Abstract
493 men recorded their opinions about when troops should be withdrawn from Indochina both before and after they were assigned a random draft lottery number. Persons assigned higher draft numbers which exempted them from military service advocated speedier withdrawal than did persons assigned numbers in the middle of the distribution. This effect replicated a finding from earlier research and was interpreted within a dissonance/equity framework. The present study also showed that persons with lower draft numbers (and the highest chance of being called into military service) wanted speedier withdrawal than did persons with middle numbers. This second finding was not obtained in previous research and was interpreted in terms of self-interest. The present study refined earlier results since greater advocacy of withdrawal by persons with both high and low numbers was restricted to those who initially advocated early troop withdrawal from Indochina. It is likely that information pertaining to one's vulnerability to the draft entailed greater consequences for those initially opposed to the Indochina War than for those relatively more supportive of it.
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