Enoch Crowder Major General Enoch Herbert Crowder , USA ( April 11 , 1859 – May 7 , 1932 ) commonly referred to as General Crowder , was an American Army lawyer who served as the Judge Advocate General of the United States Army from 1911 to 1923 . Crowder is most noted for implementing and administering the United States Selective Service Act of 1917 during World War I , an act which drafted thousands of American men into military service during World War I . Early life and education . Enoch Crowder was born in Edinburg , Missouri where he also attended Grand River College . Following education in the local schools , he tried his hand at farming and rural school - teaching . He entered the United States Military Academy in 1877 , graduating in 1881 . Lieutenant Crowder was assigned to the 8th Cavalry , then stationed near Brownsville , Texas . During this tour he studied law , and in 1884 gained admission to the Texas bar . The same year , Crowder obtained a long - sought transfer to Jefferson Barracks , Missouri . In 1885 , Lieutenant Crowder was given an assignment he sought – Professor of Military Science at the University of Missouri . Here he instructed two companies of cadets , working meanwhile toward a law degree which he obtained in 1886 . Soon after obtaining his law degree , Crowder was promoted to First Lieutenant and ordered to rejoin his regiment as a troop commander in the Geronimo campaign . Following the end of that campaign in September 1886 he returned to the University of Missouri where he resumed teaching until 1889 . Judge Advocate General . Upon completion of this detail , Lieutenant Crowder returned to the 8th Cavalry at Fort Yates , Dakota Territory , where he participated in the final campaign against Sitting Bull . In 1891 , upon his promotion to Captain he accepted a position as the acting Judge Advocate General of the Department of the Platte in Omaha , Nebraska . In January 1895 , this temporary branch transfer became final and Crowder was promoted to Major . The beginning of the Spanish - American War marked his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel . From 1898 – 1901 while in the Philippines , he served as a judge advocate , and later served as secretary to the island governors , one who was Arthur MacArthur , Jr . , father of Douglas MacArthur . He also served on the commission which arranged the Spanish surrender of the Philippines . During his service in the Philippines , he filled many important posts in the military government of the Islands , specializing in military law . In 1899 , he headed the Board of Claims , served on the Philippine Supreme Court , and drafted the new Philippine criminal code . Impressed with the ability Crowder had demonstrated in the Philippines , Judge Advocate General Davis in 1901 called him to Washington to serve as Deputy Judge Advocate General . In this capacity , Crowder assisted in the prosecution of the then noteworthy Deming case in 1902 , became a member of the General Staff , and attained the rank of Colonel . In the Russo - Japanese War of 1904 – 1905 he was senior American observer with the Japanese Army . From 1906 to 1909 , while serving on the staff of the provisional governors in Cuba , he oversaw the Cuban elections in 1908 , and later helped draft a body of laws for Cuba . In 1910 , he represented the United States at the Fourth Pan American Conference in Buenos Aires and in that capacity made official visits to Chile , Peru , Ecuador , Colombia , and Panama . On February 11 , 1911 , after studying the military justice and penal systems of France and England on a European tour , he returned to Washington to be promoted to Brigadier General and assume the duties as Judge Advocate General of the United States Army , a post he held for 12 years . As Judge Advocate General , General Crowder initiated a number of innovations including the regular publication of Judge Advocate General opinions ; the issuance of a new digest ( published in 1912 ) of all JAG opinions issued since 1862 ; and a program for the legal education of line officers at government expense . He additionally supervised the revision of the Articles of War for the first time since 1874 , revised the Manual for Courts - Martial and took an active part in prison reform in the Army . Selective Service Act . On April 2 , 1917 , the United States officially entered World War I . As Provost Marshal of the Army , Crowder led the drafting of the Selective Service Act which was passed by the U . S . Congress in May 1917 . General Crowder , as he became known , was also responsible for directing of the Selective Service and supervised the draft – the registration , classification , and induction – of all American men who were 18 – 30 years of age into the armed services – over 2 , 800 , 000 men during the war . The officers who served under General Crowder during this period are legion . Among these are the following : Major Hugh S . Johnson , Major Cassius Dowell , Lieutenant Colonel Allen W . Gullion , Major John H . Wigmore , Major Charles B . Warren , Captain M . C . Cramer , and Lieutenant Colonel E . A . Kreger . Although offered a promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General in 1918 , General Crowder , mindful of public and Congressional opposition to “ swivel chair ” generals , refused the promotion , seeking instead a field command . In October 1917 , Crowder was promoted to Major General . As Judge Advocate General , he supervised the administration of military justice in the Army during the period when the number of general courts - martial rose from 6 , 200 in 1917 to over 20 , 000 in 1918 . In 1918 , the offices of Secretary of War Newton Baker issued the " work or fight " order , and Crowder became in charge of executing the order which mandated that virtually every activity in the country support the war effort . On September 26 , 1918 , in response to newspaper reports of military camp s being overcome by the Great Influenza Pandemic , Crowder cancelled the military draft calls for October . Post - World War I . After the war , General Crowder found himself , along with the entire military justice system , the center of a storm of controversy , stemming from charges that the military justice system was “ un - American . ” Crowder , a perceptive critic of the system who had already commenced work on needed reform , now accelerated his efforts . The specific recommendations he submitted to Congress , most of which were subsequently adopted , included greater safeguards for the accused , changes in the composition and powers of special courts - martial , and the addition of an authority in the President to reverse or alter any court - martial sentence found to have been adjudged erroneously . Ambassador to Cuba . In 1920 a bill authorizing the President to retire General Crowder with the rank and pay of a Lieutenant General was introduced in Congress but was never formally brought to the floor of the House for action . Crowder retired from the Army on February 14 , 1923 , after forty - six years of service , but his days of service to his country were not finished . On the same day he was appointed the first Ambassador from the United States to Cuba , a post which he held until 1927 . Retirement and death . From 1927 until his death in 1932 , General Crowder was engaged in the private practice of law in Chicago . Among his honors and decorations were the Distinguished Service Medal , the Cuban Order of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes , the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun , Knight Commander of the British Order of St . Michael and St . George , Commander of the Legion of Honor , and Commander of the Italian Order of the Crown . Crowder died in Washington , D . C . , on May 7 , 1932 . He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery . Legacy . Perhaps the most apt description of the service to his country by Enoch H . Crowder is contained in the words of the late Henry L . Stimson , Secretary of State in the cabinet of President Herbert Hoover and Secretary of War in the cabinets of Presidents William Howard Taft and Franklin D . Roosevelt , who said of General Crowder : " His record as Judge Advocate General and his later record as Provost Marshal General have constituted a page in the history of our Army upon which we can all look with deep satisfaction and admiration . " His name is memorialized in his home state of Missouri through the naming of a state park in his honor and through the designation of the World War II training center at Neosho , Missouri , as Camp Crowder . The ROTC building at the University of Missouri , Crowder Hall , is also named in his honor .