This Day in History: The United States Imposed The Draft

By Kevin Ortiz, Staff Reporter, The Pawprint

The Burke-Wadsworth Act was passed by Congress on September 16, 1940, by wide margins in both houses, and the first peacetime draft in the history of the United States was imposed. Selective Service was born.

The registration of men between the ages of 21 and 36 began exactly one month later. There were some 20 million eligible young men—50 percent were rejected the very first year, either for heal.