Archive Report
Archive Report
Selective Service Regeneration
Call for Registration; Congressional Action
Two traumatic events late last year changed President Carter's thinking, and apparently much of America's, about the need for peacetime draft registration. The Nov. 4 Iranian takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the Dec. 27 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused him to abandon his belief that registration was not needed. While telling the nation in his State of the Union Address on Jan. 23 that “our volunteer forces are adequate for current defense needs” and expressing the hope “it will not be necessary to impose a draft,” he nevertheless said “we must be prepared for that possibility.” For this reason, the president added, “I have determined that the Selective Service System must now be revitalized.”
As part ...