270 ' ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOR WAR 



OSRD contractors were advised on November 7, 1942, to employ women 

 and older men wherever possible. They were warned on December 17, 

 1942, of the increasing difficulty of obtaining extensions of deferments, 

 many of which were scheduled for termination in the near future. The 

 Hmits within which an OSRD endorsement of a request for a deferment 

 would be granted were again stressed and the contractors were put on notice 

 that they would have to convince both OSRD and Selective Service that 

 they had in fact tried to comply with the Selective Service requirement of 

 attempting to obtain a substitute for a necessary man who had been pre- 

 viously deferred. The emphasis on the part of OSRD that the Selective 

 Service requirements be observed in good faith probably forestalled the 

 filing of deferment requests in many doubtful cases. It may have resulted 

 in the failure to defer some men -who should have been deferred even 

 under the Selective Service regulations. On the other hand, it built up 

 within the National Selective Service Headquarters a feeling that OSRD 

 was acting in complete good faith and that its representations could be 

 relied upon. This was invaluable in getting the backing of the national 

 headquarters where appeals had to be taken in important cases. It also 

 helped in obtaining favorable acdon from the local boards. By the end of 

 1942, OSRD had endorsed requests for deferments for 3602 scientific and 

 technical men employed on OSRD projects. The requested deferments were 

 granted in all except sixteen of these cases. 



With the establishment of the Scientific Personnel Office as a principal 

 subdivision of OSRD in June 1943, responsibility for handling requests 

 for deferment of scientific and technical personnel from calls under the 

 Selective Service Act was transferred to that office. The Selective Service 

 unit was transferred in a body from the Administrative Office to the Sci- 

 entific Personnel Office. 



Pressure for the induction of all physically qualified young men con- 

 tinued to mount. In August 1943, the local boards were informed by na- 

 tional headquarters that one half million fathers would need to be inducted 

 before January i, 1944, in order to meet calls from the Services. This did 

 not immediately affect OSRD as deferments upon the endorsement of 

 OSRD had been based upon occupational qualifications, not upon family 

 status. It did serve to increase the pressure upon the local boards to induct 

 more nonfathers and it increased their reluctance to grant deferments to 

 physically fit unmarried men for any reason. In September 1943, national 

 headquarters in Local Board Memorandum 115 B called for increasing 

 scrutiny of occupational deferment of registrants between the ages of 18 

 and 26. The thoroughness with which the persons deferred on the recom- 

 mendation of OSRD had been screened originally was such that this addi- 

 tional scrutiny did not affect the situation. 



By an act approved December 5, 1943, Congress directed that men mar- 



