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.

V.

The Korean War

On June 22, 1950, the Selective Service Act, scheduled to expire on June 24, 1950, was extended by Congress to July 9, 1950. On June 27-28, soon after the outbreak of the Korean War, Congress approved an additional 1-year extension of the law to July 9, 1951. By the end of 1950, U.S. Army draft calls totaled about 210,000.

In June 1951, Congress adopted the Universal Military Training and Service Act, which basically amended the act of 1948. The act provided for developing a plan for a universal military-training and service program. It lowered the draft-age liability to 18y and increased the period of military service to two years of active duty plus a maximum of six years in the reserves. Lowered physical and mental standards and a limit of 5 million for the armed forces personnel were other important provisions.

Selective Service qualification tests were given to college students seeking deferment, beginning in 1951. Selective Service boards, in determining whether to grant deferments, could be guided by grades obtained in these tests as well as by the scholastic standing of the student. These tests, discontinued in 1963, were resumed in 1966-67 but again abandoned because of the revision of the basic law.

VI.

Subsequent Legislation

An executive order from President John F. Kennedy in 1963 authorized deferment for fathers and married men. A subsequent order in 1965 ended exemptions for men married after August 26, 1965.

The system underwent major revision with the passage of the Military Selective Service Act of 1967. This act changed the name of the basic law and extended for four years the authority of the Selective Service System to order for induction men between the ages of 18y and 35. Under the terms of the new act, deferment of undergraduate college students was continued for all who requested it and who satisfactorily pursued a full-time academic course; the deferment remained in effect until the student graduated or reached his 24th birthday, whichever came first.

VII.

Lottery Selection

On November 26, 1969, President Richard M. Nixon signed into law an amendment to the Military Selective Service Act of 1967, which permitted establishment of a random selection sequence for induction into the armed forces. The first draft lottery since March 17, 1942, was held on December 1, 1969.

The 1967 act was further amended in 1971. Men were required to register with a local board of the system within a 60-day period commencing 30 days before their 18th birthday. Registrants were placed in one of various classes. Qualified registrants were placed in Class 1-A (available for military service), in Class 1-A-O (conscientious objector available for noncombatant military service), or in Class 1-O (conscientious objector available for alternate civilian service) and were selected for induction in an established order of call.

Among changes in the processing of registrants was the phasing out of student deferments. A new classification, 2-D, created a mandatory deferment for divinity students satisfactorily pursuing full-time courses. The lottery selection procedures were continued.

Other changes affected the makeup of local boards, which were required to be proportionately representative of the race and national origin of the registrants in their jurisdiction. The minimum age for board membership was reduced from 30 to 18; no person might serve who had reached age 65 or had served for more than 20 years.

On January 27, 1973, Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird announced that the use of the military draft had ended. An all-volunteer armed forces has taken the place of the draft. In July 1980 the system of registration—but not compulsory military service—was reinstituted for 18-year-old men.

VIII.

Selective Service System

The function of the Selective Service System is to be prepared to supply the armed forces with sufficient personnel to ensure the security of the United States. The system is headed by a director, who is appointed by the president with the advice of the Senate. National headquarters is in Washington, D.C. Prior to the ending of the draft, local boards had the authority to decide all questions of inclusion, deferment, and exemption from Selective Service for the area, but individual cases could be appealed to a state appeal board. In 1976 state and local boards were closed and replaced by six regional offices located throughout the nation.