The Joint Service Color Guard advances the colors during the retirement ceremony of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Henry H. Shelton, at Fort Myer, Va., on Oct. 2, 2001. DoD photo by Helene C. Stikkel. (Released)
We have added another 50 years to the Trump family military service history to extend the 100 years already chronicled earlier (June 6,2016).
The saga begins with the birth of Donald Trump’s grandfather Friedrich Trump (1869-1918) in Kallstadt, Germany in 1869. It runs through four generations of men named Trump in this family through mid-2016. There are seven more Trump males in the fifth generation, who are still young children or teenagers.
Sources consulted include the usual Google searches, family Wikipedia entries, several publically available genealogy sites, and various published articles with Trump family biographical details.
We have tried to identify all the male descendants born to male successors of grandfather Friedrich. This listings does not include male children born to Trump’s female heirs and descendants. That is a more complex task, because of changing surnames, and requires additional resources beyond the simple family records easily available.
However, this collection of information covering 150 years of Donald Trump’s direct male ancestors and successors is considered representative of his family patterns and practice. To be absolutely precise, the time-span actually runs from 1869-2016, or 147 years. With rounding to the nearest decade, that makes 150 years.
Trump Male Family Tree in America
Patriarch grandfather (1) Frederick Trump (born Friedrich) (1869-1918) had three male children:
- (2) Henry Trump (1899-1900)
- (3) Fred Christ Trump, Sr. (1905-1999)
- (4) John George Trump (1907-1985)
Henry Trump (1899-1900) died in infancy at age one year. Second son Fred Christ Trump, Sr. (1905-1999) (Donald Trump’s father) had three male sons. Grandpa Trump’s youngest (and third son), John George Trump (1907-1985) had one son.
Second Male Trump Generation in America
Fred Christ Trump, Sr., (1905-1999) had three sons.
- (5) Fred Christ Trump, Jr. (1938-1981)
- (6) Donald John Trump (1946-present)
- (7) Robert Trump (1948-present)
John George Trump (1907-1985) had one son:
- (8) John Gordon Trump (1938-2012)
Fred Christ Trump, Jr. (1938-1981) had two children, one of them a son, before he died at the relatively early age of 42. Donald John Trump (1946-present) has had five children with three wives, two daughters and three sons. Robert Trump (1948-present) has no children of record, though he was married for some 25 years. John Gordon Trump (1938-2012) was married but had no male children, according to available sources.
Third Male Trump Generation in America
Fred Christ Trump, Jr. (1938-1981)
- (9) Fred Trump 3rd (1962-present)
Donald John Trump (1946-present)
- (10) Donald John Trump, Jr. (1977-present)
- (11) Eric Frederick Trump (1984-present)
- (12) Barron William Trump (2006-present)
Robert Trump (1948-present)
- No Male Issue
John Gordon Trump (1938-2012)
- No Male Issue
Fred Trump 3rd (1962-present) has had three children, one daughter and two sons, according to news reports. Donald John Trump, Jr. (1977-present) has had five children, two daughters and here sons. Eric Frederick Trump (1984-present) is married but has no children, according to available reports. Barron William Trump (2006-present), born to Donald Trump’s third and current wife, is still a young boy of 10 years old, and therefore has never been married and has no children.
Fourth Male Trump Generation in America
Fred Trump 3rd (1962-present)
- (13) Christopher Trump (1995-present)
- (14) William Trump (1999-present)
Donald John Trump, Jr. (1977-present)
- (15) Donald John Trump III (2009-present)
- (16) Tristan Milos Trump (2011-present)
- (17) Spencer Frederick Trump (2012-present)
Eric Frederick Trump (1984-present)
- No Male Issue
Barron William Trump (2006-present)
- Pre-Teen Aged Son
Christopher Trump (1995-present) is 19 years old and there is no information about whether he is married or has any children. William Trump (1998-present) was born with a serious medical condition at birth (cerebral palsy) and is wheel-chair disabled. Donald John Trump Jr.’s three sons are all young children, ages 6, 4, and 3.
