[Vlad0]

Were you alive in the 1960s and 1970s? The draft was extremely controversial. The anti Vietnam protests were in large part anti draft protests. Many featured speakers burning their draft cards. 60,000 to 100,000 men emmigrated from the United States to countries that gave refuge to them, most notably Canada. According to records there were 570,000 men who the government classified as draft offenders.

Resistance to the draft started slowly but by 1970 there was an entire infrastructure in place to encourage and aid draft resistors. Very few of them were actually jailed for refusing to serve. Only about 3,500.

The system was ended by presidential decree in large part because it just wasn't working.

[ansel12]

Yes I was alive and opposed to the draft, I got my a permanent deferment from it and then I enlisted in the Army.

I was very engaged during the 60s and while opposing the draft I believed strongly in every man who could, serving, I was totally intolerant of those who left the country and crossed a number of them when they would slip back in from Canada, I always made my disdain for them clear.

Military service was still the norm for American men as my family illustrates, pulling a hitch was just part of the growing up, don’t let activist mislead you about the masses and American society in general.

The highest support for the Vietnam War was the under 30s, the same crowd who voted 52% for Nixon in 1972, the under 30s of 1968 gave the democrats only 47% of their vote.