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CHANCE AND CIRCUMSTANCE: The Draft, the War, and the Vietnam Generation. By Lawrence M. Baskir and William A. Strauss. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1978, 310 pp., $10.00. (Member $9.00.)
Books dealing with the draft could not be more topical today. The allvolunteer force is generally conceded to be in some degree of trouble. The President has requested in his State of the Union address that there be registration of the nation's youth in preparation for the possibility of a draft. Thus an analysis of the operation of the draft during the Vietnam war is not only relevant to the times, but absolutely essential for any intelligent discussion of either the legal or moral implications of reinstituting the draft. The authors, Lawrence M. Baskir and William A. Strauss, did not serve in Vietnam or on active service. Baskir joined the Reserves in 1962 to avoid the draft. Strauss was a winner in the first draft lottery with a 214 call number and an ultimate cutoff of 194. These two gentlemen candidly admit that had they not been so fortunate "We would have avoided combat via some other manifestation of chance and circumstance."
They are well qualified to write about the draft not only because they were members of the "Vietnam generation," but especially because they served as senior officials...