Rough Draft

This book argues that policy makers’ idealized conceptions of middle-class masculinity directly affected who they targeted for conscription during the Cold War. Along with much of the American population, federal officials, including those within the Selective Service System, believed college educated men could better protect the nation from the threat of communism as civilians than as soldiers. The availability of deferments for these men grew rapidly between 1945 and 1965, militarizing their occupations and making it less and less likely that middle-class white men would serve in the Cold War military. Meanwhile, officials used the War on Poverty to target poorer men for conscription in the hopes that military service would offer them skills they could use in civilian life. Therefore, while some men resisted military service in Vietnam for reasons of political conscience, most of those who avoided military service did so because manpower polices made it possible. By protecting middle-class breadwinners in the name of national security, policy planners militarized certain civilian roles, a move that, ironically, separated military service from the obligations of masculine citizenship and, ultimately, helped kill the draft in the United States.

Why America Should Restore the Draft

While agreeing with Professor Liebert and Colonel Golby that the All-Volunteer Force—which in 1973 replaced the Selective Service System (the draft) enacted by Congress at the onset of World War II—has worsened the estrangement of America’s military from the larger society and that this estrangement constitutes a hazard to our nation’s democracy, Colonel Hauser disputes their notion that nothing much can be done to remediate that hazard other than encouraging a return to historical/traditional nonpartisanship on the part of active and retired military officers, presumably encouraged by civilian political leadership. Instead, he suggests, a return to the draft, within a program of national service, would not only ameliorate military-societal separation but also provide a multitude of strategic, social, political, and economic benefits to the entire nation.

The Draft

After much debate, the federal government initiated a selective service system, the “draft,” to supply men for a vastly expanded military. Kentucky was given its quota of men and established a state selective service office directed by Major Henry Rhodes, who reported to state adjutant general Tandy Ellis. Governor Stanley appointed registration boards in the counties to oversee four national registration days, as well as local draft boards to process the men after they were registered. Guided by policies and advice from the director of the US selective service system and the army provost marshal, General Enoch Crowder, Rhodes dealt with many issues and advised the county boards on issues such as nonregistrants, exemptions, and men who ignored draft calls. Because of the tireless efforts of Major Rhodes and the many local board members, the draft mechanism worked well in Kentucky, where few men failed to show up for service.