Project 100,000

Project 100,000, also known asMcNamara's 100,000,McNamara's Folly,McNamara's Morons, andMcNamara's Misfits,was a controversial 1960s program by theUnited States Department of Defense(DoD) to recruit soldiers who would previously have been below military mental or medical standards. Project 100,000 was initiated byDefense SecretaryRobert McNamarain October 1966 to meet the escalating workforce requirements of the U.S. government's involvement in theVietnam War. According to Hamilton Gregory, author of the bookMcNamara's Folly: The Use of Low-IQ Troops in the Vietnam War, inductees of the project died at three times the rateof other Americans serving in Vietnam and following their service had lower incomes and higher rates of divorce than their non-veteran counterparts. The project was ended in December 1971.
At various times, theUnited States Armed Forceshas recruited people who measured below specific mental and medical standards. DuringWorld War II, those who scored in certain lower percentiles ofmental aptitude testswere admitted into service. However, this experience eventually led to a legal floor ofIQ80 to enlist. Another instance occurred in the 1980s due to an error in setting the score norm on theArmed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery.
By October 1966, monthly draft calls had been steadily increasing for 15 consecutive months; it stood at 49,300, the highest since early 1951, the peak mobilization period of theKorean War, when 80,000 men a month were called up.In a series of decisions, the Pentagon lowered its required score for induction on theArmed Forces Qualification Testto as low as the 10th percentile – a 6% drop.
According to Hamilton Gregory, author ofMcNamara's Folly: The Use of Low-IQ Troops in the Vietnam War:
Promoted as a response to PresidentLyndon B. Johnson'sWar on Povertyby giving training and opportunity to the uneducated and poor, the recruited men were classified as "New Standards Men" (or, pejoratively, as the "Moron Corps"). They had scored in Category IV of the Armed Forces Qualification Test, which placed them in the 10th–30th percentile range.The number of soldiers reportedly recruited through the program varies, from more than 320,000to 354,000, which included both voluntary enlistees and draftees (54% and 46%, respectively).Entrance requirements were loosened, but all the Project 100,000 men were sent through normal training programs with other recruits, and performance standards thus were the same for everyone.TheU.S. Armyreceived 71% of recruits, followed by 10% by theMarines, 10% by theNavy, and 9% by theAir Force.
Project 100,000 soldiers included those unable to speak English, those who had low mental aptitude or minor physical impairments, and those who were slightly over- or underweight.They also included a special category made up of acontrol groupof "normal" soldiers. Each category was identified in the soldiers' official personnel records by a large red letter stamped on the first page of their enlistment contracts. Human resources offices had to prepare reports on them to be submitted monthly to theDepartment of the Army. The monthly reports did not disclose the identity of the soldiers.
While the project was promoted as a response to President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty, it has been an object of criticism.Regarding the consequences of the program, a 1989 study sponsored by the DoD concluded:
A 1995 review byMyra MacPhersoninWashington Monthlyof McNamara's book,In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, severely criticized the project, saying that "the program offered a one-way ticket to Vietnam, where these men fought and died in disproportionate numbers ... the men of the 'Moron Corps' provided the necessary cannon fodder to help evade the political horror of dropping student deferments or calling up the reserves, which were sanctuaries for the lily-white."
Project 100,000 was highlighted in a 2006 op-ed inThe New York Timesin which formerWesleyanassistant professor and thenTuftsassistant professorKelly M. Greenhill, writing in the context of a contemporary recruitment shortfall, concluded that "Project 100,000 was a failed experiment. It proved to be a distraction for the military and of little benefit to the men it was created to help." To explain why veterans from the project fared worse in civilian life than their non-veteran peers, Greenhill hypothesized it might be related to the psychological consequences of combat or unpreparedness for the post-military transition.