The Military Draft and 1969 Draft Lottery for the Vietnam War (2024)

1969
Draft Lottery

INDEX
Backgroundsound track - "Radio First Termer" -
The Dave Rabbit radio show was an underground
"outlaw" radio show in Vietnam during the war

• Background of Selective Service
• Official notices from Selective Service
• News story - Sept. 14 'Wins' Draft Lottery
• December 1, 1969 Lottery Numbers
• Draft Board Classifications
• Vietnam Troop Levels
• Links

Backgroundof Selective Service
(Source:Selective Service System - June 25, 2001 revision)

Formore than 50 years, Selective Service and the registration requirement forAmerica's young men have served as a backup system to provide manpower to theU.S. Armed Forces.

President Franklin Roosevelt signedthe Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 which created the country's firstpeacetime draft and formally established the Selective Service System as anindependent Federal agency.

From 1948 until 1973, during bothpeacetime and periods of conflict, men were drafted to fill vacancies in thearmed forces which could not be filled through voluntary means.

In 1973, the draft ended and theU.S. converted to an All-Volunteer military.

The registration requirement wassuspended in April 1975. It was resumed again in 1980 by President Carter inresponse to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Registration continues today asa hedge against underestimating the number of servicemen needed in a futurecrisis.

The obligation of a man to registeris imposed by the Military Selective Service Act. The Act establishes andgoverns the operations of the Selective Service System.

(Source: SelectiveService System - June 25, 2001 revision)

Officialnotices...
(clickthumbnail images to enlarge)

February 18, 1970
ORDER TO REPORT
FOR PHYSICAL EXAM

May 20, 1970
ORDER TO REPORT
FOR INDUCTION

This letter was the
first step of being
"drafted" into the
armed services

This letter meant
you were
"drafted" into the
armed services

The drawing...

The first capsule was drawn by Congressman
Alexander Pirnie (R-NY) of the House
Armed Services Committee

Photo: Selective Service System

December 1, 1969 marked the date of the first draft lottery held since 1942. This drawingdetermined the order of induction for men born between January 1, 1944 andDecember 31, 1950. A large glass container held 366 blue plastic ballscontaining every possible birth date and affecting men between 18 and 26 yearsold.

The following newsarticle appeared in newspapers the
day after the 1969 draft lottery; December 2, 1969

* * * * *

Sept. 14 'Wins' Draft Lottery

June 8 Brings Up The Rear;
850,000 Affected by Drawing

By Mike Miller

WASHINGTON -- The Selective Service System today was notifying the nation's 4,000 draft boards to arrange their files of draft eligible young men for 1970 with those born Sept. 14 at the top of the heap to be called up first.

And the official notice sent to state and local Selective Service authorities places those men with June 8 birthdays in 366th position -- at the very bottom.

850,000 Involved

That was the start and the finish of last night's long-awaited lottery-by-birthday drawing, which opened with an invocation and closed with a benediction.

In between it saw the draft future being determined for an estimated 850,000 young men, many of whom must have been saying their own prayers about the results.

For those with birthdays drawn in the upper portion of the lottery list -- April 24, Dec. 30, Feb. 14, Oct. 18, Sept. 6, Oct. 26, Sept. 7, Nov. 22 and Dec. 6 round out the top 10 -- the uncertainty over their draft status has ended.

Plans Can Be Made

They now know they will be drafted early in the year unless they volunteer first. And those at the bottom know that they will not be drafted and can plan their lives accordingly.

For those in the middle or marginal area of the drawing, uncertainty still exists. But they certainly will know definitely by the end of 1970 whether they will be inducted.

They would have had a maximum of seven years of uncertainty under the old system of drafting first the oldest available men age 19 through 25. This system expires Jan. 1.

Drawing Low-Key

The lottery was conducted in low key fashion with young men and women representing Selective Service's youth advisory committees in the various states drawing capsules containing slips of paper with the birth dates on them from a water-cooler size glass bowl.

