Background: 1948-1963

The Selective Service Act of 1948

The Selective Service Act of 1948 was signed into law by President Harry S. Truman on June 24, 1948, as a result of the number of voluntary enlistments into the military in the immediate post-World War II period being insufficient to maintain the desired strength, and as a response to Soviet aggression in eastern Europe. All men from the ages of nineteen to twenty-five inclusive, if found eligible, were liable to be selected for a twenty-one month term of active-duty service in the armed forces of the United States. After completing this term, men had to serve in a reserve component of the amed forces for five years. To leave the military at a sooner time, they could serve on active duty for another twelve months, or serve in an organized reserve unit for thirty-six months, which would necessitate attending periodic training and classes.

Short-term voluntary enlistments were also offered. A limited number of men between the ages of eighteen and nineteen could choose to enlist in the Army, Navy (to include the Marine Corps and Coast Guard), or Air Force for a period of twelve months and then serve six years in a reserve component. By serving in an organized reserve unit, this obligation was reduced to four years. Men from the ages of nineteen to twenty-five could choose to enlist in the Regular Army under the same service obligation as draftees of this age group.

Inductions under the act began in November 1948. One benefit of a draft being in effect is encouraging those not yet selected to enlist voluntarily. As a result of a spike in voluntary enlistments, inductions were temporarily suspended after only three months; the planned call for February 1949 was cancelled on January 8, 1949, and no calls were issued from February 1949 until September 1950. The number of men ordered to report for induction thus dropped precipitously, from 10,268 in January 1949 to fifty-one in February, eleven in March, three in April, and only one man in May 1949. 1,646 men were ordered to report for induction in August 1950, but they were part of the call for September 1950, a request for 50,000 men.

Major provisions of the act were to expire on the second anniversary of its signing, June 24, 1950. On June 23, 1950, the act was extended for fifteen days by Public Law 81-572. With the outbreak of the Korean War two days later, Public Law 81-599 was signed on June 30, 1950 to extend it for another period of two years, to expire on July 9, 1951.

The Universal Military Training and Service Act

The Universal Military Training and Service Act was a major amendment to the Selective Service Act of 1948, signed into law on June 19, 1951. It lowered the minimum age of liability for military service from nineteen years to eighteen years and six months. The required period of active-duty service was extended from twenty-one to twenty-four months. The maximum term of active and reserve service for men selected under the act was increased from five years to eight.

The period of liability for men deferred because of educational pursuits or civilian activities that were deemed necessary to the national health, safety, or interest was extended. They could be continually deferred if necessary, but if their deferment expired, they would remain liable for training and service until the age of thirty-five. Men who received such deferments would re-enter the draft-eligible pool after the deferment or any subsequent ones expired.

The major provisions of the act were extended to expire on July 1, 1953. The Universal Military Training and Service Act was later extended until July 1, 1955 (Public Law 83-84, June 29, 1953). On June 30, 1955, the period of effectiveness for major provisions of the Universal Military Training and Service Act was increased from two years to four through Public Law 84-118. On March 23, 1959, Public Law 86-4 extended the act until July 1, 1964, and on March 28, 1963, Public Law 88-2 extended it until July 1, 1967.

The Process of Selection

President Harry S. Truman's Executive Order No. 9988 of August 20, 1948 and Executive Order No. 10001 of September 17, 1948 prescribed portions of the Selective Service regulations. After men had registered with their local draft board as soon as possible after attaining the age of eighteen years, their local draft board was to mail those men who had attained the age of nineteen years an SSS Form 100, or Classification Questionnaire, except in cases where men could be classified properly without this form. Men could substantiate their status as a conscientious objector by filling out an SSS Form 150. If a man classified as available for military service believed himself to actually suffer from a condition that disqualified him, he could request a medical interview.

Periodically, state Directors of Selective Service would order their local draft boards to supply numbers of registrants found qualified for military service to specific locations to be given Armed Forces Physical Examinations. If a man passed the examination, he would be given an NME Form 62, or Certificate of Acceptability. After a requisition was submitted by the Department of Defense to the national Director of Selective Service, he would issue to each state Director an SSS Form 200 (Notice of Call on State). The state Director would then issue to each of his local draft boards an SSS Form 201 (Notice of Call on Local Board). After receiving the form, each local draft board would select available men to be mailed an Order to Report for Induction (SSS Form 252). The men selected were to be those that the board had mailed a Certificate of Acceptability not less than twenty-one days prior to the date on which they were to be inducted. The date of induction was to be no less than ten days after the Order to Report for Induction was mailed. 

The Order of Selection

Executive Order No. 10001 amended the Selective Service regulations to provide for the selection of eligible registrants by their dates of birth, with the oldest being selected first. Men who had

1. A wife, child or children, and/or
2. A person dependent upon them for support (to include a wife, child, or children) that an induction would cause hardship to

were entitled to be deferred in Class III-A. Paragraph (b) of section 622.15 defined a "child" as a legitimate or illegitimate biological child from the date of its conception, a stepchild, a legally adopted child, a foster child, or any person in the relationship of child to the registrant, provided that they were under the age of 18 unless they were physically or mentally handicapped. Paragraph (c) of the section defined a dependent as a wife, divorced wife, child, parent, grandparent, brother, or sister. Also defined as a "dependent" was a person of any age who was physically or mentally handicapped and was supported in good faith by the registrant.

Executive Order No. 10001 defined a "delinquent" as a man who failed to comply with some portion of the Selective Service Act, the most prominent being failing to register and failing to furnish or furnishing false information. As a form of punishment, delinquents were selected and ordered to report for induction before any other registrants.

