July 25, 2005
Editorial: Charles Colson and the Mission That Began with Watergate
by Adam Cohen
The New York Times
Charles Colson, the quintessential Watergate-era hatchet man, once declared that he would "walk over my own grandmother" to get Richard Nixon re-elected. He may not have committed the worst dirty tricks attributed to him, like plotting to firebomb the Brookings Institution to destroy a secret report on the Vietnam War that was damaging to his boss. But before the Nixon White House scandals were over, he was sent away to federal prison for obstruction of justice.
In the midst of his travails, Mr. Colson found religion. After he finished his sentence, he started a prison ministry to bring inmates to Jesus. There is nothing particularly unusual about a conservative Republican gravitating to evangelical Christianity, though given his record, his critics were skeptical. (Harriet Van Horne, the liberal columnist, wrote that "If he isn't embarrassed by this sudden excess of piety, then surely the Lord must be.") What is remarkable, though, is the other role he took on: impassioned, even radical, prison reformer.
There is a new biography out, "Charles W. Colson: A Life Redeemed," by Jonathan Aitken, that explores Mr. Colson's strange odyssey. The early chapters recount his rise from surly frat boy to hard-drinking marine to amoral political operative. They are replete with alcohol binges and dirty tricks, including his carefully executed plan to make it appear that the McGovern campaign was insulting the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. just as the union leader was mulling which presidential candidate to back.
When he was released from prison after serving seven months of a one- to three-year sentence, Mr. Colson founded the Prison Fellowship, a ministry that works with local churches to spread Christianity among prison inmates. Later, he started a subsidiary, the Justice Fellowship, which lobbies to improve prison conditions, reform criminal sentencing and help prepare prisoners for eventual re-entry to society.
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