Staupers also addressed another sinister reason the military used to justify the low numbers of black nurses—their qualification. Black and white nurses were required to take the same state board examination, and Staupers provided evidence from the United States Public Health Service that stated, “The standards of the Negro schools do not differ from those of all schools of nursing.” She went on to dispel the fallacy that black nurses graduated from schools that did not meet the minimum standards required for all nursing schools. The truth was that more than two-thirds of the thirty schools for black nursing students had a bed capacity of more than fifty, the minimum requirement for military eligibility. About 89 percent of black nurses graduated from schools connected to hospitals that had daily averages of fifty or more patients. Staupers refuted all of the military’s excuses for denying black nurses the opportunity to serve in substantial numbers.6 The real possibility of a nursing draft only reinforced the deliberate shutting out of African American nurses in the war effort.

On January 6, 1945, President Franklin Roosevelt, in his State of the Union Address, called for an amendment to the Selective Service and Training Act that would allow for the conscription of American nurses into the armed forces. With 40,000 nurses in service, FDR called for 18,000 more.

The public’s reaction to a possible draft of women was one of shock and confusion, and the finger-pointing came from all directions. A major reason given to explain the nursing shortage was the haphazard recruiting process, which the army had delegated to the American Red Cross since 1942. Others thought the glamorization of the Women’s Army Corps, known as the WACs and nicknamed “Those Wonderful G.I. Janes,” was more appealing to women because they got to perform all kinds of military jobs compared to nurses. But more troubling were the mixed signals coming from the War Department itself, which in 1943–1944 first raised its enlistment goals for nurses, then lowered them, and then raised them again. There was never a clear-cut number of how many nurses were needed. As a result, misinformation spread quickly. From June to September 1944, the Army Nurse Corps had its lowest numbers of volunteers come forward since the war started. Some attributed this not only to the unclear message about nursing shortages but also to the public belief that the war was almost over.

Representative Andrew J. May of Kentucky, chair of the House Military Affairs Committee, responded to FDR’s call with a proposed amendment known as the May Bill. Under his legislation, all unmarried nurses between twenty and forty-five would be eligible for a draft and would enter the army at the rank of private; nurses who volunteered would enter as second lieutenants as incentive for coming forward. The bill also included an anti-discrimination provision to allow black nurses to be eligible as well.7