Now the army has 16,500,000 men to choose from. They were mustered Wednesday in the first functioning of America's first peacetime conscription law--the Selective Service Act.
An hour after the registration began President Roosevelt went down into the basement of the White House and told the registrants that they were being called to protect peace and democracy against those "who have dared to threaten the whole world with war."
The nation's program, he said, was "obviously of defensive preparation and of defensive preparation only" and "imposed upon us from without."
Advertisement
Want to keep up with breaking news?
Subscribe to our email newsletter.
Read more in News
Yardling FDR, WW Supporters Tangle in Election Eve Debate
