[stm]

The lottery was, for the most part, a blind lottery.

There were questions that it favored people born in earlier months of the year but how could this have targeted minorities? Are minorities historically born in latter months of the year? I would love to see the data on that one.

[Verginius Rufus]

The lottery was not introduced until December 1969. The first time they did it there was a disproportionate number of high numbers in the early months of the year, as if they had not mixed up the capsules sufficiently before they began to draw them out.

That was one of the cleverest things Nixon did from a political standpoint. As a result of the lottery, millions of men who had worried they would be drafted knew that they were safe, and were therefore less likely to get involved in any anti-war protests.