On the day in 1973, as the Vietnam War drew to a close, the Selective Service announced that there would be no further draft calls. The decision came several months after President Richard M. Nixon had easily won reelection, running against Democratic Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota, an outspoken opponent of the war.
In the 1968 presidential campaign, Nixon had promised to end the draft. During his time out of office, the GOP nominee had become interested in the prospect of an all-volunteer force. Nixon was influenced by Martin Anderson, an associate professor at Columbia University.
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Nixon thought ending the draft could be an effective political weapon against the burgeoning anti-war movement. He believed middle-class youths would lose interest in protesting the war once it became clear that they would not have to fight, and possibly die, in Vietnam.
While there was no opposition to an all-volunteer military in the Defense Department or Congress, Nixon took no immediate action toward ending the draft in the early years of his presidency. Rather, the president named a commission headed by Thomas Gates Jr., a former secretary of defense in the Eisenhower administration, to examine the issue.
Gates initially opposed the all-volunteer army idea, but changed his mind as the 15-member panel did its work. The commission issued its report in February 1970. It found adequate military strength could be maintained without conscription.
The draft law was due to expire at the end of June 1971. But Nixon decided it needed to continue and asked Congress to approve a two-year extension. In March 1973, 1974 and 1975, the Selective Service assigned draft priority numbers for all men born in 1954, 1955 and 1956, in case the draft was extended — but it never was.
SOURCE: “CHANCE AND CIRCUMSTANCE: THE DRAFT, THE WAR AND THE VIETNAM GENERATION” BY LAWRENCE BASKIR AND WILLIAM STRAUSS (1978)