who did president roosevelt let join the u.s. navy during world war ii?

Going all the way back to colonists’ pre-Revolutionary War experience with British soldiers quartered in their homes, Americans have associated a large standing army with the potential for tyranny.

When Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 to establish conscription, it was a significant break from the past. Military manpower, like so much else, was at a crossroads.

The War Department just wanted enough men to maintain occupation forces in Japan and Germany. Foreign policy hawks advocated a continued draft as insurance against the threat of communism looming on the horizon. Boosters claimed compulsory military service would turn America’s youth into men and benefit the nation as a whole. Parents of teenagers argued that their 18-year-old sons were too young to be drafted now that the war emergency was over. Soldiers abroad and their families complained about the Army’s point system, which was used to prioritize men for rotation home. They wanted their local communities, their congressmembers, and President Harry Truman to know what they thought about the future of military service in the United States.Ĭompeting visions for the future of American foreign policy, the realities of administering occupations on two continents, and different understandings of military service created a complicated-and highly political-situation. From servicemembers stationed overseas to mothers in their midwestern living rooms, these citizens wrote tens of thousands of letters. Image courtesy of the Selective Service System.Īs World War II wound down, Americans living all over the world took to their typewriters and sharpened their pencils.

Roosevelt signs the Selective Training and Service Acto of 1940, creating the first peacetime draft.

Who did president roosevelt let join the u.s. navy during world war ii?