The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ben Carson:
GOP presidential candidate wrote about offer in book.
The GOP presidential candidate backs away from claiming he was offered a formal scholarship to West Point,
WASHINGTON — Ben Carson was not offered a formal scholarship to West Point as he wrote in his autobiography, his campaign said Friday, acknowledging the latest in a series of misstatements from the retired neurosurgeon who has surged to the top of the GOP’s presidential field.
“I guess it could have been more clarified,” Carson said in an interview with Fox News broadcast Friday night. “I told it as I understood it.”
Carson, a newcomer to national politics, has developed a passionate following based in part on his inspirational personal story and devotion to Christian values. The only African-American in the Republican field, Carson grew up in inner-city Detroit and often speaks about his brushes with violence and poverty during his early years.
His campaign on Friday sought to clarify a statement about the U.S. Military Academy in his breakout book, “Gifted Hands,” in which he outlined his participation with the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, commonly known as ROTC, while in high school.
“I was offered a full scholarship to West Point,” Carson wrote in the 1996 book. “I didn’t re- fuse the scholarship outright, but I let them know that a military career wasn’t where I saw myself going. As overjoyed as I felt to be offered such a scholarship, I wasn’t really tempted.”
Carson has repeated the story over the years, including in an interview in October with Charlie Rose.
Campaign spokesman Doug Watts said Carson was “the top ROTC student in the city of Detroit” and “was introduced to folks from West Point by his ROTC supervisors.”
“They told him they could help him get an appointment based on his grades and performance in ROTC. He considered it but in the end did not seek admission,” Watts said.
Students granted ad- mission to West Point are not awarded scholarships. Instead, they are said to earn appointments to the military academy, which comes with tuition, room and board and expenses paid, in exchange for five years of service in the Army after graduation.
A West Point spokesman on Friday said the academy “cannot confirm whether anyone during that time period was nominated to West Point if they chose not to pursue completion of the application process.”
Asked on Fox whether he had lied about his past, Carson said, “Lying, I believe, is a grave sin and there’s just no way that I would be sitting here lying about something like this.”
The story was first re- ported on Friday by Politico.
During last month’s presidential debate, Carson said it was “absolutely absurd” to say he had a formal relationship with the controversial diet supplement company Mannatech. But Carson is featured in the company’s videos, including one from last year in which he credits Mannatech’s glyconutritional supplements with helping people restore a healthy diet.
On Wednesday, Carson wrote on his Facebook page that “every signer of the Declaration of Independence had no elected office experience.” But about half had experience as elected members of colonial assemblies, and Watts admitted the error to The Washington Post.