In 1974, Gerald Ford turned president after among the most troublesome years in our nation’s historical past. Along with Watergate and Presid
In 1974, Gerald Ford turned president after among the most troublesome years in our nation’s historical past.
Along with Watergate and President Nixon’s resignation, the Vietnam Struggle had divided the nation for greater than a decade. Whereas hundreds of thousands of Individuals served in Southeast Asia, many others protested the conflict at dwelling — a few of them by evading the draft. Ford wished to discover a method to deliver the nation again collectively. Just some weeks after he took workplace, he introduced a plan “to bind up the nation’s wounds.”
For the younger males convicted of draft evasion — a felony — in the course of the Vietnam Struggle, Ford promised, “I’m throwing the load of my presidency into the scales of justice on the facet of leniency.”
Ford gave these younger males a possibility to use to a Clemency Board, a small group appointed by the president who would determine whether or not to erase that felony from the boys’s data. Now, lots of the Democratic candidates for president wish to comply with Ford’s mannequin for a brand new group of individuals in federal jail: these convicted of nonviolent drug crimes.
On this episode, The Impression appears again on President Ford’s clemency plan by way of the lives of two males: one who fought in Vietnam and served on the Clemency Board, and one who evaded the draft. We discover how the Board remodeled their lives and what it’d imply for a brand new technology of younger folks behind bars.
Additional listening and studying:
- The Uncertain Hour’s third season explores the conflict on medication and its aftermath
- Vox’s German Lopez on incarceration in America
- Vox’s guide to the place 2020 candidates stand on coverage, together with felony justice reform
- Professor Mark Osler’s regulation overview article on Ford’s Clemency Evaluate Board.