Non-voluntary deferments in WWII?
score:2
If you're referring specifically to deferments related to the Manhattan Project, this document is a fascinating read. It is apparently in response to arguments made in favor of giving technicians deferments based on security grounds, and instead argues that the hazards associated with the project put it in line with military service and forms a separate basis for granting deferrals. This might be a fruitful start for more research.
Also, the oral histories on the Voices of the Manhattan Project site contain several references to the draft.
If you are looking for more general information, this link contains documentation around the deferrals granted to members of the merchant marine as being essential workers, and quite a few farmers were given occupational referrals as well.
Upvote:3
I have a friend whose father worked on the Manhattan Project.
Scientists (and other workers) for secret projects such as the Manhattan Project were recruited by higher ups, through reputation, or word of mouth. They didn't just "volunteer," because they weren't told what these projects were, or what the needed qualifications were; only the higher ups knew that.
Once on, only a handful of the most connected and knowledgeable people knew what the Manhattan Project was about. While it was mainly voluntary, most people were induced to join by being told, "This project is important enough to the war effort to keep you out of the armed forces." Mathematicians were told which calculations to make; "technicians" were told how to manufacture uranium without being told why, etc. Basically, the different elements of the project were kept as "separate" as possible, with people being told things only on a "need to know" basis.
Most people involved probably knew something about "radioactivity," which had been discovered by Marie Curie as early as 1903. Perhaps some of them thought they were manufacturing an X-ray gun, or maybe the equivalent of World War I's poison gas, shot out of special cannon. Practically no one could conceive of putting all that nuclear power into a handful of bombs capable of destroying a whole city.
More post
- 📝 Were there reasons for Japan to go to war with the US aside from the US owning Philippines?
- 📝 Printing - When did advertis*m*nts in colour became commonplace?
- 📝 Legendary visits by Alexander the Great
- 📝 Confusion re the naming of Roman freedman
- 📝 What post 18thC countries rulers escaped to a remote/separate region and hung on while the country collapsed under revolution?
- 📝 Is the concern about automation costing jobs a recent one only, or are there other examples from the past?
- 📝 What were the dimensions of the Lahitolle 95 mm cannon?
- 📝 Could Japan buy natural resources from European colonies before WW2?
- 📝 Can anyone confirm the identity of these WWI uniforms?
- 📝 What was the official reason for not invading France until the middle of 1944?
- 📝 Where can I find an explanation of the variations in style of Egyptian hieroglyphs?
- 📝 Why is the Stamp Act of 1765 known as a "direct tax?"
- 📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
- 📝 Ancient Greek or Roman Teenaged Suicide for Glory
- 📝 What caused women to lose their access to resources and become a part of men's possessions with the start of the agriculture era?
- 📝 Is Wikipedia's identification of Lebed an error?
- 📝 What kind of building materials did Cavendish use in determining the density of the earth?
- 📝 How did the people of Massachusetts react to the territory that is now Maine being split off from Massachusetts?
- 📝 Why did Churchill order the destruction of the bombes?
- 📝 Was the cingulum militare any good as protection?
- 📝 Were the names of the 10 months in the ancient Roman Calendar originally named after ordinal numbers?
- 📝 Who named the Democratic Party?
- 📝 Why is the charter of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations signed "HOWARD"?
- 📝 What did medical treatments for fractured or broken bones cost in 1900-1915?
- 📝 Who was Balavignus?
- 📝 How did the pincer movement at the Battle of Cannae work?
- 📝 Why was Europe so technologically and culturally advanced?
- 📝 Why did Abraham Lincoln choose Andrew Johnson as a vice presidential running mate?
- 📝 What is the altitude record for manned unpressurised balloon flight without oxygen?
- 📝 Was Apollo's birthday December 25th according to the Romans?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How many ministerial deferments were there during WWII for the United States?
- 📝 How beneficial were war bonds to the US during WWII
- 📝 Was the tugboat ever part of a WWII battle group?
- 📝 Why did Churchill become the PM of Britain during WWII instead of Lord Halifax?
- 📝 Was Russia the only country in WWII that succeeded in expansionist war aims?
- 📝 What was the first successful non violent independence movement?
- 📝 Are photos of WWII US Navy damage reports available online?
- 📝 Did the Vikings practice voluntary human sacrifice?
- 📝 How popular was Mozart in France before WWII and after it?
- 📝 How "successful" were WWII pigeon-guided missiles?
- 📝 What factors led to much higher US war bond sales and participation rates in WWII over that of WWI?
- 📝 Did WWII Delay Indian Independence?
- 📝 WWII boat-looking bus
- 📝 Was the last Japanese surrender after WWII in the 1970s?
- 📝 How voluntary was Sati during the Mughal era?
- 📝 Were any of the major battle plans in WWII changed last minute by officers on the ground?
- 📝 Was WWII Systemic Drug Use by Axis and Allies Supported By Scholarship?
- 📝 When did Australia declare war on Germany in WWII
- 📝 Who are the WWII German Officers in this picture?
- 📝 What did this WWII combat medic insignia represent?
- 📝 Brown glass and WWII
- 📝 What WWII fighter raid did my great-uncle misremember?
- 📝 Did Germany have treaties imposed upon it after WWII that mirrored the weight of the Treaty of Versailles?
- 📝 Difference between V-5 and V-12 Navy programs during WWII
- 📝 What races are being depicted in this American WWII cartoon?
- 📝 Non Altered European Castles
- 📝 Which Allied forces held the French-Italian border from Operation Dragoon to the end of WWII in Europe?
- 📝 What was American anti-tank doctrine during WWII on paper, and how did it differ from in practice?
- 📝 Which battles of WWII did the cracking of Enigma decisively influence?
- 📝 Did allied soldiers in the WWII Pacific Theater use the term 'flak' for anti-aircraft guns?