"July 20, 1948—Truman
issues peacetime draft —Source
President Harry S. Truman institutes a military draft
with a proclamation calling for nearly 10 million men to register for
military service within the next two months. Truman's action came during
increasing Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union.
"Following World War II, the
United States moved quickly to demobilize the vast
military it had constructed during the conflict. During the war, more
than 16 million men and women served in the U.S. military; when the
war ended in August 1945, the American people demanded rapid demobilization.
By 1948, less than 550,000 men remained in the U.S. Army. This rapid
decline in the size of America's military concerned U.S. government
officials, who believed that a confrontation with the Soviet Union was
imminent. During the years following World War II, relations between
the Russians and Americans deteriorated rapidly.
"In 1947, the president issued the Truman
Doctrine, which provided aid to Greece and Turkey to oppose
communist subversion. In that same year, Secretary
of State George C. Marshall warned that Western Europe was on the brink
of political and economic chaos that would leave it defenseless against
communist aggression; the following year, Congress approved billions
of dollars in financial assistance to the beleaguered nations.
"In June 1948, the Soviets cut all land traffic
into the U.S.-British-French zones of occupation in West Berlin. The
United States responded with the Berlin Airlift, in
which tons of food and supplies were flown in to sustain the population
of the besieged city. In light of these events, many Americans believed
that actual combat with the Soviet Union was not far away. In response
to this threat, President Truman announced on July 20, 1948,
that the United States was re-instituting the draft and
issued a proclamation requiring nearly 10 million men to register for
military service in the next two months.
"Truman's decision underlined the urgency of his
administration's concern about a possible military confrontation with
the Soviet Union. It also brought home to the American people in concrete
terms the possibility that the Cold War could, at any moment, become
an actual war. In 1950, possibility turned to reality when the United
States entered the Korean War, and the size of America's
armed forces once again increased dramatically."
