:'''The Draft' redirects here. For other uses, see
Draft.''
The
United States has employed
conscription (mandatory military service, also called "the draft") several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the
Cold War. The U.S. discontinued the draft in
1973, moving to an all-volunteer force, thus there is currently no mandatory conscription.
Today, the
Selective Service System remains in place as a contingency; young men between the ages of 18 and 25 are required to register so that a draft can be more readily resumed. The
U.S. armed forces are now designated as "all-volunteer", although, in
2004 as well as during the
1991 Gulf War, some personnel were
kept on active duty longer than they expected; this was consistent with enlistment contracts due to a clause that permits retention based on the needs of the military. In
2003, legislation to reintroduce general conscription was introduced by Senator
Ernest Hollings (
Democrat of
South Carolina) and Representative
Charles B. Rangel (Democrat of
New York); their bill was defeated in the
U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 2-402 and was not considered in the Senate. A similar bill has been introduced in
2007 called the
Universal National Service Act of 2007 (H.R. 393), but it has not received a hearing or been scheduled for consideration.
History
Early drafts
In colonial times, the
Thirteen Colonies used a
militia system for local defense. For long-term operations, conscription was occasionally used when volunteers or paid substitutes were insufficient to raise the needed manpower. During the
American Revolutionary War, the states sometimes drafted men for militia duty or to fill state
Continental Army units, but the central government did not have the authority to conscript. President
James Madison unsuccessfully attempted to create a national draft during the
War of 1812.
[1]
The United States first employed national conscription during the
American Civil War. The vast majority of troops were volunteers, however: of the 2,100,000 Union soldiers, about 2% were draftees, and another 6% were paid substitutes.
[2] Resistance to the draft touched off the
New York Draft Riots in July 1863. The
Confederate States instituted conscription in 1862, and resistance was both widespread and violent, with comparisons made between conscription and slavery. Both sides permitted conscripts to hire substitutes. In the Union, many states and cities offered bounties and bonuses for enlistment. They also arranged to take credit against their quota for freed slaves who enlisted.
The World Wars
Conscription was next used after the United States entered
World War I in 1917. The first peacetime conscription came with the
Selective Service Act of 1940, which established the
Selective Service System as an independent agency. The duration of service was originally twelve months. It was expanded to eighteen months in 1941. When the United States entered
World War II, service was required until six months after the end of the war. The first draft number ever picked for World War II was 158, picked by a blindfolded
Henry L. Stimson out of a goldfish bowl.
As manpower need increased during World War II, draftees were inducted into the
U.S. Marine Corps as well as the
U.S. Army. During this time period the US lowered the draft age to 17.
One of the holders of the first number (158) in the U.S. military draft lottery in 1917 was an Alden C. Flagg. His son, Alden C. Flagg, Jr., of Boston, was a holder of the first number (158) in the U.S. peacetime draft lottery of 1940.
The Cold War and the Korean War
The wartime draft was extended by
Congress, but it expired in 1947. In 1948 the draft was re-instated. It was expanded by the Universal Military Training and Service Act in 1951, in response to the manpower needs caused by the
Korean War.
In the first and only instance of U.S. conscription during a major peacetime period, the draft continued on a more limited basis during the late 1950's and early 1960's. While a far smaller percentage of eligible males were conscripted compared to war periods, draftees by law served in the
U.S. Army for two years.
Elvis Presley and
Willie Mays were two of the most famous people drafted during this period.
Vietnam War
There was some opposition to the draft even before the major U.S. involvement in the
Vietnam War. The large cohort of
Baby Boomers who became eligible for military service during the Vietnam War also meant a steep increase in the number of exemptions and deferments, especially for college and graduate students. This was the source of considerable resentment among poor and working class young men, who could not afford a college education. ("If you have the dough, you don't have to go.")
