Draft - card burning Draft - card burning was a symbol of protest performed by thousands of young American men as part of the opposition to the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War . Beginning in May 1964 , some activists burned their draft cards at anti - war rallies and demonstrations . By May 1965 it was happening with greater frequency . To limit this kind of protest , in August 1965 , the United States Congress enacted a law to broaden draft card violations to punish anyone who " knowingly destroys , knowingly mutilates " his draft card . Subsequently , 46 men were indicted for burning their draft cards at various rallies , and four major court cases were heard . One of them , " United States v . O ' Brien " , was argued before the Supreme Court . The act of draft card burning was defended as a symbolic form of free speech , a constitutional right guaranteed by the First Amendment . The Supreme Court decided against the draft card burners ; it determined that the federal law was justified and that it was unrelated to the freedom of speech . This outcome was criticized by legal experts . In Australia following the 1966 troop increases directed by Prime Minister Harold Holt , conscription notices were burned at mass demonstrations against Australian involvement in Vietnam . In June 1968 , the government reacted by strengthening penalties for infractions of the 1964 National Service Act , including the burning of registration cards . War protest ceased in 1972 when Australia ' s new Labor government withdrew troops from Vietnam and abolished conscription . From 1965 to 1973 , very few men in the U . S . were convicted of burning their draft cards . Some 25 , 000 others went unpunished . Before 1965 , the act of burning a draft card was already prohibited by U . S . statute — the registrant was required to carry the card at all times , and any destruction of it was thus against the law . Also , it was entirely possible for a young man to destroy his draft card and still answer his country ' s call to service by appearing at an induction center and serving in the military . And it was possible for a registrant to faithfully keep his card on his person but fail to appear when called . The draft card was not an essential part of the government ' s ability to draft men into the military . Thus draft - card burning was an act of war resistance more than it was draft resistance . The image of draft card burning was a powerful one , influential in American politics and culture . It appeared in magazines , newspapers and on television , signaling a political divide between those who backed the U . S . government and its military goals and those who were against any U . S . involvement in Vietnam . Richard Nixon ran for president in 1968 on a platform based partly on putting an end to the draft , in order to undercut protesters making use of the symbolic act . As president , Nixon ended the draft in 1973 , rendering unnecessary the symbolic act of draft - card burning . Background . United States . From 1948 , under the Selective Service Act , all American men between the ages of 18 and 26 were required to register with a local draft board . In case of war , the able - bodied ones among them could be drafted to serve in the military . The law required the men to carry their draft cards with them at all times . These were small white cards bearing the registrant ' s identifying information , the date and place of registration , and a unique Selective Service number . In an amendment sponsored by Congressmen L . Mendel Rivers and William G . Bray , on August 31 , 1965 , the law was augmented with four words , to include penalties for any person who " knowingly destroys , knowingly mutilates " the card , under 50 U . S . C . § 462 ( b ) ( 3 ) . Strom Thurmond moved the bill through the Senate , calling draft - card burning " contumacious conduct " which " represents a potential threat to the exercise of the power to raise and support armies . " At the time , many observers ( including the U . S . Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ) believed that Congress had intentionally targeted anti - war draft - card burners . Australia . Following the 1964 National Service Act , legislated in response to the Indonesia – Malaysia confrontation , 20 - year - old Australian men were subject to military service based on a birthday lottery . In April 1965 , Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies sent a battalion of Army regulars to Vietnam , beginning an overseas involvement in that country which lasted for seven years and provoked deeply divisive debate back home . In early 1966 , Menzies retired and Harold Holt became Prime Minister . In March 1966 , Holt announced troop increases bringing the total commitment to 4 , 500 men in Vietnam , a tripling of effort . Significantly , conscripts could now be sent into combat . Protests broke out , including a draft - card burning demonstration outside of Holt ' s home . In late June 1966 with President Lyndon B . Johnson listening , Holt spoke in Washington , D . C . in support of