President Bush granted pardons Tuesday to 19 individuals and commutation of sentence to one person. The Florida names include the late Charles Thompson Winters of Miami.
His offense: Conspiracy to export, and exportation, of a military aircraft to a foreign country in violation of the Neutrality Act of 1939. Translation: Helping to fly weapons to the Jews in Palestine, fighting for what would later become Israel. According to the White House he was sentenced in 1949 in Florida to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Nearly 25 years after his death, his son, Jimmy, began working on what he considered the ultimate gift to his father: a presidential pardon.
Read the full post on the Naked Politics blog.