President
Gerald Ford announces amnesty for draft evaders at the White House, Washington, D.C. 1974
As U.S. troop strength in Vietnam increased, more and more young men were drafted for service there and more and more of those still at home sought means of avoiding the draft. For those seeking a relatively safe alternative, service in the U.S. Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard was an option (provided one could meet the more stringent enlistment standards). Since only a handful of National Guard and Reserve units were sent to Vietnam, enlistment in the Guard or the Reserves became a favored means of draft avoidance. Vocations to the ministry and the rabbinate soared, as divinity students were exempt from the draft. Doctors and draft board members found themselves being pressured by relatives or family friends to exempt potential draftees. The draft was unpopular both for its impact on those drafted and as a focal point for opposition to a controversial war. Rather than submit to conscription, tens of thousands of young men migrated to
Canada, which did not support war in Vietnam.
End of Conscription
In 1971, Senator
Mike Gravel embarked on a one-man
filibuster against legislation renewing the military draft. Using various parliamentary maneuvers, Gravel was able to block the bill for five months before President Richard Nixon and Senate Republicans agreed to allow the draft to expire in 1973. Subsequently conscription ended in
1973 amid much fanfare and extensive media coverage. Following Gravel's fillibuster of the draft renewal legislation, a formal recommendation to end conscription was put forward by the
Gates Commission appointed by President Nixon.
Post-1980 draft registration
In
1980, Congress re-instated the requirement that young men register with the
Selective Service System. Currently, male U.S. citizens and many male aliens living in the U.S., if age 18 through 25, are required to register with the
Selective Service System, which describes its mission as "...to serve the emergency manpower needs of the Military by conscripting untrained manpower, or personnel with professional health care skills, if directed by Congress and the President in a national crisis."
[3]
No one has been prosecuted for failure to comply with draft registration since 1986, in part because prosecutions of draft resisters proved counter-productive for the government, and in part because of the difficulty of proving that noncompliance with the law was "knowing and willful". Many people don't register at all, register late, or change addresses without notifying the Selective Service System.
[4]
Health Care Personnel Delivery System
On December 1, 1969, Congress ordered the Selective Service System to put in place a system capable of drafting "persons qualified for practice or employment in a health care and professional occupation", if such a special-skills draft should be ordered by Congress.
[5] In response, Selective Service published plans for the "Health Care Personnel Delivery System " (HCPDS) in 1989, and has had them ready ever since. The concept underwent a preliminary field exercise in Fiscal Year 1998, followed by a more extensive nationwide readiness exercise in Fiscal Year 1999. The HCPDS plans include women and men ages 20-54 in 57 different job categories.
[6] As of May 2003, the Defense Department has said the most likely form of draft is a special skills draft, probably of health care workers.
[7]
Legality
In 1918, the
Supreme Court ruled that the
World War I draft did not violate the
United States Constitution. ''
Arver v. United States'', 245 U.S. 366 (1918).
[8] The Court summarized the history of conscription in
England and in colonial America, a history that it read as establishing that the
Framers envisioned compulsory military service as a governmental power. It held that the Constitution's grant to Congress of the powers to declare war and to create standing armies included the power to mandate conscription. It rejected arguments based on states' rights, the
Thirteenth Amendment, and other provisions of the Constitution.
Later, during the Vietnam War, a lower
appellate court also concluded that the draft was constitutional. ''United States v. Holmes'', 387 F.2d 781 (7th Cir.), ''cert. denied'', 391 U.S. 936 (1968).
[9] (Justice
William O. Douglas, in voting to hear the appeal in ''Holmes'', agreed that the government had the authority to employ conscription in wartime, but argued that the constitutionality of a draft in the absence of a declaration of war was an open question, which the Supreme Court should address.)
During the World War I era, the Supreme Court allowed the government great latitude in suppressing criticism of the draft. Examples include ''
Schenck v. United States'', 249 U.S. 47 (1919)
[10] and ''Gilbert v. Minnesota'', 254 U.S. 325 (1920).
[11] In subsequent decades, however, the Court has taken a much broader view of the extent to which advocacy speech is protected by the
First Amendment. Thus, in 1971 the Court held it unconstitutional for a state to punish a man who entered a county courthouse wearing a jacket with the words "Fuck the Draft" visible on it. ''
Cohen v. California'', 403 U.S. 15 (1971).
