When President Jimmy Carter was inaugurated in 1977, he wasted no time in making good on one of his most controversial campaign promises: pardoning those who had evaded the draft for the Vietnam War.

Carter issued Proclamation 4483 on his first full day in office, less than two years after the end of what was then America’s longest war.

The new commander-in-chief hoped to heal divisions caused by the conflict, but the move was also criticized by some who said it was too lenient toward men who had avoided military service during the war.

It is one of the defining presidential moments for Carter, who died on December 29 at the age of 100.

Anti-war activists had called for a pardon for conscientious objectors

Carter himself had served in the armed forces before entering political life. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946 and rose to the rank of lieutenant.

But during the Vietnam War—and particularly as public sentiment turned against the conflict—young men made efforts to avoid the draft.

There were legal ways to avoid the draft, such as attending college or having an illness that exempted you from military service. And there were illegal ways, such as fleeing to another country.

Escape abroad required money. The majority of men deployed in Vietnam were working class.

As America’s involvement in the war came to an end, the public was faced with the question of what to do with the men who had evaded military service and now found themselves in legal limbo.

David Kieran, a professor of military history at Columbus State University who has written about the Vietnam War, said Americans are divided over whether draft dodgers should be punished for breaking the law or forgiven to help the American public emerge war to come out.

“Were these people who had failed in their civic duty… and failed to serve their country when their country came calling?” Kieran said. “On the other hand, there were people who argued that these were people who were morally opposed to an unjust war.”

During the 1976 presidential campaign, Carter said it was critical for the country to unite after the war and vowed to pardon all men who had evaded the draft.

“I think now is the time to heal our country after the Vietnam War,” he said during a televised debate.

His Republican opponent, then-President Gerald Ford, did not support a blanket pardon. While in the White House, Ford launched a program that granted amnesty to some men who had evaded the draft during the Vietnam War in exchange for 24 months of public service.

Carter kept his promise – and was criticized by both sides

After his inauguration, Carter won and pardoned certain individuals who had “violated the Military Selective Service Act through acts of evasion or omissions between August 4, 1964 and March 28, 1973.”

The pardon meant that the thousands of men who avoided military service and either went underground or fled abroad to countries like Canada and Sweden would not face prosecution. It did not apply to people who had started military service and then deserted.

The move was denounced by military officials and conservative politicians who said it was an insult to those who went to Vietnam. Sen. Barry Goldwater, a Republican from Arizona, said the pardon was “the most shameful thing a president has ever done.” The Washington Post reported at the time.

Still others said Carter’s actions did not go far enough.

The American Veterans Committee praised the pardon but said it should have included deserters and those not honorably discharged, categories disproportionately represented by “minorities and disadvantaged groups in our society.”

In subsequent years, Kieran said: Conservatives continued to view liberals as apologists for the Vietnam War, with Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan declaring in 1980 that America had fought for a “noble cause” domestically.

But decades later, Carter still defended the pardon as “the right thing” and viewed it as an extension of the Ford government’s partial amnesty program.

“I think in that sense it will be seen that (Carter) made a good faith effort,” Kieran said, “to address an issue that had been a pretty important issue in American life for almost a decade before he took office “President and really tried to find a way to help the country recover after Vietnam.”