ged on and opposition mounted students and others developed sophisticated ways to avoid evade, or resist the draft. Over 20000 young men simply refused to accept obey their draft notices and 4000 of those young men served prison sentences. Meanwhile, hundreds of young men instituted court challenges to the draft. The result was a much broader interpretation of them “ conscientious objector” so as to allow exemption for those with moral and ethical objections to war rooted in secular rather than spiritual principles. Some 56,000 men qualified for conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War, compared with 76,00 during the Korean conflict and several thousand fled to Canada or Sweden to avoid military service. The most popular way to avoid the draft was to flunk the physical examination. Many gorged themselves so as to exceed the weight limit; others raised their blood pressure by drinking excessive amount of coffee; some pretended to be drug addicts or alcoholics; a few feigned homosexuality. Whatever the preferred method, many students succeeded in avoiding military service. Of the 1200 men in the Harvard class of 1970, only fifty-six served in the military, and just two of those went to Vietnam....
