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Podcast: Today In History with The Retrospectors
Episode: The Vietnam Lottery
Description: Which young men should be sent to fight in Vietnam? Amidst a growing public outcry against the biases in the system, the United States instituted a live televised lottery draft on December 1st, 1969.
In a sombre spectacle, plexiglass drums and capsules containing birthdates were drawn live on CBS, dictating the order in which men born on that day might be conscripted. Youth delegates participated to symbolize approval from the draftees’ generation, but some refused to cooperate; one storming off live on air, others making peace signs or reading out protests during the broadcast.
Arion, Rebecca an...