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N0KFQ > TODAY 16.09.16 16:51l 49 Lines 2208 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 7612_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Sep 16
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<F1OYP<ON0AR<DB0RES<WA7V<F1OYP<VE2PKT<LU4ECL<CX2SA<
N0KFQ
Sent: 160916/1431Z 7612@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ6.0.12
1940
United States imposes the draft
On this day in 1940, the Burke-Wadsworth Act is passed by
Congress, by wide margins in both houses, and the first peacetime
draft in the history of the United States is imposed. Selective
Service was born.
The registration of men between the ages of 21 and 36 began
exactly one month later, as Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson,
who had been a key player in moving the Roosevelt administration
away from a foreign policy of strict neutrality, began drawing
draft numbers out of a glass bowl. The numbers were handed to the
president, who read them aloud for public announcement. There
were some 20 million eligible young men_50 percent were rejected
the very first year, either for health reasons or illiteracy (20
percent of those who registered were illiterate).
In November 1942, with the United States now a participant in the
war, and not merely a neutral bystander, the draft ages expanded;
men 18 to 37 were now eligible. Blacks were passed over for the
draft because of racist assumptions about their abilities and the
viability of a mixed-race military. But this changed in 1943,
when a "quota" was imposed, meant to limit the numbers of blacks
drafted to reflect their numbers in the overall population,
roughly 10.6 percent of the whole. Initially, blacks were
restricted to "labor units," but this too ended as the war
progressed, when they were finally used in combat.
"Conscientious objector" status was granted to those who could
demonstrate "sincerity of belief in religious teachings combined
with a profound moral aversion to war." Quakers made up most of
the COs, but 75 percent of those Quakers who were drafted fought.
COs had to perform alternate service in Civilian Public Service
Camps, which entailed long hours of hazardous work for no
compensation. About 5,000 to 6,000 men were imprisoned for
failing to register or serve the nation in any form; these
numbers were comprised mostly of Jehovah's Witnesses.
By war's end, approximately 34 million men had registered, and 10
million served with the military.
73 - K.O., n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
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