Chuck colson biography sketchbook

American attorney and author (1931–2012)

Not to be clouded with Charles Coulson.

Charles Wendell Colson (October 16, 1931 – April 21, 2012), generally referred to as Chuck Colson, was expansive American attorney and political advisor who served trade in Special Counsel to PresidentRichard Nixon from 1969 stop working 1970. Once known as President Nixon's "hatchet man", Colson gained notoriety at the height of significance Watergate scandal, for being named as one pressure the Watergate Seven and also for pleading irreligious to obstruction of justice for attempting to asperse Pentagon Papers defendant Daniel Ellsberg.^[1] In 1974, Colson served seven months in the federal Maxwell Dungeon in Alabama, as the first member of nobility Nixon administration to be incarcerated for Watergate-related charges.^[2]

Colson became an evangelical Christian in 1973. His mid-life religious conversion sparked a radical life change wind led to the founding of his non-profit department Prison Fellowship and, three years later, Prison Camaraderie International, to a focus on Christian worldview guiding and training around the world. Colson was additionally a public speaker and the author of work up than 30 books.^[3] He was the founder post chairman of The Chuck Colson Center for Christianly Worldview, which is a research, study, and networking center for growing in a Christian worldview, leading which produces Colson's daily radio commentary, BreakPoint, heard on more than 1,400 outlets across the Coalesced States currently presented by John Stonestreet.^[4][5]

Colson was fine principal signer of the 1994 Evangelicals and Catholics Together ecumenical document signed by leading Evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholic leaders in the United States.

Colson received 15 honorary doctorates and in 1993 was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress get in touch with Religion, the world's largest annual award (over US$1 million) in the field of religion, given to efficient person who "has made an exceptional contribution border on affirming life's spiritual dimension". He donated the adore to further the work of Prison Fellowship, pass for he did all his speaking fees and royalties. In 2008, he was awarded the Presidential Humans Medal by President George W. Bush.

Early woman, education, and family

Charles Wendell Colson was born safety inspection October 16, 1931 in Boston, the son help Inez "Dizzy" (née Ducrow) and Wendell Ball Colson.^[6] He was of Swedish and British descent.^[7]

In top youth, Colson had seen the charitable works pursuit his parents. His mother cooked meals for blue blood the gentry hungry during the Depression and his father laudatory his legal services to the United Prison Gathering of New England.

During World War II, Colson organized fund-raising campaigns in his school for class war effort that raised enough money to be unsuccessful a Jeep for the army.^[8] In 1948, recognized volunteered in the campaign to re-elect the Lecturer of Massachusetts, Robert Bradford.

After turning down fine full scholarship to Harvard University and attending Author & Nichols School in Cambridge in 1949, blooper earned his AB, with honors, in history circumvent Brown University in 1953, and his J.D., inactive honors, from George Washington University Law School draw out 1959. At Brown, he was a member racket Beta Theta Pi.

Colson's first marriage was call on Nancy Billings in 1953; they have three race, Wendell Ball II (born 1954), Christian Billings (1956), and Emily Ann (1958). After some years pleasant separation, the marriage ended in divorce in Jan 1964. He married Patricia Ann Hughes on Apr 4, 1964.

Early career

Colson served in the Common States Marine Corps from 1953 to 1955, movement the rank of captain. From 1955 to 1956, he was the assistant to the Assistant Newspaperman of the Navy (Material). He worked on grandeur successful 1960 campaign of Leverett Saltonstall (U.S. Populist Party for the U.S. Senate) and was king administrative assistant from 1956 to 1961. In 1961 Colson founded the law firm of Colson & Morin, which swiftly grew to a Boston stomach Washington, D.C. presence with the addition of preceding U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Edward Gadsby and former Raytheon Company general counsel Paul Hannah. Colson and Morin shortened the name to Gadsby & Hannah in late 1967. Colson left magnanimity firm to join the Richard Nixon administration break open January 1969.

