The following List of people pardoned or granted clemency by the President of the United States documents the most prominent cases of each presidency. As granted by the Constitution (Article II, Section 2, Clause 1), Presidents have the power to grant clemency in one or more of the following ways: the ability to grant a full pardon, to commute

Commutation of sentence

Commutation of sentence involves the reduction of legal penalties, especially in terms of imprisonment. Unlike a pardon, a commutation does not nullify the conviction and is often conditional. Clemency is a similar term, meaning the lessening of the penalty of the crime without forgiving the crime...

 a sentence, or to rescind a fine. U.S. Presidents have no power to grant clemency for crimes prosecuted under state law.

As to the difference between a pardon and a commutation:

• A pardon is an executive order vacating a conviction.
• A commutation is the mitigation of the sentence of someone currently serving a sentence for a crime pursuant to a conviction, without vacating the conviction itself.

Approximately 20,000 pardon

Pardon

Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...

s and clemencies were issued by U.S. presidents in the 20th century alone. The records of acts of clemency were public until 1934. In 1981 the Office of the Pardon Attorney

Office of the Pardon Attorney

The Office of the Pardon Attorney, in consultation with the Attorney General of the United States or his designee, assists the President of the United States in the exercise of executive clemency as authorized under Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution. Under the Constitution, the President's...

 was created and records from President H. W. Bush forward are now listed. This list includes pardons and commutations.

George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

President George Washington pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 16 people during his term. Among them are:

• Philip Vigol (or Wigle), convicted of treason in the Whiskey Rebellion
  Whiskey Rebellion
  The Whiskey Rebellion, or Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States in the 1790s, during the presidency of George Washington. Farmers who sold their corn in the form of whiskey had to pay a new tax which they strongly resented...
  
  
• John Mitchell, convicted of treason in the Whiskey Rebellion
  Whiskey Rebellion
  The Whiskey Rebellion, or Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States in the 1790s, during the presidency of George Washington. Farmers who sold their corn in the form of whiskey had to pay a new tax which they strongly resented...
  
  
• George Dunbar Usher of Bristol, RI. Pardoned

John Adams

John Adams

John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...

President John Adams pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 21 people during his term. Among them are:

• David Bradford
  David Bradford (lawyer)
  David Bradford was a successful lawyer and deputy attorney-general for Washington County, Pennsylvania in the late 18th century. He was infamous for his association with the Whiskey Rebellion, and his fictionalized escape to the Spanish-owned territory of West Florida with soldiers at his tail...
  
  , for his role in the Whiskey Rebellion
• John Fries, for his role in Fries's Rebellion; convicted of treason due to opposition to a tax; Fries and others were pardoned, and a general amnesty was issued for everyone involved.
• John Scotchlar, for stealing rigging from the new USS Constitution. Pay the fine; avoid lashing.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...

President Thomas Jefferson pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 119 people during his term. Among them are:

• David Brown - convicted of sedition
  Sedition
  In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
  
   under the Sedition Act of 1798
  Alien and Sedition Acts
  The Alien and Sedition Acts were four bills passed in 1798 by the Federalists in the 5th United States Congress in the aftermath of the French Revolution's reign of terror and during an undeclared naval war with France, later known as the Quasi-War. They were signed into law by President John Adams...
  
   because of his criticism of the United States federal government, receiving the harshest sentence of anyone; pardoned along with all violators of the act

James Madison

James Madison

James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...

President James Madison pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 196 people during his term. Among them are:

• William Hull
  William Hull
  William Hull was an American soldier and politician. He fought in the American Revolution, was Governor of Michigan Territory, and was a general in the War of 1812, for which he is best remembered for surrendering Fort Detroit to the British.- Early life and Revolutionary War :He was born in...
  
   - while Governor of the Michigan Territory, sentenced to death for surrendering Fort Detroit; pardoned
• Jean Lafitte
  Jean Lafitte
  Jean Lafitte was a pirate and privateer in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his elder brother, Pierre, spelled their last name Laffite, but English-language documents of the time used "Lafitte", and this is the commonly seen spelling in the United States, including for places...
  
   and Pierre Lafitte
  Pierre Lafitte
  Pierre Lafitte was a pirate in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He also ran a blacksmith shop in New Orleans, his legitimate business. Pierre was the historically less-well-known older brother of Jean Lafitte...
  
   and the Baratarian Pirates for past piracy, granted due to their assistance during the War of 1812
  War of 1812
  The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
  
  ; granted February 6, 1815.

James Monroe

James Monroe

James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...

President James Monroe pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 419 people during his term. Among them are:

• Pardoned numerous individuals convicted of piracy.

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...

President John Quincy Adams pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 183 people during his term. Among them are:

• Captain L. O. Helland - arrested for having more passengers on board the vessel (Restauration
  Restauration (ship)
  Restauration was a sloop built in 1801 in Hardanger, Norway. It became a symbol of Norwegian American immigration. Historical sources may contain several variations on the name of the sloop, including Restauration, Restoration, Restaurasjonen, and Restorasjon.-History:On what is considered the...
  
  ) than were allowed by American law; pardoned
• Wekau and Chickhonsic - Ho-Chunk
  Ho-Chunk
  The Ho-Chunk, also known as Winnebago, are a tribe of Native Americans, native to what is now Wisconsin and Illinois. There are two federally recognized Ho-Chunk tribes, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska....
  
   leaders pardoned for their role in the Winnebago War
  Winnebago War
  The Winnebago War was a brief conflict that took place in 1827 in the Upper Mississippi River region of the United States, primarily in what is now the state of Wisconsin. Not quite a war, the hostilities were limited to a few attacks on American civilians by a portion of the Winnebago Native...
  
