Proclamation 2535—Third Registration Day

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

Whereas the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, approved September 16, 1940 (54 Stat. 885), declares that it is imperative to increase and train the personnel of the armed forces of the United States and that in a free society the obligation and privileges of military training and service should be shared generally in accordance with a fair fair and just system of selective compulsory military training and service;

Whereas the Act amending the said Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, approved December 20, 1941 (Public Law 360, 77th Cong.), provides for the extension of liability for military service and for the registration of the man power of the Nation;

Whereas the said Act, as amended, contains, in part, the following provisions:

"Sec. 2. Except as otherwise provided in this Act, it shall be the duty of every male citizen of the United States, and of every other male person residing in the United States, who, on the day or days fixed for the first or any subsequent registration, is between the ages of eighteen and sixty-five, to present himself for and submit to registration at such time or times and place or places, and in such manner and in such age group or groups, as shall be determined by rules and regulations prescribed hereunder."

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"Sec. 5. (a) Commissioned officers, warrant officers, pay clerks, and enlisted men of the Regular Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Public Health Service, the federally recognized active National Guard, the Officers' Reserve Corps, the Regular Army Reserve, the Enlisted Reserve Corps, the Naval Reserve, and the Marine Corps Reserve; cadets, United States Military Academy; midshipmen, United States Naval Academy; cadets, United States Coast Guard Academy; men who have been accepted for admittance (commencing with the academic year next succeeding such acceptance) to the United States Military Academy as cadets, to the United States Naval Academy as midshipmen, or to the United States Coast Guard Academy as cadets, but only during the continuance of such acceptance; cadets of the advanced course, senior division, Reserve Officers' Training Corps or Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps; and diplomatic representatives, technical attaches of foreign embassies and legations, consuls general, consuls, vice consuls, and consular agents of foreign countries, and persons in other categories to be specified by the President, residing in the United States, who are not citizens of the United States, and who have not declared their intention to become citizens of the United States, shall not be required to be registered under section 2 and shall be relieved from liability for training and service under section 3(b)."

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"Sec. 10. (a) The President is authorized— (1) to prescribe the necessary rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act;"

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(4) to utilize the services of any or all departments and any and all officers or agents of the United States and to accept the services of all officers and agents of the several States, Territories, and the District of Columbia and subdivisions thereof in the execution of this Act;"

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"Sec. 14 (a) Every person shall be deemed to have notice of the requirements of this Act upon publication by the President of a proclamation or other public notice fixing a time for any registration under section 2."

Whereas section 208 of the Coast Guard Auxiliary and Reserve Act of 1941, approved February 19, 1941 (Public Law 8, 77th Cong.), provides, in part, as follows:

"Members of the Coast Guard Reserve, other than temporary members as provided for in section 207 hereof, shall receive the same exemption from registration and liability for training and service as members of the Naval Reserve * * *;"

Whereas the first registration under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 took place in the continental United States October 16, 1940, in the Territory of Hawaii on October 26, 1940, in Puerto Rico on November 20, 1940, and in the Territory of Alaska on January 22, 1941, pursuant to proclamations issued by me on September 16, 1940, October 1, 1940, October 8, 1940, and November 12, 1940, respectively;

Whereas the second registration under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 took place in the United States, the Territories of Alaska and Hawaii, and in Puerto Rico on July 1, 1941, pursuant to proclamation issued by me on May 26, 1941;

Whereas a state of war now exists between the United States of America and the Empire of Japan, Germany, and Italy; and

Whereas this, and other registrations under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 and the amendments thereto will be required to insure victory, final and complete, over the enemies of the United States:

Now, Therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, acting under and by virtue of the authority vested In me by the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended, do proclaim the following:

1. Pursuant to the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended, the registration of male citizens of the United States and other male persons who were born on or after February 17, 1897, and on or before December 31, 1921, shall take place in the United States and the Territories of Alaska and Hawaii, and in Puerto Rico on Monday, the 16th day of February, 1942, between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.

2. (a) Every male citizen of the United States, and every other male person residing in the continental United States or in the Territory of Alaska or in the Territory of Hawaii or in Puerto Rico, other than persons excepted by Section 5 (a) of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended, and by Section 208 of the Coast Guard Auxiliary and Reserve Act of 1941, is required to and shall on February 16, 1942, present himself for and submit to registration before a duly designated registration official or selective service local board having jurisdiction in the area in which he has his permanent home or in which he may happen to be on that day if such male citizen or other male person on December 31, 1941, has attained the twentieth anniversary of the day of his birth and on February 16, 1942, has not attained the forty-fifth anniversary of the day of his birth, and has not heretofore been registered under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 and the regulations thereunder: Provided, That the duty of any person' to present himself for and submit to registration in accordance with any previous proclamation Issued under said Act shall not be affected by this proclamation.

(b) A person subject to registration may be registered before the day set herein for his registration if arrangements therefor are made by the local board under rules and regulations prescribed by the Director of Selective Service. Whenever such arrangements are made, public notice thereof will be given by the local board.

(c) A person subject to registration may be registered after the day fixed for his registration in case he is prevented from registering on that day by circumstances beyond his control or because he is not present in continental United States or the Territory of Alaska or the Territory of Hawaii, or Puerto Rico on that day. If he is not in the continental United States or the Territory of Alaska or the Territory of Hawaii, or Puerto Rico on the day fixed for his registration but subsequently enters any of such places, he shall as soon as possible after such entrance present himself for and submit to registration before a duly designated registration official or selective service local board. If he is in the continental United States or in the Territory of Alaska or the Territory of Hawaii, or Puerto Rico on the day fixed for his registration but because of circumstances beyond his control is unable to present himself for and submit to registration on that day, he shall do so as soon as possible after the cause for such inability ceases to exist.

3. The registration under this proclamation shall be in accordance with the Selective Service Regulations governing registration. Every person subject to registration is required to familiarize himself with such regulations and to comply therewith.

4. I call upon the Governor of each of the several States and the Territories of Alaska and Hawaii, and of Puerto Rico, and the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia, and all officers and agents of the United States and all officers and agents of the several States, Territories, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, and political subdivisions thereof, and all local boards and agents thereof appointed under the provisions of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended, or the Selective Service Regulations prescribed thereunder, to do and perform all acts and services necessary to accomplish effective and complete registration.

5. In order that there may be full cooperation in carrying into effect the purposes of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended, I urge all employers and Government agencies of all kinds—Federal, State, territorial, and local—to give those under their charge sufficient time in which to fulfill the obligations of registration Incumbent upon them under the said Act and this proclamation.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this 5th day of January, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and forty-two and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and sixty-sixth.

FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

By the President:
CORDELL HULL
Secretary of State.