Presidential Pardon of G. Gordon Liddy

The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

By signing my name below, and for the reasons which follow, I am asking you to grant a full presidential pardon of G. Gordon Liddy, for all offenses of which he was convicted during the Watergate period.

Whereas, G. Gordon Liddy was sentenced to twenty-one-and-one-half years in prison for crimes committed during the Watergate period -- a sentence historian Paul Johnson records as "an act of judicial terrorism";

Whereas, G. Gordon Liddy, for his refusal to become a government informant, served a prison term far in excess of any other Watergate defendant;

Whereas, G. Gordon Liddy (after serving nearly five years at hard time) was released by President Jimmy Carter "in the interests of justice";

Whereas, G. Gordon Liddy is now an older man who has conducted himself patriotically and lived his life according to the highest American standards;

Whereas, G. Gordon Liddy cannot, as a result of his penal disability: vote, own firearms, work as an attorney, serve or hold public office, travel freely, serve as a Scout Master, or even join the Masons;

Whereas, others who were involved in Watergate received pardons and had their full citizenship restored;

Whereas, new information has come to light which shows that the Watergate break-in -- for which G. Gordon Liddy was convicted and served time -- was neither ordered nor sanctioned by President Richard Nixon nor anyone working on Nixon's behalf, but by the President's lawyer John Dean operating for purely personal reasons;

Whereas, G. Gordon Liddy's silence led to the exposure of this new information about Watergate;

Whereas, by serving an unfairly excessive prison term for crimes committed not in furtherance of any White House goals at the time, G. Gordon Liddy has apologized more than sufficiently to America, and if anything, America owes him an apology;

Whereas, it is not appropriate under the circumstances to require G. Gordon Liddy to request a pardon himself;

THEREFORE, BE IT KNOWN that the undersigned believes that the interests of justice demand that G. Gordon Liddy be granted relief from all penal disabilities,

BE IT KNOWN that the undersigned respectfully urges you, President George W. Bush , to exercise your power under the United States Constitution, Article II, Section 2, clause 1, and grant a full and unconditional pardon to G. Gordon Liddy for all offenses for which he was convicted.

Very respectfully submitted,
Sincerely,
The Undersigned