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A History of Political Prisoners
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January
21
JAN
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Carter pardons Vietnam draft resisters

On his first full day in office, President Jimmy Carter issued Proclamation 4483, an unconditional pardon for hundreds of thousands of men who had evaded the Vietnam-era draft. It remains one of the broadest acts of clemency for political offenses in American history — and it followed a decade in which draft resisters filled federal prisons.