Greeting: America and the Draft · Episode 11 of 12 · 26 min
The Lottery and the End: The Botched Draw and the Draft's Last Days
The 1969 lottery was supposed to make the draft fair, but the math was botched and men born late in the year drew dangerously low numbers. The episode follows the reform, the induction ceilings falling year by year to the last men drafted and the end of induction in 1973, and the amnesty fights: Ford's grudging clemency and Carter's pardon for draft evaders that pointedly left deserters out.
Who's who
- Richard Nixon+15 more episodesPresident who signed the lottery law and phased out most deferments
- Alexander Pirnie+1 more episodeCongressman who drew the first capsule on December 1, 1969
- Burke Marshall+1 more episodeChair of the commission that recommended random selection
- Curtis W. TarrSelective Service director who presided over the redesigned 1970 drawing
- Norton StarrAmherst mathematician who dissected the flawed 1969 drawing
- Gerald Ford+4 more episodesPresident who announced conditional clemency in 1974
- Jimmy Carter+12 more episodesPresident who pardoned draft evaders in 1977
Timeline
- December 1969First lottery drawn; September 14 is number 1, and late-year birthdays cluster low
- July 1970Redesigned dual-drum drawing for men born 1951
- December 1972The last draft call is issued
- June 1973Induction authority expires
- September 1974Ford announces conditional clemency for evaders and deserters
- January 1977Carter pardons Vietnam-era draft violators but not deserters
Still debated
The 125 induction ceiling for the 1970 drawing is the softest of the three ceilings, and who was the last man drafted depends on whether last means call, induction date or processing. Historians differ on how much the lottery equalized risk versus the deferment phase-out and the war's wind-down.
← PreviousHell No: Draft Resistance and the Courts That Redefined ConscienceNext →The Debt: What Objectors Built — and the Draft That Never Died
Connected episodes in other series
How Title IX Passed in 1972 — 37 Words, Almost UnnoticedTitle IX · Episode 3Also features Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon
How White Evangelicals Moved From Democrat to RepublicanA Wall of Separation · Episode 7Also features Richard Nixon
How Copper Sparked the Chilean CoupBackyard Empire: The U.S. in Latin America · Episode 4Also features Richard Nixon
Foreign Fleets and the Two-Hundred-Mile LineFishing for a Solution · Episode 3Also features Gerald Ford