“Draft Dodger Rag” -- Phil Ochs
“Black Boys/White Boys” -- James Rado and Gerome Ragni (Lyrics), and Galt MacDermot (Music)
The draft has rarely been actually popular in the United States, but as nations usually find it difficult to wage war without the use of conscripts, it has recurrently appeared throughout our history.
During World War II, as the safety of the entire world hang in the balance, of those rare instances in while the conscription won popular approval. In fact, watching the world erupt in flames across Europe and Southern Asia, a conflagration that threatened to burn away every vestige of human civilization, the United States enacted the first peacetime draft draft in its entire history, and did so with the overwhelming approval of citizens. To be sure, many of the first men drafted that first October in 1940 were not always so forgiving. Draftees conscripted for a single year of military service would often scribe “O H I O” -- for “Over the hill in October” -- on the walls of barracks and elsewhere. But after the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and other American holdings across the entire Pacific that fateful December of 1941 followed by a German declaration of war on the United States, public support for conscription increased further still. Many African-Americans and, later, Japanese-Americans would resist service in support of a nation that deemed them less than full citizens while refusing to guarantee their rights and often protecting their abusers, but they were in the minority.
Originally, decisions regarding the eligibility and fitness were assigned to local draft boards. It was they who selected the men who filled the quotas needed to pay the horrible butcher’s bill of the war. But by 1942, realizing a more comprehensive system, the federal government enacted a National Draft Lottery. Inductees were decided by chance, not the whim or discretion of local officials.
The system churned along after the defeats of German and Japan, preparing America for what many thought to be the eventual and irrepressible conflict. While anti-draft protest throughout the early years of the Cold War was very limited, resistance began to grow. Those who filed for conscientious objector status increased by 300% and over 80,000 cases of draft evasion were referred to the Justice Department during the Korean War. Even so, no real opposition of note occurred during the war.
Then came Vietnam.
During World War II, as the safety of the entire world hang in the balance, of those rare instances in while the conscription won popular approval. In fact, watching the world erupt in flames across Europe and Southern Asia, a conflagration that threatened to burn away every vestige of human civilization, the United States enacted the first peacetime draft draft in its entire history, and did so with the overwhelming approval of citizens. To be sure, many of the first men drafted that first October in 1940 were not always so forgiving. Draftees conscripted for a single year of military service would often scribe “O H I O” -- for “Over the hill in October” -- on the walls of barracks and elsewhere. But after the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and other American holdings across the entire Pacific that fateful December of 1941 followed by a German declaration of war on the United States, public support for conscription increased further still. Many African-Americans and, later, Japanese-Americans would resist service in support of a nation that deemed them less than full citizens while refusing to guarantee their rights and often protecting their abusers, but they were in the minority.
Originally, decisions regarding the eligibility and fitness were assigned to local draft boards. It was they who selected the men who filled the quotas needed to pay the horrible butcher’s bill of the war. But by 1942, realizing a more comprehensive system, the federal government enacted a National Draft Lottery. Inductees were decided by chance, not the whim or discretion of local officials.
The system churned along after the defeats of German and Japan, preparing America for what many thought to be the eventual and irrepressible conflict. While anti-draft protest throughout the early years of the Cold War was very limited, resistance began to grow. Those who filed for conscientious objector status increased by 300% and over 80,000 cases of draft evasion were referred to the Justice Department during the Korean War. Even so, no real opposition of note occurred during the war.
Then came Vietnam.
At the same time President Kennedy sent military “advisors” to replaced the failed French efforts to stymie Communists advances in Indochina, he established an informal tripart ranking of potential inductees. Those to be called up first were single men. Somewhat more protected were married men of daft age. Finally, those least likely to conscripted were married men with children.
This change in policy even coined a new if short-lived term -- “Kennedy Husbands.” About 5:00 pm Eastern US Time, 26 August 1965, President Johnson announced that any men married after midnight that very day were henceforth subject to the draft, triggering a rush of young couples to the altars and the last of the Kennedy Husbands discovered the bliss of matrimony.
This change in policy even coined a new if short-lived term -- “Kennedy Husbands.” About 5:00 pm Eastern US Time, 26 August 1965, President Johnson announced that any men married after midnight that very day were henceforth subject to the draft, triggering a rush of young couples to the altars and the last of the Kennedy Husbands discovered the bliss of matrimony.
All told, over 1,700,000 young men were drafted in the years between 1965 and 1973. Of these, 38% would be sent to Vietnam. Contrary to the popular lore, draftees played a smaller role in the Vietnam war than did volunteers. Only about 25% of soldiers and marines in country were conscripts. In World War II, their father’s war popularized by Studs Terkel as “The Good War,” some 66% of American servicemen were draftees. Conscripts accounted for slightly over 30% of American deaths in Vietnam, a war that would decidedly remembered as not so good.
It is easy to understand why so many young men chose to avoid service in a war whose goals and morality were never well articulated beyond ideological appeals to anti-communism. To be sure, most complied with the draft, motivated by a sense of duty, patriotism, patriotism, or any of many compelling reasons. But many other Americans viewed the war as immoral, pointless, and wasteful. It is hard to argue against their conclusions. Those who answered the draft as well as those who refused often, but not always, had compelling reasons to do so.
