Pardon
Winters' son James, along with his close childhood friend Frank Jimenez, began campaigning for his father's pardon after his death, receiving the support of, among others, 21 Congressmen, the American Jewish Committee, and Steven Spielberg. President Bush officially pardoned Winters on December 23, 2008. Democratic Representative Ron Klein, who led the congressional group, commented that "President Bush made the right decision today to issue a posthumous pardon to Charles Winters, a Florida resident who played an essential role in the creation of the state of Israel."
Winter's lawyer, Wilmer Hale partner Reginald Brown, stated, "He did a heroic thing and, at the time, the law didn’t reflect our values. The pardon is a way of the law catching up with the history." His son James responded to the pardon, saying, "This is a present for my father...It was a monumental challenge, but my dad used to always say ‘Keep the faith,’ and we did". Winters' pardon constituted the first posthumous pardon since Henry Ossian Flipper in 1999.
Read more about this topic: Charles Winters
Famous quotes containing the word pardon:
“But I’m his poor shepherd, as plain you may see,
That am come to beg pardon for him and for me.””
—Unknown. King John and the Abbot of Canterbury (l. 99–100)
“I started in to cry and call his name,
Asking forgiveness of his tongueless head.
. . . I dreamt the past was never past redeeming:
But whether this was false or honest dreaming
I beg death’s pardon now. And mourn the dead.”
—Richard Wilbur (b. 1921)
“Your letter of excuses has arrived. I receive the letter but do not admit the excuses except in courtesy, as when a man treads on your toes and begs your pardon—the pardon is granted, but the joint aches, especially if there is a corn upon it.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)