1969 - The Lottery

In March 1969, President Richard Nixon ordered the creation of a committee to examine what effects an end to the draft and a transition to an all-volunteer military would have on America's economy and national security. The "Gates Commission," headed by former Secretary of Defense Thomas S. Gates, also included retired four-star general Alfred Gruenther and noted economists Milton Friedman, Alan Greenspan, and Wilson Wallis.

1. Delinquents who have attained the age of nineteen years in the order of their dates of birth with the oldest being selected first.
2. Volunteers who have not attained the age of twenty-six years and in the sequence in which they have volunteered for induction.
3. Nonvolunteers who have attained the age of nineteen years and have not attained the age of twenty-six years and who do not have a wife with whom they maintain a bona fide family relationship in their homes, in the order of their dates of birth with the oldest being selected first.
4. Nonvolunteers who have attained the age of nineteen years and have not attained the age of twenty-six years and who have a wife with whom they maintain a bona fide family relationship in their homes, in the order of their dates of birth with the oldest being selected first.
5. Nonvolunteers who have attained the age of twenty-six years in the order of their dates of birth, with the youngest being selected first.
6. Nonvolunteers who have attained the age of eighteen years and six months and who have not attained the age of nineteen years, in the order of their dates of birth with the oldest being selected first.

“On November 26, 1969, an amendment to the draft law (Public Law 91-124) authorized the President to establish and the Director of Selective Service to initiate a simple random selection sequence procedure. The following sequence is prescribed in regulations for inductions during the calendar year 1970:”

1. Delinquents who have attained the age of nineteen years in the order of their dates of birth with the oldest being selected first.
2. Volunteers who have not attained the age of twenty-six years in the sequence in which they have volunteered for induction.
3. (i) 1970. In the calendar year 1970, nonvolunteers born on or after January 1, 1944, and on or before December 31, 1950, who have not attained the twenty-sixth anniversary of the dates of their birth, in the order of their random sequence numbers....The nonvolunteers thus subject to selection are designated the 1970 Selection Group and constitute category (3) for 1970. Members of the 1970 Selection Group on December 31, 1970, whose random sequence numbers have not been reached by that date, shall be assigned to the priority group which is immediately below the First Priority Selection Group for 1971. (ii) 1971 and Later Years. For calendar year 1971, and for each subsequent year, a new First Priority Selection Group and lower priority groups shall be established which together will constitute category (3) for that year. The First Priority Selection Group shall consist (A) of nonvolunteers in Class I-A and Class I-A-O who prior to January 1 of each such calendar year have attained the age of nineteen years but not of twenty years, and (B) of non-volunteers who prior to January 1 of each such calendar year have attained the age of nineteen years but not of twenty-six years and who during that year are classified into Class I-A or Class I-A-O following expiration of their deferments or exemptions or otherwise. Members of each such First Priority Selection Group, who have not attained the twenty-sixth anniversary of the dates of their birth, shall be selected in the order of their random sequence numbers. Members of each such First Priority Selection Group on December 31 of the respective calendar year whose random sequence numbers are not reached by that date shall be assigned to successively lower priority groups, so that those who were in the 1970 Selection Group and who move into a lower priority group at the end of 1970 as herein provided will be in the lowest such group, those who were in the 1971 First Priority Selection Group will be in the next to the lowest such group, and so forth. Any registrant who was subject to selection in the 1970 Selection Group or in the First Priority Selection Group for any subsequent year, who thereafter is assigned to a lower priority group in category (3), who while in such a lower priority group receives a deferment or exemption, and who subsequently is reclassified into Class I-A or Class I-A-O, shall be reassigned to the priority group in which he would have been if he had not received such deferment or exemption. "(iii) Certain Registrants Married Before August 27, 1965. Within each group in category (3) there shall be a subgroup consisting of registrants who have a wife whom they married on or before August 26, 1965, and with whom they maintain a bona fide family relationship in their homes. Registrants in any such subgroup shall be in all respects subject to this paragraph, except that they shall be selected after other registrants in the group of which that subgroup is a part.
4. Nonvolunteers who attain the age of nineteen years during the calendar year but who have not attained the age of twenty years, in the order of their dates of birth with the oldest being selected first.
5. Nonvolunteers who have attained the age of twenty-six years in the order of their dates of birth with the youngest being selected first.
6. Nonvolunteers who have attained the age of eighteen years and six months and who have not attained the age of nineteen years in the order of their dates of birth with the oldest being selected first.