On this day in history, January 21, 1977, President Carter pardons Vietnam War draft dodgers

 Approximately 100,000 Americans left the country to avoid participating in the war.

On this day in history, January 21, 1977, President Jimmy Carter granted unconditional and controversial pardons to thousands of people who dodged the U.S. military draft during the Vietnam War.

Before the 1976 presidential election, then-candidate Carter promised to pardon those who evaded the draft as a way of closing the nation's book on Vietnam.

The day after his inauguration, Carter kept his word – and pardoned draft dodgers who had not committed violent crimes.

Carter's presidential proclamation said in part, "Acting in accordance with the grant of authority in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States of America, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, do hereby solemnly, fully and Unconditional pardon: (1) all persons who between 4 August 1964 and 28 March 1973 have committed any offense in violation of the Military Selective Service Act or any rule or regulation promulgated thereunder; and (2) all persons before then serving in the military Those convicted, irrespective of the date of conviction, of any offense committed between August 4, 1964, and March 28, 1973, in violation of the Selective Service Act, or any rule or regulation promulgated thereunder, shall be restored to full political, civil and Done. Other rights."

Carter said during the presidential campaign that a pardon was needed "to heal our country after the Vietnam War."

He also said that although disagreements remain, "we can now agree to respect those differences and forget them."

However - many people did not forget "those differences".

As the organization writes on its website, the American Legion, among many other groups, "was vocal in its opposition to any type of amnesty given to anyone who dodged the draft while others went to war. "

The group notes, "Carter outlined his plan to pardon violators at the American Legion's national convention in Seattle in 1976. Legionnaires, many of whom had condemned the proclamation, strongly protested and thus "found possible legal and constitutional violations of the pardon."

After Carter issued the pardon, "US military leaders warned what such a move would mean for national security in the event of a future draft."

The Legion added on its site, "The organization's wartime veterans had argued ... that no pardons should be granted in keeping with the same position of the World War I American Legion founders who lived in the United States' "Sought justice for 'alien slackers' but states used their foreign citizenships to avoid conscription during the Great War."

Most draft dodgers fled to Canada

According to History.com, from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, approximately 100,000 young Americans left the country to avoid serving in the war.

About 1,000 Americans left the armed forces and moved to Canada.

Ninety percent of them came to Canada – where they were eventually welcomed as immigrants.

Others went into hiding inside the United States.

Although the Canadian government had the authority to prosecute these fugitives, they were often left alone.

After the war ended, the US government continued to prosecute draft dodgers until a total of 209,517 people were formally charged with dodging the draft.