Chance and Circumstance: The Draft, the War, and the Vietnam Generation

by Lawrence M. Baskir, William A. Strauss

From the back cover blurb:
Who fought in Vietnam? How did nearly 9,000,000 American men eligible for the draft manage to get themselves deferred or exempted? Who were the "deserters" and "draft resisters"? Why did only 3,000 of the 200,000 officially charged with violating the draft actually go to jail? On the basis of extensive research and a wealth of personal case histories, two senior officials of President Ford's Clemency Board here come up with some startling - and depressing - answers, which reveal conclusively that America is far from the classless society it likes to pretend to be.

Genres: History, Politics

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Craig Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Largely superceded by Appy's Working Class War and Solomon's Confronting the War Machine, but still the foundation of studies of the various ways potential draftees avoided going to Vietnam. The moral of the story is that anyone with access to good advice and/or a lawyer had an excellent chance of staying out of the service throughout the war.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the ONLY book I could find that explains the history of the US military draft in the 20th century and it's out of print, which is ridiculous. I can't find this information online, and now I'm getting worried that the workings of the draft, which was such a huge engine of 20th century social history, are going to be forgotten. (Even this book glosses over some points as self-evident, like order-of-call, which I can't figure out. Are you only drafted at 19? Or what? Is this even about age?)

I bet the authors are still alive. Someone should pay them to write a revised and updated version.

[John]

Noble Phoenix

Black Edelweiss

Poisonwood Bible

[Mark Singer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1978, only several years after the end of the Vietnam War, this is a well-researched indictment of the massively flawed draft system used by the United States to fill out the ranks of the Army.