12
this look on his face—I would use the word
surly—
almost daring
you to say one thing or another that wouldn’t settle with him.”
7
Donald was sent to detention so many times that other students
began referring to that form of punishment as the DTs, or Donald
Trumps. In his book Trump writes, “Even early on I had a tendency to
stand up and make my opinions known in a very forceful way. . . . I was
mostly interested in creating mischief, because for some reason, I liked
to stir things up and I liked to test people. . . . It wasn’t malicious so
much as it was aggressive.”
8
Learning Discipline
It might have been Fred who encouraged Donald’s rebellious behavior;
he always told his son that he was a king and needed to be a killer to be
successful. However, when Donald was thirteen his life changed drasti-
cally after he defied his father’s orders. Don-
ald took to riding the subway into Manhat-
tan with a friend to visit Times Square. Fred
Trump believed this was a dangerous activ-
ity and had forbidden his son to go there.
Times Square today is a pedestrian plaza
filled with flashing neon signs and upscale
shops. But in 1960 Times Square was filled
with male and female prostitutes, alcohol-
ics, strip clubs, and adult movie theaters.
According to biographer Gwenda Blair,
Donald was attracted to the many novelty stores in the area that sold
knives. Over the course of several months he accumulated a cache of
long, dangerous knives, some with blades nearly 12 inches (30 cm) long.
Fred discovered the knife collection and was furious when he learned
that Donald had been traveling to Times Square without adult supervi-
sion. Combined with his troubles at school, Fred decided Donald needed
some radical discipline. When eighth grade began Donald was enrolled
in the New York Military Academy, a strict boarding school 75 miles
(120 km) north of Queens. As Trump writes in
The Art of the Deal,
“[My
“[My father assumed]
that a little military
training might be
good for me. I wasn’t
thrilled about the idea
but it turned out he
was right.”
9
— Donald Trump
