Word: viets
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...before his swearing-in if he were nervous about becoming President. "No," he answered after a moment's reflection. "I'm sorry, but I'm not." He plunged immediately and vigorously into his work. Within a day he had issued his first Executive order, pardoning all Viet Nam-era draft evaders who were not involved in violent antiwar acts (see story page 15). He also issued a statement urging Americans to save energy by turning down their thermostats to 65° F. in the daytime and even lower at night. Carter found time to select the desk...
Less than 24 hours after taking the oath of office, President Carter fulfilled one of his key campaign pledges: he pardoned the Viet Nam draft evaders. His order covered an estimated 10,000 men already convicted (only seven of whom are still in prison), an additional 2,500 still under indictment, and an undetermined number who never registered for the draft. More than 2,000 who had fled abroad will now be free to return home...
...received less than honorable discharges for deserting or going AWOL. He simply asked the Pentagon to review their cases with the aim of possibly upgrading some discharges. Finally, Carter promised to begin another study of the estimated 173,000 undesirable discharges that had been dispensed during the Viet Nam years. Pentagon critics claim that many men received such discharges for conduct that really stemmed from their opposition...
...than he was vehemently attacked, both by those who thought him too soft and those who thought he was too tough. The American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars claimed that the decision was an affront to American fighting men who had done their duty by serving in Viet Nam. Carter's act, Senator Barry Goldwater declared, was "the most disgraceful thing that a President has ever done...
Robert Dole worked to pass a Senate resolution saying that people who avoided serving their country during the war in Viet Nam should have to serve some social service in peacetime. Scoop Jackson predicted trouble between the president and Congress. And the guards who kept watch over the Capitol grounds the night before the inaugural ceremony were more cold than excited...