Word: galley
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...hostile reaction ranged across the political spectrum. War critics on the left saw in Galley's conviction for slaying old men, women and children in My Lai in 1968 fresh proof of the immorality of the entire Viet Nam involvement. The war's supporters on the right read in the verdict a repudiation of the valor and honor of all American fighting men in Viet Nam. If the alliance was odd, the effect might be odder still. It was too soon to be certain, but there was seemingly a new readiness, born of disgust and weariness on both...
...House. Special procedures were set up to handle the avalanche of telegrams, letters and telephone calls. Nearly all the messages deplored the conviction. Nixon ordered his staff to evaluate the reaction of both the country and the Congress. A legislative aide found a new mood on Capitol Hill. "This Galley thing cuts across all the lines, Democrat and Republican, liberal and conservative, hawk and dove," he reported. "It's not just concern for one man. They're translating it into a protest against the System and against the war. Real hard hawks are calling and saying, The President...
...snipers" had "falsely stereotyped" U.S. soldiers in Viet Nam as "drug addicts and coldblooded criminals." Agnew also argued that "the rather abnormal fears and the conditions in a military operation are not subject to Monday-morning quarterback judgment by someone sitting comfortably in an office in Washington." Applied to Galley, that principle ignores the fact that the jurors who convicted Galley had all served in combat...
Extralegal Ingredient. The President was deeply troubled by the Galley case. He awoke in his San Clemente bedroom at 2 a.m., made some notes, and next morning called in his senior aides to consult about what could be done. His first decision was to intervene as Commander in Chief to permit Galley to continue living in his bachelor's quarters at Fort Benning until all his appeals have been acted upon. It was a decision probably reflecting Nixon's concern both as President and as politician: the move might help cool the country and would appeal to Nixon...
...even that was not enough. Two days later, he decided "to add an extralegal ingredient to the review process," as Aide John Ehrlichman explained. That ingredient was Nixon's dramatic promise to decide personally Galley's case once the review procedure is exhausted and before he ever serves a day of his sentence to hard labor for life...