Once More, "Greetings"

For half a century, Southern Senators have cherished the filibuster as a last defense against civil rights legislation. Thus there was an air of anomaly on the Senate floor last week as Mississippi's John Stennis led a virtually solid front of Southerners to join Administration supporters in imposing cloture. The reason was that the issue was not race but the military. By the narrowest of two-thirds majorities, 61 to 30, the Senate shut off a filibuster by antiwar forces against the draft-extension bill. Having silenced debate, the Senate quickly passed the bill 55 to 30, ending one of the longest and angriest congressional controversies of the Nixon Administration.

Committee hearings on the bill to extend the draft for two more years began last February. At the end of June, the Army had to stop drafting young men because the authorization was mired in Congress. Draft extension became the focus for a broader debate on Viet Nam. In June, antiwar forces won passage of Majority Leader Mike Mansfield's amendment. It tied continuing conscription to a demand that all U.S. forces be withdrawn from Indochina within nine months, provided that American prisoners of war were first released.

Endless Decade. As passed last week, however, the bill only expresses "the sense of the Congress" that there must be a "prompt and orderly withdrawal" of U.S. forces "at the earliest practicable date." Even so, the long controversy over what is normally a routine authorization became an index of deepening congressional disaffection with the war. The prospect of an impending one-candidate election in South Viet Nam became a bitter symbol in the debate. Said New Mexico's Senator Joseph Montoya: "After an endless decade of commitment, this is what we have to show for 55,000 dead American boys, more than a quarter of a million wounded and expenditure of more than $100 billion we could not afford."

As the bill stalled, the military had to rely on voluntary enlistments and re-enlistments. Although, ironically, recruiting figures rose over the summer months, the Pentagon insisted that it could not function much longer without draftees. Finally the White House began a massive lobbying campaign, with President Nixon and Defense Secretary Melvin Laird applying the pressure. They avoided argument on the Mansfield amendment and on military pay increases that are designed eventually to make an all-volunteer army possible.

Second-Rate Status. Instead, as one Pentagon lobbyist said, "We put it to every Senator strictly on the basis of national security. We told them the services would have to call up reserves and induct people who had been previously deferred." The President suggested that he would accuse Senators voting against the draft of relegating the U.S. to second-rate military status. Observed Stennis: "It would be a serious mistake to delay this bill because of a disagreement about the war."

As finally passed, the bill authorizes the White House to order men conscripted through June 30, 1973. Among its other provisions, the bill:

> Allows the President to abolish student deferments for men who enter college beginning this semester and thereafter. Those in college now may hold deferments until the end of their fourth college year or their 24th birthday, whichever comes first. Students drafted while in college may postpone induction until the end of the academic term.

> Allots $2.4 billion annually for military pay increases--$1.5 billion more than the White House wanted. In part, the funds will increase average annual compensation for recruits to about $4,900. The raises may be deferred because of the wage-price freeze.

> Allows potential draftees to present witnesses and demand written reports on adverse draft-board rulings. It also requires that the composition of draft boards reflect the racial and ethnic composition of their communities.

Although antiwar forces lost their fight to fix a withdrawal date, Mansfield will almost certainly tack such an amendment, with a May 1972 deadline, onto the $21 billion military-procurement bill. It will thus become a fresh vehicle for the antiwar forces.

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