Truman seeks a pardon for Matt Connelly

Truman seeks a pardon for Matt Connelly charts Harry S. Truman’s determined effort to secure a pardon for Matthew Connelly, a former employee he regarded as innocent and unjustly treated. The episode joined Truman’s loyalty to a trusted associate with his growing frustration at the Kennedy administration’s failure to act: he kept pressing the case, but the pardon ultimately came from President John F. Kennedy.

The Case for Connelly

In May 1960, Matthew Connelly began serving a prison sentence for income tax evasion. Truman was convinced that Connelly was innocent and, like others, believed he had become the target of a Republican vendetta. He helped raise money for Connelly’s legal expenses, then continued to pursue the matter after Connelly had been released from prison on parole.

Truman’s concern was personal as well as legal. He described Connelly as one of his best employees and treated the case as an instance of mistreatment and injustice, not as a favor he could quietly forget once Connelly was out of prison. His efforts also unfolded against a difficult personal backdrop: he disliked Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, saying, “I just don’t like that boy, and I never will.”

Appeals to the Attorney General

In March 1961, Truman wrote to Robert F. Kennedy to urge a pardon. The Attorney General replied that he was studying the problem. Truman wrote again in May, this time supplying more detailed background information; Kennedy again promised his personal attention, but no action followed.

By the start of 1962, Truman’s patience had run out. In a longhand letter, he insisted that Connelly had been abused and mistreated, demanded that his full rights be restored, and made clear that repeated assurances were not enough. He told Kennedy that he wanted a full pardon and framed it as the right thing to do. The insistence was notable because Truman was addressing a man he openly disliked: in this appeal, his demand for justice for Connelly took precedence over personal antagonism.

Pardon and Aftermath

In November 1962, President John F. Kennedy pardoned Connelly. Truman responded with a letter of gratitude to the President. The outcome closed a campaign that had stretched from Truman’s initial appeal in March 1961 through his increasingly forceful follow-up in early 1962, and it distinguished the President’s eventual decision from the Attorney General’s earlier, unfulfilled promises of attention.

Significance

The episode shows Truman carrying a former employee’s cause beyond the end of his own presidency. His position rested on his conviction that Connelly had suffered an injustice, while his conduct gave that conviction practical force: he helped with legal expenses, supplied further information, and kept demanding a pardon after the first request produced no result. The eventual pardon did not erase the strain of the intervening delays, but Truman’s grateful letter marked the resolution he had sought.