In 1917, however, selective national conscription had replaced the.
wartime tradition of volunteers. Upon President Woodrow Wilson'sto enter World War I, he was immediately advised by the Army's Chief of Staff, General Hugh Scott, and former chief of staff, General Leonard Wood, that instituting a conscritption system would be the best course of action. In Wilson's statement to Congress on April, 19 1917, he stated that the draft was the most equitable and efficient means for an industrial society to raise a mass army. On May 18, 1917, Wilson signed the Selective Draft Act, which set the motions of draft registration into effect. This decision to use the draft was met with great opposition among rural isolationists and among ethnic groups opposed to joining the allies as well as from argrarians and the industry workers who feared an attempt by corporate America to "militarize" the country through a permanent policy of universal military training and service. Desptie inequities, particularly in regard to race, the wartime selective draft was widely accepted by civilian and military elites.
Having been proven effective, the Selective Service system would be used to raise the bulk of Americas wartime armies on several more occasions.
In 1940, Congress approved President Franklin Roosevelt's request for the first peacetime draft, in which citizens were drafted without a declaration of war. The military draft was also used during the campaigns in Korea and Vietnam. The draft officially ended in 1973 and has not been used since.
Althougth we've had no military draft since 1973, many people are calling for conscription now. Many conservatives believe that this is the best course of action. "The United States must activate Selective Serice and once again induct the youth of this nation into military service," says former combat correspondent and Master Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Segel.
