Draft lottery (1969)

Draft lottery (1969)
Representative Alexander Pirnie (R-NY) drawing the first number.

On December 1, 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 between 1944 and 1950. "The draft" occurred during a longer period of conscription in the United States, controlled by the President, from just before World War II to 1973.

The Selective Service System commonly uses the label 1970 or says "Issued 1969 – Applied 1970". These lottery numbers were used during calendar year 1970 both to call for induction and to call for physical examination, a preliminary call covering more men.

Contents

Method

The days of the year were represented by the numbers from 1 to 366 written on slips of paper. The slips were placed in separate plastic capsules that were mixed in a shoebox and then dumped into a deep glass jar. Capsules were drawn from the jar one at a time.

The first day number drawn was 257 (September 14), so all registrants with that birthday were assigned lottery number 1. All men of draft age (born 1944 to 1950) who shared a birthdate would be called to serve at once. In fact the first 195 birthdates were later called to serve in order 1 to 195. The last one called was September 24 (lottery number 195).

On the same day, December 1, a second lottery was held to construct a random permutation of the 26 letters of the alphabet. Among men with the same birthdate, any year 1944 to 1950, the order of induction was determined by the permutation ranks of the first letters of their last, first, and middle names.[1] Anyone with initials "JJJ" would have been first within the shared birthdate; anyone with initials "VVV" would have been last.[2]

SSS Draft scatterplot of the days of the year (horizontal) and their lottery numbers (vertical). December birthdays (far right) were assigned many low numbers (bottom), representing early induction, and few high numbers (top).

People soon noticed that the lottery numbers were not distributed uniformly over the year. In particular, November and December births, or dates 306 to 366, were assigned mainly to lower draft numbers representing earlier calls to serve (see figure). This led to complaints that the lottery was not random as the legislation required. Analysis of the procedure suggested that mixing 366 capsules in the shoe box did not mix them sufficiently before dumping them into the jar. ("The capsules were put in a box month by month, January through December, and subsequent mixing efforts were insufficient to overcome this sequencing."[1] However, the non-uniform lottery was allowed to stand. Only five days in December--Dec. 2, 12, 15, 17 and 19--were higher than the last call number of 195.

Draft lotteries were conducted again in 1970 (for those born in 1951) and 1971 to 1975 (for 1952 to 1956 births). The draft numbers issued 1972 were never used to call for induction into service, because the last call was December 7 and authority to induct expired June 30, 1973. The 1972 to 1975 lottery numbers were used to call some men born 1953 to 1956 for physical exams and the highest number called for a physical was 215 (for tables 1970 through 1976).[2]

Origins and consequences

In the late 1960s, President Nixon established a commission to recommend the best way to raise military manpower, to keep the draft or to institute a volunteer army. After much debate within the Nixon administration and in Congress, it was decided that an all-volunteer force was feasible, was affordable, and would enhance the nation’s security. According to the Department of Defense in 2003, an all-volunteer force is and would have been more cost-efficient.

The 1960s were a time of turmoil in the United States, beginning with the Civil Rights Movement which set the standards for practices by the anti-war movement. The 1969 draft lottery only encouraged resentment of the Vietnam war and the draft. It strengthened the anti-war movement[verification needed] all over America as people decried discrimination by the draft system "against low-education, low-income, underprivileged members of society".[3]

The draft lottery had social and economic consequences because it generated resistance to military service and the resisters, draft evaders or "draft dodgers", were generally young, well educated, healthy men. Some chose the legal sanctions for refusing military service, such as imprisonment, either showing their disapproval by burning their draft cards or draft letters, or simply not presenting themselves for the military service test. Others left the country, commonly moving to Canada. 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 believed that about half returned to the United States after the Nixon era (when the war was also over).[citation needed]

Modification

Lottery procedure was improved next year although public discontent continued to grow[citation needed] until "authority to induct expired on June 30, 1973."[2].

