Selectman’s Mtg. 1/17/77

Henry Kissinger said in Oct. 1974 “now that the war is over it is time to make peace with ourselves”. Jimmy Carter has taken an important step in this direction by promising to pardon the men who refused participation in the war by evading the draft.

But we are distressed the he plans to subject deserters to case-by-case review. These men, to a great extent from the poor and minority groups, lacked the sophistication to evaluate our country’s policy and had to learn after serving in the military that they could not continue to support the war. We are sure that when Mr. C. understands the race and class discrimination inherent in his plan he will want to abandon case-by-case review. It would be ironic if, of all the people involved in Vietnam-and we are all involved-only the deserters are to be judged!

We are also distressed that of the one million, the largest group-seven hundred ninety thousand vets with bad discharge is being ignored by Mr. Carter. 90% of these discharged were given administrative without due process, by C.O’s for offenses such as obesity, bed wetting, improper discussions, insubordination, etc. + for false reasons to conceal protest.

We feel strong support around the country for a genuine amnesty for all who need it. Amnesty is a simple legal withholding of judgment-a perfect solution when you consider that the government itself is not being judged. We realized these individuals, groups, city counsels must show their support to the new president, so that he will have the courage to really begin to heal the wounds of Vietnam. That’s why we’re here today-to urge you to indicate to Mr. Carter your support of relief for all in need of amnesty-remembering that most of these people are veterans or would-be veterans.