On September 16, 1974, President Gerald Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War deserters and draft-evaders which would waive any charges provided they agreed to work two years in public service. A Presidential Clemency Board was created to administer the program - it finished its work in September 1975 after having disposed of 14, 514 cases.



Critics said the initiative did not go far enough, however, and noted that only about 19 percent of eligible persons even applied. Learn more about the conditional amnesty program from the Papers of Charles E. Goodell, the Washington lawyer who was Chairman of the PCB, now housed at the Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan.