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The World War I system served as a model for that of World War II. The Selective Service and Training Act of Sept. 14, 1940, instituted national conscription in peacetime, requiring registration of all men between twenty-one and forty-five, with selection for one year's service by a national lottery. The term of service was extended by one year in August 1941. After Pearl Harbor the Selective Service Act was further amended (Dec. 19, 1941), extending the term of service to the duration of the war and six months and requiring the registration of all men eighteen to sixty-four years of age. In the massive draft of World War II, 50 million men from eighteen to forty-five were registered, 36 million classified, and 10 million inducted.
The World War I system served as a model for that of World War II. The Selective Service and Training Act of Sept. 14, 1940, instituted national conscription in peacetime, requiring registration of all men between twenty-one and forty-five, with selection for one year's service by a national lottery. The term of service was extended by one year in August 1941. After Pearl Harbor the Selective Service Act was further amended (Dec. 19, 1941), extending the term of service to the duration of the war and six months and requiring the registration of all men eighteen to sixty-four years of age. In the massive draft of World War II, 50 million men from eighteen to forty-five were registered, 36 million classified, and 10 million inducted.
==Cold War==
==Cold War==
The World War II draft expired in March 1947, but conscription was revived in 1948 and for more than two decades of intermittent peace and limited war became an established American institution. The Universal Military Training and Service Act of 1951 theoretically placed a military obligation on all men between the ages of eighteen and a half and twenty-six for a total of eight years of combined active and reserve military duty. The act was extended and variously amended at four-year intervals--in 1955, 1959, 1963, and 1967--and provided options of various types of reserve service for the basic two years of active duty required of those conscripted. In actual practice only enough draftees were called each year to fill military ranks (primarily the Army, with pvccasional use for the Marine Corps) to their allotted strengths when not enough men volunteered, and thus, many physically fit youths escaped service altogether.
The World War II draft expired in March 1947, but conscription was revived in 1948 and for more than two decades of intermittent peace and limited war became an established American institution.
Various deferments for educational and other reasons were provided for, as well as exemptions that were subject to some abuse. Opposition to operations of the Selective Service System was a central feature of the movement against the Vietnam War. With Congress and the public increasingly critical, the draft law was renewed for only two years in 1971. Meanwhile, President [[Richard M. Nixon]] in 1969 restored the system of selection by lottery. In June 1973, he suspended the draft entirely and reverted to the all-volunteer forces of pre-1940 America.
For its manpower needs, because of low pay scales the military relied on a combination of volunteers for the Navy, Marines and Air Force, and the draft plus volunteers for the Army. Every year from 1950 to 1970 the Selective Service system drafted from 100,000 to 300,000 18-year old men for 24 months of active duty in the Army. The peaks came during the [[Korean War]] (525,000 drafted in 1951) and the [[Vietnam War]] (382,000 drafted in 1966). In all Selective Service drafted about 25% of all young men for two-year tours; an even larger number volunteered for three years in the Navy or Air Force, where conditions were better. After active duty, the servicemen were required to join reserve units. Many were not drafted because they did not meet high physical standards, or were fathers or college students. The chances of getting drafted varied dramatically from year to year and place to place in unpredictable fashion. The system not only provided soldiers at low cost, it gave the nation millions of veterans with highly useful technical and organizational skills, along with financial benefits for mortgages, health care and college education.
The Universal Military Training and Service Act of 1951 theoretically placed a military obligation on all men between the ages of eighteen and a half and twenty-six for a total of eight years of combined active and reserve military duty. The act was extended and variously amended at four-year intervals--in 1955, 1959, 1963, and 1967--and provided options of various types of reserve service for the basic two years of active duty required of those conscripted. In actual practice only enough draftees were called each year to fill military ranks (primarily the Army, with pvccasional use for the Marine Corps) to their allotted strengths when not enough men volunteered, and thus, many physically fit youths escaped service altogether.
Various deferments for educational and other reasons were provided for, as well as exemptions that were subject to some abuse. Opposition to operations of the Selective Service System was a central feature of the movement against the Vietnam War. With Congress and the public increasingly critical, the draft law was renewed for only two years in 1971. Meanwhile, President [[Richard M. Nixon]] in 1969 restored the system of selection by lottery. At the end of the Vietnam War in January 1973, Nixon suspended the draft entirely and reverted to the all-volunteer forces of pre-1940 America.
==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==