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 December 17, would your number have been called?

  • Vietnam War 1969 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    304
  • Vietnam War 1970 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    315
  • Vietnam War 1971 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    293
  • Vietnam War 1972 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    294

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





more events on December 17

  • 2010

    Mohamed Bouazizi immolates himself, the catalyst for the Tunisian revolution and the subsequent Arab Spring.

  • 2007

    James, Viscount Severn, son of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex; youngest grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

  • 2002

    Congolese parties of the inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord in the Second Congo War, providing for transitional government and elections within two years.

  • 1990

    Jean-Bertrand Aristide wins Haiti’s first free election.

  • 1989

    Fernando Color de Mello becomes Brazil’s first democratically elected president in nearly 30 years.

  • The Simpsons, television’s longest-running animated series, makes its US debut.

  • 1981

    Red Brigade terrorists kidnap Brigadier General James Dozier, the highest-ranking U.S. NATO officer in Italy.

  • 1965

    Ending an election campaign marked by bitterness and violence, Ferdinand Marcos is declared president of the Philippines.

  • 1962

    Richard Jewell, police officer who discovered pipe bombs on the grounds of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, and helped evacuate the area before the bombs exploded.

  • 1952

    Yugoslavia breaks relations with the Vatican.

  • 1950

  • 1948

    The Smithsonian Institution accepts the Kitty Hawk – the Wright brothers’ plane.

  • 1945

    Chris Matthews, news anchor, political commentator; host of Hardball with Chris Matthews on MSNBC.

  • 1944

    U.S. approves end to internment of Japanese Americans. U.S. Major General Henry C. Pratt issues Public Proclamation No. 21, declaring that Japanese American “evacuees” from the West Coast could return to their homes effective January 2, 1945.

  • The German Army renews the attack on the Belgian town of Losheimergraben against the defending Americans during the Battle of the Bulge.

  • 1939

    In the Battle of River Plate near Montevideo, Uruguay, the British trap the German pocket battleship Graf Spee. German Captain Langsdorf sinks his ship believing that resistance is hopeless.

  • 1938

    Italy declares the 1935 pact with France invalid because ratifications had not been exchanged. France denies the argument.

  • 1937

    US Lt. Gen. Calvin Waller, deputy commander-in-chief for military operations with US Central Command (Forward) during the First Gulf War.

  • Kerry Packer, Australian businessman who founded World Series Cricket.

  • Art Neville, singer, musician; member of The Neville Brothers and The Meters.

  • 1936

    Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina), named to the Papacy March 13, 2013.

  • 1935

    George Lindsey, comic actor best known for his role as Goober on The Andy Griffith Show.

  • 1930

    Bob Guccione, publisher; founder of Penthouse magazine.

  • 1929

    William Safire, journalist and author.

  • 1908

    Willard Frank Libby, American chemist who won a Nobel Prize for his part in creating the carbon-14 method in dating ancient findings.

  • 1903

    Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft.

  • 1886

    At a Christmas party, Sam Starr (husband to infamous outlaw queen Belle Starr) shoots his old enemy Frank West, but is fatally wounded himself.

  • 1861

    The Stonewall Brigade begins to dismantle Dam No. 5 of the C&O Canal.

  • 1807

    John Greenleaf Whittier, American poet, abolitionist, reformer and founder of the Liberal Party.

  • 1778

    Humphrey Davy, English chemist who discovered the anesthetic effect of laughing gas.

  • 1398

    Tamerlane’s Mongols destroy the army of Mahmud Tughluk, Sultan of Delhi, at Panipat.