How Does a Statistician Raise an Army? The Time When John W. Tukey, a Team of Luminaries, and a Statistics Graduate Student Repaired the Vietnam Selective Service Lotteries

Tim Johnson, Christopher T. Dawes, Dalton Conley

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Scholars have documented the failed randomization in 1969’s inaugural Vietnam Selective Service Lottery, but the story of how statisticians fixed that problem remains untold. Here, as the 50th anniversary of these events approaches, we recount how John W. Tukey, a team of statistical luminaries, and a graduate student from the University of Chicago repaired the draft lottery.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)190-196
    Number of pages7
    JournalAmerican Statistician
    Volume74
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Apr 2 2020

    Keywords

    • Conscription
    • History of statistics
    • Physical randomization
    • Public policy
    • Randomization

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Statistics and Probability
    • General Mathematics
    • Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'How Does a Statistician Raise an Army? The Time When John W. Tukey, a Team of Luminaries, and a Statistics Graduate Student Repaired the Vietnam Selective Service Lotteries'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this