Background of Selective
Service System
"For more than 50 years, Selective
Service and the registration requirement for America's young men have
served as a backup system to provide manpower to the U.S. Armed Forces.
President Franklin Roosevelt signed
the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 which
created the country's first peacetime draft and formally
established the Selective Service System as an independent Federal agency.
From 1948 until 1973, during both peacetime and periods
of conflict, men were drafted to fill vacancies in the armed forces
which could not be filled through voluntary means.
In 1973, the draft ended and the U.S.
converted to an All-Volunteer military.
The registration requirement was suspended in April
1975. It was resumed again in 1980 by President Carter
in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Registration continues
today as a hedge against underestimating the
number of servicemen needed in a future crisis.
The obligation of a man to register is imposed by the
Military Selective Service Act. The Act establishes and governs the
operations of the Selective Service System."
Continue—President
Truman reactivates the "peacetime draft" in 1948
