On this day in 1977, President Jimmy Carter pardons all Vietnam War draft dodgers. During his presidential campaign, Carter had announced his intention to pardon those who had failed to register for the draft or left the country to avoid service. In a televised debate with incumbent President Gerald Ford, […]
Continue ReadingMonthly Archives: January 1977
President Carter Pardons Draft Dodgers
On this day in 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 […]
Continue ReadingFord Pardons Tokyo Rose
On this day in 1977, President Gerald R. Ford pardons Tokyo Rose. Although the nickname originally referred to several Japanese women who broadcast Axis propaganda over the radio to Allied troops during World War II, it eventually became synonymous with a Japanese-American woman named Iva Toguri. On the orders of […]
Continue ReadingThe Execution Of Gary Gilmore
Gary Gilmore, convicted in the double murder of an elderly couple, is shot to death by a firing squad in Utah, becoming the first person to be executed in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
Continue ReadingJohn Gardner Wins National Book Critics Circle Award
On this day, John Gardner wins the National Book Critics Circle Award for October Light, a novel about two elderly siblings in New England. Gardner was born in 1933 in Batavia, New York, and attended Washington University in St. Louis, later taking a doctorate in classical and medieval literature at […]
Continue Reading