case and pardon of professor Preston King, The

New Crisis, The, Sep/Oct 2000 by Thornell, Richard Paul

"Professor King, I am so glad that you are back!"

-President Clinton greeting Preston T KIng at a White House reception, April 28, 2000.

A stoic, previously unproclaimed hero of the 1960s civil rights movement returned home last February, after more than a generation of enforced exile, to a celebrity's welcome by his native South and the nation, which his example now inspired.

A rare, unconditional presidential pardon, from a wrongful and unconstitutional conviction and jail sentence for alleged draft evasion in 1961, was won for the distinguished philosopher and educator, Preston T. King, 63. This brave, black son of the old racist South stood up to its racist injustice before the height of the movement. Finally, he got his remedy after 39 years abroad, where he fashioned an eminent academic career in political philosophy and international relations, which he teaches at the University of Lancaster in England.

He was an indomitable victim of flagrant racism. A long list of King's constitutional and statutory rights were violated by the federal government in his long ordeal. His U.S. citizenship was seized. President Clinton's Feb. 21 pardon to permit King to attend the funeral of his eldest brother, Clennon W. King Jr., was the culmination of his family's determined efforts to tend to this unfinished business of the movement.

This grand, personal victory for Professor King was another battle for justice by the great King family of Albany, Ga. It was, indeed, a notable achievement of the grand old civil rights coalition of the 1960s, still alive, formidable, revitalized and brilliantly led by the NAACP. That coalition of organizations was supported by a number of other influential groups and individuals. Contributors to this campaign included friends, academic colleagues, the Congressional Black Caucus and other prominent members of Congress. Professor King's legal team was led by nephew Chevene King and the distinguished former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman and included David Weiler, Bryan Stevenson and Laura Hankins.

Preston's homecoming was a riveting chapter in the story of a great American family and its long rendezvous with leadership to reform the Old South and to keep the New South on a just and steady course. That role was memorialized at a stunningly symbolic rapprochement between Professor King and Judge William A. Bootle, the federal judge who presided over his trial and sentenced him to jail. In an extraordinary act, the retired judge, now 97, joined in King's petition to President Clinton for a pardon. A meeting of reconciliation took place in Macon, Ga., where Judge Bootle hosted the Kings and some of their friends to lunch and conversation at his home.

A better finish could not have been imagined a generation ago: a genteel coming together, in the New South, of former polar opposites. And there was the near ideal closure on the federal government's deeds when President Clinton warmly greeted King at a White House reception April 28.

The local and national media were all over this story. Clennon King, a nephew and television journalist, was especially diligent and effective in mobilizing the media.

Other campaigns for a pardon preceded this one, going back at least to the Carter administration. This one began in earnest over a year ago when the King family met with Justice Department officials and asked them to reopen the case. Family members who assumed leadership roles included Carole King, Preston's sister-in-law; Peggy King-Jorde, his niece; and his daughter, Oona King, the first black elected to the British Parliament. In the following months, the King family and others made contacts with many individuals and organizations, and a legal team went to work.

Last August, the initial case for a pardon was presented to President Clinton and the Justice Department by the author. The statement of justification for a pardon was circulated widely within the civil rights community, higher education, the federal government and the Internet.

Among other notables in academe, Dr. John Hope Franklin of Duke University, former Solicitor General Drew Days of Yale law school, and Dean David Leonard of the University of California at Berkeley gave strong support. Attorney Vernon Jordan, a friend of the Kings and the Clintons, played a key role. Fisk University President Dr. John Smith and Trustee Dr. Eugene White gave their emphatic support, as did Morehouse President Dr. Walter Massey.

The author's case to President Clinton was based on his long friendship with King and knowledge of the facts of the federal government's conviction and sentencing in 1961. The case to the NAACP Board for its all-out support was made jointly, at the invitation of board Chairman Julian Bond, with fellow Fisk classmate Professor David Levering Lewis, the distinguished historian. That presentation elicited a unanimous NAACP resolution addressed to President Clinton and enlisted the interest of board member Rabbi David Saperstein, who subsequently persuaded the Reform Judaism Movement to give its support. Both Bond and Saperstein made the case personally to President Clinton, with decisive effect.