Muhammad Ali | Muhammad Ali Refuses the Vietnam War Draft | Episode 2 | PBS (2024)

FAQs

Why didn't Ali want to go to Vietnam? ›

On June 20, 1967, the great Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston for refusing induction in the U.S. armed forces. Ali saw the war in Vietnam as an exercise in genocide.

American draft evaders who left for Canada and became prominent there include politician Jim Green, gay rights advocate Michael Hendricks, attorney Jeffry House, author Keith Maillard, playwright John Murrell, television personality Eric Nagler, film critic Jay Scott, and musician Jesse Winchester.

Muhammad Ali refuses to fight in Vietnam (1967)

Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay, 1942-2016) was outspoken about many political issues, including his opposition to the Vietnam War. Ali was drafted by the United States military in 1966 and called up for induction in 1967.

"Why should me and other so-called Negroes go 10,000 miles away from here in America to drop bombs and bullets on other innocent brown people who've never bothered us?" he said. "I will say directly, no, I will not go 10,000 miles to help kill innocent people."

He later wrote, "I refuse to be inducted into the Armed Forces of the United States because I claim to be exempt as a minister of the religion of Islam."

Many young men went to federal prison as part of this movement. According to Cortright, the draft resistance movement was the leading edge of the anti-war movement in 1967 and 1968. After the war, some of the draft evaders who stayed in the U.S. wrote memoirs.

In June, he was convicted of draft evasion by a jury, which deliberated only 21 minutes. An appeals court upheld the conviction, and the case eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court which, in the case of Clay v. United States, unanimously overturned the conviction.

If required to register with Selective Service, failure to register is a felony punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or 5 years imprisonment. Also, a person who knowingly counsels, aids, or abets another to fail to comply with the registration requirement is subject to the same penalties.

Around 15 million were granted deferments, mostly for education and some for mental or physical problems. There were more than 300,000 draft evaders in total, of which 209,517 men illegally resisted the draft while some 100,000 deserted. Among them, around 30,000 emigrated to Canada during 1966-72.

induction to serve in the Vietnam War.

Can you refuse to fight in a war? ›

A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–industrial complex due to a crisis of conscience.

Despite pleas to definitively retire, Ali fought one last time on December 11, 1981, in Nassau, Bahamas, against Trevor Berbick, losing a ten-round decision.

The Prophet, who visited his daughter nearly every day, became even closer to ʿAlī, once telling him, “You are my brother in this world and the Hereafter.” After Fāṭimah's death, ʿAlī married other wives and fathered many other children.

Explanation: After Muhammad Ali was drafted by the U.S. government to fight in the Vietnam War, he refused the draft. This decision was based on his religious and political beliefs as a member of the Nation of Islam.

In 1966, Ali refused to be drafted into the military, owing to his religious beliefs and ethical opposition to the Vietnam War, and was found guilty of draft evasion and stripped of his boxing titles. He stayed out of prison while appealing the decision to the Supreme Court, where his conviction was overturned in 1971.

Muhammad Ali | Clip Muhammad Ali Refuses the Vietnam War Draft. Prior to his match against Foley, Ali received news he had been drafted to fight in Vietnam. When Ali arrived to be inducted in the United States Armed Forces, however, he refused, citing his religion forbade him from serving.

The various exemptions which draft-eligible men could use to avoid service, such as still being in university education or being medically unfit, were thought to allow better-connected and middle class men to evade the draft more easily than working class or minority men.

The correct option for the statement that summarizes Muhammad Ali's opposition to the United States's involvement in the Vietnam War is C. He argued that the country's leaders should focus on correcting injustices at home.