appear when called. The draft card was not an essential part of the government's ability to draft men into the military. Thus draft-card burning was an act of war resistance more than it was draft resistance. The image of draft card burning was a powerful one, influential in American politics and culture. It appeared in magazines, newspapers and on television, signaling a political divide between those who backed the US government and its military goals and those who were against any US involvement in Vietnam. Richard Nixon ran for president in 1968 on a platform based partly on putting an end to the draft, in order to undercut protesters making use of the symbolic act. As president, Nixon ended the draft in 1973, rendering unnecessary the symbolic act of draft-card burning. Background United States 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 carry their draft cards with them at all times. These were small cards bearing the registrant's identifying information, the date and place of registration, and a unique Selective Service number. In an amendment sponsored by Congressmen L. Mendel Rivers and William G. Bray, on August 31, 1965, the law was augmented with four words, to include penalties for any person who "knowingly destroys, knowingly mutilates" the card, under 50 U.S.C. § 462(b)(3). Strom Thurmond moved the bill through the Senate, calling draft-card burning "contumacious conduct" which "represents a potential threat to the exercise of the power to raise and support armies." At the time, many observers (including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit) believed that Congress had intentionally targeted anti-war draft-card burners. Australia Following the 1964 National Service Act, legislated in response to the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, 20-year-old Australian men were subject to military service based on a birthday lottery. In April 1965, Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies sent a battalion of Army regulars to Vietnam, beginning an overseas involvement in that country which lasted for seven years and provoked deeply divisive debate back home. In early 1966, Menzies retired and Harold Holt became Prime Minister. In March 1966, Holt announced troop increases bringing the total commitment to 4,500 men in Vietnam, a tripling of effort. Significantly, conscripts