Defense

Conscription

The issue of the draft played a major role in the 1956 presidential campaigns. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican incumbent, was seeking a second term, and Adlai Stevenson, former Governor of Illinois, was the Democratic nominee. President Eisenhower was a strong supporter of the draft; he had just ended U.S. involvement in the Korean War, and conscription was an important factor in the relative success of the military intervention. Thus, it was Adlai Stevenson who introduced the draft issue into the campaign. During a campaign speech at the Legion Convention, he called for the end of conscription, arguing that it was an unnecessary program.

The response from the Republican camp was swift. Vice President Richard Nixon, Eisenhower's running mate, strongly suggested that the implications of ending the draft would be deleterious for the United States. In doing so, Nixon successfully used the draft to help create the perception, which would last long into the future, that the Republicans were strong on national defense and the Democrats were not. While many supported Stevenson's effort to end the draft, he failed to mobilize enough of the political elite and the electorate around that issue to substantially increase his popularity. He lost the election by a large margin to the popular general.

By the mid-1960s, at the peak of the Vietnam War, the draft had become a major national issue, particularly among the young. This was in large part a result of growing opposition to the war and the interventionist policies of the United States. Much of the criticism concerning the draft came from those who not only argued, as Adlai Stevenson had, that conscripts were no longer needed for national defense, but also that the program was unfair. Draft concerns played a major role in the 1968 presidential campaigns of Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. Nixon recognized the extent to which American voters rejected conscription and strategically aligned his views with those of most Americans. To accomplish this, Nixon reversed his 1956 position and publicly committed himself to draft reform. During his campaign speeches, he forcefully challenged peacetime conscription, a position that attracted significant voter support. Nixon outperformed his competitor, winning 43.4 percent of the popular vote. Perhaps with his bid for re-election in mind, he successfully implemented many of the reforms while in office.

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