American policy . In his speech he closed by saying that Australia was a " staunch friend " of America , willing to go " all the way with LBJ " . This statement was widely criticized in Australia . Marxist writer and draft - card burner Andy Blunden said in July that , " by following America into Vietnam , Holt ' s Australia is playing the role of Mussolini ' s Italy . " In December the government bolstered the Vietnam presence with 1 , 700 more troops . John Gorton took the Prime Minister position in January 1968 . In June 1968 , the government doubled the penalty for the burning of registration cards . In 1971 , the government committed to a gradual but total withdrawal from Vietnam — following both Australian opinion and America ' s new policy . In 1972 , all troops including the advisory team were ordered home from Vietnam . Draft resisters in jail were freed . The final birthday lottery was held September 22 , 1972 . U . S . court cases . Early cases . On October 15 , 1965 , David J . Miller burned his draft card at a rally held near the Armed Forces Induction Center on Whitehall Street in Manhattan . He spoke briefly to the crowd from atop a sound truck and then tried but failed to burn his card with matches — the wind kept blowing them out . A lighter was offered by the crowd and it worked . Miller was arrested by the FBI three days later in Manchester , New Hampshire while setting up peace literature on a table . The 24 - year - old pacifist , member of the Catholic Worker Movement , became the first man convicted under the 1965 amendment . In April 1966 with his wife and breast - feeding baby in attendance , he was sentenced to 30 months in prison . The case was argued in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in June . Miller ' s attorney held that " symbolic speech is protected by the First Amendment ; burning a draft card is a most dramatic form of communication , and there is a constitutional right to make one ' s speech as effective as possible . " The court did not agree . The case was decided later that year in October : Miller ' s conviction was confirmed and his sentence upheld . Loudon Wainwright , Jr . wrote in " Life " magazine that Miller , " without really knowing it , might be embarking on a lifelong career of protest . " Miller remained free on bail until June 1968 at which time he served 22 months in federal prison . At an anti - war rally at the Iowa Memorial Union in Iowa City , Iowa , on October 20 , 1965 , 20 - year - old Stephen Lynn Smith , a student at the University of Iowa , spoke to the crowd and burned his draft card . He said , " I do not feel that five years of my life are too much to give to say that this law is wrong . " He had previously alerted newspaper reporters and two television stations , and they were present to record his act . Smith said he was against the involvement of the U . S . in Vietnam , and that he was against the system of conscription . In November 1966 he was found guilty and placed on probation for three years . In June – July 1967 , " United States v . Edelman " was argued and decided in the U . S . Second Circuit . Thomas C . Cornell , Marc Paul Edelman and Roy Lisker had burned their draft cards at a public rally organized by the Committee for Non - Violent Action in Union Square , New York City , on November 6 , 1965 . A fourth man older than 36 also burned his card at the rally but was not indicted . Edelman , Cornell and Lisker were convicted and sentenced to six months . " United States v . O ' Brien " . On the morning of March 31 , 1966 , David Paul O ' Brien and three companions burned their draft cards on the steps of the South Boston Courthouse , in front of a crowd that included several FBI agents . After the four men came under attack from some of the crowd , an FBI agent ushered O ' Brien inside the courthouse and advised him of his rights . O ' Brien made a confession and produced the charred remains of the certificate . He was then indicted for violating § 462 ( b ) ( 3 ) and put on trial in the U . S . District Court for the District of Massachusetts . O ' Brien argued that the four words ( " knowingly destroys , knowingly mutilates " ) added to the draft card law were unconstitutional , that they were an abridgment of the freedom of speech . He argued that the amendment served no valid purpose because the Selective Service Act already required draft registrants to carry their card on their persons at all times , thus any form of destruction was already a violation . He explained that he burned the draft card publicly as a form of symbolic speech to persuade others to oppose the war , " so that other people would reevaluate their positions with Selective Service , with the armed forces , and reevaluate their place in the culture of today , to hopefully consider my position . " On January 24 , 1968 , the Supreme Court determined that the 1965 amendment was constitutional as enacted and as applied , and that it did not distinguish between public or private destruction or mutilation of the draft card . They determined that there was nothing necessarily expressive in