William Taft's pardon of charles w. morse
Charles Wyman Morse was a very famous businessman and speculator on Wall Street in the early 1900s. After having trouble with some of his investments, stocks and banks, he had to resign from banking. United States District attorney Henry Stimson convicted Morse of violations of federal banking and Morse had to serve 15 years in jail. While in jail, he tried several times to get a pardon from President William Taft but failed. In 1912, Morse claimed to be sick with Bright’s disease and other sickness and said that he would die if he did not get let out of prison. With that in mind, President Taft pardoned him and Morse was let out of prison. Later after an investigation, it was found that Morse faked the sickness by drinking soapsuds and chemicals. This pardon was not only unfair since he committed many crimes and violated banking laws but did not get his fair punishment. This pardon also shows that sometimes the government does not put enough investigation on the cases before handing out pardons, since the only reason why Taft pardoned Morse was because Morse was dying, when in reality, it was just an act. This case perfectly shows that President Taft used his right to pardon irresponsibly by not investigating the case deeply before granting the pardon.