Draft lottery (1969)

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The December 1, 1969 draft lottery was held to determine the order of induction into the US Army during the Vietnam War.

Image:1969 draft lottery photo.jpg

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Method

The days of the year, from 1 to 366, were written on slips of paper and the slips were placed in plastic capsules. The capsules were mixed in a shoebox and then dumped into a deep glass jar (Shown in photo). Capsules were drawn from the jar one at a time.

The first number drawn was 258 (September 14). Men of draft age whose birthday fell on the corresponding day of the year would all be drafted at the same time.

The draft was unpopular both for its impact on those drafted and as a focal point for opposition to a controversial war. Conscription ended in 1973.

Image:1969 draft lottery scatterplot.png

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References

S.E. Fienberg. "Randomization and Social Affairs: The 1970 Draft Lottery". Science, volume 171, pages 255-261 (1971). (Cited by Starr as the "best and most comprehensive" article on the topic)

Norton Starr. "Nonrandom Risk: The 1970 Draft Lottery". Journal of Statistics Education, volume 5, number 2 (1997). (Also available on-line: [1] Contains a lesson plan for statistics class using the 1970 and 1971 draft lottery data)

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