Reply #69: The war got large in 65. The draft was already active at the time.

[Warren Stupidity]

Some people here oddly confuse the lottery reform of 69 with the draft. Conscription continued after WWII through the Korean War (famously in the 50's Elvis was drafted)and straight through the Vietnam War up to 1973. The Vietnam War continued until 75. While clearly the draft fueled antiwar protests, the major effect of those protests were the implementation of the lottery system and then the end of the draft. The war followed its own course, and much like our current quagmire, the political will to actually end it, despite the obvious fact that it was unwinnable, kept us involved until 75 when, after Watergate, a briefly independent Congress actually had the courage to act. Five years later the counter revolution of Reaganism started the long slide back to where we are today.