His continued petitioning for return to Arizona in his later years was not nostalgic longing but practical advocacy.

He understood the legal and political landscape sufficiently to know that public opinion could influence government decisions, and he worked the available channels — public appearances, autobiography, audiences with powerful people — to try to move the needle.

He failed.

The political coalition that wanted him kept as a prisoner, or that was indifferent to his fate, was stronger than the forces that might have returned him to Arizona.

What A Resolution Would Look Like