Would You Have Been Drafted in World War I?

Published Jul 31, 2026, 6:16 PM EDT

In 1917, the government asked nearly every man in America the same question you're about to answer. Here's how the numbers worked.

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Published Jul 31, 2026, 6:16 PM EDT

On May 18, 1917, six weeks after the United States declared war on Germany, Congress passed the Selective Service Act. It was the first national draft since the Civil War, and it changed the daily reality of nearly every young man in the country almost overnight. If you want to know whether you would have been called up, the honest answer depends on exactly how old you were, what you did for a living, and how the war's demand for manpower shifted over its final 18 months.