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EZRA POUND 349
would not be raised again in his native land on behalf of freedom
and justice. The liberals would be safe.
The April 1 announcement mentioned that T. S. Eliot and
Ernest Hemingway had intervened on the poet's behalf. In passing,
Frost's name was also included. This was the first time that Frost
had been mentioned in connection with Pound's imprisonment.
In the issue of April 19, 1958, The Nation noted that a motion
to free Pound had been filed in the Federal District Court in
Washington, but did not mention Frost. The motion had been
entered on April 14, 1958, "United States of America vs. Ezra
Pound, Defendant, Criminal No. 76028". Statements by thirteen
well-known writers, including Frost, gave reasons why Pound
should be released. The signers who had been influenced in their
careers by Pound included T. S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway,
Marianne Moore, Archibald MacLeish and Allen Tate.
On April 18, 1958, Pound appeared in court with his wife and
his son Omar. In a brief and perfunctory proceeding, Judge
Bolitha Laws, who had presided at Pound's commitment to St.
Elizabeths twelve years before, dismissed the treason indictment,
the government attorneys having stated that they offered no
objection to the motion. Pound was represented by Thurman
Arnold, of the law firm of Arnold, Fortas and Porter, a Washington
law firm with important political connections. A few minutes
in court disposed of this historic case, one which had done the
United States great damage abroad, a political error, which,
spawned by the malice of liberals, would never be lived down.
The nation's press suddenly discovered that Pound was "good
copy". The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial on April 17, 1958,
had suggested that he could be released. On April 28, 1958, Life
printed a fine photograph of him wearing a long scarf with Chinese
characters embroidered on it. The New York Times commented on
his release on April 19, 1958:
"Yesterday wartime treason charges against him were dropped,
opening the way for his return to Italy. In winter months at St.
Elizabeths he has somehow managed to make himself oblivious
to the disturbed patients who share his ward and to the continuously
blaring television set. He has worked with the utmost concentration