This Week in Roosevelt History: September 15-21

September 16, 1940: FDR signed into law the Selective Training and Service Act, which set up the first peacetime military draft in U.S. history.

First drawing of the Selective Service.
October 29, 1940
FDR Library Photo Collection. NPx. 48-22:3712(32).

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Did you know:

  • On September 20, 1940 FDR signed a tax act designed to raise $3,553,400,000 in revenue. This was the largest tax increase in U.S. history.
  • On September 17, 1942 FDR issued an executive order providing for coordination of a rubber program which developed a synthetic rubber industry.