[12] Nevertheless, protesting the draft by the specific means of burning a draft registration card can be constitutionally prohibited, because of the government's interest in prohibiting the "nonspeech" element involved in destroying the card. ''
United States v. O'Brien'', 391 U.S. 367 (1968).
[13]
In 1981, several men filed lawsuit in the case ''
Rostker v. Goldberg'', alleging that the Military Selective Service Act violates the
Due Process Clause of the
Fifth Amendment by requiring that men only and not also women register with the Selective Service System (SSS). The
Supreme Court eventually upheld the Act, stating that Congress's "decision to exempt women was not the accidental byproduct of a traditional way of thinking about women," that "since women are excluded from combat service by statute or military policy, men and women are simply not similarly situated for purposes of a draft or registration for a draft, and Congress' decision to authorize the registration of only men therefore does not violate the Due Process Clause," and that "the argument for registering women was based on considerations of equity, but Congress was entitled, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, to focus on the question of military need, rather than 'equity.'"
[14]
Conscientious objection
According to the SSS,
[15]
:A conscientious objector is one who is opposed to serving in the armed forces and/or bearing arms on the grounds of moral or religious principles.
:...
: Beliefs which qualify a registrant for CO status may be religious in nature, but don't have to be. Beliefs may be moral or ethical; however, a man's reasons for not wanting to participate in a war must not be based on politics, expediency, or self-interest. In general, the man's lifestyle prior to making his claim must reflect his current claims.
The
Supreme Court has ruled in cases United States v. Seeger
[16] (1965) and Welsh v. United States
[17] (1970) that conscientious objection can be due to non-religious beliefs as well as religious beliefs; but it has also ruled in Gillette v. United States
[18] (1971) against objections to specific wars as grounds for conscientious objection.
There is currently no mechanism to indicate that one is a conscientious objector in the Selective Service system. According to the SSS, after one is drafted, one can claim
Conscientious Objector status and then justify it before the Local Board. This is criticized because, during the times of a draft, when country is in emergency conditions, there will be increased pressure for Local Boards to be more harsh on conscientious objector claims.
There are two types of status for conscientious objectors. If one only objects to combat, but not to service in the military, then one is given noncombatant service in the military without training of weapons. If one objects to all military service, then one is given "Alternative Service" with a job "deemed to make a meaningful contribution to the maintenance of the national health, safety, and interest."
Selective Service reforms
The Selective Service System has maintained that they have implemented a number of reforms that would make the draft more fair and equitable.
Some of the measures they have implemented include:
★ Before Vietnam a young man could get a deferment by showing that he was a full-time student making satisfactory progress towards a degree; now deferment only lasts to the end of the semester. If the man is a senior he can defer until the end of the academic year.
★ The government has said that draft boards are now more representative of the local communities in areas such as race and national origin.
★ A lottery system would be used to determine the order of people being called up. Previously the oldest men who were found eligible for the draft would be taken first. In the new system, the men called first would be those who are or will turn 20 in the calendar year or those whose deferments will end in the calendar year. Each year after the man will be placed on a lower priority status until his liability ends.
As there has been no draft since 1973, it remains to be seen how any future drafts would be conducted.
Perception of the draft as unfair
Some people feel that the draft is fundamentally unfair (or illegal in a way) because only males must register with the Selective Service. Many
masculists as well as
feminists hold this view. For example, the
National Organization for Women (NOW), feminist organization, passed a resolution in 1980 opposing males-only draft registration as discriminatory and the
ACLU's Women's Rights Project provided aid to the plaintiff in the
Supreme Court case
Rostker v. Goldberg, in which the plaintiff unsuccessfully challenged males-only draft registration. Congress retains the right to conscript women, and considered doing so during the Second World War.
Other discriminating factors regarding conscription include age, with a preference for younger draftees, and residency, as only those in the U.S. may be drafted.