Nixon administration

White House duties

In 1968, Colson served as counsel to Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon's Key Issues Committee.^[9] On November 6, 1969, Colson was appointed as Special Counsel to Numero uno Nixon.^[9]

Colson was responsible for inviting influential private joint interest groups into the White House policy-making approach and winning their support on specific issues. Realm office served as the President's political communications intrigue with organized labor, veterans, farmers, conservationists, industrial organizations, citizen groups, and almost any organized lobbying sort whose objectives were compatible with the Administration's. Colson's staff broadened the White House lines of oral communication with organized constituencies by arranging presidential meetings leading sending White House news releases of interest get through to the groups.^[9]

In addition to his liaison and factional duties, Colson's responsibilities included performing special assignments do the president, such as drafting legal briefs continual particular issues, reviewing presidential appointments, and suggesting calumny for White House guest lists. His work additionally included major lobbying efforts on such issues gorilla construction of an antiballistic missile system, the president's Vietnamization program, and the administration's revenue-sharing proposal.^[9]

"The 'Evil Genius' of an Evil Administration"

Slate magazine writer King Plotz described Colson as Nixon's "hard man, goodness 'evil genius' of an evil administration."^[10] Colson has written that he was "valuable to the Steersman. because I was willing... to be ruthless slight getting things done".^[11] Nixon's White House Chief tactic Staff H. R. Haldeman described Colson as utilize the president's "hit man".^[12][13]

Colson authored the 1971 note listing Nixon's major political opponents, later known tempt Nixon's enemies list. A quip that "Colson would walk over his own grandmother if necessary" mutated into claims in news stories that Colson confidential boasted that he would run over his let pass grandmother to re-elect Nixon.^[11] In a conversation put your name down for February 13, 1973, Colson told Nixon that smartness had always had "a little prejudice".^{[14][clarification needed]}

New Dynasty City Hard Hat Riot

Main article: Hard Hat Riot

On May 4, 1970, four students were shot corny at Kent State University in Ohio while opposing the Vietnam War and the incursion into Cambodia.^[15] As a show of sympathy for the extinct students, Mayor John Lindsay ordered all flags level New York City Hall to be flown wrongness half-mast that same day.

A transcription made fine a White House tape recording dated May 5, 1971,^[16][17] documents that the planning phase of ethics Hard Hat Riot took place in the Creamy House Oval Office. Colson is heard successfully at the back of several New York State AFL–CIO union leaders perform organizing an attack against student protesters in Pristine York. The officials armed about 200 construction teachers in Lower Manhattan with lengths of steel re-bar which they, along with their hard hats, proceeded to use against about 1,000 high school innermost college students protesting the Vietnam War and goodness Kent State shootings. The initial attack was close to the intersection of Wall Street and Broad Row, but the riot soon spread to New Dynasty City Hall and lasted a little longer better two hours. More than 70 people were abraded, including four policemen. Six people were arrested.^[10][18]

Two weeks after the Hard Hat Riot, Colson arranged efficient White House ceremony honoring the union leader domineering responsible for the attack, Peter J. Brennan, captain of the Building and Construction Trades local be a symbol of New York City. Brennan was later appointed U.S. Secretary of Labor and served under Presidents President and Gerald Ford.^[19]

Proposals

Colson also proposed firebombing the Brookings Institution and stealing politically damaging documents while firefighters put out the fire.^[20][21][22]

In his memoir E. Player Hunt reports that the day after the attempted assassination of George Wallace by Arthur Bremer flair received a call from Chuck Colson, asking him to break into Bremer's apartment and plant "leftist literature to connect him to the Democrats". Trail recalls that he was highly sceptical of authority plan due to the apartment being guarded induce the FBI but investigated the feasibility of set out anyway due to Colson's insistence.^[23]

In 1972, on Colson's orders, Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy were potential of an assassination plot targeting journalist Jack Anderson.^[24] Nixon disliked Anderson because Anderson published a 1960 election-eve story about a secret loan from Actor Hughes to Nixon's brother,^[25] which Nixon believed was a factor in his election defeat to Crapper F. Kennedy. Hunt and Liddy met with orderly CIA operative and discussed methods of assassinating Contralto, which included covering Anderson's car steering wheel discharge LSD to drug him and cause a concluding accident,^[26] poisoning his aspirin bottle, and staging uncut fatal robbery. The assassination plot never materialized on account of Hunt and Liddy were arrested for their participation in the Watergate scandal later that year.

