Washington, D.C.-? There has been a lot of sunrises and sunsets since 1948, and the days of the first struggling efforts to create the nation of Israel. There were different members of the United States that participated in this effort, but at times a line was crossed, including even violating different boundaries and US law.
One of these patriot criminals was a US citizen, a Miami Florida businessman that was a veteran and a loyal US Citizen, but also a sympathetic person to the plight of Israel. He violated the Neutrality Act and conspired with others to transport military supplies and aircraft to Israel.
Charles Winters was a Boston community member, a prior service citizen and a Protestant gentleman, but when he was caught he was un repentant. He was convicted at trial in 1949, and sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined 5,000 dollars.? After his death in 1984, his son, Jim Winters found out and applied for a presidential pardon from President Bush.
President Bush acted on Tuesday December 23rd, 2008 to commute Charles Winters, issuing a pardon posthumously that even today is considered a hero to the state of Israel. While a pardon was issued, it is still one of those things that happened at a difficult time in our history, and during the early history of Israel.