In 1970, covering 1951 birthdates for use during 1971 (sometimes called the 1971 draft), scientists at the National Bureau of Standards prepared 78 random permutations of the numbers 1 to 365 using random numbers selected from published tables.[4] From the 78 permutations, 25 were selected at random and transcribed to calendars using 1 = January 1, 2 = January 2, ... 365 = December 31. Those calendars were sealed in envelopes. 25 more permutations were selected and sealed in 25 more envelopes without transcription to calendars. The two sets of 25 envelopes were furnished to the Selective Service System.[4]

On June 29, an official picked two envelopes, thus one calendar and one raw permutation. The 365 birthdates (for 1951) were written down, placed in capsules, and put in a drum in the order dictated by the selected calendar. Similarly, the numbers from 1 to 365 were written down and placed into capsules in the order dictated by the raw permutation.[4]

On July 1, the drawing date, one drum was rotated for an hour and the other for a half-hour (its rotating mechanism failed).[4] Pairs of capsules were then drawn, one from each drum, one with a 1951 birthdate and one with a number 1 to 365. The first date and number drawn were September 16 and 139, so all men born September 16, 1951, were assigned draft number 139. The 11th draws were the date July 9 and the number 1, so men born July 9 were assigned draft number 1 and drafted first.[4]

References

  • S.E. Fienberg (1971). "Randomization and Social Affairs: The 1970 Draft Lottery". Science 171:255–61. — called by Starr the "best and most comprehensive" article on the topic".
  • D.E. Rosenbaum. "Statisticians Charge Draft Lottery Was Not Random,". New York Times. 4 January 1970, page 66.
  1. ^ a b Norton Starr (1997). "Nonrandom Risk: The 1970 Draft Lottery". Journal of Statistics Education 5.2 (1997). — The online edition includes instructions for getting the data online and a lesson plan for statistics class using the 1970 and 1971 draft lottery data.
  2. ^ a b c SSS (2009). The Vietnam Lotteries. Selective Service System: History and Records. Last updated 2009-06-18. Confirmed 2011-05-26.
  3. ^ Anthony C. Fisher (1969). "The Cost of the Draft and the Cost of Ending the Draft". The American Economic Review 59.3 (June 1969).
  4. ^ a b c d e J. R. Rosenblatt, J. J. Filliben (1971). "Randomization and the Draft Lottery". Science 171: 306–08.

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Draft lottery — could refer to: NBA Draft Lottery, a lottery determining the order of the teams for the first fourteen selections in the NBA Draft Sports draft Draft lottery (1969) the system whereby the United States conscripted soldiers during the Vietnam War… …   Wikipedia

  • NBA Draft Lottery — The NBA Draft Lottery is an annual event held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) in which the teams who had missed the playoffs in the previous season, or teams who hold the draft rights of another team that missed the playoffs in the… …   Wikipedia

  • Draft NBA 2007 — Greg Oden, 1er choix de la draft NBA 2007. Généralités Sport Basket ball Ligue National Basketball Association Date …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Draft nba 2007 — La draft NBA 2007, aussi appelée repêchage au Québec, est la bourse aux joueurs de l année 2007 durant laquelle les équipes NBA sélectionnent des sportifs issus de l université, du lycée ou d un autre championnat. Elle a eu lieu le 28 juin 2007… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Draft NBA 2002 — Yao Ming, 1e choix de la draft NBA 2002. Généralités Sport Basket ball Ligue National Basketball Association …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Draft NBA 2003 — LeBron James, 1e choix de la draft NBA 2003. Généralités Sport Basket ball Ligue National Basketball Ass …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Draft nba 2003 — Logo de la draft NBA 2003 La draft NBA 2003 a eu lieu le 26 juin 2003 au théâtre du Madison Square Garden à New York. Lors de cette draft, les équipes de la National Basketball Association (NBA) pouvaient sélectionner des joueurs issus… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Draft nba 2002 — La draft NBA 2002 a eu lieu le 26 juin 2002 au théâtre du Madison Square Garden de New York. Lors de cette draft, les équipes de la National Basketball Association (NBA) ont sélectionné 57 joueurs, issus de NCAA, des joueurs pouvant être… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • 1969 — This article is about the year 1969. For the number, see 1969 (number). For other uses, see 1969 (disambiguation). Millennium: 2nd millennium Centuries: 19th century – 20th century – 21st century Decades: 1930s … …   Wikipedia

  • Draft evasion — is a term that refers to an intentional failure to comply with the military conscription policies of the nation to which he or she is subject. Such practices that do not involve law breaking or which are based on conscientious objection are… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”