The draft has been perceived by some as unfairly targeting the poor and lower middle classes. Because of college deferments, children of wealthy and upper middle class families that could afford to send them to college could avoid the draft. The fact that President
Bill Clinton had been attending college during the time period in which conscription was active and received a collegiate deferment caused controversy during his campaigns and during his time in office. Similar controversy has surrounded prominent figures in the
Bush Administration, such as
Dick Cheney and
Paul Wolfowitz.
During the
Vietnam War some children of wealthy families wished to avoid a perception of avoiding military service. Those individuals would often sign up for the
National Guard, which at the time seldom sent troops overseas. The fact that some were able to use their family's connections to gain a position when spots in the guard were limited also led to a perception that the wealthy were using the National Guard to ensure that their children were assigned low risk duty in the States. Much as President Clinton's obtaining a deferment based on his attending college had caused controversy, President
George W. Bush's service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War had also attracted controversy during his election campaigns.
During the Vietnam Era it was often quite easy for those with some knowledge of the system (or from guidance by draft counselors and draft attorneys) to avoid being drafted, or to defend prosecutions by submitting themselves to induction after indictment, and then being found disqualified. A simple route, widely publicized, was to get a medical rejection. This was possible because the draft laws after World War II mandated that the medical standards for conscription should not be less stringent than they were during the war. However, advances in diagnostic medicine lead to a much larger pool of young men being subject to disqualification. (
Homosexuality was also a disqualifying condition, although most men did not wish to assert this status during that era.) Men who received induction notices could often manipulate where they were examined by showing up at induction centers far away from their actual residences on the mandated date for examination (either for a pre-induction physical or the induction physical examination). It was advantageous to be examined in induction centers adjacent to heavily populated metropolitan areas, where it often wasn't worth the Army's time to dispute their claims.
One scene in a film that accurately captures the chaotic situation in the lower Manhattan draft center where people slipped through the cracks is in
Alice's Restaurant. In this case the young man was rejected for having a criminal record (for
littering). Conversely the poor and uneducated were often swept up without any understanding of how to escape the system. However, many law schools, notably Harvard, had draft counseling centers where law students helped young men in poorer areas to assert their rights and seek exemptions from induction.
U.S. Representative
Charles Rangel (D-NY) argued in 2004 that poor men were far more apt to enlist for military service. He called for a reinstatement of the draft to ensure service in Iraq was spread equally among the rich and poor. (See section below: 'Conscription controversies since 2003'.) After the November 2006 elections, Rangel again suggested the draft be renewed, this time because he thought it was less likely that a democracy with conscription would engage in pre-emptive wars such as the current American military involvement in Iraq.
While the government had instituted reforms to deal with what were perceived to be the worst abuses, some people feel that more can still be done. Others feel that any military draft is inherently unfair because only a small percentage of eligible draftees are needed at only one time. One leading opponent of military draft restoration, State Rep.
Mark B. Cohen of Philadelphia, said "The draft hurts military efficiency by substituting well motivated volunteers for unmotivated draftees, undermines military pay and benefits by removing the need to attract volunteers, and creates anxiety and unrest among tens of millions of people who will never serve. It is a dangerous pseudo-solution to a non-existent problem."
The provisions for
conscientious objection to the draft have also been viewed as unfairly discriminatory, favoring religious objection over non-religious objection. Alternative mandatory service can assuage objections based on peace and non-violence, but does nothing for those whose objections arise from strongly held convictions about freedom. Many who object to the draft find it directly conflicts with the liberty clause they committed themselves to in the
Pledge of Allegiance. The counter argument to this position is that with the rights of a republic, come inherent responsibilities.
Conscription controversies since 2003
No attempt to reinstate conscription, since the effort to enforce Selective Service registration law was abandoned in 1986, has been able to attract much support in the legislature or among the public.
[19] However since early 2003, when the
Iraq War appeared imminent, there have been a number of attempts through
legislation and through
campaign rhetoric to begin a new public conversation on the topic.
