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# WWII Hero Codebreaker Gets Belated Pardon

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JC6X4jCj.m3u8" -->
## Video: WWII Hero Codebreaker Gets Belated Pardon

[Watch (HLS stream): WWII Hero Codebreaker Gets Belated Pardon](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JC6X4jCj.m3u8) (1:16)

![WWII Hero Codebreaker Gets Belated Pardon](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/JC6X4jCj/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2013-12-24. British code-breaker Alan Turing has been called a genius, a war hero and one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. But he was gay, and in 1952 was convicted of homosexuality._


---

Jul 27, 2023 4:03 PM UTC

---

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---


## Transcript

>> British codebreaker, Alan Turing, has been called a genius, a war hero and one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. His research is widely credited with cracking Germany's Enigma code and helping end World War II. But Turing was gay. And in 1952, he was convicted of homosexuality, a crime in Britain at that time. He was chemically castrated and stripped of his security clearance. He died in 1954 from cyanide poisoning, which an inquest determined was a suicide. And now some 60 years later, Queen Elizabeth II has granted him a posthumous royal pardon. UK Justice Minister, Chris Grayling called it a fitting tribute to an exceptional man.

A sentiment found in much of the reaction to the news.

>> It is just wonderful to hear, today that he's had a royal pardon.

>> But then there is Alan Turing Memorial sculpture, Glen Hughes, who asks--

>> What about all the other thousands of gay men who are prosecuted? I mean, it doesn't only think it rather says that if you are useful to the state, you don't have to. The law doesn't apply to you.

>> According to the Independent, the royal prerogative of mercy has only been exercised three other times in the last almost 70 years. Interestingly, those other three recipients were all accused murderers. For Time, I'm Carissa Loethen.

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