  

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...

President Andrew Jackson pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 386 people during his term. Among them are:

• George Wilson - convicted of robbing the United States mails. Strangely, Wilson refused to accept the pardon. The case went before the Supreme Court, and in United States v. Wilson
  United States v. Wilson
  United States v. Wilson was a trial in the United States in which the defendant, George Wilson, was convicted of robbing the US Mail in Pennsylvania. Due to his friends' influence, Wilson was pardoned by Andrew Jackson. Wilson, however, refused the pardon. Due to the incredibility of events, the...
  
   the court stated: "A pardon is a deed, to the validity of which delivery is essential, and delivery is not complete without acceptance. It may then be rejected by the person to whom it is tendered; and if it is rejected, we have discovered no power in this court to force it upon him." As such, Wilson was not released from prison early.

Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the United States . Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson ....

President Martin Van Buren pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 168 people during his term. Among them are:

• William Lyon Mackenzie
  William Lyon Mackenzie
  William Lyon Mackenzie was a Scottish born American and Canadian journalist, politician, and rebellion leader. He served as the first mayor of Toronto, Upper Canada and was an important leader during the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion.-Background and early years in Scotland, 1795–1820:Mackenzie was...
  
   - violation of American neutrality laws; pardoned

William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the United States , an American military officer and politician, and the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, 23 days old when elected, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the...

President William Henry Harrison was one of only two presidents who gave no pardons. This was due to his death shortly after taking office.

John Tyler

John Tyler

John Tyler was the tenth President of the United States . A native of Virginia, Tyler served as a state legislator, governor, U.S. representative, and U.S. senator before being elected Vice President . He was the first to succeed to the office of President following the death of a predecessor...

President John Tyler pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 209 people during his term. Among them are:

• Alexander William Holmes – sailor convicted of voluntary manslaughter (U.S. v. Holmes); pardoned

James K. Polk

James K. Polk

James Knox Polk was the 11th President of the United States . Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He later lived in and represented Tennessee. A Democrat, Polk served as the 17th Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 12th Governor of Tennessee...

President James K. Polk pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 268 people during his term. Among them are:

• John C. Frémont
  John C. Frémont
  John Charles Frémont , was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder...
  
   - convicted by court martial of mutiny
  Mutiny
  Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
  
  . Frémont later became the 1856 Republican candidate for the Presidency of the United States.

Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass...

President Zachary Taylor pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 38 people during his term.

Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore was the 13th President of the United States and the last member of the Whig Party to hold the office of president...

President Millard Fillmore pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 170 people during his term. Among them are:

• Daniel Drayton and Edward Sayres - convicted in the Pearl incident
  Pearl incident
  The Pearl Incident was the largest recorded escape attempt by slaves in the United States. On April 15, 1848, seventy-six slaves attempted to escape Washington D.C. in part by travelling on a riverboat called The Pearl. Paul Jennings was one of the organizers of this incident...
  
   (transporting slaves to freedom); pardoned

Franklin Pierce

Franklin Pierce

Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States and is the only President from New Hampshire. Pierce was a Democrat and a "doughface" who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Pierce took part in the Mexican-American War and became a brigadier general in the Army...

President Franklin Pierce pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 142 people during his term.

James Buchanan

James Buchanan

James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States . He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor and the last to be born in the 18th century....

President James Buchanan pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 150 people during his term. Among them are:

• Brigham Young
  Brigham Young
  Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
  
   - pardoned for role in the Utah War
  Utah War
  The Utah War, also known as the Utah Expedition, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between LDS settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the United States government. The confrontation lasted from May 1857 until July 1858...
  
  .

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

President Abraham Lincoln pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 343 people during his term. Among them are:

• Pardoned 264 of 303 Dakota Indians who attacked white settlers in the Great Sioux Uprising of 1862.

Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...

President Andrew Johnson pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 654 people during his term. Among them are:

• Confederate soldiers
  Confederate States Army
  The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
  
   - unconditional amnesty to all Confederates on Christmas Day 1868; earlier amnesties requiring signed oaths and excluding certain classes of people were issued both by Lincoln and by Johnson. Among them were:
  • Charles D. Anderson
    Charles D. Anderson
    Charles David Anderson was an American planter, businessman, legislator, and soldier. He served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War, in which he was wounded three times. After the war Anderson was a tax collector in Georgia.-Early life and career:Charles D...
    
    
  • Richard H. Anderson
    Richard H. Anderson
    Richard Heron Anderson was a career U.S. Army officer, fighting with distinction in the Mexican-American War. He also served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War, fighting in the Eastern Theater of the conflict and most notably during the 1864 Battle of Spotsylvania Court House...
    
    
  • Eli Metcalfe Bruce
    Eli Metcalfe Bruce
    Eli Metcalfe Bruce was a philanthropist and a Representative from Kentucky in the First and Second Confederate Congresses. He was the principle financier of the Confederate government of Kentucky during the Civil War.-Early life:Eli Metcalfe Bruce was born near Flemingsburg, Kentucky, the son...
    
    
  • Horatio Washington Bruce
    Horatio Washington Bruce
    Horatio Washington Bruce was a Confederate politician during the American Civil War.-Early life:Horatio Bruce was born February 22, 1830 about one mile south of Vanceburg in Lewis County, Kentucky. He was the son of Alexander and Amanda Bruce and named for two of his uncles, Horatio and...
    
