Selective Service

I

Introduction

Selective Service, term used in the United States, popularly called the draft, to designate the systems of military conscription established by Congress and in force during World War I (1914-18) and during and after World War II (1939-45). For an account of U.S. conscription systems before World War I, see Conscription.

II

World War I

The first Selective Service Act of World War I was passed in May 1917, more than a month after the United States had declared war against Germany and its allies. The act provided for the registration of all men aged 21 through 30; registrants were examined for physical and mental fitness and, if found to be ineligible for exemption on any of the specific grounds provided by law, were inducted into the armed forces. More than 9,925,000 men were registered in June 1917, and of these about 687,000 were called up for service at once. A second conscription law was enacted in August 1918, extending registration to all men between the ages of 18 and 45. By the end of the war, more than 2,800,000 men had been inducted.

In addition, the system provided manpower for industrial and agricultural war production. It exempted government officials and clergymen from service and excused conscientious objectors from combat duty. It allowed no bounties or substitutes.

The system was administered by 155 district and 4648 local boards under the provost marshal general of the U.S. Army. Men were chosen to serve by a lottery established in Washington, D.C., but the local boards could exempt or defer men on the ground of hardship.

---

---

Soon after the conclusion of hostilities the conscription system was abolished, and the vast majority of the conscripts were discharged from the armed services. No conscription system existed in the U.S. between the end of the First World War and 1940.

III

World War II

In September 1940, with a large part of the world already engaged in World War II, Congress passed the first conscription law ever enacted while the U.S. was at peace, the Selective Training and Service Act. This law provided for the annual induction of 900,000 men between the ages of 21 and 36. Some 16,500,000 men were registered in accordance with the law in October 1940, and the first group of conscripts, called selectees, were called up in the following month. Inductions continued during the ensuing year, and on December 13, 1941, five days after the entry of the U.S. into World War II, the act of 1940 was altered to broaden its scope and allow for the rapid expansion of the armed forces. By the end of World War II, approximately 45 million men had been registered, and more than 10 million men, representing more than 66 percent of the total strength of the armed forces, had been inducted under the authority of the Selective Training and Service Act.

Features of the system included registration, selection by lottery, reservation of industrial manpower, recognition of conscientious objection to war, and the right of those inducted to return to their old jobs. The system was administered by 6443 local boards and 505 appeal boards.

IV

Peacetime Conscription

The act of 1940 expired in March 1947. Shortly before that date, Congress established the Office of Selective Service Records, principally to preserve the records of the wartime conscription system for possible emergencies. The work of this agency greatly facilitated the implementation of the Selective Service Act passed by Congress in June 1948, whereby peacetime conscription machinery was set up for the induction of men between the ages of 19 and 26 for 21 months of service. Among those exempted from the provisions of this law were most veterans of World War II, the sole surviving sons of families that had lost all other sons during the war, and conscientious objectors found to be opposed to both combatant and noncombatant service. A maximum of 161,000 18-year-olds were permitted to enlist for a 12-month period of service within the continental limits of the U.S.; on the completion of this period they were assigned either to a reserve component for six years or to an organized reserve unit for four years.

Because of the high rate of voluntary enlistments, the army declared an unofficial ‘draft holiday” in March 1949. Up to that time fewer than 30,000 men had been inducted out of the more than 9 million who had registered under the 1948 law.

	More from Encarta
	•  7 tips for funding an online degree •  How to succeed in the fashion industry without being a top designer •  Presidential Myths Quiz •  Coffee break: Recharge your brain