By Edwin Cooney
It was Tuesday, August 24th, 1976 and the Democratic presidential nominee, former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, was ready to go even though his "official" presidential campaign wasn't going to begin until Labor Day, Monday, September 6th, 1976. As usual, the 51-year-old Carter was confident. He was always confident at the outset of everything he did. The rewards or negative consequences of whatever happened to him politically were less important to him than the intended consequences of any goal. All Jimmy needed was the spirit of conviction and a clear conscience regarding the well meaning of his humane intentions.
THE PROMISE — Thus, he began campaigning in San Francisco that morning before jetting up to Seattle, Washington to address a meeting of the American Legion's 1,600-delegate annual convention. He knew that what he was about to tell them wouldn't please most of them because many of them, perhaps even a majority, were, more than likely, registered Republicans. Further, since his campaign was "officially" nearly two weeks off, there would be time for whatever jolt he had to proclaim this day. It would be overshadowed by other campaign issues and events and thus be mollified. Besides, at present he did have a 30 point lead over Gerald Ford in the latest political polls!
Thus, he began his speech by stressing the need for a strong defense that would be second to none as all presidential candidates traditionally do. Then, at about the two-thirds point of the speech which had been lustily cheered, Carter paused, saying that he wanted to tell them about the hardest decision he'd made as a presidential candidate.
Asserting that national unity was a vital part of national defense, candidate Carter told the American Legion that if elected president he would grant a blanket pardon to all draft evaders living either at home or abroad. As a chorus of boos began emanating from the audience, Carter stopped talking and looked down as Legion Commander Harry G. Wiles called for order. According to the New York Times, Carter then raised his eyes and smiled and continued speaking softly but definitively. The actions, said the candidate, of those who evaded the draft in no way equaled the courage and patriotism of those who answered the draft, but it was time to put the Vietnam conflict and all of the distrust it brought with it to an end. Only in that way could we have the spirit of unanimity that a strong and ongoing national defense must provide. What follows is my personal perception of what Jimmy Carter was thinking.
THE RISK — The risk was a reopening of the divisions in the Democratic Party that re-elected Richard Nixon four years before. Since amnesty was regarded by many liberals as more genuine and thus more powerful than a mere pardon, just enough liberals or progressives might regard Carter's move as insincere as President Ford's current promise to allow returning draft evaders to avoid conviction if they rejoined the military or agreed to involve themselves in some other government service for a couple of years. From many points of view a pardon was only appropriate if a law was violated. However, many insisted that no law had in fact been broken except by military deserters who were in a different category than draft evaders. Finally, there was a risk that the resulting debate would bring down the whole Carter campaign.
Beyond whatever immediate political cost Carter would have to pay, he knew that the nation's mood had a lot to do with its capacity to function. Insofar as he was concerned, the combination of doubt and mistrust on every topic from foreign policy, labor management issues, the status of prayer in the public schools, civil rights and wrongs, and abortion with all of its ambiguities was gnawing at the very fabric and foundation of our culture. Thus, where he had the power to alleviate our national crisis, he would do what he could. As a political “outsider," he could represent a new type of politics where a leader made decisions that had to do with good government more than they had to do with political or ideological popularity. To that end, he occasionally would appear to be in “Never-Never Land.”
Hence he proceeded to carry his own bags as both candidate and president, walk from the Inaugural Ceremony much of the way to the White House, wear a cardigan rather than a traditional suit coat during the first national broadcast following his inauguration, minimize the use of “Hail to the Chief” during White House Ceremonies and, at least initially, avoid too close a connection to Congress. After all, Congress was loaded with politicians!
Carter was no political saint! He was capable of snubbing and meanly jeering political opponents as he did to George W. Bush at the funeral for Senator Paul Wellstone and his wife in late 2002. (Note: That particular act probably caused Walter Mondale's failure to be elected to the Senate from Minnesota that fall. Even when appointed by a sitting president to help ease international tensions, Carter often appeared to be upstaging the incumbent who had sent him on that very mission.)
THE RESULT — President Jimmy Carter was neither the first nor the last to keep a campaign promise but this particular campaign promise was special. It was devoid of straw men to knock down or of political enemies to have been conquered. Yet it was as daring as it was wise. After all, as President Ford discovered later in that campaign, Americans, even after all the SALT Treaties, were still nervous as to how any president perceived a possible threat from the Soviet Union. Many believe Ford’s unintended gaffe at the close of the second Ford-Carter debate in which he insisted Russia was no threat to Poland or to Eastern Europe cost Ford the election.
Forty-five years ago last Friday, in his first full day in office, President Carter redeemed a unique kind of promise — a promise that eased rather than increased tensions and a promise that forgave rather than challenged. it was a promise that cost little or no money, but created a path for tolerance over suspicion.
I'll write about some quite different presidential pardons next week.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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