Lewis Blaine Hershey


Lewis Blaine Hershey was a United States Army general who served as the second Director of the Selective Service System, the means by which the United States administers its military conscription.

Early life

He was born in Steuben County, Indiana. He attended the local public schools and graduated from Tri-State College in 1914 receiving a degree in education. He taught at local elementary schools and served as a school principal in Indiana.
He married Ellen Dygert and had four children: Kathryn, Gilbert, George, and Ellen.

Military

Hershey enlisted in the Indiana National Guard in 1911. Hershey received a direct commission as a second lieutenant in 1913. In 1916, his guard unit was called to active duty on the Mexican border. The unit was relieved in December 1916. His unit was again called to federal service during World War I and sent to France with the American Expeditionary Force.
Hershey raised a Master Mason in Northeastern Lodge 210, Fremont, Indiana, in 1916.
After the war, Hershey remained in the National Guard until he received a regular commission as a captain in the Regular Army in 1920. He attended the Command and General Staff College and the Army War College. Hershey taught military science at the Ohio State University and then served in the general staff as G-4 at the Department of Hawaii.

Career

In 1936, he was assigned to the General Staff in Washington, DC. In October 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt promoted him to brigadier general and named him executive officer of the Selective Service System. On July 31, 1941, President Roosevelt named Hershey director of the Selective Service. In 1942, Hershey was promoted to major general. In 1943, he received an honorary degree in Doctor of Laws from Oglethorpe University. While officially retiring on December 31, 1946, he was retained on active duty starting the next day.
He was the longest-serving director in the history of the Selective Service System, and held the position until February 15, 1970, spanning World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
General Hershey was one of only six generals in the history of the United States Army to have served as a general during three major conflicts. The other five were Brevet Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Lieutenant General Milton Reckord, Major General Leo Boyle, and General Hugh Shelton.
Hershey was promoted to lieutenant general in 1956 and to four-star general on December 23, 1969.
On October 24, 1967, in response to increasing demonstrations against military recruiting on college campuses, Hershey issued Local Board Memorandum No. 85, since known as the Hershey Directive, which recommended that when a draft card was abandoned or mutilated that registrant should be declared "a delinquent for failure to have the card in his possession" and then be reclassified as available for service. Two days later, he sent a letter to local boards suggesting that violators of any portion of the Selective Service Act or Regulations be treated as delinquent. Notably, he said that such violations included "illegal activity which interferes with recruiting," which was assumed to mean demonstrating against military recruiters. Unlike the Memorandum, the letter was unofficial. This order outraged students, many of whom were not subject to being drafted due to education deferments, and campus demonstrations against the war increased. Various Supreme Court cases voided the Memorandum, and after one of them Hershey withdrew it with Memorandum No. 101, on January 21, 1970. The most explicit overruling of the Memorandum and Letter came in a decision from the United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit in Bucher v. Selective Service System on January 2, 1970, which ruled that there is "no statutory authorization for such reclassification," but did not rule on First Amendment issues:

Since we have reached the conclusion that the delinquency reclassifications here are invalid for the separate and independent reasons that they violate the constitutional procedural due process guarantees of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, and they lack statutory authorization, we find it unnecessary to advert to the plaintiffs' contention that the reclassifications violate their First Amendment rights.

The controversy over the Hershey Directive led to calls for his retirement. On February 15, 1970 President Richard Nixon appointed Hershey as Presidential Advisor for Manpower Mobilization and Hershey vacated the office of Director of the Selective Service.

Retirement

As required by law, Hershey was involuntarily retired from the Army on April 10, 1973, at the age of 79, as a four-star general. He was one of the very few members of the U.S. Army to be allowed to serve beyond the mandatory retirement age of 64 since it was established shortly after the American Civil War.
Hershey died in Angola, Indiana on May 20, 1977 and he is interred in Section 7 of Arlington National Cemetery.
Hershey was a recipient of the prestigious Silver Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America. He was a Scout leader and executive in Washington, DC. His previous awards from the Boy Scouts included the Silver Beaver Award and the Silver Antelope Award.

Quotations

U.S. military decorations and service medals

Non-governmental organization awards

Masonic Grand Lodge of Indiana
Sons of the American Revolution
American Legion
AMVETS
Boy Scouts of America

Promotions