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'Clemency' Board Shuts Down

By VVAW

On September 15, President Ford's Clemency Board closed down after being in business for one year. It closed down not with a bang, but with a whimper as the board panel of 18 members began bickering about who among them were the good guys and who were the bad guys. Four members were busy writing a minority report stating that they thought the panel was too 'lenient' because they handed out too many clemencies for people who were charged with being AWOL. The other front men for Ford's program remained silent, including Father Theodore Hesburgh, the big shot 'liberal', ex-President of Notre Dame University who hadn't even bothered to show up at the board hearings since early June.

During the last few weeks that the panel deliberated cases they developed a "morale problem" so they were given special treats to help get them through their "grim, grubby job" according to a board spokesman. These treats included a cocktail party and cruise down the Potomac River on the Presidential yacht, autographed pictures of Ford and a chance to work at Camp David, the Presidential retreat where they could enjoy the swimming pool, the bowling alley, the movie theater and the servants all surrounded by the scenic views of the mountains in Maryland. "Each case they consider requires agony and soul searching" was the official explanation given for the treats.

The Clemency Board was set up September 16, 1974 when Ford announced the earned re-entry program for Vietnam War resisters. As soon as it was announced, organizations of exiles living in Canada and Europe met at a conference in Toronto, Ontario, and denounced the plan as being punitive and now in the interest of the thousands and thousands of people who resisted the war in Indochina, including the over 580,000 veterans who received less-than-honorable discharges during the Vietnam War years. They called for a boycott of the program which was supported by many organizations in the United States including VVAW/WSO. One of the demands put forward also was for a single-type discharge for all vets who received the bad discharges.

The boycott was a resounding success in the struggle for a universal and unconditional amnesty for all war resisters during the Vietnam-era. As of September 15th when the board shut down only 15,000 out of an approximate 120,000 people eligible even bothered to apply for a clemency, according to the board itself.

Even those who did apply soon took leave of the program. Of the 4,500 military deserters who applied for clemency over 3,000 are no longer with the program. These vets are now saddled with undesirable discharges. Some had to quit because the alternative service jobs that they were compelled to take paid such meager salaries that they couldn't afford to feed their families. Even if they had competed the alternative service, which could be up to two years they would have received a clemency discharge which would have marked them for life. It's bad enough having a bad discharge, but what employer would hire a vet with a clemency discharge knowing that it was for AWOL.

The Earned Re-entry Program was a sham from the start. It was designed to pick and choose which resisters would be allowed to return and it ignored the majority of veterans with less-than-honorable discharges and the countless thousands who were arrested and convicted of some 'crime' for protesting the war in Vietnam, while at the same time it was designed to punish military and draft resisters.

With the absolute failure of the clemency program, Ford and the ruling class are caught with their pants down. While they gear up for another war in their search for profits abroad, they are faced with the dismal failure of the clemency program and its implications: that people who were against the war in Vietnam are going to be against any future wars that aren't in the interests of working people here or in other countries around the world.

Even though the Clemency Board shut down, the fight for a universal and unconditional amnesty continues along with the fight against future wars of US aggression.