The Burke-Wadsworth Act, a peacetime draft bill introduced in 1940, provoked public and congressional opposition. In this telegram to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, the writer suggests that compulsory military service was a step toward fascism. Proponents of a draft believed it would prepare and safeguard the nation should it become involved in the growing conflicts in Europe and Asia.
Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives and Records Administration
Telegram from the Chicago Committee Keep America Out of War to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, July 9, 1940
Serving the Nation: The Draft
Less than six weeks after the United States entered World War I, Congress narrowly passed the Selective Service Act of 1917, giving the president power to draft men for war service. In 1940, after the German defeat of France and amid growing concerns about a possible German attack on the United States, Congress approved the country’s first-ever peacetime draft. The combined wartime drafts required nearly 13 million American men to register for wartime service.
If it were possible to raise a sufficient number of men by voluntary enlistment and they would come from all sections in equal percentages the selective service might not be necessary.
Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn of Texas, Constituent Correspondence, August 22, 1940
The Burke-Wadsworth Act, a peacetime draft bill introduced in 1940, provoked public and congressional opposition. In this telegram to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, the writer suggests that compulsory military service was a step toward fascism. Proponents of a draft believed it would prepare and safeguard the nation should it become involved in the growing conflicts in Europe and Asia.
Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives and Records Administration
