Research Paper
Roosevelt had lowered the minimum age for being drafted into the military’ to the young age of eighteen from twenty-one, any youth voting rights movements created a slogan that is now infamously known around the united States. “Old enough to fight, old enough to vote” was heard during World War II and many student activists started saying it a lot during the Vietnam War. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to publicly voice his support from the passing of the amendment to lower the voting age.
In his 1954 State of the Union address he declared: “For years out citizens between the ages of 18 and 21 have, in time of peril, been summoned to fight for America. They should participate in the political process that produces this fateful summons. ” 1 “At least four members of Congress introduced resolutions to reduce the voting age to 18″2 in 1 942 along with the other one hundred and fifty or so proposals. Hearing were led by Congress on the subject of whether or not the voting age should be lowered.
They wool enforce the fact that the youth are highly educated young people and they also cited other responsibilities and privileges that 18- to 21 -year-olds were exercising -? including driving automobiles, drinking alcohol, holding jobs, avian families, being tried as adults in court, and attending college. 3 “The New York Times” along with other newspapers and citizens thought the 26th amendment was a bad idea. “The requirements for a good soldier and for a good voter are not the same.
For the soldier, youthful enthusiasm and physical endurance are of primary importance; for the voter, maturity of judgment far outweighs other qualifications. “4 On March 10, 1971, the U. S. Senate unanimously voted on the passing of the twenty-sixth amendment and a few days later went to the fifty states for ratification. Two months later, the shortest amount of time it took amendment to receive the three-fourths vote, the 26th amended ratified. President Nixon wrote notes where he expressed his opinion 26th amendment.
During the Young Americans in Concert program 1971, President Nixon read his speech in the East Room. In his esp. mentioned to the young adults gathered on that day, that “we nee spirit courage … “5 He goes on to talk about how “our strength is freedom -“6 In 1970, the Voting Rights Act had set the minimum voting age at federal and state elections but the “Supreme Court ruled that the Rights Act applied only to federal elections, and that the power of did not extend to other elections. 7 If this happened then the gave would need to have two different registration books and election s federal and other type of elections. It would cost too much money, Receptive to the proposal, all states had ratified the amendment 1971 – more quickly than any previous amendment had been ratify enabling approximately 11 million new voters to participate in the elections in 1972. 8 The creating and passing of the 26th amendment took years and or the majority of states to want the voting age lowered.