Addendum to Fourth Male Trump Generation in America
Donald John Trump (1946-present) has had two daughters with two different wives. His oldest, Ivanka Marie Trump (1981-present) (from Ivana Trump) is married and has three children, two of them sons. His younger daughter, Tiffany Ariana Trump (1993-present) (from Marla Maples) is an unmarried college student with no known children.
While Ivanka Trump’s two young sons do not meet the strict criteria for inclusion in the male Trump family military service comparison given above, their information is presented for completeness, since both boys are direct descendants and second degree male relatives of Donald Trump.
Ivanka Marie Trump (1981-present)
- (18) Joseph Frederick (Trump) Kushner (2013-present)
- (19) Theodore James (Trump) Kushner (2016-present)
Catalogue of America’s Major Military Conflicts (1870-2016)
Logos of America’s Uniformed Military Forces
During the 150 years of American History comprising the background for this analysis of the Trump families patriotic contribution to America’s national military service, are all the nation’s foreign military conflicts since the Civil War (1861-1865).
These include, among others, the Spanish America War (1898-1902), Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), Occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916-1924), World War I (1917-1918), World War II (1941-1945), Korean War (11950-1953), Viet Nam War (1968-1975). Invasion of Grenada (1983), Invasion of Panama (1989-1990), Gulf War (1990-1991), Bosnian War (1994-1995), Kosovo War (1998-1999), War in Afghanistan (2001-2014), and the Iraq War (2003-2011). America’s armed forces have fought in a military conflict in a foreign country in every decade for the last 150 years (since 1870), except during the 1930’s.
During this time, literally tens of millions of American citizens have served their nation honorably as uniformed members of our military branches.
Summary of Trump Family 150-Year Military Service
During that same 150 year period, male members of Donald Trump’s family have lived in the United States and fully benefited from the freedom, liberty, economic opportunity, and blessings of our country in every decade but the 1870’s. (Frederick Trump arrived as a military-aged immigrant to the United States in 1885).
The list above shows that at least 19 Trump family males have lived in America during those 140 years. Based on the best information available, one died in infancy, one is seriously disabled, and six are young children under the age of 10 years old. One more has just reached the age for military service. Thus there were 10 mature Trump men who were of military service age over this time period.
The 19 enumerated Trump men have lived in America for a combined total of 654 years, as of 2016 (more than six centuries). For our purposes, we will assume a military service obligation may occur between the ages of 18-45 (in a major national conflict, such as during the draft in World War II). A quick review of the birth dates of the Trump men shows that they have accumulated a total of 255 military service-eligible years during this period (about 40% of all their years living in America).
The military service-eligible years in the Trump family men are distributed as follows: 30 years for Generation 1 (grandfather Friedrich Trump); 54 years for the two members of Generation 2; 105 years for the four members of Generation 3; 66 years for the three members of Generation 4 (excluding young Barron Trump). This is an average of 25 years of military eligibility for each of the 10 Trump men.
How Many Trump Men Have Served in the U.S. Military in 150 Years?*
Based on publicly available records sources and the news searches described above, the plain answer is None. Zero for Ten.
Absent a draft or other legal compulsion, there is, of course, nothing illegal about this record. There can be many reasons why any particular person does not get to serve.
However, over this long a period of time (1.5 centuries), with the number of major military conflicts the U.S. has fought in, and with this number of Trump male family members, it seems unusual that not one of them made the same sacrifice of service as tens of millions of their countrymen.
Can you review your own family’s history in America since 1870 and not find a single veteran or serviceman among them?
The Lesson
The protections our powerful military forces confer on all our citizens and residents does not come with a strict admission ticket, where a citizen has to produce a service receipt to receive them. Everyone is granted the same benefits to live in freedom and security.
At the same time, it has been an established part of our social contract since America was founded that our families assume an obligation of service to keep all of us and our neighbors safe in dangerous times. Of course, there are some especially patriotic families for whom honorable military service is essentially the family business over generations. But the backbone of our democracy has always been the citizen-soldier who leaves civilian life (and the comfort of his family and personal economic striving) during a crisis to keep America strong and defend others, and then returns to resume his or her regular life. **
by Bill Mauldin, Pulitzer Prize Winning Cartoonist Willie & Joe 19: World Wsr II
That part of our joint American social compact seems to be missing from the Trump family history, as known so far.
