1917

• The 65th Congress passed the Selective Service Act of 1917 on May 18 while Woodrow Wilson was president. This created the Selective Service System. Primarily, it gave the president power to conscript men for military service. In addition, all men between the ages of 21 to 30 were required to register for a military service period of 12 months. A year later, in August 1918, the maximum age was raised to 45 years. In 1920, this version of the military draft was discontinued.
  
  

1940

• President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940. This began the country's first peacetime draft and formally established the Selective Service System as an independent federal agency. It required all males between the ages of 18 to 65 to register for Selective Service. Initially it conscripted only men between ages 21 and 36 for a service period of 12 months. Shortly after, however, it was increased to males ages 18 to 45 for a military service period of 18 months. Upon declaration of war in World War II, the service period was extended to last the duration of the war plus a six-month service in the Reserves.
  
  

1948

• The Selective Service Act of 1948 created a new and separate system. In this system, all men ages 18 and older were required to register with the Selective Service. All men ages 19 to 26 were eligible to be drafted for a service requirement of 21 months. They were then required to commit to 12 consecutive months of active service or 36 consecutive months of service in the Reserves. A statutory term of military service was set at a minimum of five years. Men could choose to volunteer for military service in the regular Army for four years or for a six-year term in the Reserves.
  
  

1969

• On Dec. 1, 1969, at the Selective Service National Headquarters in Washington, D.C., the first lottery drawing in 27 years occurred. The lottery determined the order of induction into the military for the following year. All men born between Jan. 1, 1944, and Dec. 31, 1950, were qualified for the lottery. In this lottery, 366 blue plastic capsules containing every day of the year were placed in a container and drawn out by hand to assign the order-of-call into the military.