In 2003, several
Democratic congressmen (
Charles Rangel - NY,
James McDermott of
Washington,
John Conyers of
Michigan,
John Lewis of
Georgia,
Pete Stark of
California,
Neil Abercrombie of
Hawaii) introduced
legislation that would draft both men and women into either military or civilian government service, should there be a draft in the future. The
Republican majority leadership suddenly considered the bill, nine months after its introduction, without a report from the
Armed Services Committee (to which it had been referred), and just one month prior to the
2004 Presidential & Congressional elections. The Republican leandership used an
expedited parliamentary procedure that would have required a
two-thirds vote for passage of the bill. The bill was defeated on
5 October 2004, with 2 members voting for it and 402 members voting against.
In 2004 the platforms of both the
Democratic and Republican parties opposed military conscription, but neither party moved to end draft registration.
John Kerry in one debate criticized Bush's policies, "You've got
stop-loss policies so people can't get out when they were supposed to. You've got a backdoor draft right now."
This statement was in reference to the Department of Defense use of "stop-loss" orders, which have extended the Active Duty periods of some military personnel. All enlistees, upon entering the service, volunteer for a minimum eight-year Military Service Obligation (MSO). This MSO is split between a minimum active duty period, followed by a reserve period where enlistees may be called back to active duty for the remainder of the 8 years.
[20] Some of these active duty extensions have been for as long as two years. The Pentagon stated that as of
August 24,
2004, 20,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines had been affected.
[21] As of
January 31,
2006 it has been reported that more than 50,000 soldiers and reservists had been affected.
[22]
Mentions of the draft during the Presidential campaign led to a resurgence of anti-draft and draft resistance organizing.
[23] One poll of young voters in October 2004 found that 29% would resist if drafted.
[24]
In November 2006,
New York Democratic Representative
Charles Rangel again called for the draft to be reinstated.
[25]
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has rejected this proposal.
On
19 December 2006, Bush announced that he was considering sending more troops to Iraq. The next day, the Selective Service System's director for operations and chief information officer, Scott Campbell, announced plans for a "readiness exercise" to test the system's operations in 2009, for the first time since 1998.
[26]
On
21 December 2006,
Veterans Affairs Secretary
Jim Nicholson, when asked by a reporter whether the draft should be reinstated to make the military more equal, said, "I think that our society would benefit from that, yes sir." Nicholson proceeded to relate his experience as a company commander in an infantry unit which brought together soldiers of different socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels, noting that the draft "does bring people from all quarters of our society together in the common purpose of serving." Nicholson later issued a statement saying he does not support reinstating the draft.
[27]<
On
10 August 2007, with
National Public Radio on a show called "All Things Considered,"
Lieutenant General Douglas Lute,
National Security Adviser to the President and Congress for all matters pertaining to the
United States Military efforts in
Iraq and
Afghanistan, expressed support for a draft to alleviate the stress on the Army's all-volunteer force. He cited the fact that repeated deployments place much strain upon one soldier's family and himself which, in turn, can affect retention.
[28]
Civilian service
Conscription, as described above, has been used nationally only to provide men to the military. The most common form of compulsory civilian service in the U.S. is the much shorter obligation of
jury duty.
Mandatory public service of a non-military nature is required as part of the
high school curriculum in many school districts across the nation. Since
1992, the state of
Maryland has required a total of 75 hours of "developmentally appropriate service-learning activities" over the course of grades 6 through 12.
[29] During the 2004 campaign, Kerry proposed a similar program nationwide, to be implemented by each school district but federally funded. He added an additional voluntary option for students to receive four years of college tuition in exchange for a commitment to two years of national service.
Mandatory full-time service on a national scale has been proposed many times, and was backed by, for example,
Dwight D. Eisenhower. Recent proposals have been modeled after the
Americorps program, but necessarily much larger in scale when made mandatory. Robert Litan of the
Brookings Institution estimates the cost for a program of one year for all high school graduates at $25 billion.
[30][31]
The draft and immigration
Selective Service (and the draft) in the United States is not limited to citizens. Non-citizen males of appropriate age in the United States, who are
permanent residents (holders of
green cards), seasonal agricultural workers,
refugees, parolees, asylees, and even
illegal immigrants, are required to enlist in Selective Service.
