Protest and Change:
The Antiwar / Antidraft
Movement and Selective Service
By Mike Shepherd
USMC 1972–1976
"In my beginning is my end"1 wrote the poet T.S. Eliot to describe how choices affect all things.
The mechanism of the Selective Service System had served American society and its military since it was instituted in June 1940. With war in Asia and Europe looming, Congress designed the Selective Service System to be used for the total mobilization of the American military.
The flaw that was built into the system, the flaw that would eventually lead to its end, was that limited war was not thought of. In a limited war, such as the one in Korea, or later in Vietnam, the number of men needed to serve was significantly smaller than the pool of those available. Because not all were needed, draft-age men underwent a selection process. While many would be allowed to continue their lives as before, many others would be forced to join the nation's military.
During the Vietnam War, anti-war and anti-draft protesters seized upon the inequities in the design and administration of the Selective Service laws as leverage to force the government to change to what was described as a more equitable method of filling the ranks of the military. In reality, the system installed to replace the draft, the All Volunteer Forces, with the entrance standards for the military then in place, was more inequitable than the draft had ever been.
The fundamentals of the Selective Service laws instituted in 1940 were formed during World War I. The laws grew out of the "desire of a new power elite in the nation to insure protection for the economy."2 The draft served social as well as military purposes "because all males were subjected to the service requirement, their status as citizens was enhanced."3 Although the Selective Service laws were described as ensuring that all males had equal chances to serve, "the draft system . . . resurrected in 1940 was supposed to be selective.
It was planned to allow manpower management, so that social priorities and biases of the culture and government influenced who went to war. The draft statute itself reflected bias by offering escape routes to fathers and certain specialists."4 The number of men deferred during the war was a small percentage of those eligible. Military service was almost universal, including many from those in the higher social classes. The son of Franklin Roosevelt served in combat with a Marine Raider group. John F., and Joseph Kennedy, sons of a wealthy Massachusetts family, served. In fact, Joseph was killed while flying on a mission over France.
Following our long tradition of not maintaining a large standing army during peacetime, the draft was ended at war's end. The armed forces returned to their tradition of being composed of only those who volunteered. In 1948, as the United States expanded its role on the world stage, it reactivated the draft to fulfill the increased needs of the military. In an effort to continue American dominance in technology, Selective Service laws now provided for deferments from military service to include those men studying the sciences, engineering, and education.
After the limited war in Korea, the United States maintained its large standing military, with stations around the world. The draft became a normal part of the lives of all young men as they turned eighteen. "Military service had been close to universal through 1958 — of 1.1 million 26-year-old males in June 1958, 770,000 were in service or were veterans . . . almost 90% of all qualified men had fulfilled military service. Even as late as June 1963, Department of Defense insisted that "virtually no 1-A non-father who is qualified and available for service will be in a position to escape."5
