Humpday History Highlight
By Wyatt Earp | January 21, 2009
President Jimmy Carter, aka Mr. Ineptitude
January 21, 1977 - Jimmy Carter Pardons Draft Dodgers.
William Jefferson Clinton thanks you.
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, Carter proposed to implement a blanket pardon, in contrast to Ford’s more selective clemency plan. Carter interpreted pardon as meaning “that what you did, whether it’s right or wrong, you’re forgiven for it. And I do advocate a pardon for draft evaders….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, January 21, 1977, he followed through on his promise.
A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Carter served on battleships and submarines for eight years, although he did not see combat. His pardon of draft dodgers enraged veterans and was cheered by amnesty groups. Critics argued that not only would the pardon encourage future draftees to defy the law, it was an affront to the men who served and died during the war. (H/T - History.com)
This was just one (of many) examples why Jimmy Carter was the most ineffective president in the last seventy-five years.
His current rabid anti-Semitism and pro-Hamas stance is not exactly doing wonders for his already tarnished reputation, either.
Topics: HHH |
January 21st, 2009 at 11:45 pm
He was seriously a shameful president.
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:14 am
I loved the Half Hour News Hour’s skit showing the great service Jimmy Carter did to this country by becoming “ex-President”.
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:48 am
Carter is shameful indeed. But wait the Obamanation is in office now.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:11 am
I’m glad I don’t remember anything from those days other than playing with toys and potty training. I learned about Carter when I saw that episode of The Simpsons where they put up a statue of him, and someone yells “He’s history’s greatest monster!!”
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:48 am
Ineffective and shameful just aren’t enough to describe how bad Jimmy Carter was as our 39th President. Frankly, he was, in my opinion, the worst President we had in the 20th century (at least).
Woodrow Wilson was too naive for his own good, and FDR atoned for his domestic failures by being a strong Commander-in-Chief, but Jimmy Carter leaves them in the dust with all of his failures in office, and his behavior since then.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:08 am
For a while, he was a great ex-president. For a while.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:43 am
Doghouse, when was Jimmy Carter a great ex-President?
January 22nd, 2009 at 7:22 pm
He gives me the shivers…
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:19 am
As one who had a lottery number in the last draft and who by the name section did serve honorably for 20 years from 1973 to 1993, it hurt when this happened. I was sitting in my parent’s living room when I saw it. I was on a PCS from my first sea tour to my first shore tour. A lot of the older First Class and Chiefs at my new command were not exactly thrilled with the decision. We all had enlisted of our own free will and to see the cowards get rewarded caused many to never trust Jimmy Carter as the CinC.
Of the six Presidents I served, Carter was flat out, the worst. There is no need for discussion. And the scumbag got a submarine named for him. Just because he was one of Admiral Rickover’s hand-picked nuke boys.
And in the Fall of 1978, I reenlisted, to go back to a sea-going squadron. Thank God Almighty for Ronald Reagan in 1980.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:11 am
Deanna - Ineffective, inept, and misguided. At least those are the terms I would use.
Eric - That should be the only exhibit in his presidential library.
Rick - I cannot imagine that he would be worse than Carter. Carter is a disgrace.
Dorkelina - And they severed his head and replaced it with Marge’s. Heh.
Morgan - Harding was bad, Hoover was bad. Carter is worse, in my opinion.
Doghouse - Briefly.
Morgan - He did a lot for habitat for Humanity and was not nearly as anti-Semitic as he is now. Of course, the HFH turned out to be a shambles, but his heart was in the right place.
Captain - Shiver me timbers!
Glenn - Reagan: The man who rebuilt the American armed forces.