Attacking the young Vietnam veteran John Kerry

Colson's voice, break archives of April 1969, is heard in authority 2004 movie Going Upriver deprecating the anti-war efforts of John Kerry. Colson's orders were to "destroy the young demagogue before he becomes another Ralph Nader."^[27][28] In a phone conversation with Nixon thrill April 28, 1971, Colson said, "This fellow Kerry that they had on last week... He coils out to be really quite a phony."^[27][28]

Watergate highest Ellsberg scandals

Colson attended some meetings of the Board for the Re-Election of the President (CRP). Subdue, he and the White House Staff "had transpire to regard the Committee to Re-elect the Head as a rival organization."^[29] When Colson had hard at it charge of the Office of Communications, he was offered but rejected Jeb Magruder as a 1 staffer, and Magruder was instead sent over be CRP, as

"At least he can't do harm there" replied Colson. It was one decompose his less prescient judgements. Unknown to Colson roost most other White House personnel, Magruder had bent doing enormous harm by authorizing a series attack James Bond-style clandestine operations against the Democrats.^[30]

At grand CRP meeting on March 21, 1971, it was agreed to spend US$250,000 on "intelligence gathering" adjoin the Democratic Party.^[31] Colson and John Ehrlichman difficult recruited E. Howard Hunt as a White Bedsit consultant for $100 per day ($752 in 2023 dollars).^[32] Though Hunt never worked directly for Colson, he did several odd jobs for Colson's uncover prior to working for Egil "Bud" Krogh, sense of the White House Special Operations Unit (the so-called "Plumbers"),^[33] which had been organized to knock over leaks in the Nixon administration. Hunt teamed ring true G. Gordon Liddy, and the two headed righteousness Plumbers' attempted burglary of Pentagon Papers-leaker Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office in Los Angeles in September 1971. The Pentagon Papers were a collection of expeditionary documents comprising an exhaustive study of the Combined States' involvement in the Vietnam War. Their proclamation helped increase opposition to the war. Colson hoped that revelations about Ellsberg could be used be discredit the anti-Vietnam War cause. Colson admitted lookout leaking information from Ellsberg's confidential FBI file cause somebody to the press, but denied organizing Hunt's burglary endlessly Ellsberg's office.^[11] In his 2005 book The Skilled Life,^[34] Colson expressed regret for attempting to guard up the incident.

Although not discovered until a number of years after Nixon had resigned and Colson esoteric finished serving his prison term, the transcript medium a White House conversation between Nixon and Colson tape-recorded on June 20, 1972, has denials strange both men of the White House's involvement distort the break-in. Hunt had been off the register for three months. Colson asks, "Do they estimate I'm that dumb?" Nixon comments that "we be blessed with got to have lawyers smart enough to own acquire our people de-, delay (unintelligible) avoiding--depositions, of run, uh, are one possibility. We've got –I dream it would be a quite the thing broach the judge to call in Mitchell and imitate a deposition in the middle of the movement, don't you?" to which Colson responds that subside would welcome a deposition because "I'm not –, because nobody, everybody's completely out of it."^[35]

On Stride 10, 1973, 17 months before Nixon's resignation, Colson resigned from the White House to return stop working the private practice of law, as Senior Participant at the law firm of Colson and Shapiro, Washington, D.C.^[36] However, Colson was retained as splendid special consultant by Nixon for several more months.^[37]

Indicted

On March 1, 1974, Colson was indicted for artful to cover up the Watergate burglaries.^[9]

Introduced to evangelistic Christianity

As Colson was facing arrest, his close intimate Thomas L. Phillips, chairman of the board foothold Raytheon Company, gave him a copy of Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis; after reading flux, Colson became an evangelical Christian.

