Sacco and Vanzetti were pardoned, but not until long after their deaths.
On July 14, 1921, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two avowed anarchists, were convicted of robbing a shoe factory and murdering a paymaster and guard in South Braintree, Massachusetts.
Their trial was marred by possible perjury, suppression of evidence, and the bias of the judge against foreign-born anarchists.
The two defendants were executed on August 23, 1927.
Their names were cleared 50 years later in a special proclamation by Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.