    
  • Augustus Hill Garland
    Augustus Hill Garland
    Augustus Hill Garland was an Arkansas lawyer and politician. He was a senator in both the United States and the Confederate States, served as 11th Governor of Arkansas and as Attorney General of the United States in the first administration of Grover Cleveland.-Early life and law career:Garland...
    
    
• Samuel Arnold
  Samuel Arnold (Lincoln conspirator)
  Samuel Bland Arnold was involved in the plot to kidnap President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.He and the other conspirators, John Wilkes Booth, David Herold, Lewis Powell, Michael O'Laughlen and John Surratt, were to kidnap Lincoln and hold him to exchange for the Confederate prisoners in Washington D.C....
  
   - charged with conspiring to murder Lincoln
• Dr. Samuel Mudd
  Samuel Mudd
  Samuel Alexander Mudd I, M.D. was an American physician who was convicted and imprisoned for aiding and conspiring with John Wilkes Booth in the 1865 assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. He was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson and released from prison in 1869...
  
   - charged with conspiring to murder Lincoln
• Edmund Spangler
  Edmund Spangler
  Edmund Spangler , also known as Edman, Edward, and Ned Spangler, was originally from York, Pennsylvania, but he spent the majority of his life in the Baltimore, Maryland area...
  
   - charged with conspiring to murder Lincoln

Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...

President Ulysses S. Grant pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1,332 people during his term. Among them are:

• Confederate leaders - All but 500 top Confederate leaders were pardoned when President Grant signed the Amnesty Act of 1872.

Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...

President Rutherford B. Hayes pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 893 people during his term. Among them are:

• Ezra Heywood
  Ezra Heywood
  Ezra Heywood was a 19th century North American individualist anarchist, slavery abolitionist, and feminist.-Philosophy:Heywood saw what he believed to be a disproportionate concentration of capital in the hands of a few as the result of a selective extension of government-backed privileges to...
  
   - Convicted of violating the 1873 Comstock Act; pardoned after 6 months

James Garfield

James Garfield

James Abram Garfield served as the 20th President of the United States, after completing nine consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Garfield's accomplishments as President included a controversial resurgence of Presidential authority above Senatorial courtesy in executive...

President James Garfield was one of only two presidents who gave no pardons. This was due to his assassination shortly after taking office.

Chester A. Arthur

Chester A. Arthur

Chester Alan Arthur was the 21st President of the United States . Becoming President after the assassination of President James A. Garfield, Arthur struggled to overcome suspicions of his beginnings as a politician from the New York City Republican machine, succeeding at that task by embracing...

President Chester A. Arthur pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 337 people during his term. Among them are:

• Fitz John Porter
  Fitz John Porter
  Fitz John Porter was a career United States Army officer and a Union General during the American Civil War...
  
   - Court-martialed for his actions at Second Bull Run; sentence commuted

Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland

Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...

President Grover Cleveland pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1,107 (est.) people during his two, non-consecutive terms. Among them (in his first term) are:

• James Brooks
  James Brooks (Texas Ranger)
  James Brooks was a Texas Ranger of the Old West, and is a member of the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame, and who developed a reputation as a gunman.-Early life:...
  
   - Texas Ranger indicted for manslaughter; pardoned after lobbying from his fellow Rangers
• Rudger Clawson
  Rudger Clawson
  Rudger Judd Clawson was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1898 until his death in 1943...
  
   - convicted of polygamy; pardoned
• David King Udall
  David King Udall
  David King Udall, Sr. was a representative to the Arizona Territorial Legislature and the founder of the Udall political family. His great-grandsons Mark and Tom currently represent the Colorado and New Mexico in the United States Senate, respectively.-Childhood years:David King Udall was born in...
  
   - convicted on perjury charges; spent 3 months in a Federal Prison; received a full and unconditional pardon

Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...

President Benjamin Harrison pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 613 people during his term. Among them are:

• Members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints - Granted amnesty and pardon for the offense of engaging in polygamous or plural marriage to members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints

Grover Cleveland (2nd term)

Grover Cleveland

Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...

President Grover Cleveland pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1,107 (est.) people during his two, non-consecutive terms. Among them (in his second term) are:

• "Billy Wilson" (David L. Anderson) – outlaw; pardoned

William McKinley

William McKinley

William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...

President William McKinley pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 918 (est.) people during his term. Among them are:

• Alexander McKenzie
  Alexander McKenzie (American politician)
  Alexander John McKenzie was a politician in early North Dakota. He preferred not to serve in public office, but was highly influential in North Dakota and in neighboring Montana and Minnesota...
  
   - contempt of court; pardoned
• Charles Chilton Moore
  Charles Chilton Moore
  Charles Chilton Moore was an American atheist, and the editor of the Blue Grass Blade, one of the United States' first newspapers promoting atheism....
  
   - jailed for blasphemy; pardoned

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

President Theodore Roosevelt pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 981 (est.) people during his term. Among them are:

• Servillano Aquino
  Servillano Aquino
  Servillano Aquino y Aguilar was a Filipino general during the Philippine Revolution against Spain , and the Philippine-American War . He served as a delegate to the Malolos Congress and was the grandfather of Benigno S...
  
