As a candidate, Carter himself had said he advocated "pardon" (a term he preferred to amnesty). He said, "I do advocate a pardon for draft evaders. ... Now is the time to heal our country after
the Vietnam war. ... I hope to bring about an end to the divisiveness that has occurred
in our country as a result of the Vietnam war."
On his second day in office, President Carter in fact did pardon draft dodgers. This applied only to civilians who evaded the draft. It did not apply to active duty military personnel who went absent without leave (AWOL) or deserted their units during the war.