Rep. Alexander Pirnie, New York Republican who drew the first date, was the only person in an official capacity to pull out the capsule. Mr. Pirnie is the senior Republican on the House Armed Service Committee's special subcommittee on the draft.

More Reform Urged

But the use of the young people led to a few public expressions of dissent that while the lottery is commendable, more wide-ranging draft reforms should follow.

Three young men expressed such sentiments while a fourth, David L. Fowler representing the District of Columbia, said he had been "notified" not to draw and walked out. Nevertheless, Lt. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, 76, Selective Service director who has been accused of heavy-handed draft policies, rose and shook Mr. Fowler's hand.

About a dozen youthful demonstrators picketed outside, denouncing the draft, the lottery and the Vietnam war, but they failed to interfere with the smooth precision of the drawing.

Following the drawing of dates, including Feb. 29 for men born in a leap year, the young people also drew the 26 letters of the alphabet to determine the order for induction for men registered with the same draft board and having the same birthday. J was drawn first, V last. Thus a man named Jones would be drafted before Vickery under those circ*mstances.

Upon receiving official notice of the lottery's results, local draft boards will arrange their files of registrants accordingly and draft in the order dates were drawn. After a board has filled its draft quota for the year, those men whose birthdays have not been reached will be free of all draft liability except in time of extreme national emergency.

As a general rule, Selective Service expects those with dates drawn in the upper third of the list will be drafted. Those in the middle third are of questionable status and those in the bottom third will not have serve.

The estimated 850,000 who will be 19 through 25 and classified 1-A or draft eligible as of Jan. 1 are directly affected by last night's drawing. After the first year, only men 19 at the beginning of the year and older men with deferments which have expired will be affected by the annual lotteries.

For men now in the 19-25 pool with college or other deferments, the position their birthdays were drawn will determine their liability in the year their deferments expire. For example, President Nixon's son-in-law, David Eisenhower, apparently will be ripe for drafting when his deferment expires in mid-1970 upon his expected graduation from Amherst College. His birthday, March 31, was drawn 30th. Since men in the 30th position in his draft board probably will already have been drafted by June, David would go to the top of his draft board's list of eligibles.

Neither Gen. Hershey nor any of the other Selective Service officials present moved to cut off the statements of the handful of participants who spoke out. Larry McKibben, the Iowa representative, read a petition he said represented the views of 14 young people. The 14 objected to the barring from the proceedings of Michigan and Alaska delegates who had come to Washington for the occasion but then reportedly announced they would refuse to draw out birth dates. John M. Bowers of Minnesota said the petition did not represent the views of any of the others.

* * * * * * *

15th Webmaster's note: In reality, the lottery numbers of 19 year old men were called at a rate of 30 per month, at least for the early-1970 months of January through May. For example, a man with a #131 was ordered to report for his physical exam 18 Feb 70, subsequently classified 1-A, and then ordered to report for induction 20 May 70 (May's maximum quota allowance called men with the numbers 121 through 150)

The draftee with the #131 was in the Central Highlands of Vietnam by February of 1971 at his first duty station, following Basic Combat Training (BCT) and Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Ft. Dix, New Jersey.

The highest number drafted in this groupof men was 195.

How's your "Luck of the Draw"?

See how YOU wouldhave done:

Also see: 1970 - 1971 - 1972 Draft Lottery results

Draft Board Classifications
The following is a list of Selective Service classifications
that could be assigned by draft boards:

About 60% of eligible men escaped military service during the Vietnam era

Vietnam Troop Levels
Source: Congressional Quarterlies

1960 900

1961 3,200

1962 11,300

1963 16,300

1964 23,300

1965 184,300

1966 385,300

1967 485,600

1968 536,100

1969 475,200

1970 334,600

1971 156,800

1972 24,200

By 1972, an estimated 70,000 draft evaders
and deserters were living in Canada

LINKS

1970Draft Lottery

1971Draft Lottery

1972Draft Lottery

InductionStatistics (1917-1973)

Peace Now

Selective Service System (off site)

November 2001 -Nationwide, there are currently 13.3
million 18 to 25 year olds registered for the draft