During the Vietnam War, young men gathered in college dorms and friends’ homes to listen to live TV and radio broadcasts of the U.S. Selective Service System drawing lottery numbers to determine who would and would not be drafted. The 2010 issue of Vietnam magazine revisits those days in the article, “Live from Washington, It’s Lottery Night 1969!!”
366 blue plastic capsules contained the birthdays that would be chosen in the first Vietnam draft lottery drawing on December 1, 1969. The first birth date drawn that night, assigned the lowest number, “001,” was September 14.
How would YOU have done?
Find your birthday in the chart below to see what order you would have been called to service. Or: Check out our Today in History page for an interactive version of the chart!
How did Prominent Figures do?
- Oliver Stone: 113, September 15, 1946
- Pat Sajak: 007, October 26, 1946
- Bruce Springsteen: 119, September 23, 1949
- Sylvester Stallone: 327, July 6, 1946
- Samuel Alito: 032, April 1, 1950
- Clarence Thomas: 109, June 23, 1948
- Dan Quayle: 210, February 4, 1947
- Al Gore: 030, March 31, 1948
- Bill Clinton: 311, August 19, 1946
- George W. Bush: 327, July 6, 1946
- Billy Crystal: 354, March 14, 1947
- David Letterman: 346, April 12, 1947
- Tom Daschle: 043, December 9, 1947
- Howard Dean: 143, December 17, 1948
- Tom DeLay: 312, April 8, 1947
- Jay Leno: 223, April 28, 1950
- Rudy Giuliani: 308, May 28, 1944
- Stephen King: 204, September 21, 1947
- Donald Trump: 356, June 14, 1946
- OJ Simpson: 277, July 9, 1947
- Bill Murray: 204, September 21, 1950
*Some in this list, who were already serving and whose draft status had been resolved, were not affected by the draft lottery. Otherwise, every male aged 19 to 26 had a stake in the 1970 draft lottery, as it determined the order in which men with birth dates between 1944 and 1950 were called to report for induction in 1970. Some on the above list were already serving, received student or medical deferments, volunteered for other service, or for various other reasons were not drafted in 1970.
