In a controversial executive action, President Gerald Ford
pardoned his disgraced predecessor Richard M. Nixon for
any crimes he may have committed or participated in while
in office. Ford later defended this action before the House
Judiciary Committee, explaining that he wanted to end the
national divisions created by the Watergate scandal.

Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994)

In a controversial executive action, President Gerald Ford pardoned
his disgraced predecessor Richard M. Nixon for any crimes he may
have committed or participated in while in office.

Ford later defended this action before the House Judiciary Committee, explaining that he wanted to end the national divisions created by the Watergate scandal.

President Richard Nixon (left) briefs the then House Minority Leader Gerald Ford at the White House October 13, 1973.

President Jimmy Carter granting an unconditional pardon to draft
dodgers.

On January 21, 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter grants an unconditional pardon to hundreds of thousands of men who
evaded the draft during the Vietnam War.

In total, some 100,000 young Americans went abroad in the
late 1960s and early ’70s to avoid serving in the war. Ninety
percent went to Canada, where after some initial controversy
they were eventually welcomed as immigrants. Still others
hid inside the United States. In addition to those who avoided
the draft, a relatively small number—about 1,000—of deserters
from the U.S. armed forces also headed to Canada.

Mrs. Emilie Todd Helm, Mary Lincoln’s half sister.

President Abraham Lincoln announced a grant of amnesty for
Emilie Todd Helm (above), his wife Mary Lincoln’s half sister
and the widow of a Confederate general. The pardon was one
of the first under Lincoln’s Proclamation of Amnesty and
Reconstruction, which he had announced less than a week
before. The plan was Lincoln’s blueprint for the reintegration
of the South into the Union. Part of the plan allowed for former
Confederates to be granted amnesty if they took an oath to the
United States. The option was open to all but the highest
officials of the Confederacy.

  
President Jimmy Carter, in his first day in office, fulfilled a campaign
promise by announcing the pardoning of draft dodgers.
 

On January 21, 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter granted an unconditional
pardon to hundreds of thousands of men who evaded the draft during the
Vietnam War by fleeing the country or by failing to register. The executive
order left many people furious, while others saw it as a bold show of
compassion.

In total, some 100,000 young Americans went abroad in the late 1960s and
early 70s to avoid serving in the war. Ninety percent went to Canada, where
after some initial controversy they were eventually welcomed as immigrants.

Still others hid inside the United States. In addition to those who avoided
the draft, a relatively small number–about 1,000–of deserters from the U.S.
armed forces also headed to Canada. While the Canadian government
technically reserved the right to prosecute deserters, in practice they left
them alone, even instructing border guards not to ask too many questions.