University of Virginia Library

— senator george mcgovern

This statement was delivered to the Senate
by Senator McGovern. The Senator will speak
at the University Friday evening October 10 in
University Hall.

Mr. President, notwithstanding the
fanfare of the past few days, the Nixon
Administration's adjustments in the
military draft will allow the survival of
one of this country's most obvious
denials of individual liberty.

Last Friday the President announced
what appeared to be a reduction of
50,000 in draft calls for 1969. It is to be
accomplished by cancelling the Defense
Department's previously programmed
calls of 32,000 for November and 18,000
for December, and by spreading the
29,000 October call evenly over the three
remaining months of the year.

But the reduction is an illusion. In
fact, without the cuts we would have had
a massive increase in draft calls for the
year as a whole.

From June through October of 1969
the total draft quota was 135,700,
compared to only 79,000 for the same
period a year earlier. The inflation of
nearly 57,000 in those five months easily
left room for a 50,000 reduction. Total
draft calls for this year will be only about
2 per cent lower than in 1968.

In effect, what appears as benevolence
to the young men who might have been
taken in November and December is no
more than an announcement that they
will not be called because they have
already gone. They were pressed into
service as part of earlier quotas.

The President also announced on
Friday his intention to move forward on
draft proposals which will establish a
random system of selection, to put
chance in the place of decisions presently
made by some 4,000 local draft boards
with the inspiration and guidance of
Selective Service Director Lewis Hershey.
The period of prime exposure to
induction would be reduced from as
much as seven years to twelve months.