...it [conscription] rests on the assumption that your kids belong to the state. If we buy that assumption then it is for the state- not for parents, the community, the religious institutions or teachers- to decide who shall have what values and who shall do what work, when, where and how in our society. That assumption isn’t a new one. The Nazis thought it was a great idea.
- Ronald Reagan
Though draft protests in the United States pre-date the Vietnam War by at least 100 years, it’s those iconic images of young people with long hair and funky clothes marching en masse in the late 60s and early 70s and burning draft cards that generally frame our consciousness about protesting mandatory military conscription.
Far from a colorful footnote in American history, though, this rising chorus of discontent helped put an end to the draft in 1973. When Richard Nixon promised to end the draft during his bid for the presidency in 1968, he had motives other than just ensuring the well-being of America’s young men. It was his hope that ending the draft would swell the anti-war tide (the idea being that if the young people didn’t have to worry about going to war, they would pipe down). It didn’t quite work out that way, but it does still serve as a lesson in how organized, non-violent dissent can effect change.
