ARTIST: Chris Calle (American, born 1961)
NAME: Peacetime Draft 1940
YEAR: 1991
MEDIUM: mixed media on board
CONDITION: Excellent.
SIGHT SIZE: 17 x 12 inches / 43 x 30 cm
BOARD SIZE: 23 x 20 inches / 58 x 50 cm
SIGNATURE: lower right
NOTE: This painting was originally used on the Fleetwood First Day Cover for the U.S. 29c America's First Peacetime Draft stamp issued September 3, 1991. One of the most controversial bits of legislation to ever enter the hallowed halls of Congress was the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940. Only after weeks of intense and heated debate did it pass in September of that year to authorize the first peacetime draft in the history of the nation. The new law required men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-five to register at local draft boards across the country on October 16 -- over sixteen million men registered. Two weeks later, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt watched as Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson plucked the first number in the draft from a bowl filled with capsules numbered 1 to 8,994. The number was one hundred fifty-eight; 6,175 men across the nation held that honor. Those who were deemed qualified for service were then required to report for duty. Local draft boards classified individuals in more than a dozen different categories. Some were 1-A, meaning "available for military service;" others were classified as 4-F which were rejected as "physically, mentally or morally unfit for service." In all, some sixteen million Americans served their country during the war. Some were volunteers, but the vast majority were drafted under the terms of that controversial act of 1940.
PROVENANCE: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation.
CATEGORY: old antique vintage painting for auction sale online
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BIOGRAPHY:
The son of artist Paul Calle, Chris Calle studied painting and illustration at the University of Michigan School of Art and has become known both for his paintings and postage stamp designs.