Members of our Armed Forces do not resent or complain about those who do not serve themselves. Our active duty servicemen and women have agreed to serve in the interest of all Americans.
Viet Nam Veterans Memorial (Washington D.C.)
In contrast, Donald Trump’s life experience with military matters consists of attending a disciplinary military academy for five years in high school, marching around the parade ground, and playing soldier uniform dress-up. He actively avoided his own opportunity for military experience when he had the chance to serve in a hot war. He rejected the opportunity to serve as a Reservist or member of the National Guard then and later. He has recently attempted to hijack a charitable event for Veterans (January 2016) in order to shine the spotlight on himself, and then ducked payment of his boldly announced and freely offered contribution, until a national news paper hounded him for months and shamed him into honoring his commitment.
Trump has no background of family military service to draw on or inform him, that he might appreciate the routine and enormous sacrifices of those who have actually served our country or lost loved ones in wartime.
Viet Nam Memorial Wall “Reflections” by Lee Teter (1988)
Many tens of millions of individual Americans have not worn the uniform of our Armed Services. There is no shame in that. The lack of military service is not the usual case for entire American families over generations, however. The Trump family military history is atypical for an family here in America since the middle of the 19th century, and leaves a lot to be desired with respect to their dedication to the public good. Paying one’s fair share of taxes to support our men and women is one part of the puzzle, but even generous payments do not substitute for being willing to stand going in harm’s way for your fellow citizens.
Go Tell Donald
Veterans and active service men and women do not need Trump’s false promises to them, his self-aggrandizing macho routine, and his tissue-thin patriotism, to represent them here and abroad. Their service speaks for itself.
Viet Nam Memorial: Women’s Memorial (Washington D.C.)
What Trump does, he does always for himself for private economic advantage. In fact he revels in his single minded selfishness. Trump has no corresponding record of other unselfish public service to leaven his lack of military contribution. He is not worthy to pose as a spokesman for our Veterans and active duty Armed Forces.
Trump should do himself and the rest of us a big favor. He ought to reflect privately on the blessings of peace, prosperity, and liberty given to him in America by the sacrifice of countless others through no merit of his own, then thank Veterans quietly when he gets a chance (without TV cameras and news reporters around), and otherwise keep his big trap shut.
God Bless America, with liberty and justice for all our fellow citizens!
Selected Trump Family and Military Service Sources
http://pagesix.com/2016/01/17/donald-trumps-brother-robert-emerges/
http://www.celebfamily.com/business/donald-trump-family.html
http://observer.com/2001/11/how-an-uptown-girl-gets-on-qvc-foreman-grills-chocolate/
*To be entirely fair, while there is no record of uniformed U.S. military service among any of Trump’s 19 male relatives (10 mature men) described here, his paternal uncle, Dr. John George Trump, D. Sc.. performed valuable civilian war-work for the nation during World War II, as a professor and researcher at MIT, and after 1944 in England.
MIT Professor John G. Trump, Electrical Engineer, Civilian War Work World War II
From the Wikipedia entry on John G. Trump, D.Sc.:
John George Trump (August 21, 1907 – February 21, 1985) was an American electrical engineer, inventor, and physicist. He was a recipient of U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s National Medal of Science, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Trump was noted for developing rotational radiation therapy. Together with Robert J. Van de Graaff, he developed one of the first million-volt X-ray generators. He was a professor at MIT from 1936 until 1973.
During the war years, Trump switched from work on hospital X-ray machines, to research into similar technologies with a more direct application to warfare, especially the development of radar. In 1940 he joined the newly formed National Defense Research Committee (NDRC), as technical aide to the Chairman of the Radar Division, and President of MIT, Karl Compton. In 1942, he became Secretary of the Microwave Committee, a sub-committee of the NDRC.
**For two thoughtful views on the strength or decline of the citizen soldier in American society post 1973 with the end of the draft and the advent of the AVF (All Volunteer- Force), see below:
“Reflections on the Citizen-Soldier” by Barry Strauss (2003)
“The Citizen-Soldier Tradition in the United States :Has Its Demise Been Greatly Exaggerated?” by Ronald R. Krebs (2009)