Selective Service System: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:48, 23 June 2025

Revision as of 12:14, 4 July 2025

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The [[Selective Training and Service Act of 1940]] was passed by [[76th United States Congress|Congress]] on 16 September 1940, establishing the first peacetime [[conscription]] in United States history.<ref name="draft">{{cite magazine |last = Holbrook |first = Heber A. |url = http://www.pacshiprev.com/PacificArchivesSubDirectory/page31.html |title = The Crisis Years: 1940 and 1941 |access-date = 2 September 2014 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050313020005/http://www.pacshiprev.com/PacificArchivesSubDirectory/page31.html |archive-date = 13 March 2005 |magazine = The Pacific Ship and Shore Historical Review |date = 4 July 2001 |page = 2}}</ref> It required all men between the ages of 18 and 64 to register with the Selective Service. To register, men typically completed a D.S.S. Form 1 Military Draft Registration Card from the Director of Selective Service. Over 49 million draft cards, including [[The Old Man's Draft]], were completed.

It originally conscripted all men aged 21 to 35 for a service period of 12 months. In 1941, the military service period was extended to 18 months; later that year, the age bracket was increased to include men aged 18 to 37. In 1940, the act had registered 16 million men between the ages of 21 and 36.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=632}} Following the [[Imperial Japanese Navy|Japanese]] [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] on 7 December 1941, and the subsequent declarations of war by the United States against the [[Empire of Japan]] and a few days later against [[Nazi Germany]], the service period was subsequently extended in early 1942 to last for the duration of the war, plus a six-month service in the Organized Reserves. Until late 1942, the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps relied only on volunteers, and all those drafted before late 1942 went only to the Army or the Army Air Corps.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=635}} Of those called up for service during the war, nearly 2 million Americans were rejected by the draft boards for "neuropsychiatric reasons".{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=710}} The most common "neuropsychiatric reason" was homosexuality, which was considered to be a very serious mental illness in the 1940s, and as such, the military refused to accept homosexuals.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=710}} Another four million American men called for national service were rejected for medical or educational reasons, such as being near-sighted, having rotten teeth, or being illiterate.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=710}} As too many men were rejected for health or education, the U.S. Army was forced to take remedial workactions.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=710}} During the war, 25,000 Army dentists pulled 15 million rotten teeth and placed 2.5 million sets of dentures while Army optometrists fitted 2.25 million men with eyeglasses.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=710}} Nearly a million men took educational courses to teach them how to read and write.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=710}} In November 1942, Congress passed the Tydings Amendment, exempting all agricultural workers from the draft, exempting 2 million American men from serving in the war.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=634}}

The question of drafting African-American men caused much controversy as President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] had promised several civil rights leaders in 1940 that the draft would be a color-blind one and the Selective Service Act of 1940 stated "there shall be no discrimination against any person on the account of race or color".{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=634}} However, the U.S. military practiced segregation during the war as African Americans did not serve alongside men of other races and in practice were only drafted to keep the all black units of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Army Air Force up to strength.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=634}} Furthermore, the military, as a general rule, preferred to use African-American servicemen only in menial roles and as much as possible tried to avoid sending African-Americans into combat out of a belief that they were not brave enough.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=634}} As such, the U.S. Army in particular did not form many divisions out of the African-American men drafted, which limited the number subject to the draft.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=634}} Due to these practices, in early 1943, African-Americans made up 10.6% of the American population, but only 6% of the men serving in the military.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=634}}

The issue of conscientious objectors was controversial during the war.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=633}} In World War OneI, only the so-called "peace churches", namely the Mennonites, the Quakers, and the Brethren, had been allowed to reject national service on grounds of conscience.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=633}} The 1940 Selective Service Act allowed the same exemption to the "peace churches", but also allowed anyone "who, because of religious training or belief, is conscientiously opposed to participation in war in any form".{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=633}} In practice, draft boards would exempt anyone who proved they were opposed to war on the grounds of some religious belief, which allowed more to claim conscientious objector status than had been the case in World War OneI.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=633}} About 75,000 Americans called for national service andindividuals claimed conscientious objector status; about half of these claims were accepted by the draft boards.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=633}} Married men were exempt from the draft, and in late 1940, about 40% of those called up for the draft could evade it by promptly getting married.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=634}} In February 1942, General Hershey, who was in charge of the draft, complained "that most of the recent marriages...might have been to evade the draft".{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|p=634-635}}

