Reference Entry
SELECTIVE SERVICE ACT SIGNED INTO LAW
On May 18th, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signs the Selective Service Act, creating a national mechanism to draft men into military service. The law requires eligible males to register for possible induction, and it lays out how local boards will classify and call individuals. For the United States, whose small prewar Army cannot sustain large operations in Europe, the act is essential to raising a mass citizen force.
Dated Historical Context
A RECORDED MOMENT IN HISTORY
Selective Service Act signed into law
On May 18th, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signs the Selective Service Act, creating a national mechanism to draft men into military service. The law requires eligible males to register for possible induction, and it lays out how local boards will classify and call individuals. For the United States, whose small prewar Army cannot sustain large operations in Europe, the act is essential to raising a mass citizen force. Within months, millions of men will be registered and training camps will be filled with new units preparing for the Western Front. The system also reflects debates about fairness, exemptions, and the balance between individual rights and national defense. Though modified and suspended at different times, the framework introduced on May 18th, 1917 shapes how the United States thinks about mobilization in later crises, including the global war that follows in the next generation.
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