the burning of a draft card . Chief Justice Earl Warren said , " we cannot accept the view that an apparently limitless variety of conduct can be labeled ' speech ' whenever the person engaging in the conduct intends thereby to express an idea . " O ' Brien ' s previous sentence of six years was upheld . The Supreme Court ' s conclusion was criticized by legal observers such as Dean Alfange Jr for its " astonishingly cavalier " treatment . Many saw in O ' Brien ' s act a clear communicative element with the " intent to convey a particularized message " , an intent to which the court did not give much weight . Instead , the court weighed as greater the government ' s interest " in assuring the continued availability of issued Selective Service certificates . " In 1975 , legal scholar John Hart Ely found fault with " O ' Brien " . He pointed out that the draft - card - burning question was not decided in relation to the similar one surrounding the act of flag burning ; an issue which the court had avoided for years . Ely ' s analysis was aided by that of Thomas Scanlon in 1972 , in " A Theory of Freedom of Expression " , which interpreted the freedom of speech broadly , including such public and political acts as self - immolation . In 1990 " O ' Brien " was analyzed again by critics following the case " United States v . Eichman " which determined that flag burning was a form of free speech , and some made comparisons to the earlier 1984 case " Clark v . Community for Creative Non - Violence " which determined that sleeping at a protest rally location in a downtown park was valid as a symbolic expression intended to bring attention to the plight of the homeless . These expansive interpretations of the freedom of speech appeared large enough to include draft - card burning . The position taken in " O ' Brien " was that the individual ' s right to freedom of speech did not limit the government in prohibiting harmful conduct . However , the harmful conduct of burning a draft card did not have the normal test applied : it was not determined to be a case of " clear and present danger " . In 1996 , future Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan pointed out that the " O ' Brien " court did not appear to be concerned whether the law as enacted or enforced " matched , or even resembled " the asserted government interest of stopping draft resistance protests . Kagan noted that the law prohibiting the destruction of the draft card " interfered " with only one point of view : that of the anti - war protester . She allowed as how a successful challenge to " O ' Brien " might come from focusing on such skewed constraints . Rallies . On May 12 , 1964 , in New York , 12 students at a rally burned their draft cards . At the University of California , Berkeley , on May 5 , 1965 , amid a protest march of several hundred people carrying a black coffin to the Berkeley draft board , 40 men burned their draft cards . One of them told reporters the act was symbolic — he said " we can get new cards if we apply for them . " On May 22 , 1965 , the Berkeley draft board was visited again , with 19 men burning their cards . President Lyndon B . Johnson was hung in effigy . In August 1965 , " Life magazine " carried a photograph of a man demonstrating in front of the Armed Forces Induction Center on Whitehall Street in Manhattan , July 30 , 1965 . Like David J . Miller a few months later , he was a member of the Catholic Worker Movement . He was not arrested . Antiwar activist Abbie Hoffman burned his draft card privately in the Spring of 1967 . Hoffman ' s card classified him as 4F — unfit for service — because of bronchial asthma . His act was purely symbolic ; he would never be drafted . However , Hoffman supported those registrants who were burning their cards . On April 15 , 1967 , at Sheep Meadow , Central Park , New York City , some 60 young men including a few students from Cornell University came together to burn their draft cards in a Maxwell House coffee can . Surrounded by their friends who linked arms to protect them , the men began burning their cards . Others rushed in to join them , holding their burning cards up in the air . Watching this were police , FBI men , newsreel cameramen , reporters , photographers and passers - by . Uniformed Green Beret Army reservist Gary Rader walked to the center and burned his draft card . The 23 - year - old was arrested by FBI agents several days later at his home in Evanston , Illinois . " Time magazine " magazine estimated 75 total cards ; participant Martin Jezer wrote that there were about 158 cards burnt in all . Future Youth International Party leader Hoffman was in attendance . The reports of this large protest were discussed by the leaders of the Spring Mobilization Conference , a march of 150 , 000 people led by Martin Luther King Jr and Dr . Benjamin Spock starting from Sheep Meadow . The May conference developed into the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam , known as The Mobe . In January 1968 , Spock was indicted on charges of encouraging draft evasion , with the Boston 5 . He was convicted