To Raise an Army: The Draft Comes to Modern America

by John Whiteclay Chambers II

Genres: History, Military History

386 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 1987

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never thought a book on the draft would grab my attention, but I quickly found it interesting. An a highly experience military planner, this book was full of great insights into the WWI draft process (background, politics, pro/cons, etc). Too many excerpts to list them all, but below are some of my highlights.

- This wartime mass army, eventually numbering more than 3.5 million troops, dramatized the emergence of the United States as a major world power. Basically, it represented an unprecedented assertion of the authority of the national government. P1. PJK: was the draft the step that led to the start of the American century?
- The nation’s divided military tradition - it's episodic but intense willingness to wage war and its unwillingness to impose military obligations upon the citizenry except when absolutely required - has left the United States ill-prepared for the global leadership it has sustained since World War Two. But the engines of US foreign policy have been economic and ideological more than military. P2.
- A traditional soldier himself, like the European professionals he admired, Washington rejected the militia concept that every male citizen was also a soldier. Like other specialized trades, soldiering required a long apprenticeship to be effective. P24. PJK: great second line; being a soldier is more complicated that a couple weeks of training… especially in today’s every more complicated battlefield.
- While the northern states abolished compulsory militia training, it continued in the South. That agrarian area, a few days spent annually in militia training was not a significant loss to the economy. More importantly, with millions of Afro Americans in the region, most southern whites viewed the local militia and slave patrol as essential instruments of race control. P37. PJK: explains the military traditions of the south.
- Most striking is the degree of military efficiency achieved by the South in raising its armies. Despite considerable division, the confederate government adopted national conscription early and tightened it eventually to exclude even substitution, it compelled veterans to remain in the army. P62. PJK: maybe this is one of the key reasons why Lee won so many battles… veterans were kept in uniform.
- In contrast, the north's mobilization effort was much less militarily efficient, even though it eventually proves sufficient to defeat the confederacy. P62.
- A combination of patriotism, financial incentives, and the draft raised more than two million soldiers for the union army, one-tenth of the population of the north. P62.
- In the Civil War, fewer than 8% of the union army were draftees. In World War One, 72% of the 3.5 million citizen soldiers were conscripted. P73. PJK: very interesting change in statistics.
- Theodore Roosevelt and Leonard Wood provided the twin symbols of preparedness in the mind of the public…. As president, he had built up the Navy, but in regard to the army he had been much more cautious, simply obtaining a general staff and a doubling of the regular army….. Leonard Wood was probably the single most important figure in the movement for mass conscript army in America.. p78.
- … The General Staff was convinced that the public needed to be educated about the need for a mass citizen reserve force based on compulsory training and service. P105.
- In reality, neither the preparedness movement nor the Wilson administration feared an invasion of the United States; rather the largely unspoken rationale for a larger army was to support a more active U.S. role in the world. P112.
- Conscriptionists demonstrated the effectiveness of modern advertising and publicity techniques. They hired professionals to run the campaign. These drew upon the celebrity-endorsement system… Each (celebrity endorsement) was promptly publicized in order to create the impression of a bandwagon effect. P120.
- Roosevelt was indeed a potentially disruptive force, and Wilson apparently decided that the only way in which the popular ex-president, the nation’s leading amateur soldier, could be denied a command was to eliminate the entire system of U.S. Volunteers. P141. PJK: love the jab about T.Roosevelt being an amateur soldier. True... but a bold statement. :)
- In his talk with Joffre on May 2, Wilson agreed to send an immediate token force of American regulars for its effect on morale. P147. PJK: need to research what units were in this initial force.
- The German-American community was divided over the concept of conscription, with antimilitaristic south Germans & descendants of the liberal exiles of 1848 vigorously denouncing it as an autocratic, Prussian institution, while others like Julius Kahn, who had previously taken considerable pride in Imperial Germany’s accomplishments, endorsed UMT&S as well as wartime selective draft for the United States. P161.
- Even before passage of the draft act, Crowder and Baker for reasons of speed had ordered the secret printing and mailing of millions of registration forms to 40,000 sheriffs throughout the United States. The sheriffs kept the secret. P181.
- Even though some U.S. troops remained on occupational duty in the Rhineland for several years, not one American was drafted after the cease-fire on November 11, 1918; indeed, troop trains turned around and took draftees home. P239.
- The idea, he said, was to terminate federal and military wartime responsibility, control, and expense and to return to normal as quickly as possible. Such a demobilization policy was philosophically and politically understandable, but within 10 months it increased unemployment and accelerated the decline in wage rate. Undoubtedly, it also contributed to the depression and widespread labor unrest of 1920-21. P240.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prior to World War one the military was composed of volunteers. IN time of crisis the state militia responded. During the Civil War there was limited conscription but one could hire substitutes. At the turne of the century a number of mainly conservative interventionists led a movement to draft men for the military. The governing committees of these conscriptionist organizations were composed mainly of investment bankers and lawyers former cabinet officers publishers, university presidents and retired military officers. These groups advocated universal military training and service rather than relying wholly upon voluntarism. One of their arguments was UMT&S would meld disparate and contending interests to inculcate nationalism and particular behavioral norms. William J. Bryan argued it was a "munition-military conspiracy against democracy."
The idea of the selective draft was the government would draft those individuals that would cause the least disruption to business interests. Gen. Crowder prepared joint resolution to raise an army and used an amendment at the last minute to the National Defense Act of 1916 to justify conscription by backfilling the replacement battalions of the militia. When there was debate on the bill prohibition groups got the Senate to add provisions against alcohol and prostitution to the act. Many of the boards were overzealous in drafting workers. Some advocated compulsory work laws as being good politic and good business for business (in essence forced labor). This era also found laws allowing suppression of dissent.
In the 1970s and 1980s a neo-conservative movement contributed to a reduction of the federal regulatory and re-distributive role while dramatically increasing defense spending.
Though written in 1987, this book provides background as to why we have an all volunteer force today.