American troops levels in Vietnam were increasing by the hundreds of thousands in the second half of the 1960s; by the height of the war the number reached half a million. The soldiers often came from conscription, as they did in  WW II, but Vietnam was a lot less popular and the draft was often dodged by various illegal means. The government continued to prosecute dodgers for years after the war, until President Jimmy Carter issued a blanket presidential pardon.

On this day, January 21, 1977, as one of his first actions in office, President Carter unconditionally pardoned anyone who registered but went abroad to avoid being drafted, or who did not register at all. The pardon meant the U.S. government no longer retained the authority to prosecute them for those actions.

Around 100,000 people left the United States to avoid being called up; the overwhelming majority going to Canada. Canadian authorities promised to find and prosecute the dodgers, but more often chose to look the other way. After the pardon, some of the dodgers returned, but around half chose to permanently remain in Canada – some even entering Canadian politics.