Draft Lottery

In the 1970 and subsequent draft lotteries, a different procedure was used. Scientists at the National Bureau of Standards randomly prepared 78 permutations of the numbers from 1 to 365, using random numbers selected from published sources.

From the 78 permutations, 25 were selected at random and translated to calendars using 1 = january 1, 365 = December 31, etc. The calendars were sealed into envelopes. 25 more permutations were selected and left untranslated and sealed into 25 more envelopes. The 50 envelopes were furnished to the Selective Service System.

On 29 June, an official picked one of the calendar envelopes and one of the permutation envelopes. The 365 days of the year were written down and placed into capsules and put in a drum in the order dictated by the contents of the calendar envelope. Similarly the numbers from 1 to 365 were written down and placed into capsules in the order dictated by the permutation in the permutation envelope.

On 1 July, the drawing date, one drum was rotated for an hour and the other, for a half-hour. (Its rotating mechanism failed.)

Pairs of capsules were then drawn, one from each drum. The first date out of the drum with the date capsules was September 16; the first number drawn from the drum with the numbers was 139. Thus men born on September 16th were drafted in 139th order. The 11th draws were the date July 9 and the number 1, so men born on July 9 were drafted first.