It is easy to understand why so many young men chose to avoid service in a war whose goals and morality were never well articulated beyond ideological appeals to anti-communism. To be sure, most complied with the draft, motivated by a sense of duty, patriotism, patriotism, or any of many compelling reasons. But many other Americans viewed the war as immoral, pointless, and wasteful. It is hard to argue against their conclusions. Those who answered the draft as well as those who refused often, but not always, had compelling reasons to do so.
Induction Notice Received by Thomas Bowman in March 1968.
From December 1968 to December 1969, Mr. Bowman Served
with the 44th Medical Brigade in Vietnam.
There were many ways to escape conscription. National Guard units and Reserve Units were idea for those who wished to minimize their chances of touring scenic Indochina. Only a total of 15,000 men from the Guard or Reserve were sent to Vietnam. But has the war continued, National Guard and Reserve quotas quickly filled, and finding an available slot could prove nearly impossible without some sorts of connections.
Draftees Undergoing Pre-induction Physical Exam
The Vietnam era gave rise to a number of so-called “Champagne Units,” a derogatory aimed at military units, usually belonging to the National Guard, staffed by the offspring or friends of those with political connections or economic power, protecting them from both the draft and combat service. Some 360 professional athletes, including future senator Bill Bradley and Baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan. The best known Champagne Unit was the Texas Air National Guard 147th Reconnaissance Wing. Those finding shelter beneath this wing included controversial businessman James Bath, seven members of the Dallas Cowboys, and sons of powerful political notables Lloyd Bentsen, John Tower, George H. W. Bush, and John Connally.
Champagne Units, student deferrals, dubious medical exemptions, and other excapes were not uncommonly filled by those who enthusiastically supported the war while declining to partake themselves. Those draft-aged men who elected to champion war from the safety of the Home Front touched a raw nerve among both those who served and those who opposed the war. Folk singer Phil Ochs even provided them with an anthem.
“Draft Dodger Rag” -- Phil Ochs
Oh, I'm just a typical American boy from a typical American town
I believe in God and Senator Dodd and a-keepin' old Castro down
And when it came my time to serve I knew "better dead than red"
But when I got to my old draft board, buddy, this is what I said:
Sarge, I'm only eighteen, I got a ruptured spleen
And I always carry a purse
I got eyes like a bat, and my feet are flat, and my asthma's getting worse
Yes, think of my career, my sweetheart dear, and my poor old invalid aunt
Besides, I ain't no fool, I'm a-goin' to school
And I'm working in a DEE-fense plant
I've got a dislocated disc and a wracked up back
I'm allergic to flowers and bugs
And when the bombshell hits, I get epileptic fits
And I'm addicted to a thousand drugs
I got the weakness woes, I can't touch my toes
I can hardly reach my knees
And if the enemy came close to me
I'd probably start to sneeze
I'm only eighteen, I got a ruptured spleen
And I always carry a purse
I got eyes like a bat, and my feet are flat, and my asthma's getting worse
Yes, think of my career, my sweetheart dear, and my poor old invalid aunt
Besides, I ain't no fool, I'm a-goin' to school
And I'm working in a DEE-fense plant
Ooh, I hate Chou En Lai, and I hope he dies,
One thing you gotta see
That someone's gotta go over there
And that someone isn't me
So I wish you well, Sarge, give 'em Hell!
Kill me a thousand or so
And if you ever get a war without blood and gore
I'll be the first to go
Yes, I'm only eighteen, I got a ruptured spleen
And I always carry a purse
I got eyes like a bat, and my feet are flat, and my asthma's getting worse
Yes, think of my career, my sweetheart dear, and my poor old invalid aunt
Besides, I ain't no fool, I'm a-goin' to school
And I'm working in a DEE-fense plant.
Fear of being sent to Vietnam drove up Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard enlistments. I served with career serviceman who, after receiving his draft notice, immediately set off in search of a US Navy recruiter willing to sign him up. He crossed three states before finding one. The military’s loss was the clergy’s gain as membership in ministry and rabbinical schools skyrocketed. Divinity students as could college undergraduate and most postgraduate students -- future President Clinton for example -- were exempted from the draft. Otherwise healthy men could sometimes obtain medical exemptions from compliant physicians. Of the 16-million young men potentially subject to conscription, a staggering 57% were exempted for any of numerous causes. About 125,000 young men, finding no other means of avoiding conscription, actually fled the country, finding safe haven in Canada. A much larger number, perhaps three times as many, simply failed to report when called up.
On this day, 1 December of 1969, for the first time since 1942, the United States conducted a draft lottery. Previously eligible candidates for conscription had been called up for service based on their date of birth, the oldest called first. Now, 366 slips of paper, each marked with a number ranging from one to 366, were placed in blue plastic capsules. These were shaken in a shoebox than dumped in a deep glass urn. The plastic capsules were drawn from one at a time and the number read. Each number corresponded to a specific day of the year. For example, “one” represented 1 January while “366” stood for 31 December. To ensure those born on a Leap Day did not miss the opportunity to be called up, the number “60” was used for 29 February. The order in which these numbers were drawn determined the order in which young men would be conscripted.
