Draft Dodgers
Donald Trump was far from the first president to issue a pardon early on in their presidency. Jimmy Carter on his first day in office issued hundreds of thousands of pardons. The Democratic candidate ran his campaign for president with the promise that he would pardon anyone that had dodged the draft for the Vietnam War. It was a risky move but it worked out as Jimmy Carter was elected president.
When the draft for the Vietnam war was issued many men refused to serve. Many were afraid because of the stories they had heard from the war and some did not believe in the war. So they ignored their draft notices or left the country in order to get out of being forced to serve in the military. It was estimated that about 100,000 Americans left the United States between the late 1960s and early 1970s. About 90% of them were accepted into Canada as legal immigrants.
The United States government went to great effort during and after the war to prosecute draft dodgers. Over 209,000 men were accused of violating draft laws and other 360,000 were not formally charged. With so many men and their families concerned over the fate of draft dodgers, they were happy to vote for Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter was happy to fulfill his campaign promise on his first day in office. Carter was not the first person to show mercy on the draft dodgers. President Gerald Ford offered conditional amnesty to draft dodgers and military deserters. Any man seeking amnesty was required to reaffirm his allegiance to the United States and serve two years in public service.
While many were for the action there were others who were angry at the mercy being offered the draft dodgers. Many veterans groups protested the move believing that those men had betrayed their country by refusing to serve. There were some restrictions to the pardon as those who had deserted the military were not eligible for the pardon. The pardon also did not apply to those who had engaged in violent protests against the war effort.