Video: 'Gerald Ford-Remarks on Clemency for Vietnam Era Draft Evaders (September 16,1974)'

(Sunday, September 8, 1974, morning EDT; during the Vietnam War, part of the Indochina Wars and the Cold War; also during the Watergate scandal) — Eight days after granting former President Richard M. Nixon an unconditional pardon, U.S. President Gerald Ford offered conditional amnesty today to thousands of Vietnam era draft evaders and military deserters who agree to work for up to two years in public service jobs (click here for an extended video clip and transcript of Ford’s remarks).

“My sincere hope,” he said in a statement, “is that this is a constructive step toward calmer and cooler appreciation of our individual rights and responsibilities and our common purpose as a nation whose future is always more important than its past.”

At a news conference that night, Ford denied that the amnesty plan was in any substantial way linked to his unconditional pardon of Nixon on Sept. 8, an action that has created widespread controversy throughout the nation.