   – received death sentence for anti-American activities in the Philippines; pardoned after 2 years
• Al Jennings
  Al Jennings
  Alphonso J. "Al" Jennings was an attorney in the western USA who at one time robbed trains. He later became a silent film star and made many appearances in films as an actor and technical advisor.-Biography:...
  
   – sentenced to life in prison for robbery; pardoned
• Stephen A. Douglas Puter
  Stephen A. Douglas Puter
  Stephen A. Douglas Puter was a criminal and author from the U.S. state of Oregon. He was instrumental in carrying out the Oregon land fraud scandal, which transferred tens of thousands of acres of federal lands given to the Oregon and California Railroad to private hands, ultimately benefiting...
  
   – convicted of land fraud; pardoned after 18 months so he could turn state’s evidence
• Presidential pardons page at Almanac of Theodore Roosevelt

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...

President William H. Taft pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 758 people during his term. Among them are:

• John Hicklin Hall
  John Hicklin Hall
  John Hicklin Hall was a politician and attorney in the U.S. state of Oregon. A native of the Portland area, he served in the Oregon House of Representatives in the early 1890s before appointment as the United States District Attorney for Oregon...
  
   - role in the Oregon land fraud scandal
  Oregon land fraud scandal
  The Oregon land fraud scandal of the early 20th century involved U.S. government land grants in the U.S. state of Oregon being illegally obtained with the assistance of public officials. Most of Oregon's U.S. congressional delegation received indictments in the case: U.S. Senator John H....
  
  ; pardoned
• Charles W. Morse
  Charles W. Morse
  Charles Wyman Morse was a notorious businessman and speculator on Wall Street in the early 20th century.-Early life:...
  
   - convicted of violations of federal banking laws; pardoned due to ill health (later found to be feigned)
• Captain Van Schaick – pardoned after 3 ½ years in prison for the General Slocum disaster

Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

President Woodrow Wilson pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 2,480 people during his term. Among them are:

• George Burdick - a New York newspaper editor, who had refused to testify in federal court regarding the sources used in his article concerning the collection of customs duties. He pled the 5th amendment; President Wilson then granted him a full pardon for all of his federal offenses, which he refused. He continued to plead the 5th, at which he was sentenced by a federal judge for contempt. It was then that the Supreme Court reinforced the necessity of accepting a pardon to be valid
  Burdick v. United States
  Burdick v. United States, 236 U.S. 79 , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that:* A pardoned man must introduce the pardon into court proceedings, otherwise the pardon must be disregarded by the court....
  
  ; the federal judge had imprisoned Burdick on the grounds that he was claiming falsely his need for protection against self-incrimination.
• Frederick Krafft
  Frederick Krafft
  Frederick Krafft was an American socialist political activist and politician. Twice nominated by the Socialist Party of America as its candidate for Governor of New Jersey and twice a candidate for United States Congress, Krafft is best remembered as the defendant in a 1918 trial for alleged...
  
   - convicted for alleged violation of the Espionage Act. Only person convicted under this law to receive a full executive pardon.

Warren Harding

President Warren G. Harding pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 800 people during his term. Among them are:

• Eugene V. Debs
  Eugene V. Debs
  Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
  
   - convicted of sedition under the Espionage Act of 1917
  Espionage Act of 1917
  The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law passed on June 15, 1917, shortly after the U.S. entry into World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code but is now found under Title 18, Crime...
  
  ; sentence commuted
• Kate Richards O'Hare
  Kate Richards O'Hare
  Kate Richards O'Hare was an American Socialist Party activist, editor, and orator best known for her controversial imprisonment during World War I.-Biography:...
  
   - convicted of sedition under the Espionage Act of 1917; sentence commuted

Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...

President Calvin Coolidge pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1,545 people during his term. Among them are:

• Marcus Garvey
  Marcus Garvey
  Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League...
  
   - convicted of mail fraud; sentence commuted and deported
• Lothar Witzke
  Lothar Witzke
  Lothar Witzke was a German spy and saboteur active in the United States and Mexico during World War I.- Naval career :Born in Posen , Witzke was educated at Posen Academy then entered the German Naval Academy as a seventeen-year-old cadet. By the beginning of the war he was a lieutenant in the...
  
   - German spy and saboteur; pardoned and deported

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...

President Herbert Hoover pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1,385 people during his term. Among them are:

• Warren T. McCray
  Warren T. McCray
  Warren Terry McCray was the 30th Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from 1921 to 1924. He came into conflict with the growing influence of the Indiana Ku Klux Klan after vetoing legislation they supported...
  
   - Governor of Indiana convicted of Mail Fraud; pardoned after learning of the KKK
  Indiana Klan
  The Indiana Klan was a branch of the Ku Klux Klan, a secret society in the United States that practiced racism and terrorism against minority ethnic and religious groups. The Indiana Klan rose to prominence beginning in the years after World War I when rising levels of eastern and southern European...
  
  's role in his arrest and conviction
• Thomas W. Miller
  Thomas W. Miller
  Thomas Woodnutt Miller was an American businessman, lawyer and politician, from Wilmington, Delaware, and Reno, Nevada. He was a veteran of World War I and a member of the Republican Party, who served as U. S. Representative from Delaware.-Early life and family:Miller was born in Wilmington,...
  
   - conspiring to defraud the U.S. government; pardoned

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Democratic President Roosevelt granted 3,687 pardons in his four terms in office. Among them are:

• George R. Dale
  George R. Dale
  George Reynolds Dale was an American newspaper editor and politician. He was best known as the editor of the Muncie Post-Democrat from 1920–1936, and as mayor of Muncie from 1930–1935...
  