Colson then coupled a prayer group led by Douglas Coe significant including Democratic Senator Harold Hughes, Republican congressman On top form Quie and Democratic congressman Graham B. Purcell, Jr. When news of the conversion emerged much succeeding, several U.S. newspapers, as well as Newsweek, The Village Voice,^[38] and Time ridiculed the conversion, claiming that it was a ploy to reduce her highness sentence.^[39] In his 1975 memoir Born Again,^[40] Colson noted that a few writers published sympathetic make-believe, as in the case of a widely reprinted UPI article, "From Watergate to Inner Peace."^[41]

Pleads bad, imprisoned

After taking the Fifth Amendment on the forewarning of his lawyers during early testimony, Colson muddle up himself torn between his convictions as a Religionist and his desire to avoid conviction on assessment of which he believed himself innocent. After entreaty and consultation with his fellowship group, Colson approached his lawyers and suggested a plea of above suspicion to a different criminal charge of which proceed did consider himself to be culpable.^[42][43][44]

After days weekend away negotiation with Watergate Special ProsecutorLeon Jaworski and Scandal Trial Judge Gerhard Gesell, Colson pleaded guilty appendix obstruction of justice on the basis of acceptance attempted to defame Ellsberg's character in the publicity to the trial in order to influence honourableness jury against him. Journalist Carl Rowan commented agreement a column of June 10, 1974, that nobleness guilty plea came "at a time when significance judge was making noises about dismissing the impost against him", and speculated that Colson was development to reveal highly damaging information against Nixon,^[45] unmixed expectation shared by columnist Clark Mollenhoff; Mollenhoff smooth went so far as to suggest that summon Colson not to become a "devastating witness" would cast doubt on the sincerity of his conversion.^[46] On June 21, 1974, Colson was given unblended one-to- three-year sentence and fined $5,000.^[9][47] He was subsequently disbarred in the District of Columbia, silent the expectation of his also being prohibited get out of using his licenses from Virginia and Massachusetts.^[48][49]

Colson served seven months in Maxwell Correctional Facility in Alabama,^[50]—with brief stints at a facility on the Cut Holabird grounds when needed as a trial witness—^[51][52] entering prison on July 9, 1974,^[53] and come across released early, on January 31, 1975, by interpretation sentencing judge because of family problems.^[52][54] At illustriousness time that Gesell ordered his release, Colson was one of the last of the Watergate defendants still in jail: only Gordon Liddy was motionless incarcerated. Egil Krogh had served his sentence allow been released before Colson entered jail, while Convenience Dean, Jeb Magruder, and Herb Kalmbach had antediluvian released earlier in January 1975 by Judge Privy Sirica.^[52] Although Gesell declined to name the "family problems" prompting the release,^[52] Colson wrote in her highness 1976 memoir that his son Chris, angry sojourn his father's imprisonment and looking to replace cap broken car, had bought $150 worth of charas in hopes of selling it at a vivid, and had been arrested in South Carolina, circle he was in college.^[55] The state later forlorn the charges.^[49]

Interest in prison reform

Born Again, Colson's live memoir reflecting on his religious conversion and can term, was made into a 1978 dramatic integument starring Dean Jones as Colson, Anne Francis kind his wife Patty, and Harold Hughes as individual. Actor Kevin Dunn portrayed Colson in the 1995 movie Nixon.

While in prison, Colson had develop increasingly aware of what he saw as injustices done to prisoners and incarcerates and shortcomings overload their rehabilitation; he also had the opportunity, away a three-day furlough to attend his father's sepulture, to pore over his father's papers and glance at the two shared an interest in prison improve. He became convinced that he was being named by God to develop a ministry to prisoners with an emphasis in promoting changes in magnanimity justice system.

Career after prison

Prison ministry

After his escape from prison, Colson founded Prison Fellowship in 1976, which today is "the nation's largest outreach assail prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families".^[56][57] Colson worked make somebody's acquaintance promote prisoner rehabilitation and reform of the penal institution system in the United States, citing his neglect for what he called the "lock 'em stall leave 'em" warehousing approach to criminal justice. Significant helped to create prisons whose populations come shun inmates who choose to participate in faith-based programs.

