after his death.
His World War II deeds have tainted his status as an American titan in subsequent years. A notorious 1971 Playboy interview didn’t help.
Flickr
John Wayne still divides Americans. Many who grew up with his films consider him one of the best actors ever and don’t want to mix politics with performance.
Others don’t think he was a great actor like Jack Nicolson, Dustin Hoffman, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Gregory Peck. Many are still upset he didn’t fight in the war.
Thoughts on John Wayne?