Winning With Words. Chapter Six: Countdown Washington, Selective Service: Election Day Minus Seven.
For the third time Americans were drafted to serve in the military, and this was the only one in which the country was not at war. 800,000 were drafted. That same day Joe Kennedy endorsed Roosevelt.
This Chapter: The speech that Harry Hopkins wrote and the president delivered said the opening of Selective Service was a “solemn occasion.” So solemn, in fact, that when the first number was called designating a man called into one year’s service in the American military, a woman in the balcony screamed in horror, fell to the floor, and fainted dead away. Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson had also drafted young Americans into service that killed them but on those occasions, the nation was at war. This time, America was not at war and both candidates for the presidency were pledged to avoid war unless the country was attacked, which didn’t seem likely in the year to come.
While the Selective Service moment was unfolding, Italy attacked Greece and Churchill responded by saying he would honor Britain’s promise to defend Greece. A Member of Parliament reacted by calling for a vote of “no confidence” on Churchill’s service, a vote that he survived by 341-4. Roosevelt told Cordell Hull to get that information to Ambassador Kennedy before he went on the radio later that day.
Contents: These are the chapters with their dates of release on Substack.
Playing Professional Politics. Released on Substack Saturday, May 17
Radio and Rail Rolling. Released on Substack Sunday, May 18
The Real Campaign Begins at its Very End. Released on Substack Monday, May 19
Handling John L. Lewis and Joe Kennedy. Released on Substack Tuesday, May 20
Countdown New York, Election Day Minus Eight. Released on Substack Wednesday, May 21
Countdown Washington, Selective Service, Election Day Minus Seven. Released on Substack Thursday, May 22
A Cold Look at the National Map. Released on Substack Friday, May 23
Countdown Boston, Election Day Minus Six. Released on Substack Saturday, May 24
Countdown Brooklyn, Election Day Minus Four. Released on Substack Sunday, May 25
Countdown Cleveland, Election Day Minus Three. Released on Substack Monday, May 26
Election Eve: Tallulah Produces a Big Show. Released on Substack Tuesday, May 27
Election Night, Hyde Park. Released on Substack Wednesday, May 28
Chapter Six: Countdown Washington, Selective Service: Election Day Minus Seven.
Reading time: nine minutes
Roosevelt said, “This is a most solemn ceremony. It is accompanied by no fanfare, no blowing of bugles or beating of drums. There should be none.”
It was high noon, Tuesday, October 29, 1940, and every seat of the Interdepartmental Auditorium of Washington’s Federal Building, even to the wrap-around balcony, was taken. Broadcasters forecast the largest radio audience ever. All American men between the ages of 21 and 36 had been summoned to register to serve the country’s military when Public Law 76-783 was signed on September 16, and this was the day when the chosen would be called to duty.
The president had the option of setting the date of the initial lottery that would decide which of the registrants would become actual soldiers and sailors. Most of the advice Roosevelt got argued for him to postpone the drawing until after the election, but his instincts, both political and international, ran to getting it done before then to make a point about leadership and resolve. By the 16th of October, sixteen million names had been registered by 6,443 local draft boards and assigned a number at random from 1 to 8,000. More came every day, and would continue to come until the stragglers could be called “draft dodgers.” But Roosevelt thought these first sixteen million were “surely the most willing” — “or the most desperate for work,” Harry said — and since the law restricted the recruit total to 800,000 men, he liked taking only 5% of those who had stepped up. He cut off the pool for the first drawing on the 16th and set the big day for the 29th. They would, by law, have their service confined to the Western Hemisphere, or U.S. territories and possessions, for twelve months. And then be discharged. The idea had popular support, according to Gallup, of 65%, but the 35% were pretty cranky about it.
A large glass tank, home recently to exotic fish, sat on a table filled with 8,000 tiny capsules, each containing a rolled piece of paper with a different number on it. Capsules would be drawn one at a time by blindfolded men and their interior number announced. It would take all day, even long into the night, for all the capsules to be drawn, but only the first 150 or so drawn would identify those likely to be called, allowing for disabilities of one kind or another.
Roosevelt said, “We are mustering all our resources, manhood, and industry and wealth to make our nation strong in defense. For recent history proves all too clearly, I am sorry to say, that only the strong may continue to live in freedom and in peace.
“We are well aware of the circumstances — the tragic circumstances in lands across the seas — which have forced upon our nation the need to take measures for total defense.
“In the considered opinion of the Congress of the United States this selective service provides the most democratic as well as the most efficient means for the mustering of our manpower. By October sixteenth, more than sixteen million young Americans had registered for service. Today begins the selection from this huge number of eight hundred thousand who will go into training for one year.
“Reports from all over the country attest the quality and the general spirit of the young men who registered for service. The young men of America today have thought this thing through. They have not been stimulated by or misled by militarist propaganda. They fully understand the necessity for national defense and are ready, as all citizens of our country must be, to play their part in it.
“They know simply that ours is a great country — great in perpetual devotion to the cause of liberty and justice, great in faith that always there can be and must be a will to a better future. They know that in the present world the survival of liberty and justice is dependent on strength to defend against attack.
