Vietnam Issue Bubbles Up at Clinton Again : Politics: He meets with veterans in his home town, where he once more defends his actions regarding the draft.

The unsettled and turbulent emotions that still surround the Vietnam War played out before Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton’s eyes Friday, as a meeting with veterans in his home state served to resurrect the question of whether he evaded the draft.

By the time the gathering was over, Clinton again had been forced to defend his actions of 23 years ago. The Democratic presidential candidate also renewed a previous pledge to issue an accurate accounting of his dealings with Arkansas draft board officials once he receives copies of records he has requested.

In a few minutes’ time at Friday’s meeting, one Vietnam War veteran, who acknowledged he is a volunteer in the Democratic presidential campaign of former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr., had excoriated Clinton. A second defended him. Another said he was left with lingering concerns about the accuracy of Clinton’s account of his decisions in 1969 when he was an Oxford graduate student facing the reality of the draft, as well as his concern for veterans’ affairs.

In microcosm, the emotion that brewed around Clinton served as a reminder of conflicting views held by men who served in Vietnam about those who did not.

The meeting of Arkansas veterans occurred on the eve of a rally in Little Rock today whose goal is to change congressional rules to allow swifter actions on veterans’ issues, like the dispute over the government’s responsibility for those affected by the chemical Agent Orange, which was used as a defoliant in Vietnam.

Clinton had already angered some veterans by declining an invitation to today’s rally and refusing to back the effort to reform the rules. Brown, who does support the reform effort, plans to attend the rally.

The anger toward Clinton simmered below the surface Friday until he asked for questions from the Arkansas veterans.

“What I’d like to know is where were you in 1969, when I was being overrun?” asked Stewart Resmer, the Brown volunteer and a former Marine who served two years near Da Nang.

“I was in England in school, as has been well-documented,” Clinton said.

“What I’m leading to, sir, is were you a draft dodger or not?” Resmer continued.

“Did I violate the laws of my state or nation? Absolutely not,” Clinton declared.

Shortly after Resmer’s question, the executive director of the Vietnam Veterans of America stood to defend the governor.

“Virtually every member of our generation was forced to make a decision, a very difficult decision, in a very difficult period of time,” said Paul S. Egan of the Washington-based advocacy group. “It strikes me as a cheap shot for anyone to raise that issue in a forum like this.”

Minutes later, Paul Howell, president of the Arkansas chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America, asked Clinton if he had ever received a draft induction notice. Clinton said he believed he had and was undertaking an “enormous effort” to uncover his draft records.

Clinton’s draft status has erupted as a campaign issue twice this year, the first time shortly before the Feb. 18 New Hampshire primary. Then, Clinton said he had returned to Arkansas in the summer of 1969 from Oxford and, ripe for the draft, joined an ROTC program that effectively kept him from being called.

That fall, however, he gave up his ROTC deferment and re-entered the draft pool in time for the first nationwide draft lottery. He received a high lottery number and was never called, he said.

In April, however, days before the New York primary, The Times reported that Clinton had, in fact, received an induction notice before joining the ROTC program. ROTC officials said they would not have allowed him to enter the program had they known of the notice.

When draft officials questioned whether he had actually received the notice, Clinton promised to release documents pertaining to his draft activities. On Thursday, he said he still intended to do so.

“When we get final notification from everybody we’ve asked for records, I will then try to determine whether or not everything I have said was exactly accurate,” he said.

After the meeting, Howell said he was troubled by Clinton’s unfamiliarity with several veterans’ issues, but was heartened by his willingness to meet with the group.

As for the draft, “I’m still embarrassed to go back to my membership . . . and say he’s still researching it,” he said.

Resmer, the man who started it all, was still angry.

“A lot of people evaded the draft under the Constitution of the United States,” he said. “Not all of them are running for the presidency.”