American Decades

Magazine article

By: Lewis B. Hershey

Date: July 1941

Source: Hershey, Lewis B. "The Lessons of the Selective Service." Survey Graphic, July 1941, p. 383. Available at the New Deal Network online at http://newdeal.feri.org/survey/sg41383.htm; website home page at http://newdeal.feri.org (accessed March 18, 2003).

About the Author: General Lewis B. Hershey (1893–1977) worked as deputy director of the Selective Service, the government agency in charge of drafting men for military service, before serving as its director from 1941 to 1970.

Introduction

Seeking Men to Fight

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, triggering U.S. involvement in World War II (1939–1945), the American military had to mobilize quickly. The Selective...