Vietnam Era Draft Lottery Begins

December 1: On this day in 1969 the Selective Service System of the United States conducted two lotteries to determine the order of call to military service in the Vietnam War for men born from 1944 to 1950.

President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 which created the country’s first peacetime draft and formally established the Selective Service System as an independent Federal agency.

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

How the Lottery Worked in 1969

The days of the year (including February 29) were represented by the numbers 1 through 366 written on slips of paper. The slips were placed in separate capsules that were mixed in a shoebox and then dumped into a deep glass jar. With radio, film, and TV coverage, capsules were drawn from the jar one at a time.

The first number drawn was 258 (September 14), so all registrants with that birthday were assigned lottery number 1. The second number drawn corresponded to April 24, and so forth. All men of draft age (born 1944 to 1950) who shared a birthdate would be called to serve at once.

Also on December 1, 1969, a second lottery was held, with the 26 letters of the alphabet. Among men with the same birthdate, the order of induction was determined by the permutation ranks of the first letters of their last, first, and middle names. Anyone with initials “JJJ” would have been first within the shared birthdate; anyone with initials “VVV” would have been last.

Protester burning his registration form

The draft lottery had major social consequences because it generated resistance to military service and the resisters, or “draft dodgers”, were generally young, well educated, healthy men. Some men chose the legal sanctions for refusing military service, including imprisonment by destroying their draft cards or draft letters, or simply not presenting themselves for the military service test. Many others left the country entirely. The number of American citizens who moved to Canada during the Vietnam war because of the draft is estimated to be around 125,000.  It is estimated that about half of those returned to the United States after the Nixon era.

The date of the last drawing for the lottery was on March 12, 1975. Registration with the Selective Service System was suspended on April 1, 1975, and registrant processing was suspended on January 27, 1976.

Registration was resumed in July 1980 by President Carter in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan for men born in 1960 and later, and is in effect now.  Young American men are required to register within 30 days of their 18^th birthday.