[32] Refusal to do so is grounds for denial of a future citizenship application. In addition, immigrants who seek to
naturalize as citizens must, as part of the Oath of Citizenship, swear to the following:
... that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law;[33]
Non-citizens who serve in the United States military enjoy several naturalization benefits which are unavailable to non-citizens who do not, such as a waiver of application fees.
[34] Permanent resident aliens who die while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces may be naturalized posthumously, which may be beneficial to surviving family members.
[35]
Poverty Draft
The poverty draft is a controversial belief in some circles that low-income demographics are either intentionally targeted by the military for recruitment, or that their low socioeconomic status makes enlistment especially attractive, such that they are overrepresented in the armed forces. The "poverty draft" is a term describing U.S. military recruiters' purposeful tendency to focus their recruiting efforts on inner-city and poor rural schools. The low-income youth and young people of color who attend these schools generally have fewer good educational and job opportunities than middle-class and wealthy youth and are therefore more likely to enlist. Proponents of the poverty draft view often claim that because of this the U.S. armed forces are disproportionally men and women of color and from poor and working class backgrounds.
See also
★
Conscription crisis
★
Draft lottery (1969)
★
Universal National Service Act
★
Universal National Service Act of 2003
★
Universal National Service Act of 2006
★
Universal National Service Act of 2007
★
Peace Churches
Further reading
★ Halstead, Fred. 'GIs Speak out against the War: The Case of the Ft. Jackson 8'. 128 pages. New York: Pathfinder Press. 1970.
References
Footnotes
1. John W. Chambers, II, ed. in chief, ''The Oxford Companion to American Military History'' (Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-19-507198-0), 180.
2. Chambers, ''The Oxford Companion to American Military History'', 181.
3. Selective Service System
4. Prosecutions of Draft Registration Resisters
5. [FAQ about Health Care Workers and the Draft http://www.medicaldraft.info]
6. [1]
7. [2]
8. Arver v. United States, 245 U.S. 366 (1918)
9. Holmes v. United States, 391 U.S. 936 (1968)
10. Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919)
11. Gilbert v. Minnesota
12. ''Cohen v. California'', 403 U.S. 15 (1971)
13. ''United States v. O'Brien'', 391 U.S. 367 (1968)
14. Rostker v. Goldberg, Cornell Law School, retrieved 26 Dec. 2006.
15. [3]
16. United States v. Seeger
17. Welsh v. United States
18. Gillette v. United States
19. [4]
20. [5]
21. [6]
22. [7]
23. [8]
24. [9]
25. CNN November 2006
26. [10]
27. [11]
28. [12]
29. [13]
30. Diversity in Israel
31. [14]
32. Selective Service System - Who Must Register
33. [15]
34. [16]
35. [17]
External links
★
Selective Service System - official website
★
Resisters.info - information and resources on the draft, draft registration, and draft resistance; includes statistics on draft registration compliance and enforcement since 1980
★
MedicalDraft.info - FAQ's on the medical draft ("Health Care Personnel Delivery System")
★
Is Conscription Slavery?
★
''Brigham Young University Law Review'' - analysis of proposals based on Americorps
★
"''troops in Iraq... enlistment has been extended until December 24th, 2031''" - by
Rolling Stone magazine, ''The Return of the Draft'' 2005
★
"PUBLIC SERVICE, Making Americans, New push for national service Sept. 11 revives interest in citizenship duty for youth" - includes a review of public service programs in other countries too
★ : A wikibook on the subject by a draft board member.
★ http://members.aol.com/vetschoice/100-1.htm
★
Selective-Service.org - Information from a man who fought the Military Draft and won
★
The draft would weaken the world's best military,
The Wall Street Journal editorial,
November 25,
2006
★
Reinstating the military draft by
Walter E. Williams
★
U.S. needs to institute a military draft immediately" argument diagram at
HonestArgument.com
★
Are You Going to be Drafted? by Rod Powers. Discusses the improbability of the draft returning.
★
How Stuff Works - The US Draft
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