What happened on your birthday?

What’s Your Vietnam War Draft Lottery Number?

The Vietnam War draft lottery ran from 1969 to 1972. If you were born on August 20, would your number have been called?

  • Vietnam War 1969 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    344
  • Vietnam War 1970 Lottery
    CalledDrafted
    69
  • Vietnam War 1971 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    115
  • Vietnam War 1972 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    162

Read on to learn more about the Vietnam war draft lottery.





more events on August 20

  • 2002

    A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein seize the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin; after five hours they release their hostages and surrender.

  • 1998

    US launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the Aug. 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

  • The Supreme Court of Canada rules Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government’s approval.

  • 1994

    Miracle, the Sacred White Buffalo, born on Heider Farm near Janesville, Wisc. The first white (not albino) buffalo born since 1933, she was a important religious symbol for many US and Canadian Indian tribes.

  • 1993

    Secret negotiations in Norway lead to agreement on the Oslo Peace Accords, an attempt to resolve the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

  • 1991

    After an attempted coup in the Soviet Union, Estonia declares independence from the USSR.

  • 1990

    Iraq moves Western hostages to military installations to use them as human shields against air attacks by a US-led multinational coalition.

  • 1986

    Part-time mail carrier Patrick Sherrill shoots 20 fellow workers killing 14 at Edmond Okla., the first mass shooting by an individual in an office environment in the US. His actions give rise to the phrase “going postal,” for sudden violent outbursts.

  • 1982

    A multinational force including 800 US Marines lands in Beirut, Lebanon, to oversee Palestinian withdrawal during the Lebanese Civil War.

  • 1980

    UN Security Council condemns Israel’s declaration that all of Jerusalem is its capital; vote is 14-0, with US abstaining.

  • 1979

    The Penmanshiel Diversion on the  the East Coast Main Line rail route between England and Scotland opens, replacing the 134-year-old Penmanshiel Tunnel that had collapsed in March.

  • 1978

    NASA launches Viking 1; with Viking 2, launched a few days later, provided high-resolution mapping of Mars, revolutionizing existing views of the planets.

  • 1974

    Amy Adams, actress; multiple nominations for Academy Awards, Golden Globe and BAFTA awards (Enchanted, The Fighter).

  • US Vice President Gerald Ford, who had replaced Spiro Agnew, assumes the Office of the President after Richard Nixon resigns; Ford names Nelson Rockefeller as VP.

  • 1971

    The Cambodian military launches a series of operations against the Khmer Rouge.

  • 1968

    Some 650,000 Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia to quell reformers there.

  • 1964

    US President Lyndon Baines Johnson signs the Economic Opportunity Act, an anti-poverty measure totaling nearly $1 billion, as part of his War on Poverty.

  • 1961

    East Germany begins erecting a wall along western border to replace barbed wire put up Aug 13; US 1st Battle Group, 18th Infantry Division arrives in West Berlin.

  • 1960

    USSR recovers 2 dogs, Belka and Strelka, the first animals to be launched into orbit and returned alive (Sputnik 5).

  • 1958

    Patricia Rozema, film director, screenwriter (Mansfield Park).

  • 1955

    Hundreds killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.

  • 1954

    Al Roker, weatherman (Today on NBC; Weather Channel).

  • 1953

    USSR publicly acknowledges it tested a hydrogen bomb eight days earlier.

  • 1952

    John Hiatt, singer/songwriter (“Have a Little Faith in Me”).

  • 1944

    Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minster of India.

  • United States and British forces close the pincers on German units in the Falaise-Argentan pocket in France.

  • 1942

    Isaac Hayes, composer, musician, actor, voice-over actor; co-wrote “Soul Man,” won Academy Award for his composition  “Theme from Shaft.”

  • 1941

    Slobodan Milosevic, President of Serbia (1989–1997) and of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1997–2000); tried by UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for war crimes but died before trial concluded.

  • Adolf Hitler authorizes the development of the V-2 missile.

  • 1940

    Radar is used for the first time, by the British during the Battle of Britain. Also on this day, in a radio broadcast, Winston Churchill makes his famous homage to the Royal Air Force: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

  • After a previous machine gun attack failed, exiled Russian Leon Trotsky is assassinated in Mexico City, with an alpine ax to the back of the head.

  • 1914

    Russia wins an early victory over Germany at Gumbinnen.

  • 1913

    700 feet above Buc, France, parachutist Adolphe Pegoud becomes the first person to jump from an airplane and land safely.

  • 1908

    The American Great White Fleet arrives in Sydney, Australia, to a warm welcome.

  • 1905

    Jack Teagarden, jazz trombonist.

  • 1904

    Dublin’s Abbey Theatre is founded, an outgrowth of the Irish Literary Theatre founded in 1899 by William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory.

  • 1890

    H.P. Lovecraft, author of horror tales; created the Cthulhu mythos.

  • 1886

    Paul Tillich, theologian and philosopher who wrote Systematic Theology.

  • 1847

    General Winfield Scott wins the Battle of Churubusco on his drive to Mexico City.

  • 1833

    Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States and grandson of President William Henry Harrison.

  • 1794

    American General “Mad Anthony” Wayne defeats the Ohio Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in the Northwest territory, ending Indian resistance in the area.

  • 1741

    Danish navigator Vitus Jonas Bering, commissioned by Peter the Great of Russia to find land connecting Asia and North America, discovers America.

  • 1667

    John Milton publishes Paradise Lost, an epic poem about the fall of Adam and Eve.

  • 1619

    The first group of twenty Africans is brought to Jamestown, Virginia.

  • 917

    A Byzantine counter-offensive is routed by Syeon at Anchialus, Bulgaria.