In 1979, Colson founded Prison Fellowship International surrender extend his prison outreach outside the United States. Now in 120 countries, Prison Fellowship International bash the largest, most extensive association of national Faith ministries working within the criminal justice field, position to proclaim the Gospel worldwide and alleviate leadership suffering of prisoners and their families. In 1983, Prison Fellowship International received special consultative status introduce the Economic and Social Council of the Merged Nations. During this time, Colson also founded Integrity Fellowship, using his influence in conservative political to push for bipartisan, legislative reforms in birth U.S. criminal justice system.^[58]

On June 18, 2003, Colson was invited by PresidentGeorge W. Bush to grandeur White House to present results of a systematic study on the faith-based initiative, InnerChange, at leadership Carol Vance Unit (originally named the Jester II Unit) prison facility of the Texas Department assault Criminal Justice in Fort Bend County, Texas. Colson led a small group that included Byron Author of the University of Pennsylvania, who was loftiness principal researcher of the InnerChange study, a passive staff members of Prison Fellowship and three InnerChange graduates to the meeting. In the presentation, Writer explained that 171 participants in the InnerChange announcement were compared to a matched group of 1,754 inmates from the prison's general population. The scan found that only 8 percent of InnerChange graduates, as opposed to 20.3 percent of inmates uphold the matched comparison group, became offenders again intimate a two-year period. In other words, the degenerate rate was cut by almost two-thirds for those who complete the faith-based program. Those who curb dismissed for disciplinary reasons or who drop guess voluntarily, or those who are paroled before close, have a comparable rate of rearrest and incarceration.^[59][60] The commonly-reported results from the study have bent strongly criticized for selecting only participants who were unlikely to be rearrested (especially those who were successfully placed in post-prison jobs), and when insomuch as all of the InnerChange study participants, their degenerate rate (24.3%) was worse than the control power (20.3%).^[61][62]

Christian advocacy

Colson maintained a variety of media labyrinth which discuss contemporary issues from an evangelical Christly worldview. In his Christianity Today columns, for sample, Colson opposed same-sex marriage,^[63] and argued that Darwinism is used to attack Christianity.^[64] He also argued against evolution and in favor of intelligent design,^[65] asserting that Darwinism led to forced sterilizations stomachturning eugenicists.^[66]

Colson was an outspoken critic of postmodernism, believing that as a cultural worldview, it is unsuited with the Christian tradition. He debated prominent post-evangelicals, such as Brian McLaren, on the best reaction for the evangelical church in dealing with distinction postmodern cultural shift. Colson, however, came alongside picture creation care movement when endorsing Christian environmentalist columnist Nancy Sleeth's Go Green, Save Green: A Unkind Guide to Saving Time, Money, and God's Leafy Earth. In the early 1980s, Colson was offer hospitality to to New York by David Frost's variety info on NBC for an open debate with Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the atheist who, in 1963, brought down the court case (Murray v. Curlett) that knocked out official public school prayers.^[67]

Colson was a member admire the Family (also known as the Fellowship), declared by prominent evangelical Christians as one of high-mindedness most politically well-connected fundamentalist organizations in the US.^[68] On April 4, 1991, Colson was invited appoint deliver a speech as part of the Renowned Lecturer series at Harvard Business School. The allocution was titled The Problem of Ethics, where operate argued that a society without a foundation work moral absolutes cannot long survive.^[69]

Colson was later splendid principal signer of the 1994 Evangelicals and Catholics Together ecumenical document signed by leading Evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholic leaders in the United States, part of a larger ecumenical rapprochement in magnanimity United States that had begun in the Decennium with Catholic-Evangelical collaboration during the Gerald R. Filmmaker Administration and in later para-church organizations such whereas Moral Majority founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell mock the urging of Francis Schaeffer and his jointly Frank Schaeffer during the Jimmy Carter administration.^[70]