   - convicted of violating Prohibition laws; pardoned after the repeal of Prohibition
• Roy Olmstead
  Roy Olmstead
  Roy Olmstead was one of the most successful and best-known bootleggers in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S.. A former lieutenant in the Seattle, Washington, police department, he began to bootleg part-time...
  
   - convicted for violating the National Prohibition Act; appealed, arguing that the wiretapping evidence used against him constituted a violation of his constitutional rights to privacy and against self-incrimination; U.S. Supreme Court upheld the conviction in the landmark case of Olmstead v. United States
  Olmstead v. United States
  Olmstead v. United States, , was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, in which the Court reviewed whether the use of wiretapped private telephone conversations, obtained by federal agents without judicial approval and subsequently used as evidence, constituted a violation of the...
  
  ; pardoned
• Duncan Renaldo
  Duncan Renaldo
  Renault Renaldo Duncan , better known as Duncan Renaldo, was an American actor who portrayed The Cisco Kid in films and on the 1950-1956 American TV series, The Cisco Kid.-Early years:...
  
   - arrested for illegal entry into the US; pardoned

Harry Truman

Democratic President Harry Truman pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 2,044 people during his term. Among them are:

• George Caldwell
  George Caldwell (Louisiana)
  George A. Caldwell, sometimes known as Big George Caldwell , was a powerful Louisiana contractor who supervised the construction of nine buildings on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, including the university library and the structures housing the dairying and physics...
  
   - income tax evasion; pardoned
• Oscar Collazo
  Oscar Collazo
  Oscar Collazo , was one of two Puerto Ricans who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Harry S. Truman.-Early life:...
  
   - Collazo attempted Truman's assassination; Commuted death sentence to life sentence; also see listing under Carter
• James Michael Curley
  James Michael Curley
  James Michael Curley was an American politician famous for his four terms as mayor of Boston, Massachusetts. He also served twice in the United States House of Representatives and one term as 53rd Governor of Massachusetts.-Early life:Curley's father, Michael Curley, left Oughterard, County...
  
   - fraud and mail fraud; pardoned
• Richard W. Leche
  Richard W. Leche
  Richard Webster Leche was the 44th Governor of Louisiana from 1936 until 1939. Leche was the first governor of Louisiana sentenced to prison.- Early life :...
  
   - mail fraud; pardoned
• Andrew J. May
  Andrew J. May
  Andrew Jackson May was a Kentucky attorney and influential New Deal-era politician, best known for his chairmanship of the House Military Affairs Committee during World War II, and his subsequent conviction for bribery...
  
   - accepting bribes; pardoned
• Seymour Weiss
  Seymour Weiss
  Seymour Weiss was a prominent New Orleans hotel executive and civic leader who was a close confidante of the legendary Huey Pierce Long, Jr. Ironically, Weiss, the most loyal of Louisiana Longites, bore the same last name as Carl Weiss, M.D., the apparent assassin of U.S...
  
   - tax evasion and mail fraud; pardoned

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1157 people during his term. Among them are:

• Maurice L. Schick - military court-martial for brutal murder; sentence commuted to life imprisonment, with the condition that he would never be released. Legal challenge went to the Supreme Court, questioning the constitutionality of the punishment "Life Imprisonment Without Parole". Decided in Schick v. Reed that to be so sentenced was constitutional. He was not paroled.

John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

Democratic President John F. Kennedy pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 575 people during his term. Among them are:

• First-time offenders convicted of crimes under the Narcotics Control Act of 1956 - pardoned all, in effect overturning much of the law passed by Congress.

Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...

Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1187 people during his term. Among them are:

• Frank W. Boykin
  Frank W. Boykin
  Frank William Boykin, Sr. served as a Democratic Congressman in Alabama's 1st congressional district from 1935-1963....
  
   - Congressman convicted of bribery; pardoned in 1964 at the request of departing Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
  Robert F. Kennedy
  Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
  
  .
• Maurice Hutcheson
  Maurice Hutcheson
  Maurice Albert Hutcheson was a carpenter and an American labor leader. He was president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America from 1952 to 1972....
  
   - contempt of Congress; pardoned

Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

Republican President Richard Nixon pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 926 people during his term. Among them are:

• Jimmy Hoffa
  Jimmy Hoffa
  James Riddle "Jimmy" Hoffa was an American labor union leader....
  
   - sentence commuted on condition
• Angelo DeCarlo
  Angelo DeCarlo
  Angelo "Gyp" DeCarlo was a member of the New York Genovese crime family who dominated loansharking operations in New Jersey during the 1960s...
  
   - convicted of extortion; served 1½ years; pardoned due to poor health

Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford

Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

Republican President Gerald Ford pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 409 people during his term. Among them are:

• Richard Nixon
  Richard Nixon
  Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
  
   - Granted a full and unconditional pardon just before he could be indicted.
• Robert E. Lee
  Robert E. Lee
  Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
  
   - full rights of citizenship were posthumously restored
• Iva Toguri D'Aquino
  Iva Toguri D'Aquino
  Iva Ikuko Toguri D'Aquino , was an American citizen who participated in English-language propaganda broadcast transmitted by Radio Tokyo to Allied soldiers in the South Pacific during World War II...
  
   - "Tokyo Rose
  Tokyo Rose
  Tokyo Rose was a generic name given by Allied forces in the South Pacific during World War II to any of approximately a dozen English-speaking female broadcasters of Japanese propaganda. The intent of these broadcasts was to disrupt the morale of Allied forces listening to the broadcast...
  
  " - only U.S. citizen convicted of treason to be pardoned
• Vietnam draft dodgers - Ford offered conditional amnesty to over 50,000 draft dodgers.

Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

Democratic President Jimmy Carter pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 566 people during his term. Among them are:

• Oscar Collazo
  Oscar Collazo
  Oscar Collazo , was one of two Puerto Ricans who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Harry S. Truman.-Early life:...
  
   - Attempted assassination on President Harry S. Truman
  Harry S. Truman
  Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
  
  ; commuted to time served
• G. Gordon Liddy
  G. Gordon Liddy
  George Gordon Liddy was the chief operative for the White House Plumbers unit that existed from July–September 1971, during Richard Nixon's presidency. Separately, along with E. Howard Hunt, Liddy organized and directed the Watergate burglaries of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in...
  
   - Watergate figure. Convicted for 20 years, commuted after serving 4½ years for conspiracy, burglary and illegal wiretapping.
• Peter Yarrow
  Peter Yarrow
  Peter Yarrow is an American singer who found fame with the 1960s folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote one of the group's most famous songs, "Puff, the Magic Dragon"...
  
   - Singer-songwriter of Peter, Paul and Mary
• Vietnam draft dodgers - Unconditional amnesty issued in the form of a pardon
• Jefferson Davis
  Jefferson Davis
  Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
  
   - President of the Confederate States of America.
• Patty Hearst
  Patty Hearst
  Patricia Campbell Hearst , now known as Patricia Campbell Hearst Shaw, is an American newspaper heiress, socialite, actress, kidnap victim, and convicted bank robber....
  
   - Convicted of Bank Robbery; sentence commuted
• Lolita Lebrón
  Lolita Lebrón
  Dolores "Lolita" Lebrón Sotomayor was a Puerto Rican nationalist who wasconvicted of attempted murder and other crimes after leading an assault on the United States House of Representatives in 1954,...
  
  , Rafael Cancel Miranda
  Rafael Cancel Miranda
  Rafael Cancel Miranda , political activist, is a member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and an advocate of Puerto Rican independence. On March 1, 1954, Cancel Miranda together with fellow Nationalists Lolita Lebron, Andres Figueroa Cordero, and Irving Flores Rodriguez entered the United...
  
  , Irving Flores Rodriguez - machine-gunning the U.S. House of Representatives and wounding five Congressmen in 1954; clemency

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

Republican President Ronald Reagan pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 406 people during his term. Among them are:

• W. Mark Felt
  W. Mark Felt
  William Mark Felt, Sr. was an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , who retired in 1973 as the Bureau's Associate Director...
  
   and Edward S. Miller
  Edward S. Miller
  Edward S. Miller was the Deputy Assistant Director of the Inspections Division under Mark Felt with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.In November 1980, Miller, then head of the FBI's Domestic Intelligence Division, and W...
  
   - FBI officials convicted of authorizing illegal break-ins. Mark Felt later in life admitted to being Deep Throat
  Deep Throat
  Deep Throat is the pseudonym given to the secret informant who provided information to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post in 1972 about the involvement of United States President Richard Nixon's administration in what came to be known as the Watergate scandal...
  
  , the informant during the Watergate affair.
• Junior Johnson
  Junior Johnson
  Robert Glenn Johnson, Jr. , better known as Junior Johnson, is a retired moonshiner in the rural South who became one of the early superstars of NASCAR in the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966...
  
   - Moonshining; pardoned
• George Steinbrenner
  George Steinbrenner
  George Michael Steinbrenner III was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. During Steinbrenner's 37-year ownership from 1973 to his death in July 2010, the longest in club history, the Yankees earned seven World Series...
  
   - Was convicted of illegal Nixon campaign contributions and obstruction of justice; pardoned

George H.W. Bush

Republican President George H. W. Bush pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 77 people during his term. Among them are:

• For their roles in the Iran-Contra Affair
  Iran-Contra Affair
  The Iran–Contra affair , also referred to as Irangate, Contragate or Iran-Contra-Gate, was a political scandal in the United States that came to light in November 1986. During the Reagan administration, senior Reagan administration officials and President Reagan secretly facilitated the sale of...
  
  
  • Elliott Abrams
    Elliott Abrams
    Elliott Abrams is an American attorney and neoconservative policy analyst who served in foreign policy positions for two Republican U.S. Presidents, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. While serving for Reagan and in the State Department, Abrams, Paul Wolfowitz, and retired U.S. Marine Corps officer...
    
    
  • Duane Clarridge
  • Clair George
    Clair George
    Clair Elroy George was a widely respected veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency's clandestine service who oversaw all global espionage activities for the agency in the mid-1980s...
    
    
  • Alan D. Fiers
    Alan D. Fiers
    Alan D. Fiers, Jr, was President Ronald Reagan's Chief of the Central Intelligence Agency's Central American Task Force from October 1984 until his retirement in 1988....
    
    
  • Robert C. McFarlane - National Security Adviser to President Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
    
    
  • Caspar Weinberger
    Caspar Weinberger
    Caspar Willard "Cap" Weinberger , was an American politician, vice president and general counsel of Bechtel Corporation, and Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan from January 21, 1981, until November 23, 1987, making him the third longest-serving defense secretary to date, after...
    
     - Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
    
    
• Orlando Bosch
  Orlando Bosch
  Orlando Bosch Ávila was a Cuban exile militant, former Central Intelligence Agency-backed operative, and head of Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations, which the FBI has described as "an anti-Castro terrorist umbrella organization". Former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh called...
  
   - pardoned for parole violation
• Armand Hammer
  Armand Hammer
  Armand Hammer was an American business tycoon most closely associated with Occidental Petroleum, a company he ran for decades, though he was known as well as for his art collection, his philanthropy, and for his close ties to the Soviet Union.Thanks to business interests around the world and his...
  
   - CEO of the Occidental Petroleum Company, contributed $110,000 to the Republican National Committee just prior to his pardon. Pardoned for illegally contributing $54,000 to Richard Nixon's presidential campaign in 1972.
• Joseph Occhipinti - Federal drug agent convicted of violation of civil rights, perjury and depravation of rights. Commuted.
• Myra Soble
  Myra Soble
  Myra Soble together with her husband Jack Soble was tried and jailed for her involvement in the Soble spy ring.Myra Soble , was born on March 18, 1904, in Nikloaev, Ukraine, Russia. She was the wife of Jack Soble. Myra and Jack were married on November 24, 1927, in Moscow...
  
   - 1957 conviction for her involvement in the Rosenberg spy ring; pardoned

Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

Democratic President William J. Clinton pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 459 people during his term. Among them are:

• Roger Clinton, Jr.
  Roger Clinton, Jr.
  Roger Cassidy Clinton is an American actor and musician and the half-brother of former President Bill Clinton.Roger Clinton was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas , the son of Virginia Clinton Kelley and Roger M...
  
   - brother of Bill Clinton. After serving a year in federal prison for cocaine possession.
• Almon Glenn Braswell
  Almon Glenn Braswell
  Almon Glenn Braswell was an American business owner who founded Gero Vita International Inc. He is most noted for being one of the 140 people pardoned in the Bill Clinton pardons controversy of January 2001.-False treatment for baldness:...
  
   - convicted of mail fraud and perjury; pardoned
• Patty Hearst
  Patty Hearst
  Patricia Campbell Hearst , now known as Patricia Campbell Hearst Shaw, is an American newspaper heiress, socialite, actress, kidnap victim, and convicted bank robber....
  
   - Bank robbery. Prison term commuted by Jimmy Carter. She was released from prison in 1979. She was fully pardoned by Clinton in 2001.
• Marc Rich
  Marc Rich
  Marc Rich is an international commodities trader and entrepreneur. He is best known for founding the commodities company Glencore. He was indicted in the United States on federal charges of illegally making oil deals with Iran during the late 1970s-early 1980s Iran hostage crisis and tax evasion...
  
  , Pincus Green
  Pincus Green
  Pincus Green is an American oil and gas commodities trader whose net worth is estimated by Forbes magazine at $1.2 billion USD. Green fled the United States in 1983, along with partner Marc Rich, after being indicted by U.S...
  
   - business partners; indicted by U.S. Attorney on charges of tax evasion and illegal trading with Iran. Pardoned at the request of 3 Republicans including Lewis Libby
  Lewis Libby
  I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is a former adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, later disbarred and convicted of a felony....
  
  .
• Dan Rostenkowski
  Dan Rostenkowski
  Daniel David "Dan" Rostenkowski was a United States Representative from Illinois, serving from 1959 to 1995. Raised in a blue-collar neighborhood on the Northwest Side of Chicago, Rostenkowski rose to become one of the most powerful legislators in Washington. He was a member of the Democratic Party...
  
   - Democrat from Illinois. Served his entire sentence, then pardoned.
• Fife Symington III
  Fife Symington III
  John Fife Symington III is an American businessman and the former Governor of the U.S. state of Arizona from 1991 until his resignation in 1997.-Background:...
  
   - Republican Governor of Arizona convicted of bank fraud; pardoned.
• Susan McDougal
  Susan McDougal
  Susan McDougal is one of the few people who served prison time as a result of the Whitewater controversy although fifteen individuals were convicted of various federal charges...
  
   - partners with Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton in the failed Whitewater
  Whitewater (controversy)
  The Whitewater controversy was an American politics controversy that began with the real estate investments of Bill and Hillary Clinton and their associates, Jim and Susan McDougal in the Whitewater Development Corporation, a failed business venture in the 1970s and 1980s.A New York...
  
   deal. Guilty of contempt of court, she served her entire sentence and was then pardoned.
• Henry Cisneros
  Henry Cisneros
  Henry Gabriel Cisneros is a politician and businessman. A Democrat, Cisneros served as the 10th Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the administration of President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997...
  
   - Clinton's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count for lying to the FBI, and was fined $10,000.
• Edward Downe, Jr.
  Edward Downe, Jr.
  -Biography:Downe graduated from the University of Missouri’s Missouri School of Journalism in 1952. He worked in a variety of capacities at two Virginia newspapers before joining True magazine. In 1954, he left True to become an editor at the rival magazine Argosy; he later moved into...
  
   - wire fraud, filing false income tax returns, and securities fraud; pardoned
• Elizam Escobar
  Elizam Escobar
  Elizam Escobar is a Puerto Ricanpoet, author and visual artist.-Early years:Escobar was born in Puerto Rico's second largest city, Ponce, Puerto Rico, on the southern part of the island. There he received his primary and secondary education. As a child, he always enjoyed drawing and painting...
  
