On January 21, 1977, President Jimmy Carter granted unconditional pardons to hundreds of thousands of men who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War. About 100,000 Americans left the country to avoid going to Vietnam. After the war, the government prosecuted those who returned to the U.S. but had avoided the draft. In an attempt to put the bitterness of the war in the past, Carter campaigned with the promise of pardoning the draft dodgers.
