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1505958
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Alternatives to Pardon
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1505958
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document
title
Alternatives to Pardon
citationUrl
collections
Charles E. Goodell Papers
Presidential Clemency Board Subject Files
subjects
President (1974-1977 : Ford). Presidential Clemency Board. 9/16/1974-9/15/1975
Amnesty
Pardon
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1505958
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1974-10-31
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10
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1974
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1974-10-01
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10
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1974
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The original documents are located in Box 1, folder "Alternatives to Pardon" of the
Charles E. Goodell Papers at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Charles Goodell donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box 1 of the Charles E. Goodell Papers at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
THE PRESIDENTIAL CLEMENCY BOARD
OLD EXECUTIVE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20500
BOARD MEMBERS
PHONE: (202) 456-6476
Charles E. Goodell, Chairman
Ralph W. Adams
James P. Dougovito
Robert H. Finch
Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C.
Vernon E. Jordan
James A. Maye
Aida Casanas O'Connor
Lewis W. Walt
October 9, 1974
MEMORANDUM TO:
CHAIRMAN GOODELL
FROM:
GENERAL LEWIS WALT
L.A.N.
SUBJECT:
Proposed rough of Presidential
Clemency Board factors/quidelines
I concur with the position of the staff attorneys as reflected
in the memorandum from Captain Euler and Captain Gordon re-
garding publication of proposed guidelines.
GERALD FORD CIRRARY
MY POSITION IS:
This Board cannot be allowed to become a wailing wall.
We cannot allow ourselves to become overly lenient with those who
broke the law. There are no "good law breakers!" or "bad law breakers"
-- only mitigating and aggravating matters concerning them. They
are not defendants and this Board does not represent them alone.
We must not lose our objectivity. We are a "Clemency Board" not
"Pardon Board". We are working for the President and representing
all the people in an attempt to heal the "wounds" left by a. very mis-
understood and unpopular war. These "wounds" are associated, not
only with those thousands who broke the laws of our Nation to avoid
service to our Country but also with those millions of veterans
who faithfully served our Country, many thousands of them sacri-
ficing their well being and the families of the tens of thousands
more who lost their loved ones.
The President has given us guidelines -- within those guidelines
we must find a "medium". We must search each man's record.
We must consider matters of mitigation and matters of aggravation.
We must make our decisions with unemotional objectivity and be
prepared to defend them from all angles of attack. We must
constantly keep in mind, the long range effects of our decisions
and the irrepairable damage which could be done to the effectiveness
of Selective Service and the discipline of our Armed Forces.
rurd
THE PRESIDENTIAL CLEMENCY BOARD
OLD EXECUTIVE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20500
BOARD MEMBERS
PHONE: (202) 456-6476
Charles E. Goodell, Chairman
Ralph W. Adams
James P. Dougovito
Robert H. Finch
Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C.
Vernon E. Jordan
James A. Maye
October 29, 1974
Aida Casanas O'Connor
Lewis W. Walt
MEMORANDUM FOR:
PRESIDENTIAL CLEMENCY
BOARD
FROM:
CAPTAIN JOHN EULER
JLE
SUBJECT:
Alternatives to Pardon
The fundamental question with which this Board is faced is the
operative definition of the word "clemency" and specifically whether
it is intended that a Presidential Pardon is the form of clemency
generally to be granted. There is argument on both sides of the
question. Without attempting to address the basic issue, which is
one for determination by the members, this memorandum is an
attempt to set forth some clemency alternatives to a full Presidential
Pardon should it be determined that a Pardon is to be recommended
in only a limited number of cases.
It should first be noted that a Presidential Pardon is available
for military as well as civilian court convictions. Therefore, if
this Board decides to recommend a Pardon in a few cases of exceed-
ing merit, it may wish to also consider some military cases for
such action in order to equalize potential remedial action for all
applicants. In other words, to say that a Pardon is only available
to the civilian applicant may appear to unfairly shut part of the door
to the serviceman.
If it is determined that the possibility of a full Pardon is avail-
able to both the civilian and military applicant, the question must be
asked, "What is available to the civilian applicant other than a full
pardon?" Short of a Pardon, a military applicant may be awarded a
Clemency Discharge. It follows that his civilian counterpart should
also have available some form of clemency short of a Presidential
Pardon. It is suggested that this Board could promulgate a document
- 2 -
GERALD
entitled Certificate of Executive Clemency which would be roughly
equivalent to a Clemency Discharge The phrase "Executive
Clemency" is derived from Executive Order 11803 which established
this Board Such a certificate if awarded would advertise to society
that the civilian possessor thereof, like the military clemency dis-
charge recipient, took advantage of the President's program, per-
formed his part of the bargain and is entitled to be received in good
faith as a law-abiding member of the community who has chosen to
re-enter the mainstream of American society and deserves a chance
to do so. It is submitted that such a certificate would stand a fair
chance of having a substantial remedial effect on a recipient's per-
sonal well being.
The question must be faced as to what real worth is such a
piece of paper? The answer is that it will carry whatever intrinsic
value that Americans choose to give it. Such is now the case with
the Clemency Discharge. The hope must be, as it is with the
President's entire program, that society will receive clemency
recipients, both military and civilian, in a spirit of good will and
with a sense of welcoming them back.
The advantages of utilizing a Certificate of Executive Clemency
scheme may be:
1. The Board is possessed of a greater range of options or
clemency tools and thereby has greater flexibility.
2. The addition of the Executive Clemency Certificate adds
conceptual balance to the program and equalizes the quality of
remedies available to civilian and military applicants.
3. The potentially disruptive issue of "wholesale pardons or
no, " is avoided while permitting the continued availability of the
Pardon recommendation.
The disadvantages appear to be:
1. The Certificate of Executive Clemency may be attacked as of
questionable real worth or a meaningless gesture.
2. The scheme may differ from some conceptions of what the
President intended and thereby be unpalatable to some points of view.
- 3 -
GERALD FORD
Other options apparently open to the Board short of Presidential
Pardon are:
1. Commutation of sentence.
2. Referral to a military applicant's respective Discharge
Review Board for consideration of upgrading a given discharge.
3. Presidential upgrading of discharge. (This author recom-
mends No. 2 above over this option.)
4. Suspension of an awarded period of alternate service con-
ditioned on good behavior.
Should this Board adopt a form of clemency denoted as Executive
Clemency, the attached diagram would generally denote clemency
options available. It should be noted that Rick Tropp originally
pointed out the majority of these options in his memorandum of 4
October 1974 concerning guidelines and categorization of cases.
GERAS FORD LIBRARY
PRESIDENTIAL PARDON
(civilian and military cases)
(highest form of clemency)
CLEMENCY DISCHARGE
CERTIFICATE OF
EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY
(Military)
(Civilian)
RECOMMENDATION FOR
DISCHARGE UPGRADE
COMMUTATION
(referral to Service Board)
(civilian military applicants
or
still under sentence)
(direct Presidential action)
ALTERNATE SERVICE
(Suspended)
MEMORANDUM
OF CALL
TO:
Sen Soodell
YOU WERE CALLED BY-
YOU WERE VISITED BY-
Bab K
OF (Orgenization)
PHONE NO.
PLEASE CALL
CODE/EXT.
WILL CALL AGAIN
to WAITING TO SEE YOU pho.
RETURNED YOUR CALL
WISHES AN APPOINTMENT
MESSAGE
lugent.
\
DATE
TIME
RECEIVED W BY
10/30
2:00
STANDARD FORM 63
GPO :1969-o48-16-80341-1 832-389
63-108
REVISED AUGUST 1967
GSA FPMR (41 CFR) 101-11.6