Twenty-Sixth Amendment

Section 1:

The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.

Section 2:

The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

The minimum voting age received significant nationwide attention when the United States entered World War II during the 1940s. The war began in Europe when Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939.1 Although the United States remained neutral during the conflict’s early years, Congress enacted the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 to require men between the ages of 21 and 35 to register for the military draft.2 After Japan attacked the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in the Territory of Hawaii on December 7, 1941, the United States entered World War II on the side of the Allied powers.3 Congress subsequently amended the Selective Service Act to make men ages 20 to 45 potentially liable for military service.4

Almost a year after the United States entered the conflict, many policymakers contended that “successful prosecution” of the nation’s war effort required more enlisted men.5 In October 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, speaking to the nation in one of his “fireside chat” radio addresses, supported drafting men as young as 18 to enhance the military’s size and effectiveness.6 The next month, Congress amended the Selective Training and Service Act to lower the minimum conscription age to 18.7 These amendments prompted some public officials, including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, to question why 18- to 20-year-old men serving in the nation’s Armed Forces could not vote in federal or state elections.8 Alluding to this perceived contradiction, the slogan “old enough to fight, old enough to vote” became popular among proponents of lowering the voting age during the war.9

In the years after Congress lowered the draft age, several Members of the 77th and 78th Congresses, including then-Representative Jennings Randolph of West Virginia, introduced joint resolutions proposing to lower the minimum voting age to 18 for all citizens nationwide by amending the Constitution.10 A subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee held hearings on the Randolph proposal in 1943.11 However, no proposal was considered on the House or Senate floor during the 1940s. In 1943, the State of Georgia became the first state to lower its minimum voting age to 18 for both federal and state elections when its voters approved an amendment to the state’s constitution by referendum.12

Footnotes

1

The Invasion of Poland, Nat’l World War II Museum, >https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/invasion-poland-september-1939.

2

Pub. L. No. 76-783, §§ 1–3, 15(a), 54 Stat. 885, 885, 896 (1940). The Act authorized the President to induct registered men into military service. Id. § 3(a), 54 Stat. at 885.

3

Joint Resolution of December 8, 1941, Pub .L. No. 77-328, 55 Stat. 795, 795 (declaring war on the Imperial Government of Japan); Air Raid on Pearl Harbor, Libr. of Cong., >https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/december-07. The United States would subsequently declare war on Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. About Declarations of War by Congress, U.S. Senate, >https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/declarations-of-war.htm. The Allies included the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China.

4

Pub. L. No. 77-360, § 3(a), 55 Stat. 844, 845 (1941). Men under 20 years of age could volunteer for military service.

5

See, e.g., President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Statement on Signing the Bill Reducing the Draft Age (Nov. 13, 1942), Am. Presidency Project, >https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-signing-the-bill-reducing-the-draft-age.

6

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Radio Address, Report on the Home Front (Oct. 12, 1942), UVA Miller Ctr., >https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/october-12-1942-fireside-chat-23-home-front ( “All of our combat units that go overseas must consist of young, strong men who have had thorough training. An Army division that has an average age of twenty-three or twenty-four is a better fighting unit than one which has an average age of thirty-three or thirty-four. The more of such troops we have in the field, the sooner the war will be won, and the smaller will be the cost in casualties. Therefore, I believe that it will be necessary to lower the present minimum age limit for Selective Service from twenty years down to eighteen. We have learned how inevitable that is—and how important to the speeding up of victory.” ).

7

Pub. L. No. 77-772, § 1, 56 Stat. 1018, 1018–19 (1942).

8

E.g., Eleanor Roosevelt, My Day, The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project, Jan. 21, 1943, >https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1943&_f=md056400 ( “If young men of eighteen and nineteen are old enough to be trained to fight their country’s battles and to proceed from training to the battlefields, I think we must accept the fact that they are also old enough to know why we fight this war. If that is so, then they are old enough to take part in the political life of their country and to be full citizens with voting powers.” ); 88 Cong. Rec. 8316 (1942) (statement of Sen. Vandenberg) ( “[I]f young men are to be drafted at 18 years of age to fight for their Government, they ought to be entitled to vote at 18 years of age for the kind of government for which they are best satisfied to fight.” ).

9

Constitutional Amendment to Reduce Voting Age to Eighteen: Hearings on H.J. Res. 39 Before Subcomm. No. 1 of the H. Comm. on the Judiciary, 78th Cong. 1, 11 (1943) (statement of Rep. Celler) (discussing the slogan’s use in Georgia and questioning its logic). During World War II, American women, who were not subject to the draft, nevertheless “played important roles . . . both at home and in uniform.” See History At a Glance: Women in World War II, Nat’l World War II Museum, >https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/women-wwii.

10

See, e.g., S.J. Res. 89, 78th Cong., 1st Sess. (1943) (Kilgore resolution); S.J. Res. 7, 78th Cong., 1st Sess. (1943) (Vandenberg resolution); H.J. Res. 356, 77th Cong., 2d Sess. (1942) (Johnson resolution); H.J. Res. 354, 77th Cong., 2d Sess. (1942) (Randolph resolution); S.J. Res. 166, 77th Cong. (1942) (Vandenberg resolution). Rep. Victor Wickersham introduced a joint resolution that applied only to federal elections. H.J. Res. 352, 77th Cong., 2d Sess. (1942).

11

Constitutional Amendment to Reduce Voting Age to Eighteen: Hearings on H.J. Res. 39 Before Subcomm. No. 1 of the H. Comm. on the Judiciary, 78th Cong. 1 (1943).

12

Ga. Const. of 1877, § 2-602 (adopted Aug. 3, 1943) ( “Every citizen of this State who is a citizen of the United States, eighteen years old or upwards, not laboring under any of the disabilities named in this Article, and possessing the qualifications provided by it, shall be an elector and entitled to register and vote at any election by the people.” ).