When the "father draft" bill became law, the Army won a point of prestige, Manpowerman Paul McNutt lost political face, and U.S. fathers broke even.
The Draw. Montana's Senator Burton K. Wheeler had fought for a sharp-toothed bill which would save every pre-Pearl Harbor father from the draft until the last childless man in the U.S. had been inducted. As finally amended and signed by the President, the bill was well-intentioned and toothless: fathers will be kept at the bottom of draft lists so long as this does not affect "the orderly flow of men into the armed forces."
To protect fathers,...
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