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Occupational Deferment Committee records, 1940-1971
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This collection contains case files, statistical reports, minutes, correspondence, and policy statements generated by the University Committee on Occupational Deferment. The Occupational Deferment ...
This collection contains case files, statistical reports, minutes, correspondence, and policy statements generated by the University Committee on Occupational Deferment. The Occupational Deferment Committee was established in 1940 to cooperate with local draft boards in all matters concerning deferment of University of Wisconsin-Madison staff members and students. It provided military counseling and information on draft policies, submitted documentation to draft boards to support requests for reclassification, and on behalf of the University requested deferment of employees deemed essential. The committee operated through World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. It originally represented the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, UW-Milwaukee campus, the University Center System, and the Extension Division, then expanded to include representatives for UW-Parkside and UW-Green Bay.
This paper-based collection consists of 37 letter document boxes. The majority of the collection contains case files for University of Wisconsin-Madison students and employees seeking deferment, arranged alphabetically by the last name of the registrant. The case files might include a registrant's advice of classification, documentation provided by the committee to the registrant's local draft board, and correspondence of the committee with the registrant's employer, academic department head, and local draft boards, as well as notes on the outcome of the case. These case files can be found in Boxes 1 through 22, 26 through 28, and 30 through 35. Boxes 23 through 25, 29, 36, and 37 contain statistical reports, meeting minutes, summaries of case outcomes and committee actions, surveys, correspondence, news clippings, policy statements, guidance for registrants seeking deferment, and publications from organizations around the country with an interest in the draft.
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- Manuscripts, Theses
- Language
- English
- Physical Details
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- 15.42 Linear Feet (37 letter document boxes)
- OCLC
- on1267414386
- This collection includes no known access restrictions.
- Collection materials may be subject to laws governing rights. Researchers are solely responsible for determining the rights status of the materials they use. Permission may be required for some uses such as publication or reproduction.
- The Selective Service System. The Selective Service Act of 1940 was the first peacetime conscription for military service in the United States. It was instituted in September of 1940 in order to require all men between the ages of 21 and 35 to register for the draft. Those who were selected for the draft were required to serve a minimum of one year. As World War II progressed, the eligible age range and length of service requirements were expanded. By the end of World War II in 1945, 10 million men between the ages of 18 and 45 had been inducted into service out of the 50 million men who registered for the draft. Active conscription continued until 1973, supported by extensions of the Selective Service Act of 1940 and others like it. Deferment was the postponement of military service for men who had been selected for the draft but were exempted from service, either temporarily or indefinitely, based on certain criteria. Deferment might be granted based on student status, occupation, or dependents who relied on the registrant. A mixture of special interests, industrial needs, and army demands influenced the deferment decisions. Local draft boards made the initial selections and notified registrants through a notice in the mail. If ordered to report for service, the registrant could apply for reclassification according to a scheme wherein each registrant was classed as I, acceptable for military service, II, deferred because of occupation, III, deferred because of dependency, or IV, unacceptable for military service. Student registrants could also request a delay in induction in order to complete a degree or a current academic term. If denied by the local selective service or military board, the registrant could pursue a series of appeals to plead their case. If granted, the registrant was reclassified to reflect their new status.
- Formation and Organization of the Committee. Clarence A. Dykstra, President of the University of Wisconsin--Madison from 1937-1945, appointed the original three-person Occupational Deferment Committee in 1940. Dykstra was also the first Director of the national Selective Service System, which inspired the committee to adhere strictly to the directives of the system. The committee worked closely with the State Selective Training and Service Headquarters to establish its scope and purpose, and later to consult on policy matters. Its primary goals, however, were to establish University policy, to distribute information about draft and deferment procedures, and to provide documentary materials to local boards. The scope of the committee included the Madison campus, the Milwaukee campus, University Centers around the state, and the University Extension Division. In 1944 the original three-person Committee on Occupational Deferment was expanded into a larger body (nine additional members that year) who better represented the wide range of university areas and had the ability to settle University deferment policies. The chairman and secretary of the original small committee remained and became known as the administrative branch of the special committee on occupational deferment, while the larger body was called the policy branch. This division between branches remained until July 1956. A special Committee on Research was formed to determine whether a particular research project was sufficiently related to the war effort to justify the deferment of necessary personnel, consisting of a number of specialists. If the project was judged essential, the committee provided a certificate to be submitted to the draft board alongside the other documentary materials for the case. This special committee remained active until a national system was established for the purpose of making determinations about the importance of registrants' research for the war effort. In 1965, 25 years after the committee's inception and after significant growth and reorganization of the university, escalation of the Vietnam War caused a surge in conscription and a subsequent reevaluation of the committee's duties. The Office of the Registrar took responsibility for providing students with military information and for sending student documentation to draft boards, while the Occupational Deferment Committee continued to handle employee cases (including employees who were also students). The employee cases came from University Centers all over the state as well as the Madison campus, Milwaukee campus, and Extension Division. Each of these units were represented by at least one member of the committee. By September 1968, committee members were 16 in number with two members representing Milwaukee, two for University Center System, one for University Extension, and one new member each to represent Parkside and Green Bay.
