Video: 'President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940...HD Stock Footage'

(Monday, September 16, 1940, 3:08 pm. EDT; during World War II) — U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt today signed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, providing the first peacetime draft in U.S. history, requiring the registration of all men 21 to 36 years old.

Video: 'The World at War: On Our Way: U.S.A. - 1939-1942 (7 of 26)' (Sept. 16, 1940, at 5:51)

The draft began in October 1940, with the first men entering military service on Nov. 18, 1940.