Bill Clinton Pardoned First African-American West Point Graduate

thoughtone

Rising Star
Registered
Why didn't the great Ronald Reagan or George Herbert Walker do this?

source: CNN.com

Clinton to pardon first African-American West Point graduate
February 18, 1999
Web posted at: 12:35 p.m. EST (1735 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, February 18) -- West Point's first African-American graduate is getting a presidential pardon, more than 100 years after his court-martial.

President Bill Clinton will announce the posthumous pardon of Henry O. Flipper in a White House ceremony Friday.

Flipper was dishonorably discharged in 1882 after being convicted in an 1881 court-martial of lying to investigators.

Flipper was acquitted on charges of embezzlement of commissary funds, but was found guilty of "conduct unbecoming an officer" for lying.

He died in 1940 at age 84.

Flipper's court-martial conviction notwithstanding, West Point presents an annual Henry Flipper award to a cadet who has overcome adversity and Gen. Colin Powell hung a photo of Flipper on his office wall while serving as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Both Flipper's relatives and retired African-American army officers will attend Friday's ceremony.
 
I should give a shit because...?

This apparently empty gesture has real meaning due to...?
 
Back
Top