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 16, would your number have been called?

  • Vietnam War 1969 Lottery
    CalledDrafted
    96
  • Vietnam War 1970 Lottery
    CalledDrafted
    41
  • Vietnam War 1971 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    128
  • Vietnam War 1972 Lottery
    Not CalledNot drafted
    187

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





more events on December 16

  • 2003

    President George W. Bush signs the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, which establishes the United States’ first national standards regarding email and gives the Federal Trade Commission authority to enforce the act. 

  • 1998

    The United States launches a missile attack on Iraq for failing to comply with United Nations weapons inspectors.

  • 1978

    Cleveland becomes the first U.S. city to default since the depression.

  • 1976

    President Jimmy Carter appoints Andrew Young as Ambassador to the United Nations.

  • 1969

    Adam Riess, astrophysicist; shared 2006 Shaw Prize in Astronomy and 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for providing evidence the expansion of the universe is accelerating.

  • 1963

    Benjamin Bratt, actor best known for his role of Rey Curtis on the Law & Order TV series.

  • 1962

    William Perry, pro football defensive lineman nicknamed The Refrigerator because of his size.

  • 1955

    Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este.

  • 1950

    President Harry Truman declares a state of National Emergency as Chinese communists invade deeper into South Korea.

  • 1949

    Billy Gibbons, singer, songwriter, musician with ZZ Top and Moving Sidewalks bands.

  • Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung is received at the Kremlin in Moscow.

  • 1944

    Germany mounts a major offensive in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium. As the center of the Allied line falls back, it creates a bulge, leading to the name, the Battle of the Bulge.

  • 1943

    Steven Bochco, TV producer and writer (Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law).

  • 1938

    Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress and director; won Golden Globe for Best Actress–Motion Picture Drama for The Emigrants (1971).

  • 1936

    Morris Dees, activist; co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

  • 1932

    Sir Quentin Saxby Blake, illustrator and children’s writer; received the Hans Christian Andersen Award (2002) and was Britain’s first Children’s Laureate (1999–2001).

  • 1917

    Arthur C. Clarke, English science fiction writer (2001: A Space Odyssey)

  • 1915

    Members of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CU) testify at a congressional hearing to add an amendment for women’s right to vote.

  • 1864

    Union forces under General George H. Thomas win the battle at Nashville, smashing an entire Confederate army.

  • 1863

    Confederate General Joseph Johnston takes command of the Army of Tennessee.

  • 1835

    A fire in New York City destroys property estimated to be worth $20,000,000. It lasts two days, ravages 17 blocks, and destroys 674 buildings including the Stock Exchange, Merchants’ Exchange, Post Office, and the South Dutch Church.

  • 1775

    Jane Austen, novelist (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice).

  • 1773

    To protest the tax on tea from England, a group of young Americans, disguised as Indians, throw chests of tea from British ships in Boston Harbor.

  • 1770

    Ludwig Van Beethoven, German composer best known for his 9th Symphony.

  • 1653

    Oliver Cromwell takes on dictatorial powers with the title of “Lord Protector.”

  • 1485

    Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII, who bore him six children; only one, Mary I, survived to adulthood.

  • 1431

    Henry VI of England is crowned King of France.