Vietnam research exercise: Joey Tinnerello

           1971 was the year Muhammad Ali appealed his conviction in ‘67 for refusing to report to the induction into the United States Military. This is most famously known as the case of ‘Clay v. United States, 403 U.S. 698.’ In 1964, Ali took his reading and writing tests to see if he qualified for the U.S Armed Forces. His scores ended up being way below average meaning he wasn’t eligible to be in the military. As we know the war in Vietnam grew extremely fast, so the testing standards were lowered because they were in dire need of soldiers. Since the standards were lowered, Ali was re-classified as a ‘1-A’ which meant he was eligible to be a part of the military. Ali was informed of this and notified officials that he would refuse to join the army. According to Ali, “War is against the teachings of the Holy Qur'an…. We don't take part in Christian wars or wars of any unbelievers.” A very large majority of people only new Ali because of boxing, not anything that happened outside of it. If you were drafted in the U.S, you went to the war, no exceptions. People were angry with Ali because they took it that he was dodging the war, so he could continue fighting. People that were close with Ali new this wasn’t the case. Ali famously said, “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong, they never called me nigger.” Ali then appealed again when his local draft board refused to accept his application of being a conscientious objector. The justice department got a hold of this and there was basically a hearing. Ali’s application of being a conscientious was denied because he didn’t meet any of the three basic tests for the objector's status. After they denied his claim, they gave no reasoning as to why they made this decision. Eventually, Ali showed up to the induction of the military in his new hometown of Houston, Texas on April 28th of 1967. His name was called, and he refused, three times to be exact. An officer warned him that if he didn’t step forward one more time he could face prison time and a fine of up to $10,000. He refused for a final time. Because of this decision, Ali was stripped of his boxing licenses, world titles, and many sponsors. Eventually Muhammad stood in front of a grand jury and was convicted of the criminal offense of violating selective service laws by refusing to be drafted. The trial jury consisted of six men and six women, all of whom were white. To conclude Ali was jailed only for a short amount of time because there was a technical error made by the justice department, gradually he won unanimous assent from eight voting justices. He then continued his career. Muhammad Ali laced up his gloves one last time and stepped in the ring with opponent Trevor Berbick losing in the tenth round. Ali speaking to the press about his trial for refusal.

Ali speaking to the press about his trial for draft evasion.

Source:
“Census of Population and Housing, 1990 [United States]: Summary Tape File 3A.” ICPSR                                Data Holdings, Nov. 1993, doi:10.3886/icpsr09782.v1.
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