The long debate over lowering the voting age in America from 21 to 18
began during World War II and intensified during the Vietnam War, when
young men denied the right to vote were being conscripted to fight for
their country. In the 1970 case Oregon v. Mitchell, a divided U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that Congress had the right to regulate the minimum
age in federal elections, but not at the state and local level. Amid
increasing support for a Constitutional amendment, Congress passed the
26th Amendment in March 1971; the states promptly ratified it, and
President Richard M. Nixon signed it into law that July.
