Proclamation 3945—Random Selection for Military Service

WHEREAS section 5 (a) (1) of the Military Selective Service Act of 1967, as amended (50 U.S.C. App. 455 (a)

(1)), provides that selection of persons for training and service under that Act shall be made in an impartial manner without discrimination on account of race or color, under such rules and regulations as the President may prescribe; and

Whereas section 5(a) 5(a)(2) of that Act (50 U.S.C. App. 455 (a) (2) limited the President's authority to prescribe rules and regulations by requiring, in effect, the selection of registrants through a method known as "oldest first"; and

Whereas such section 5 (a) (2) has been repealed by Public Law 91-124 of November 26, 1969:

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, acting under and by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 5 (a) of the Military Selective Service Act of 1967, as amended, and having determined that a method of random selection will provide the most equitable basis for selection of registrants for military training and service, do hereby proclaim the following:

That a random selection sequence will be established by a drawing to be conducted in Washington, D.C., on December 1, 1969, and will be applied nationwide. The random selection method will use 366 days to represent the birthdays (month and day only) of all registrants who, prior to January 1, 1970, shall have attained their nineteenth year of age but not their twenty-sixth. The drawing, commencing with the first day selected and continuing until all 366 days are drawn, shall be accomplished impartially.

On the day designated above, a supplemental drawing or drawings will be conducted to determine alphabetically the random selection sequence by name among registrants who have the same birthday.

The random selection sequence obtained as described above shall determine the order of selection of registrants who prior to January 1, 1970, shall have attained their nineteenth year of age but not their twenty-sixth and who are not volunteers and not delinquents. New random selection sequences shall be established, in a similar manner, for registrants who attain their nineteenth year of age on or after January 1, 1970.

The random sequence number determined for any registrant shall apply to him so long as he remains subject to induction for military training and service by random selection.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-fourth.

RICHARD NIXON