To the Point

Revisiting the Draft

No American has been drafted since 1973, but there is still a Selective Service, which says it-s ready if Congress and the President issue the call. As the occupation in Iraq increases demand for more soldiers, the number of re-enlistments is on the decline. The Reserves and the National Guard have already been called on, and the one-year tours of 20,000 regular soldiers have been extended. One Republican Senator says next year will -make or break- America-s volunteer military and two Democrats have proposed re-instituting the draft. In this archived edition of To the Point, Warren Olney examines the pros and cons of re-instituting the draft with a former commander of the Army War College, a Selective Service spokesman, a military correspondent, a student-activist and a domestic policy advisor to President Clinton. (This segment was originally broadcast on April 20.) Making News: The Origins of Memorial Day This is Memorial Day, the day that most Americans think of as the beginning of summer, but it-s really about a lot more than that. Kenneth Davis is author of Don-t Know Much about History. Davis traces Memorial Day's history, from it's Civil War commemoration as Decoration Day to today's celebration with watermelon, picnics and flags at Arlington National Cemetery. Reporter's Notebook: A Conversation with Sylvia Poggioli A reporter for National Public Radio since 1982, she's won some of broadcasting-s most important awards for reporting on the fall of Communism, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and other major historic events. She-s also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an honorary Doctor of Letters at Brandeis University. Sylvia Poggioli shares Europe's perspective on the Madrid bombings, the Bush administration and September 11, an expanded European Union and the upcoming Olympics.