releases: https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=e7c45385-3faa-4816-8a6f-ead2528252e5
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=e7c45385-3faa-4816-8a6f-ead2528252e5 | STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN McCAIN ON PRESIDENT OBAMAS FAILURE TO GRANT POSTHUMOUS PARDON FOR JACK JOHNSON | 2015-12-18 | 2015 | 2015-12 | Republican | House | AZ | John McCain | M000303 | www.mccain.senate.gov | legacy | Washington, D.C. U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) released the following statement on President Obamas failure to issue a posthumous pardon for boxing legend John Arthur Jack Johnson along with the 95 commutations of sentence and two pardons he granted today: Today, President Obama missed another opportunity to right a historical injustice by issuing a posthumous pardon for boxing legend Jack Johnson, whose good name and reputation were ruined by a racially charged conviction more than a century ago. Despite Congress having just enacted legislation calling on the president to restore this great athletes legacy, he has once again refused to take action. When President Obama grants more presidential pardons in the year to come, I hope he will finally do the right thing and close this shameful chapter in American history. Earlier this month, Congress passed and the president signed into law legislation that included a resolution offered by Senators McCain and Harry Reid (D-NV) that calls on President Obama to posthumously pardon Johnson. Jack Johnson was born in Galveston, Texas on March 31, 1878 and in 1908, he became the first African-American World Heavyweight Boxing Champion after defeating Tommy Burns in Australia a title Johnson held until 1915. Prompted by his success in the boxing ring and his relationship with a Caucasian woman, Jack Johnson was wrongly convicted under the Mann Act when he brought the woman he was dating across state lines. The intent of the Mann Act was to prevent human trafficking of women for the purpose of prostitution. However, this racially motivated 1913 conviction imprisoned Jack Johnson for a year. The conviction ruined his career and destroyed his reputation. American Presidents have issued posthumous pardons in the past. In 1999, President Clinton pardoned Henry O. Flipper, the first African-American to graduate from West Point and first African-American officer to lead the Buffalo Soldiers of the 10thCavalry Regiment during the Civil War, who was later dismissed from the Army for racially charged allegations. In 2008, President Bush pardoned Charles Winters, an American volunteer in the Arab-Israeli War who was convicted of violating the U.S. Neutrality Acts in 1949 after he helped to transfer two B-17 Flying Fortresses in an effort to aid the Jewish peoples effort to establish the state of Israel. Read William Rhodens recent column in The New York Times calling for a posthumous pardon of Jack Johnson here. ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |