The Amnesty Issue

Public debate continued last week over President Ford's plan for conditional amnesty for Viet Nam War resisters, which he had courageously proposed the week before at the convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (TIME, Sept. 2). The whole idea was quickly and predictably denounced as unfair by some conservatives, including the V.F.W., and berated as inadequate by some of the war resisters themselves, but Ford stuck to his guns. "I have made a decision," he declared in his press conference, "which I think is right and proper: no [unconditional] amnesty, no revenge, and ... individuals who have violated the draft laws or have evaded Selective Service or deserted can earn their way or work their way back."

This week, after receiving a set of proposals from Justice Department and Defense Department officials who have been studying the problem, the White House expects to announce the details of the plan. Presumably it will require a war resister to make some sort of statement of contrition and serve for a period in an organization such as the Peace Corps or VISTA. Attorney General William Saxbe acknowledged last week that the plan will not be welcomed by all of the estimated 50,000 war resisters involved. But the President is determined to "open the door to them," said Saxbe, adding that the plan "will make it as easy as it can be for them to return--but they are not going to be welcomed back as heroes."

The arguments over how to deal with the war resisters have long ranged, in the President's words, from amnesty to revenge. Organizations like the V.F.W., the Marine Corps League and the Non-Commissioned Officers Association have insisted that any form of amnesty would dishonor the 2.5 million men who served in Viet Nam, and would mock the sacrifice of the 55,000 who died there. Advocates of forgiveness have argued that on 34 occasions in U.S. history the Government has granted amnesty to some of its citizens, and should do so again in the case of a war that was regarded by many Americans as immoral. While few extremists on the amnesty issue were pleased with President Ford's proposal, many Americans regarded it as a constructive step. Stanford Professor Robert McAfee Brown, a Presbyterian pastor who served five days in jail after a 1971 demonstration, called Ford's plan "a very gutsy thing," especially since Brown had assumed "the issue was going to be on the back burner for a long time."

Forget the War. Ford's proposal for conditional forgiveness may be the best solution for a problem that has no perfect answer. It would offer those draft evaders and deserters who want to return a way back into American life without being treated as criminals. At the same time, the Government, which was guilty of widespread deception during the Viet Nam War, would foster much needed post-Watergate reconciliation by showing charity toward its dissenting young men. "The purpose of amnesty is to forget the war and heal the wounds," says John Kerry, former head of the Viet Nam Veterans Against the War, "and it may be that the way to do that is to demand a sacrifice on both sides. My heart and my morality say the resisters shouldn't have to do anything to come back, but a year of some kind of public service work is something that everyone should do anyway, as a continuation of citizenship."

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