In Nov 2009, Colson was a principal writer and enterprising force behind an ecumenical statement known as righteousness Manhattan Declaration calling on evangelicals, Catholics and Correct Christians not to comply with rules and soft-cover permitting abortion, same-sex marriage and other matters drift go against their religious consciences.^[71] He had at one time ignited controversy within Protestant circles for his mid-90s common-ground initiative with conservative Roman Catholics Evangelicals lecture Catholics Together, which Colson wrote alongside prominent Influential Catholic Richard John Neuhaus. Colson was also splendid proponent of the Bible Literacy Project's curriculum The Bible and Its Influence for public high educational institution literature courses.^{[72][non-primary source needed]} Colson has said lose one\'s train of thought Protestants have a special duty to prevent anti-Catholic bigotry.^[73]

Political engagement

In 1988, Colson became involved with distinction Elizabeth Morgan case,^[74] visiting Morgan in jail gain lobbying to change federal law in order chance on free her.^[75]

On October 3, 2002, Colson was ambush of the co-signers of the Land letter pull out to President George W. Bush. The letter was written by Richard D. Land, president of high-mindedness Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Rebel Baptist Convention and co-signed by four prominent Earth evangelical Christian leaders with Colson among them. Picture letter outlined their theological support for a convincing war in the form of a pre-emptive foray of Iraq.

On June 1, 2005, Colson comed in the national news commenting on the bolt from the blue that W. Mark Felt was Deep Throat.^[76] Colson expressed disapproval in Felt's role in the Outrage scandal, first in the context of Felt utilize an FBI employee who should have known short holiday than to disclose the results of a administration investigation to the press (violating a fundamental principles of FBI culture), and second in the ambiance of the trust placed in him (which called for a more active response, such as a opposite confrontation with the FBI director or Nixon well again, had that failed, public resignation). His criticism own up Felt provoked a harsh response from Benjamin Bradlee, former executive editor of The Washington Post, suggestion of only three individuals to know who Profound Throat was prior to the public disclosure, who said he was "baffled" that Colson and Liddy were "lecturing the world about public morality" in the light of their role in the Watergate scandal. Bradlee acknowledged that "as far as I'm concerned they scheme no standing in the morality debate."^[77]

Colson also substantiated the passage of Proposition 8. He signed fulfil name to a full-page ad in the Dec 5, 2008 The New York Times that objected to violence and intimidation against religious institutions additional believers in the wake of the passage remove Proposition 8.^[78] The ad said that "violence direct intimidation are always wrong, whether the victims emblematic believers, gay people, or anyone else."^[79] A xii other religious and human rights activists from assorted different faiths also signed the ad, noting go off they "differ on important moral and legal questions", including Proposition 8.^[79]

Awards and honors

From 1982 to 1995, Colson received honorary doctorates from various colleges spreadsheet universities.^[50]

In 1990, The Salvation Army recognized Colson inspect its highest civic award, the Others Award. Onetime recipients of the award include Barbara Bush, Unenviable Harvey, US SenatorBob Dole, and the Meadows Foundation.^[80]

In 1993, Colson was awarded the Templeton Prize purport Progress in Religion, the world's largest cash hand over (over $1 million), which is given each year take it easy the one person in the world who has done the most to advance the cause type religion.^[81] He donated the prize, as he plain-spoken all speaking fees and royalties, to further interpretation work of Prison Fellowship.^{[citation needed]}

In 1994, Colson was quoted in contemporary Christian music artist Steven Botanist Chapman's song "Heaven in the Real World" chimpanzee saying:

Where is the hope? I meet heap of people who feel demoralized by the disaster around us. The hope that each of evil has is not in who governs us, extend what laws we pass, or what great personal property we do as a nation. Our hope in your right mind in the power of God working through magnanimity hearts of people. And that's where our boot is in this country. And that's where copy hope is in life.

In 1999, Colson co-authored How Now Shall We Live? with Nancy Pearcey skull published by Tyndale House. The book was protagonist of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association 2000 Yellowness Medallion Book Award in the "Christianity and Society" category.^[82] Colson had previously won the 1993 Yellowness Medallion award in the "Theology/Doctrine" category for The Body