May 12, 1964: The 1st Draft Card Burnings

May 12, 1964: Twelve young men in New York City publicly burn their draft cards to protest the Vietnam War. This is the 1st time it has been done in public.

From 1948, under the Selective Service Act, all American men aged 18 through 25 were required to register with a local draft board. In case of war, the able-bodied ones among them could be drafted to serve in the military. The law required the men to always carry their draft cards with them. These were small cards bearing the registrant's identifying information, the date and place of registration, and a unique Selective Service number.

By the time the draft was ended on July 1, 1973, never to be re-established, thousands of men had burned their draft cards, though very few were ever prosecuted for it.

At some point between the end of the war and the rise of Ronald Reagan, with his many lies, such as that of the "Welfare Queen" and the soldiers getting spit on when they came home from Vietnam, the story of men burning their draft cards got conflated with feminists throwing their restrictive underwear in trash cans, and it become "Women burned their bras." There is no record of that ever happening.

In 1965, Jack Clement, recording engineer for Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis, wrote a comedy song titled "The One on the Right Is On the Left." It was recorded by Johnny Cash, formerly of Sun, released in 1966, and hit Number 2 on Billboard magazine's country music chart.

The song is about a folksinging group. In their group photo, politically speaking, the one on the right was on the left, the one in the middle was on the right, the one on the left was in the middle and the guy in the rear... was different. In the 2nd verse, he burned his driver's license. In the 3rd verse, the group got into a fight, and that was the end. In the 4th and final verse, the guy in the rear... got drafted.

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May 12, 1964 was a Tuesday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 7-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Yankee starter Al Downing left with an injury while pitching to leadoff batter Don Wert, and ended up missing his next start. Bob Meyer relieved, and got a home run from Hector López. But he Yankees blew a 2-0 lead, with Wert going 3-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Al Kaline did not play. Mickey Lolich went the distance for the win. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-1 with 2 walks, before being relieved due to injury.

* The New York Mets lost to the Milwaukee Braves, 2-0 at Shea Stadium. Hank Fischer pitched a 3-hit shutout. Hank Aaron went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Senators, 5-0 at District of Columbia Stadium (later Robert F. Kennedy Stadium) in Washington. Dave McNally pitched a 2-hit shutout. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4. Willie Stargell went 0-for-3. Frank Robinson went 2-for-4. Pete Rose went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-5 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox, 11-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew did not play.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Colt .45s, 6-0 at Colt Stadium in Houston. Juan Marichal pitched a 4-hit shutout. Willie Mays went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs. The Colts became the Houston Astros the next season.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels, 6-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Angels were groundsharing until their Anaheim stadium could be built.