- Committee Workload and Responsibilities. The committee distributed information about draft and deferment procedures and provided advising services to registrants throughout the process from registration to induction. The greatest part of its function was to provide documentary materials to local boards when registrants requested deferment. Documentary materials supplied to draft boards included forms and statements of fact concerned with the registrant's program, progress, and academic standing; a College Student Certificate issued by the Office of Records; letters from faculty or employers; the committee's recommendation for deferment in specific cases; and certificates regarding the importance of a registrant's research to the war effort. Beginning in 1951, students were also encouraged to take the Selective Service College Qualification Test. The test scores, like the registrant's class ranking, were another way for the local board to quantify a student's academic performance. The university carefully refrained from recommending a student's deferment on educational grounds, except in the case of Medical students, but the University submitted statements of fact for any student upon request and even without the University's request, most students were able to delay their induction until the end of their academic term. However, university employees, including student employees, could request that the committee recommend deferment to the draft board on occupational grounds. In those cases the dean, departmental chairman, or other administrative department head decided whether the registrant qualified as a necessary person in an activity related to the war effort or to the maintenance of the national health, safety, or interest. The administrative head prepared the statement of fact and, if necessary, met with the committee to review the case and reach consensus. The committee would then either withdraw the recommendation for deferment or submit the recommendation and documentation to the draft board. The entire committee met to consult on difficult or unusual cases as the chairman recommended. The committee did not request or recommend extended or indefinite deferment for any registrant, so essential staff had to apply to renew their deferment at intervals. The committee also did not consider any employee essential until they had been in their current position for at least a year. As World War II progressed and the demand for draftees grew increasingly urgent, the age range for induction grew and other considerations, such as fatherhood, became less likely to result in deferment. The Occupational Deferment Committee worked hard to keep the campus community informed about fluctuating requirements and procedures. The heavy caseload meant that the committee sometimes met as often as three times per week to review employee cases. With the end of World War II in 1945 came the end of war-related projects, but not the end of the draft; registrants employed in those projects quickly lost support for their deferment and were called for induction. Combined with the record post-war enrollment numbers expected in the next few years, this meant demand for teaching staff, including graduate assistants, was at an all-time high. Consequently the university abandoned its wartime reticence and began requesting deferment even for part-time employees, particularly in engineering and the physical sciences. The number of cases brought before the committee continued to slow, and by the 1950s the committee seldom handled more than ten cases or met more than a few times each year. The university had little trouble securing deferments for employees despite increased tensions associated with the Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The committee's main concerns during this time were the activation of reserve units and policies surrounding reemployment of staff members called to service. The next turning point came in 1964-1965. The committee handled only three cases for the deferment or delay of essential employees that year, but U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War escalated sharply. The induction age dropped from 23 to 19 the following year and use of the Selective Service College Qualification Test, which had been suspended in 1964, was reinstated in 1966. The committee submitted over 500 statements regarding employment or educational status, made deferment requests on 34 cases, and reported an 837% increase in its military counseling load. The committee's policies remained virtually unchanged from 1940 until 1966 when it ceded responsibility for cases involving students to the Office of the Registrar. The next major policy revision was a response, in part, to the Military Selective Service Act of 1967 and Selective Service Memo 96 to Local Boards, a directive from the National Director of Selective Service in April 1968. Both of these discouraged local boards from granting occupational deferment to first-year graduate students or to full-time graduate students with part-time teaching assistantships. The revision was finalized in May 1968. It made departments responsible for sending statements of fact to a registrant's draft board directly. It also removed the requirement that an employee hold their post for a year before being considered essential; the committee would immediately consider requests for essential full-time faculty and would consider requests for other essential full-time staff only if they were already on duty with the University. A great deal of the committee's attention was occupied that year by corresponding with department heads and national bodies about the availability, essentiality, and policies surrounding graduate teaching, research, and project assistants. Some departments reported difficulty in recruiting graduate students to these positions and reorganized part-time appointments into full-time positions in an attempt to attract and retain graduate student employees.
- Source unknown.