“Last-minute presidential pardons are nearly always controversial and quite often highly questionable.
George H.W. Bush pardoned the generals at the center of the Iran-Contra affair. Bill Clinton pardoned a wealthy tax dodger whose wife just happened to give to the Democratic Party. But perhaps none has been as controversial as Jimmy Carter’s pardoning of Peter Yarrow. Handed the pardon on Carter’s last day in office, Yarrow was guilty of molesting a 14-year-old girl.
Aside from the obvious reason, the pardon was super-controversial because Yarrow was famous as a folk musician, a genre Carter liked. You’ve probably even heard one of his songs. He wrote “Puff the Magic Dragon,” a children’s song you’ll now never be able to hear again without feeling faintly sick.^[4]
It was rumored that Carter hadn’t pardoned Yarrow because he felt a burning injustice had been committed but because he liked Yarrow’s music. Still, it’s not like Carter lacked experience with controversial pardons. One of his most notorious acts was to pardon Vietnam draft dodgers.”