January 21, 1977
President Jimmy Carter granted an unconditional pardon to hundreds of thousands of men who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War. Some 100,000 young Americans went abroad in the late 1960s and early 70s to avoid serving in the war, most to Canada. During his 1976 presidential campaign, Jimmy Carter promised to pardon draft resisters as a way of putting the war and the bitter divisions it caused firmly in the past. Carter’s decision generated a good deal of controversy. Heavily criticized by veterans’ groups and others for allowing lawbreakers to get off without punishment, the pardon also came under fire from amnesty groups for not addressing deserters, soldiers who were dishonorably discharged or civilian anti-war demonstrators who had been prosecuted for their resistance.
