Bert to SMU

[GGGG]

Exactly.   Talk to some of the numbnut Wisconsin fans and they will deny he is an alum....like many people here often do because they don't understand the definition of an alumnus. Of course, they also deny it because he doesn't fit their ideology. 

It's kind of funny to drop their own school alumni website to show them that he is, indeed, an alum of UW.   

I have never heard a single UW alum deny that he is a fellow alum of theirs.  And I'm from Madison.

[keefe]

Exactly.   Talk to some of the numbnut Wisconsin fans and they will deny he is an alum....like many people here often do because they don't understand the definition of an alumnus. Of course, they also deny it because he doesn't fit their ideology. 

It's kind of funny to drop their own school alumni website to show them that he is, indeed, an alum of UW.   

I am not sure why they would deny he is an alum. If it is his politics I would point to his actions rather than his words.  Cheney applied for 5 or 6 deferments from the draft during the Vietnam Conflict; I would think that sort of behavior would endear him to the Madison faithful.

I believe his serving as Sec Def was one of the greatest hypocrisies of the post-Vietnam era. If he had any scruples or ethics he would have applied for a deferment to be excused from serving as Sec Def. It would have been consistent with his earlier behavior as a draft dodger.

Dick Cheney: One of America's Biggest Chicken Hawks

[ChicosBailBonds]

I have never heard a single UW alum deny that he is a fellow alum of theirs.  And I'm from Madison.

Oh there are plenty....Buckyville has an entire portfolio of them.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Is this because of his politics?

I suspect partly, and because so many people simply do not understand what the definition of an alumnus is.

[keefe]

I suspect partly, and because so many people simply do not understand what the definition of an alumnus is.

Let me guess: Cheney was hell bent to get a PhD until the draft ended and then he dropped out of UW-Madison?

[ChicosBailBonds]

Let me guess: Cheney was hell bent to get a PhD until the draft ended and then he dropped out of UW-Madison?

Do I think he wanted to avoid the war?  Yup. Do I think there were other factors?  Yup. 

It was also his second year of marriage, his wife finished her PhD the year he left and their second child on the way....something tells me $$$ was also involved, as in the need to earn some.

[GGGG]

Let me guess: Cheney was hell bent to get a PhD until the draft ended and then he dropped out of UW-Madison?

Maybe.  He turned 26, and therefore ineligible for the draft, in January 1967.  He was enrolled in the PhD program through the end of the 67-68 academic year.  He left to take a job for Wisconsin Governor Warren Knowles. 

[keefe]

Maybe.  He turned 26, and therefore ineligible for the draft, in January 1967.  He was enrolled in the PhD program through the end of the 67-68 academic year.  He left to take a job for Wisconsin Governor Warren Knowles.

His reason for leaving the Doctoral program is, as you and Chico suggest, likely a combination of career opportunity and earning a paycheck.

What is painfully clear is that he did everything he could to avoid the draft, save for doing a runner for Vancouver. One cannot discount his reasons for entering the Doctoral program. As you know, there was a large uptick in PhDs being awarded during the Vietnam War.