The Korean War in the early 1950s resulted in an active draft of college-age males. In January 1951 Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall announced that male college students could finish their academic year, but then they had to enlist in the military branch of their choice or risk the draft. There was a 50 percent drop in spring-semester enrollments, due to panic enlistments by students who wanted to choose for themselves which branch of the military to enter.

Two months later, in March 1951, President Harry S Truman approved deferment of college students of superior scholastic standing or those who achieved high scores on national aptitude tests. In October 1951 it was reported that 37 percent of the 339,056 college students who took the aptitude tests, given on four different dates earlier in the year, had passed, earning deferment. Some local boards complained that college deferments made it...