Pardon for O. Henry: Prelude

On November 23, 2011, President Barack Obama granted “pardons” to two turkeys named “peace” and “liberty.” The ceremony was part of a widely covered Thanksgiving ritual that has been faithfully carried on by presidents for some time.

While doing so, the President noted that Thanksgiving is “the one day that is ours … the one day that is truly American.” With some irony, in making this observation, the President quoted a convicted felon, one William Sydney Porter.

But Mr. Porter was certainly no average convicted felon.

Though some doubted his actual guilt, he served just over three years in a federal penitentiary in the late 1800s. He then emerged to become one of the most famous, and most loved, American authors. The world came to know Mr. Porter as a prolific writer of marvelous short stories. But they also came to know him as “O. Henry” – a man talented enough to admire, a citizen respectable enough to be quoted by a modern-day president of the United States during a high-profile public relations gig.

Petitioners on behalf of Mr. Porter (Scott Henson and P.S. Ruckman, Jr.) request that the President of the United States grant a posthumous presidential pardon ...

Sign the petition HERE !