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N0KFQ > TODAY 11.11.16 16:08l 35 Lines 1451 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 12938_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Nov 11
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<N0KFQ
Sent: 161111/1356Z 12938@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ6.0.13
1942
Draft age is lowered to 18
On this day in 1942, Congress approves lowering the draft age to
18 and raising the upper limit to age 37.
In September 1940, Congress, by wide margins in both houses,
passed the Burke-Wadsworth Act, and the first peacetime draft was
imposed in the history of the United States. The registration of
men between the ages of 21 and 36 began exactly one month later.
There were some 20 million eligible young men_50 percent were
rejected the very first year, either for health reasons or
because 20 percent of those who registered were illiterate.
But by November 1942, with the United States now a participant in
the war, and not merely a neutral bystander, the draft ages had
to be 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.
By war's end, approximately 34 million men had registered; 10
million had been inducted into the military.
73 - K.O., n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
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