Federal Presidential Pardon» amnesty

Vietnam Draft Dodgers

Brian J. Zeiger — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:46:23 +0000

Many American’s were against the Vietnam War. At the time of the draft, the baby boomers were at the center of the draft. Sentiment was that the draft was unfair because the rich and the well educated could escape the draft. Many young people left to go to Canada. The United States prosecuted people who avoided the draft.

President Ford issue conditional amnesty to draft dodgers once the war ended. In 1977, President Carter issued full amnesty to all Vietnam era draft dodgers.

According to experts at the time, some 50,000 draft dodgers remained in Canada even after Carter’s full amnesty.

UH-1D Helicopter used to deploy men in the Vietnam War

John Edward Forte

Brian J. Zeiger — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:51:44 +0000

John Edward Forte is a grammy winning music producer who was caught at the airport with $1.4 million of liquid cocaine in a briefcase. He was convicted and sentenced to fourteen years. Forte has never accepted responsibility for the cocaine.

What makes this pardon odd, is that it does not fit the paradigm of George W. Bush’s pardons and commutations. Simply, W. didn’t pardon many folks at all. Why he pardoned Forte is somewhat mysterious. Bush did not grant a full pardon to Libby, or pardon Marion Jones, Michael Vick, or grant amnesty to any of the folks involved in the water-boarding scandal. Blows me away.

John Edward Forte