on July 10 , 1968 . The charges were overturned on appeal in July 1969 . In May 1967 in response to the Sheep Meadow demonstration , 56 - year - old anarchist intellectual Paul Goodman published a piece in " The New York Review of Books " sympathetic to both public and private draft card burning . The editors printed a salvo of responses . One from Ann D . Gordon , a doctoral student of American history , said that private , individual acts of card burning were useless in stopping the war . Jezer wrote a letter thanking Goodman for his support and , as an eye witness , corrected him on certain details . Jezer said the FBI arrested only Rader ; other participants were merely visited by FBI agents . Goodman ' s article exhorted his readers to massive direct action in draft resistance ; in response , folk singer Robert Claiborne wrote to the " Review " to say that Goodman ' s plan would " check the growth of the peace movement and markedly reduce prospects for ending the war . " Claiborne asserted that the " great majority " of Americans were " squares " over 30 and not in favor of war protest even though they were likely interested in " ending the slaughter of their sons and other people ’ s sons . " October 16 , 1967 , was a day of widespread war protest organized by The Mobe in 30 cities across the U . S . , with some 1 , 400 draft cards burned . At the Unitarian Arlington Street Church in Boston , draft registrants were given the opportunity to turn in their draft cards to be sent as a package to Selective Service as an act of civil disobedience against the war . Those offering their draft cards split into two groups : a group of 214 turned in their cards , and 67 chose to burn their cards . These 67 used an old candle from prominent Unitarian preacher William Ellery Channing to supply the flame . One woman , Nan Stone , burned a draft card belonging to Steve Paillet — the 1965 law allowed for anyone to be punished for draft - card burning , even someone who was not registered for the draft . Stone later typed up the information from the 214 turned - in cards to serve as a database of war resisters . She found that the average and mean age of the men was 22 , and that three out of four came from Harvard , Yale , or Boston University . At San Francisco ' s Federal Building on December 4 , 1967 , some 500 protesters witnessed 88 draft cards collected and burned . About 1 , 000 draft cards were turned in on April 3 , 1968 , in nationwide protests organized by The Mobe . In Boston , 15 , 000 protesters watched 235 men turn in their draft cards . War protesters were increasingly choosing the more profound act of turning in their draft cards , an act which gave the government the name and address of the protester . Burning the draft card destroyed the evidence , and by this time was seen as less courageous . Public reaction . Many in America were not happy with the draft - card burners , or with the frequent depiction of them in the media . Joseph Scerra , national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars , spoke against what he saw as too much news coverage : " All of our young people are not burning up their draft cards . All of our young people are not tearing up the flag . All of our youth are not supporting North Vietnam and carrying Viet Cong flags . " In October 1967 at a rally in support of the government a news photograph was snapped of a man kissing his draft card , his girlfriend smiling at his side . In " Playboy " s November 1967 issue , Playboy Playmate Kaya Christian wrote that her " turn - offs " were " hypocrites " and " draft card burners " . Leftist " Ramparts " magazine showed four draft cards being burned on the December 1967 cover . " The Saturday Evening Post " , a conservative publication , put an image of draft card burning on their cover , January 27 , 1968 . In 1967 off - Broadway and 1968 on Broadway and in London ' s West End , the musical " Hair " featured a climactic scene in Act I of a group of men in a hippie " tribe " burning their draft cards while the main character Claude struggles with the decision to join them . President Johnson spoke strongly against the draft - card protesters , saying in October 1967 that he wanted the " antidraft movement " investigated for Communist influences . Reporting on his reaction , " The New York Times " presented the protests as being against the draft rather than the war . Many commentators focused on draft resistance as an explanation rather than the more challenging war resistance : the main concern of the protesters . In 1968 when Richard Nixon was running for election against Johnson , he determined that he could gain supporters on both sides of the war question by promising to abolish the draft , promising to make the military into a purely volunteer force . In this he was following others who had suggested such a strategy , including Donald Rumsfeld of the Republican Wednesday Group the year before . After gaining the presidency — twice — Nixon finally stopped the draft after February 1973 . The last man to be drafted entered the U . S . Army on June 30 , 1973 .