- Collection:
- Vietnam War Era Ephemera Collection
- Title:
- Our Fight is Here: Essays on Draft Resistance
- Creator:
- Students for a Democratic Society
- Contributor to Resource:
- University of Washington Libraries. Special Collections Division.
- Date of Original:
- 1967
- Subject:
- Draft resisters--Washington (State)--Seattle
Vietnam Conflict, 1961-1975--Protest movements
Students for a Democratic Society (U.S.) - People:
- Davidson, Carl
Henig, Peter
Wilkerson, Cathy
Silbar, Francine - Location:
- United States, Washington, King County, Seattle, 47.60621, -122.33207
- Medium:
- pamphlets
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- image/jpeg
- Description:
- Alternative title: Praxis Makes Perfect ... On the Manpower Channelers ... The Conscription Law ... Women and the Draft Movement ... A Protest of the Young Background information: “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. In 1973, the draft ended and the U.S. converted to an All-Volunteer military.” ( Background of Selective Service. Selective Service System History and Records. http://www.sss.gov/HIST.HTM ) Background information: “On December 1, 1969, the United States began a new method of drafting young men to fight the war in Vietnam: It held a lottery. It worked like this: Each day of the year was printed on a piece of paper. These pieces of paper, representing each potential draftee's birthday, were placed in blue plastic capsules. Then all 366 capsules (one for each day of the year, including leap years) were placed in a large glass jar. As millions watched on TV or listened on radio, the capsules were drawn from the jar, one by one. The first date drawn was assigned a draft number of ‘one’the next date drawn received draft number ‘two’and so on, until each day of the year -- each potential birthday -- had been drawn from the jar and assigned a draft number. After the lottery, draftees were called for duty in order of their draft number, beginning with number ‘one,’ proceeding to number ‘two,’ and so on, until the military's manpower needs were met. So if you drew a low number in the lottery, you were likely to be draftedif you drew a high number, you probably wouldn't be. ... Being drafted was not an automatic ticket to Vietnam. In fact, of 307,276 men who reported for duty as a result of the December 1969 lottery, only 162,746 were actually inducted. The rest were rejected on physical, mental or legal grounds (convicted felons, for instance, were rejected). Those who were inducted still might not be sent to fightover the course of the entire Vietnam War, draftees stood only a 38 percent chance of serving in Vietnam. Soldiers who belonged to that 38 percent, however, were statistically more likely to die in combat than soldiers who volunteered -- principally because the overwhelming majority of draftees sent to Vietnam were a part of the U.S. Army ground forces that did much of the fighting.” ( Would you have been drafted? CNN Interactive. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/13/the.draft )
- Metadata URL:
- https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/protests/id/464
- Additional Rights Information:
- For information on permissions for use and reproductions please visit UW Libraries Special Collections Use Permissions page: http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/services/permission-for-use
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: University of Washington Libraries/id/ Special Collections, [Order Number or Negative Number]
- Extent:
- 28 x 21.5 cm
Scanned from original text at 400 dpi in color, saved in JPEG format and resized to 600 ppi horizontal. Saved at compression rate 3. 2004. - Original Collection:
- Vietnam War Era Ephemera Collection
Students for a Democratic Society - Contributing Institution:
- University of Washington. Libraries. Special Collections Division
- Rights:
-
