In September 1940 Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act. It established the first military draft in peacetime. Anticipating the eventual involvement of the United States in World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt engineered the act in order to enlarge the army. The act required that all men between the ages of 21 and 35 register for military service. It also called for the training of more than 1 million troops and 800,000 reserves over a one-year period. This act exempted from military service conscientious objectors, or those who opposed war because of religious or moral beliefs. During World War II, the U.S. government required conscientious objectors to participate in an alternative form of national service.
