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.

TIM MAGUIRE

TIM MAGUIRE

Victims bodies are carried from the wreckage of the 1900 hurricane in Galveston.

On this day in 1966, NBC-TV aired the first episode of "Star Trek"
entitled "The Man Trap". The series was canceled on September 2,
1969.

TIM MAGUIRE

President Gerald Ford granted an unconditional pardon to former President Richard Nixon on this day in 1974.   

It began on this day in 1941.

The Dutch surrendered New Amsterdam to the British, who then
renamed it New York on this day in 1664. 

NBC-TV aired the first episode of "Star Trek" entitled "The Man Trap"
on this day in 1966. The show was canceled on September 2, 1969.

Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar
(September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2014)

The comedy team of Carl Reiner, Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca.