Robert F. Kennedy

Robert F. Kennedy, serving as Attorney General, became the recipient of Harry S. Truman’s repeated appeals for a pardon for Matt Connelly. The account presents their connection through that dispute: Truman distrusted Kennedy personally, but continued to seek his help for a former employee whom he believed had suffered injustice.

Identity and Introduction

Truman’s judgment of Kennedy was blunt and enduring: “I just don’t like that boy, and I never will.” The account gives no broader portrait of Kennedy or explanation for this antipathy. Instead, it places that personal hostility beside a specific matter of public and personal consequence: Truman’s campaign to restore Connelly’s rights after his conviction for income tax evasion.

The Appeal for Matt Connelly

Connelly began serving a prison sentence in May 1960. Truman was convinced that Connelly was innocent and, like others, believed he had become the victim of a Republican vendetta. Truman helped raise money for Connelly’s legal expenses, then wrote to Kennedy in March 1961 to urge a pardon. By that time Connelly had been released on parole. Kennedy replied that he was studying the matter.

Truman wrote again in May, supplying more detailed background. Kennedy again promised his personal attention, but no pardon followed. By early 1962, Truman’s frustration had turned into a forceful handwritten appeal. He insisted that Connelly had been abused and mistreated, demanded a full pardon and restoration of his rights, and told Kennedy that he would not accept further assurances in place of justice. He also made clear that he had neither spoken to Kennedy’s brother, John F. Kennedy, about the case nor intended to do so.

Resolution and Significance

In November 1962, President John F. Kennedy pardoned Connelly. Truman sent his letter of gratitude to the President. The sequence distinguishes Robert F. Kennedy’s role as the Attorney General repeatedly asked to act from the final decision, which the account attributes to the President. For Truman, the dispute joined personal antagonism to a persistent claim on behalf of a former employee: his dislike of Kennedy did not keep him from pressing the case, and the eventual pardon brought the appeal to a close.