In his 1945 [[1945 State of the Union Address|State of the Union address]], President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] requested that the draft be expanded to include female nurses (male nurses were not allowed), to overcome a shortage that was endangering military medical care. This began a debate over the drafting of all women, which was defeated in the House of Representatives. The House passed a bill to draft nurses but it died without a vote in the Senate. The publicity caused more nurses to volunteer, and agencies streamlined recruiting.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.historynet.com/drafting-women.htm |title = Drafting Women? |date = 6 August 2016 |author = Joseph Connor |publisher = World War II Magazine}}</ref>

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The outbreak of the Korean War fostered the creation of the [[Military Selective Service Act|Universal Military Training and Service Act]] of 1951. This lowered the draft age from 19 to {{frac|18|1|2}}, increased active-duty service time from 21 to 24 months, and set the statutory term of military service at a minimum of eight years. Students attending a college or training program full-time could request an exemption, which was extended as long as they were students. A Universal Military Training clause was inserted that would have made all men obligated to perform 12 months of military service and training if the act was amended by later legislation. Despite successive attempts over the next several years, however, such legislation was never passed.

President [[John F. Kennedy]] set up {{Executive Order|11119}} (signed on 10 September 1963), granting an exemption from conscription for married men between the ages of 19 and 26. His vice president and later successor as president, [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], later rescinded the exemption for married men without children by {{Executive Order|11241}} (signed on 26 August 1965 and going into effect on midnight of that date). However, married men with children or other dependents and men married before the executive order went into effect were still exempt. President [[Ronald Reagan]] revoked both of themthese exemptions with {{Executive Order|12553}} (signed on 25in February 1986).

The [[Military Selective Service Act|Military Selective Service Act of 1967]] expanded the ages of conscription to the ages of 18 to 55. It still granted student deferments, but ended them upon either the student's completion of a four-year degree or his 24th birthday, whichever came first.

===1969 to 1975===

On 26 November 1969, President [[Richard Nixon]] signed an amendment to the Military Selective Service Act of 1967 that established conscription based on random selection (lottery).<ref>{{cite web |title = An Act to Amend the Military Selective Service Act of 1967 ... |url = http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-83/pdf/STATUTE-83-Pg220.pdf |author = 91st U.S. Congress |publisher = [[United States Government Printing Office]] }} ({{USStatute|91|124|83|220|1969|11|26}})</ref> The [[draft lottery (1969)|first draft lottery]] was held on 1 December 1969; it determined the order of call for induction during calendar year 1970, for registrants born between 1 January 1944, and 31 December 1950. The highest lottery number called for possible induction was 195.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.sss.gov/About/History-And-Records/lotter1 |title = The Vietnam Lotteries |access-date = 21 July 2015 |publisher = Selective Service System }}</ref> The second lottery, on 1 July 1970, pertained to men born in 1951. The highest lottery number called for possible induction was 125.<ref>{{cite web |title = Results from Lottery Drawing – Vietnam Era – 1971 |url = http://www.sss.gov/LOTTER2.HTM |access-date = 21 July 2015 |publisher = Selective Service System |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150305053748/http://www.sss.gov/LOTTER2.HTM |archive-date = 5 March 2015 }}</ref> The third was on 5 August 1971, pertaining to men born in 1952; the highest lottery number called was 95.<ref>{{cite web |title = Results from Lottery Drawing – Vietnam Era – 1972 |url = http://www.sss.gov/lotter3.htm |access-date = 21 July 2015 |publisher = Selective Service System |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150305055024/http://www.sss.gov/LOTTER3.HTM |archive-date = 5 March 2015 }}</ref>

In 1971, the [[Military Selective Service Act]] was further amended to make registration compulsory; all men had to register within a period 30 days before and 29 days after their 18th birthdays. Registrants were classified ''1-A'' (eligible for military service), ''1-AO'' ([[conscientious objector]] available for non-combatant military service), and ''1-O'' (conscientious objector available for alternate community service). Student deferments were ended, except for [[Seminary|divinity students]], who received a ''2-D'' Selective Service classification. Men who were not classifiable as eligible for service due to a disqualification were classified ''1-N''. Men who are incapable of serving for medical or psychological unfitness are classified ''4-F''. Upon completion of military service the classification of ''4-A'' was assigned. Draft classifications of ''1-A'' were changed to ''1-H'' (registrant not currently subject to processing for induction) for men not selected for service after the calendar year they were eligible for the draft. (These – and other – draft classifications were in place long before 1971.) Also, draft board membership requirements were reformed: minimum age of board members was dropped from 30 to 18, members over 65 or who had served on the board for 20 or more years had to retire, and membership had to proportionally reflect the ethnic and cultural makeup of the local community.