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7336118
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Statement by the President in Announcing a Program for the Return of Vietnam Era Draft Evaders and Military Deserters [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7336118
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document
title
Statement by the President in Announcing a Program for the Return of Vietnam Era Draft Evaders and Military Deserters [Ford Speech or Statement]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Amnesty
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7336118
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16
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1974-09-16
month
9
year
1974
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1
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964f336d623e211c
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Digitized from Box 2 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
TOTALLY EMBARGOED
SEPTEMBER 16, 1974
UNTIL 11:30 a.m. EDT
Office of the White House Press Secretary
THE WHITE HOUSE
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT IN
ANNOUNCING A PROGRAM FOR THE
RETURN OF VIETNAM ERA DRAFT
EVADERS AND MILITARY DESERTERS
In my first week as President, I asked the Attorney General of the United
States and the Secretary of Defense to report to me, after consultation with
other government officials and private citizens concerned, on the status of
those young Americans who have been convicted, charged, investigated or are
still being sought as draft evaders or military deserters. On August 19, at
the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Chicago, I
announced my intention to give these young people a chance to earn their
return to the mainstream of American society so that they can, if they choose,
contribute even though belatedly to the building and betterment of our country
and the world.
I did this for the simple reason that the long and divisive war in Vietnam has
been over, for American fighting men, more than a year, and I was determined
then as now to do everything in my power to bind up the nation's wounds.
I promised to throw the weight of my Presidency into the scales of justice
on the side of leniency and mercy, but I promised also to work within the
existing system of military and civilian law and the precedents set by my
predecessors who faced similar post-war situations such as Abraham Lincoln
and Harry Truman,
My objective of making future penalties fitsthe seriousness of each individual's
offense and of mitigating punishment already meted out in a spirit of equity
has proved an immensely hard and complicated matter, even more difficult
than I knew it would be. But the agencies of government concerned and my
own staff have worked with me literally day and night in order to develop fair
and orderly procedures and completed their work for my final approval over
this last weekend. I do not want to delay another day in resolving the dilemmas
of the past, so that we may all get going on the pressing problems of the present.
Therefore, I am today signing the necessary Presidential proclamation and
executive orders that will put this plan into effect.
The program provides for administrative disposition of cases involving draft
evaders and military deserters not yet convicted or punished. In such cases,
24 months of alternate service will be required which may be reduced for
mitigating circumstances. The program also deals with cases of those already
convicted by a civilian or military court. For the latter purpose, I am estab-
lishing a Clemency Review Board of nine distinguished Americans whose duty
it will be to assist me in assuring that the government's forgiveness is
extended to applicable cases of prior conviction as equitably and as impartially
as is humanly possible.
The primary purpose of this program is the reconciliation of all our people
and the restoration of the essential unity of Americans within which honest
differences of opinion do not descend to angry discord and mutual problems
are not polarized by excessive passion.
My sincere hope is that this is a constructive step toward a calmer and cooler
appreciation of our individual rights and responsibilities and our common pur-
pose as a nation, whose future is always more important than its past.
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