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.