   - seditious conspiracy; pardoned
• Samuel Loring Morison
  Samuel Loring Morison
  Samuel Loring Morison is a former American intelligence professional, who was convicted of espionage and theft of government property in 1985, and pardoned in 2001...
  
   - espionage and theft of government property; pardoned
• Mel Reynolds
  Mel Reynolds
  Melvin Reynolds is a former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois. His political career ended in scandal.-Early life:...
  
   - Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives.
• Henry O. Flipper
  Henry Ossian Flipper
  Henry Ossian Flipper was an American soldier and though born into slavery in the American South, was the first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1877 at the age of 21 and earn a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army.Following Flipper's...
  
   - The first black West Point cadet was found guilty of "conduct unbecoming an officer" in 1882.
• John Deutch - Director of Central Intelligence, former Provost and University Professor, MIT
• Rick Hendrick
  Rick Hendrick
  Joseph Riddick Hendrick III , better known as Rick Hendrick, is the current owner of the American NASCAR team, Hendrick Motorsports and founder of the Hendrick Automotive Group and Hendrick Marrow Program. He attended Park View High School in South Hill, Virginia, and began his career in auto...
  
   - NASCAR Team Owner & Champion; convicted of mail fraud; pardoned
• FALN - commuted the sentences of 16 members of FALN, a violent Puerto Rican terrorist group that set off 120 bombs in the United States, mostly in New York City and Chicago. The 16 were convicted of conspiracy and sedition and sentenced with terms ranging from 35 to 105 years in prison.

George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

Republican President George W. Bush pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 200 people during his term. Among them are:

• Lewis "Scooter" Libby
  Lewis Libby
  I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is a former adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, later disbarred and convicted of a felony....
  
   - Assistant to President George W. Bush
  George W. Bush
  George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
  
   and Chief of Staff to Dick Cheney
  Dick Cheney
  Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
  
   was convicted of perjury in connection with the CIA leak scandal
  Plame affair
  The Plame Affair involved the identification of Valerie Plame Wilson as a covert Central Intelligence Agency officer. Mrs. Wilson's relationship with the CIA was formerly classified information...
  
   involving members of State Department who 'outed' CIA agent Valerie Plame
  Valerie Plame
  Valerie Elise Plame Wilson , known as Valerie Plame, Valerie E. Wilson, and Valerie Plame Wilson, is a former United States CIA Operations Officer and the author of a memoir detailing her career and the events leading up to her resignation from the CIA.-Early life :Valerie Elise Plame was born on...
  
  . Libby received commutation, not a full pardon.
• José Compeán
  Jose Compean
  José Alonso Compeán is a former United States Border Patrol Agent, convicted of shooting a non-compliant, illegal alien drug smuggler on the United States–Mexico border near El Paso, Texas, on February 17, 2005 and "obstructing justice by willfully defacing the crime scene"...
  
   and Ignacio Ramos
  Ignacio Ramos
  Ignacio Ramos is a former United States Border Patrol Agent, who shot an allegedly unarmed illegal alien and drug smuggler on the United States–Mexico border. He was convicted of causing serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence,...
  
   - Two US Border Patrol who wounded drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete Dávila and tried to cover up the incident. Senator Dianne Feinstein asked President Bush to commute the sentences.
• Charles Winters
  Charles Winters
  Charles "Charlie" Thompson Winters was an American businessman who volunteered during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. He was imprisoned for 18 months for helping smuggle three B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers to Israel in the late 1940s, but pardoned posthumously by President George W...
  
   - Posthumous pardon for smuggling three B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers to Israel in the late 1940s
• Issac Robert Toussie - Convicted of making false statements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; pardoned and the pardon revoked one day later
• Edwin L. Cox Jr. - Convicted in 1988 for bank fraud
• John Forté
  John Forté
  John Forté is a Grammy-nominated American recording artist, composer, music producer, educator and activist. He achieved fame while writing, producing and performing with the celebrated hip hop group The Fugees during the 1990’s, and has released four solo albums, including his most recent effort,...
  
   - Hip-hop singer/song writer's sentence for smuggling cocaine was commuted.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

Democratic President Barack Obama has pardoned 16 people up to this point in his term of office. Among them are:

• James Bernard Banks, of Liberty, Utah, sentenced to two years of probation in 1972 for illegal possession of government property.
• Russell James Dixon, of Clayton, Ga., sentenced to two years of probation in 1960 for a liquor law violation.
• Laurens Dorsey, of Syracuse, N.Y., sentenced in 1998 to five years of probation and $71,000 in restitution for conspiracy to defraud by making false statements to the Food and Drug Administration.
• Ronald Lee Foster, of Beaver Falls, Pa., sentenced in 1963 to a year of probation and a $20 fine for mutilating coins.
• Timothy James Gallagher, of Navasota, Texas, sentenced in 1982 to three years of probation for cocaine possession and conspiracy to distribute.
• Roxane Kay Hettinger, Powder Springs, Ga., sentenced in 1986 to 30 days in jail and three years of probation for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
• Edgar Leopold Kranz Jr., of Minot, N.D., who received 24 months of confinement and a pay reduction for cocaine use, adultery and bouncing checks.
• Floretta Leavy, of Rockford, Ill., sentenced in 1984 to 366 days in prison and three years of parole for drug offenses.
• Scoey Lathaniel Morris, of Crosby, Texas, sentenced in 1991 to three years of probation and $1,200 restitution for counterfeiting offenses.