Word: draft
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...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...
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...
Early on, Ford called in his staff -what there is of it-for a bull session. "I really want to bind up the wounds," he said. "If I'm going to do that, then I've got to reach those kids who dodged the draft or deserted. I'm not for unlimited amnesty. Deserters can't go home scot free when the kid next door might have been killed in Viet Nam. Can't we fashion some way to let them earn their way back?" The effects of this pronouncement, formalized in Ford...
Just a Figurehead. In its present draft form, the document allows Selassie to retain the title of Emperor, but he will serve only as "a symbol of Ethiopian unity and history." Although some of the more radical leaders of the military coup object to even a figurehead monarch, they have been persuaded, at least temporarily, that the success of their reform movement depends upon continued support among the peasant majority (95% of the country's people are illiterate), who still revere the Emperor...
...fate of the new constitution rests largely on how this issue is resolved. The aristocratic upper house of Parliament seems to favor the draft as it is now written, but the lower house is agitating for an entirely new document that would be much tougher on the monarchy, the church and the aristocracy. If debate drags on in Parliament, it is likely that the Armed Forces Committee will impose either a "temporary" new constitution or declare martial law. According to TIME Correspondent Lee Griggs, "It is beyond doubt that the military does not want to take even temporary official control...