Representative Alexander Pirnie Draws First Number in the 1969 Draft Lottery
The first capsule was drawn by Republican House member Alexander Pirnie, ranking GOP member of the subcommittee responsible for overseeing the draft. It contained the number 258 -- September 14. All draft eligible men born on that day between 1944 and 1950 were assigned the draft number “1.” They would be the first to be inducted. Those born on the day corresponding with second number drawn, 24 April, were given the number “2,” and on it went. Needless to say, draft-aged young men anxiously awaited the results, praying for a high number.
A second lottery was conducted on 2 December 1971, this one to determine the order in which persons sharing a common birthday should be drafted. Letters of the alphabet were randomly drawn and matched to matched to a rank of permutation based on the order in which each letter was selected. Last, first, and middle names were considered in that order. Thus, men have the initials JJJ were first to be called up followed by JGJ, then JDJ, and so on. Those fortunate enough to have the initials VVV would be inducted last.
A second lottery was conducted on 2 December 1971, this one to determine the order in which persons sharing a common birthday should be drafted. Letters of the alphabet were randomly drawn and matched to matched to a rank of permutation based on the order in which each letter was selected. Last, first, and middle names were considered in that order. Thus, men have the initials JJJ were first to be called up followed by JGJ, then JDJ, and so on. Those fortunate enough to have the initials VVV would be inducted last.
1 - J
2 - G
3 - D
4 - X
5 - N
6 - O
7 - Z
8 - T
9 - W
10 - P
11 - Q
12 - Y
13 - U
14 - C
15 - F
16 - I
17 - K
18 - H
19 - S
20 - L
21 - M
22 - A
23 - R
24 - E
25 - B
26 - V
Results of 2 December 1971 Draft Lottery
Order in Which Initials were Drawn Matched with Rank of permutation
Order in Which Initials were Drawn Matched with Rank of permutation
If conscription reform and greater randomization were meant to reduced opposition to the draft and, by extension, the effort failed. Fierce debates wracked Congress as members debated the effectiveness and morality of the draft, coming to an end only after 27 January 1973 when Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announced an end to conscription.
But that is a story for another day.
In 1967, James Rado and Gerome Ragni explored the juxtaposition of the Vietnam draft and the 60s Counterculture in their stage production Hair. 12 Years later, taking substantial liberties with the source material, director Miloš Forman adapts the musical for the big screen. Here we see the film’s central character, an Oklahoma countryboy reporting to the draft board against the backdrop of army officers and playful girl singing the merits of young males. While their songs are the same, the girls see the boys as their ideal lovers while draft board officers find fit material for the war machine.
And make no mistake. The draftees were but boys; the age of the average American infantryman killed in Vietnam was only 22 years.
But that is a story for another day.
In 1967, James Rado and Gerome Ragni explored the juxtaposition of the Vietnam draft and the 60s Counterculture in their stage production Hair. 12 Years later, taking substantial liberties with the source material, director Miloš Forman adapts the musical for the big screen. Here we see the film’s central character, an Oklahoma countryboy reporting to the draft board against the backdrop of army officers and playful girl singing the merits of young males. While their songs are the same, the girls see the boys as their ideal lovers while draft board officers find fit material for the war machine.
And make no mistake. The draftees were but boys; the age of the average American infantryman killed in Vietnam was only 22 years.
"Black Boys/White Boys"
James Rado and Gerome Ragni (Lyrics), and Galt MacDermot (Music)
Black boys are delicious
Chocolate flavored love
Licorice lips like candy
Keep my cocoa handy
I have such a sweet tooth
When it comes to love
Once I tried a diet of quiet, rest, no sweets
But I went nearly crazy and I went clearly crazy
Because I really craved for chocolate flavored treats
Black boys are nutritious
Black boys fill me up
Black boys are so damn yummy
They satisfy my tummy
I have such a sweet tooth
When it comes to love
Black, black, black, black
Black, black, black, black
Black boys
-----
White boys are so pretty
Skin as smooth as milk
White boys are so pretty
Hair like Chinese silk
White boys give me goose bumps
White boys give me chills
When they touch my shoulder
That's the touch that kills
My mother calls 'em lilies
I call 'em Piccadillies
My daddy warns me to stay away
But I say, "Come on out an' play"
White boys are so groovy
White boys are so tough
Every time they're near me
Just can't get enough
White boys are so pretty
White boys are so sweet
White boys drive me crazy
Drive me indiscreet
White boys are so sexy
Legs so long an' lean
Love those sprayed on trousers
I love the love machine
My brother calls 'em rubble
That my kind of trouble
My daddy warns me, "No, no, no"
But I say, "White boys go, go, go, go, go"
White boys are so lovely
Beautiful as girls
Love to run my fingers
An' toes, through all their curls
Give me a tall
A lean, a sexy
A pretty, a groovy
A juicy white boy
Oh, yeah, give me a white boy
White boy
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
White boy
Come on an' lie down inside me
Hey, white boy
Ooh, yeah, give me a white boy
White boy, ooh, white boy, ooh
White boy, ooh, white boy
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