Today in History
The Twenty-sixth Amendment made the U.S. voting age 18
On June 30, 1971, the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in Ohio, lowering the legal voting age to 18, the 37th state to do so. The following day, it was ratified, becoming the 38th state, and signed into law a few days later. It was, I believe, the fastest adoption of a constitutional amendment in history.
I worked on the campaign to lower the age. It was the first real political involvement of my life. Somewhere in my junior or senior yearbook, probably the latter, is a picture of me and a friend collecting signatures or passing out information on the issue. Last year was the 14th presidential election of my voting life.
One slogan for the 26th Amendment was “Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Vote.” It dates back to World War II, though. FDR reduced the draft age from 21 to 18, so there was a certain amount of logic to it. It may have prompted Georgia to lower its age in 1943, making it the first state to do so.
Eisenhower proposed it in 1954. In his State of the Union address on January 7, 1954, he proposed a constitutional amendment to grant voting rights to citizens aged 18 and older, stating, “For years, our 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.” The votes weren’t there in Congress, but it’s the same argument. If one can die for their country, they should be allowed to vote in it.
With the Vietnam War ongoing, the argument and campaign slogan used prior were revived in 1971.
Prior to concluding this with a piece of trivia, a couple of things. First, viewing the political landscape today, I’m not sure 18 is old enough to vote. Second, I can make the argument white males did not have a constitutional right to vote until 1971, while women obtained it in 1920 and blacks in 1870. Alternatively, the 15th Amendment granted all citizens the right to vote in 1870, making the 20th Amendment unnecessary. I’m not going to; it’s just how I amuse myself at times.
As a piece of trivia, the 1968 movie Wild in the Streets proposed lowering the voting age to 14, accompanied by a fight song called “Fourteen or Fight.” It’s an interesting counterculture movie that put those over 35 in “re-education camps” and permanently on LSD. If you get a chance, watch it. It has an interesting twist at the end.
