Doctor Draft

The Doctor Draft, Public Law 779 of the 81st Congress, amended the Selective Service Act of 1948. Effective September 9, 1950, it authorized a separate draft for physicians for the first time in U.S. history. The act addressed the chronic shortage of military physicians caused by post–World War II demobilization and the additional requirements of the Korean War.

The sudden invasion of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) on June 25, 1950, by the North Korean People's Republic precipitated a military and political crisis that many statesmen feared would lead to a third world war. Shortly thereafter, the United Nations passed a series of resolutions condemning the invasion and asking member nations to assist in repelling the attack. As the North Koreans rapidly advanced, the United States mobilized the four Army divisions of the Far East Command then on occupation duty in Japan.

Like most Army and Marine Corps combat units in 1950, these divisions were at half strength and still equipped with World War II weaponry—no match for the Soviet-made tanks and artillery used by the North Koreans. Post–World War II demobilization and the cost-cutting and efficiency mandates of the National Security Act of 1947 in the newly created Department of Defense had compromised the ability of the United States to fight the first major military engagement of the Cold War.

The Army and Navy medical departments had experienced profound reductions of skilled medical personnel, especially physicians. At the onset of the Korean War, the Far East Command had only one-half of its authorized complement of medical officers; the doctors that remained had little field medicine experience. The situation was much the same in the Navy. Demobilization so depleted the ranks of regular medical officers that by 1950 only 22 Navy physicians had previous combat experience with the Marine Corps.

In the late 1940s, the Army and Navy developed undergraduate and graduate medical education programs to recruit and retain experienced physicians. Both provided scholarships, created teaching hospitals, and developed research programs in hopes of competing with civilian opportunities. Despite the success in elevating the medical professionalism of the services, neither program was able to attract enough physicians to satisfy operational requirements. Furthermore, many military leaders and planners questioned the usefulness of medical training that emphasized civilian medicine rather than knowledge and experience required in combat situations.

In 1947, James Forrestal, the first secretary of the Department of Defense, established the Committee on Medical and Hospital Services of the Armed Forces. The Committee was charged with co-coordinating all military plans and programs. The Armed Forces Medical Advisory Committee superseded this committee in November 1948, but, like its predecessor, it lacked the power to force the military surgeon generals to execute its recommendations. This committee presented several recommendations to the secretary of defense for recruiting physicians. Among them was the [Page 223]Moral Suasion Campaign, targeting those who had participated in military medical education programs during World War II but had not served on active duty. Of the approximately 11,000 physicians contacted, fewer than 500 volunteered for active duty. Other programs were even less successful, and by the beginning of 1950 the issue of physician shortage—in particular the lack of military physicians trained and experienced in operational medicine—remained unresolved. The only solution seemed to be a special draft for doctors.

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