On September 25, 1951, Executive Order No. 10292 eliminated having a wife as a sole reason to be placed in Class III-A unless the man's induction would cause hardship. On July 15, 1953, Executive Order No. 10469 eliminated children in this regard as well. Some men whose induction would not cause hardship to their children were still entitled to be placed in Class III-A if they could fulfill certain conditions

1. Claim paternity before August 25, 1953 by visiting their physician and obtaining a certificate which is filed with the local draft board and
2. Their local draft board had not mailed them an order to report for induction on a date after which the proof of paternity certificate they obtained from their physician was placed on file with said board. 

A man could thus claim paternity when his wife was still pregnant. It was further provided that those men who could claim paternity before August 25, 1953 would be selected after all other registrants. 

Public Law 84-118 of June 30, 1955 amended the Universal Military Training and Service Act to extend the liability of registrants who were members of the reserve components of the armed forces until the age of twenty-eight. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Executive Order No. 10659 of February 15, 1956 amended the Selective Service regulations to incorporate these provisions, as well as a provision that single men and married men without children would, in selecting and ordering them to report for induction, be considered a single group.

It also prescribed a new order of selection, which would be used until March 1963. It corrected a major deficiency in the order used before February 15, 1956. Before this date, the order had only prescribed, barring the specific changes mentioned above, that men be selected based upon their dates of birth with the oldest being selected first. As a result of the elimination of wives, and later children, as grounds for a Class III-A deferment, the sequence had resulted in draftees from the entire pool of eligibles, from the ages of eighteen years and six months to thirty-five, many of whom had wives and children. The new sequence predominantly provided the armed forces with younger draftees free of dependency concerns;

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. 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 child or children 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 child or children 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.

President John F. Kennedy's Executive Order No. 11098 of March 14, 1963 reintroduced the deferment for men who had children, and broadened it to include all men. Any man, married or single, could be classified in Class III-A if he maintained "a bona fide family relationship in [his] home" with a child or children as defined in the regulations; 

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. Nonvolunteers who have attained the age of nineteen years and have not attained the age of twenty-six years 
4. Nonvolunteers who have attained the age of twenty-six years in the order of their dates of birth with the youngest being selected first.
5. 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.

Executive Order No. 11119 of September 10, 1963 amended the Selective Service regulations so that married men without children ("Kennedy husbands") would be one step lower in the order of call. Subparagraph (3) of the above order was amended, and a new subparagraph (4) was added, causing subparagraphs (4) and (5) to be redesignated (5) and (6), respectively. The order of selection was now as follows;

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.

Deferments for Students

The 1948 act contained a provision to postpone the induction of students temporarily. For a high school student, the postponement expired when the student graduated, when he ceased to satisfactorily pursue the course of instruction, or when he reached twenty years of age, whichever of the dates was the earliest. For a college student, it expired at the end of the academic year or when he ceased to satisfactorily pursue the course of instruction, whichever date was the earlier. A deferment in Class II-A could be granted to men whose occupations were deemed necessary to the national health, safety, or interest; college students studying certain subjects also considered necessary could be placed in this class as well. On March 31, 1951, Executive Order No. 10230 amended the Selective Service regulations to prescribe the "(S)" suffix to Class II-A, to describe these students. 

The executive order also authorized the Director of Selective Service to develop a Selective Service Qualification Test as an alternate means of deferment. Students could be continuously deferred in Class II-A (S) until they either graduated and ceased further education, dropped out, or stopped making satisfactory progress toward their degree. The criteria for a deferment were thus that students needed a sufficient score on the Selective Service Qualification Test, or be in the upper half of the male students in their class. Students could be deferred through both qualification test score and class standing, or one only. College students began to be reclassified from Class II-A to II-A (S) in April 1951. Executive Order No. 10292 amended the Selective Service regulations to change the designation of Class II-A (S) to "II-S."

In Class I-D were placed members of the college officer training programs of the Army, Navy (to include the Marine Corps and Coast Guard), and Air Force who were making satisfactory progress in their coursework and who had agreed to the mandated service obligation. 

Selective Service Classifications in Effect, as of June 30, 1963:

All of the regulations in the below chart except for four were prescribed by Executive Order No. 9988. High school or college students that had their inductions temporarily postponed were at first classified "I-A (postponed)," but Executive Order No. 10292 created the I-S classification for them. Class II-S was split off of Class II-A as described above. Class IV-E (for conscientious objectors opposed to both combatant and noncombatant military service; that is, willing to perform civilian work only) was replaced by the similar Class I-O by Executive Order No. 10292. Class I-Y was created and the description of Class IV-F was altered by Executive Order No. 10984 of January 5, 1962.

• I-A: Available for military service
• I-A-O: Conscientious objector available for noncombatant military service only
• I-S: Student deferred by statute
• I-Y: Registrant qualified for military service only in time of war or national emergency
• II-A: Registrant deferred because of civilian occupation (except agriculture and activity in study)
• II-C: Registrant deferred because of agriculture occupation
• II-S: Registrant deferred because of activity in study
• I-D: Member of Reserve component or student taking military training
• III-A: Registrant with a child or children; and registrant deferred by reason of extreme hardship to dependents.
• IV-B: Officials deferred by law
• IV-C: Aliens
• IV-D: Minister of religion or divinity student
• IV-F: Registrant not qualified for any military service
• IV-A: Registrant who has completed service; sole surviving son
• V-A: Registrant over the age of liability for military service
• I-W: Conscientious objector performing civilian work contributing to the maintenance of the national health, safety, or interest
• I-C: Member of the Armed Forces of the United States, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, or the Public Health Service