1972 - 64th Annual AEU Assembly

WHEREAS, a great number of our best young people suffer imprisonment or exile, following their strong convictions to refuse to serve in an immoral war waged by the United States in Southeast Asia; and

WHEREAS, it is widely recognized by the people of the United States that this war was a mistake; and

WHEREAS, we admire and respect those young people who refuse to submit.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the American Ethical Union petition the President of the United States to grant a full and unconditional amnesty to all those men in prison, living abroad, or in hiding in their own country because of their moral convictions which forced them to refuse service in the armed forces.

REWORDED AND REAFFIRMED, 1979

The Vietnam war being long over, it is both nationally divisive and personally destructive to deny amnesty to those who refused to serve. A majority of the American people Dow realize that war was a mistake, and it only compounds the mistake to hold the threat of prosecution over those who reached that conclusion earlier, We therefore urge President Carter to declare a complete amnesty for all who are accused of crimes related to service in the undeclared Vietnam war.

Source: AEU 71st Annual Assembly Memo [job13scan]

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