The Amnesiacs

The war in Vietnam unwinds. But the protestors, lest they too be separated from action, have a new course by which to continue to remind the United States of its continuing turpitude: amnesty. Indignant at the U.S. success—such as it is—they now demand, urgently, total amnesty, a cause doubly satisfying because it is not likely to be achieved soon, if ever, and because it is opposed by Nixon.

The word “amnesty” comes, of course, from the Greek and means, notwithstanding the Colonels’ regime, “forgetting.” The Right, to speak in general terms, opposes the forgetting and the Left, preferring to argue the morality of the war, denies that there is anything that needs to be forgotten. Or calls for mercy without punishment, forgiveness without repentance.

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Daniel Oliver

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The war in Vietnam unwinds. But the protestors, lest they too be separated from action, have a new course by which to continue to remind the United States of its continuing turpitude: amnesty. Indignant at the U.S. success—such as it is—they now demand, urgently, total amnesty, a cause doubly satisfying because it is not likely to be achieved soon, if ever, and because it is opposed by Nixon.

The word “amnesty” comes, of course, from the Greek and means, notwithstanding the Colonels’ regime, “forgetting.” The Right, to speak in general terms, opposes the forgetting and the Left, preferring to argue the morality of the war, denies that there is anything that needs to be forgotten. Or calls for mercy without punishment, forgiveness without repentance.