Draft Lottery (1969) - Origins and Consequences

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 all over America as people decried discrimination by the draft system "against low-education, low-income, underprivileged members of society".

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).