“Briefly and in simplest terms, the processes of selection are these: Each registrant in each of sixty-five hundred local areas has been assigned a number at random by a committee or board of his neighbors. Each man’s number in each local board area has been officially recorded as pertaining exclusively to him in that area. Those numbers run from one to eight thousand. Opaque capsules, each containing a different number, have been placed in a glass bowl in the room where we now stand. These capsule numbers also run from one to eight thousand, with a few extra higher numbers to allow for late registration. One capsule at a time will be drawn from the bowl until none is left. As each capsule is drawn it will be opened and its number read over the radio to the nation.
“While all numbers are called, only the first ten percent will be considered as the ‘first drawn’ 1,640,000 out of the total 16,400,000. If your number is drawn after the first drawn ten percent of the numbers, you will not be called into this year’s service.”
That was optimistic from the man who expected the nation would find its way to a major war. There was no assurance that after “this year’s service” there would be another lottery. Congress had withheld that contingency.
“If your number is among the first ten percent, you may be called, but only 800,000 out of the 1,640,000 will be called. Thus more than ninety-five percent of the grand total are not to be called, and less than five percent are to be.
“I have here three letters from representatives of the three great faiths, Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic. They were written to me, in solemn recognition of this occasion, and I want to read you brief excerpts from them.”
They were from Dr. George A. Buttrick, President of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, from Dr. Edward L. Israel, President of the Synagogue Council of America, and from the Archbishop of New York, Francis J. Spellman. Spellman’s letter, as Roosevelt read it, opened with the expression that resonated.
Spellman wrote, and Roosevelt read, “ ‘I do believe it is better to have protection and not need it than to need protection and not have it. I do believe that Americans want peace, but that we must be prepared to demand it, for other people have wanted peace and the peace they received was the peace of death. We really cannot longer afford to be moles who cannot see, or ostriches who will not see, for some solemn agreements are no longer sacred. Vices have become virtues and truth a synonym of falsehood.’ ”
Roosevelt continued, “These three letters give eloquent testimony to the quality of the religious faith that inspires us today and forever. To these spokesmen for the churches of America, to all my fellow countrymen of all races and creeds and ages. I give this solemn assurance:
“Your Government is mindful of its profound responsibility to and for all the young men who will be called to train for our national service.
“Your Government is aware that not only do these young men represent the future of our country: they are the future. They must profit as men by this one year of experience as soldiers. They must return to civilian life strong, and healthy, and self-respecting, and decent and free.
“Your Government will devote its every thought, its every energy, to the cause that is common to all of us — the maintenance of the dignity, the prosperity and the peace of our country.
“To the young men themselves I should like to speak as Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army:
“You who will enter this peacetime army will be the inheritors of a proud history and an honorable tradition.
“You will be members of an army which first came together to achieve independence and to establish certain fundamental rights for all men. Even since that first muster, our democratic army has existed for one purpose only: the defense of our freedom.
“It is for that one purpose and that one purpose only that you will be asked to answer the call to training.
“You have answered that call, as Americans always have, and as Americans always will, until the day when war is forever banished from this earth.
“You have the confidence, and the gratitude, and the love of your countrymen. We are all with you in the task which enlists the services of all Americans — the task of keeping the peace in this New World of ours.”
Secretary of War Henry Stimson went to the aquarium, was blindfolded, and withdrew the first capsule. He handed it to Clarence Dykstra, the Director of Selective Service, who read it aloud. “One, five, eight. One hundred fifty-eight,” and a woman in the balcony screamed and fell into the aisle, fainted dead away.
*
Back in the White House, Roosevelt was met with the news that Italy had invaded Greece and Churchill had promised to uphold his nation’s pledge to come to the aid of the Greeks. In response, a Member of Parliament’s Independent Labour Party had spoken of the need for a vote of “no confidence” in Churchill following a vote to come on a motion to ask Germany for a cessation of the bombing and a conference on terms of settlement. When that vote failed by 341-4, the talk of “no confidence” was quieted.
The president called Cordell Hull, his Secretary of State. He said, “Cordell, I want the news of this vote to find its way to Joe Kennedy. It must be done today before he speaks on the radio. I don’t want it to come from me because he’ll see it as a taunt. Which of course it is. Can you provide a nice, diplomatic way of making certain he hears it?”
“Mr. President, I think it would be not only proper but sensible for me to call him myself. It is news from the capital he serves and he should be told of it in his absence.”
That night, Kennedy, on the air, called this “the most critical election of our existence.” He said, “The Nazi philosophy of blitzkrieg, unbridled force, and terrorism has made diplomatic negotiations impossible. It has left us with no option but rearmament, the only guarantee of peace.” He spent a few minutes praising Neville Chamberlain, whose foresight at Munich, he said, gave Britain time to rearm. And then he got on board with Roosevelt.
“In this atmosphere charged with war and revolution, the people of America must make a solemn decision. In normal times, I might be persuaded that the best interests of the country called for no third term. But our international crisis overshadows the third term issue and makes it insignificant by comparison. It seems to me that while the Republican candidate is full of goodwill and general capacity, he is lacking in the vital government experience that is required in these times. I believe that Franklin Roosevelt should be reëlected President of the United States.”
The campaign team heard that in the Oval Study. Roosevelt sent off a “wonderful speech … see you tomorrow in Boston” telegram, and prepared to travel north.