Statement By Senator John McCain Calling on President Obama to Issue Posthumous Pardon for Jack Johnson

Press Release

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) released the following statement today calling on President Obama to issue a posthumous pardon for the first African American heavyweight boxing champion, John Arthur "Jack" Johnson, for his racially charged conviction in 1913:

"It is disappointing that after issuing hundreds of commutations and pardons to individuals across the nation, President Obama still has not issued a posthumous pardon for boxing legend Jack Johnson, whose unjust conviction stands as a symbol of racial injustice in this country. Jack Johnson's reputation was ruined by a racially motivated conviction more than a century ago after he was charged with transporting a white woman across state lines in violation of the Mann Act. Johnson's imprisonment forced him into the shadows of bigotry and prejudice, and continues to stand as a shameful stain on our nation's history. With just days left in President Obama's term, I strongly urge him to finally restore this great athlete's legacy by issuing a posthumous pardon. As Dr. King said, "The time is always right to do what's right.'"

As a life-long boxing fan, Senator McCain has been introducing legislation in the Senate urging the President to pardon Jack Johnson since 2004. A resolution urging a posthumous pardon was unanimously approved by both the House and Senate in the 114th Congress, as well as the 111th Congress, the first time since 1974 that both chambers passed a concurrent resolution calling for a posthumous pardon of an individual. Additionally, the resolution passed the House in the 110th Congress and passed the Senate in the 108th and 113th Congresses.

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 10th Cavalry 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.

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