National Affairs: Lo, the Poor Sophomore

As it was for everybody else, it was a tough time to be a college student. Going home for Christmas holidays, hundreds of thousands of draft-age young men on U.S. campuses were suffering from what Stanford's Counselor for Men Richard Balch labeled "draft neurosis." In its essence, their malady stemmed neither from fear nor any lack of patriotism. It was simply a form of bewilderment: they all wanted to know if they were going to be called into the Army, and if so, when. Nobody on earth could tell them.

There were some partial answers. A college student reporting for classification during...