THE COLD WAR 1950 1973
THE VIETNAM WAR
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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The military provided cash bonuses to men who enrolled.
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College students received draft deferments.
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Many men got health excuses from the draft.
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More students graduated from high school than in previous years.
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Detailed explanation-1: -The rise in college attendance rates in the mid-1960s is often attributed to draft avoidance behavior. Throughout most of the Vietnam war men who were enrolled in college could obtain deferments that delayed their eligibility for conscription.
Detailed explanation-2: -When there weren’t enough volunteers to meet the needs of the military, the Selective Service System (the draft) was used to cover the shortfall. After WWII, the U.S. maintained a “peacetime” draft, so the draft already was in place as the U.S. deepened its involvement in Vietnam.
Detailed explanation-3: -Before Congress reformed the draft in 1971, a man could qualify for a student deferment if he could show he was a full-time student making satisfactory progress in virtually any field of study. He could continue to go to school and be deferred from service until he was too old to be drafted.
Detailed explanation-4: -According to the National Archives, there were about 27 million American men eligible for military service between 1964 and 1973. Of that number, 2, 215, 000 men were drafted into military service. Around 15 million were granted deferments, mostly for education and some for mental or physical problems.
Detailed explanation-5: -Protest to conscription has been a feature of all American wars, since the Spanish-American War in 1898 and continuing through the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Yet during the Vietnam War, draft evasion and draft resistance reached a historic peak, nearly crippling the Selective Service System.