33 minute read
Honoring Colonel Larry Franklin by Michelle Zimmerman
On January 19, 2021, President Donald Trump issued 73 pardons amid the final fanfare of his term in office. Among those hoping for clemency, was Col. Lawrence Franklin of West Virginia. The petition for a pardon was the latest attempt to secure justice for a man whose 35-year career of service to our country disintegrated in the wake of false accusations of passing classified information and spying for Israel. After dedicating his life to preserving national security and protecting the lives of U.S. servicemen, Col. Franklin suffered the loss of his military and civilian pensions. He was relegated to menial labor and endured daily hardship to survive and provide for his family.
Franklin was backed by a formidable group of supporters from all echelons of government, the military, and advocacy organizations as well as journalists, attorneys and rabbis. The pardon process was led by Larry’s friend and international lawyer Allen Lowy and his wife Kika. Noted legal experts Alan Dershowitz and Gary Apfel submitted a letter of endorsement to President Trump. There were months of correspondence, countless networking meetings, and the involvement of many dedicated individuals.
All indications from the President’s inner circle pointed to clemency, but in a shocking, last-minute twist, the pardon was not granted. Rather than reel from the blow, Col. Franklin’s team of tireless supporters continue to herald his heroism and advocate to restore his quality of life.
Now is a new beginning. The time has come to shift the narrative away from a sensationalized case that has been consigned to an occasional headline or Wikipedia entry. For the average person, Larry Franklin’s career as an intelligence analyst mystifies imagination. The shattering fallout of his case defies reason. In reality, his is an inherently relatable story of honesty, loyalty, and hard work.
Larry is a devoted family man of strong moral and religious values. He is a highly educated, cultured and accomplished intelligence expert who is a true American patriot. Most importantly, he is a courageous friend to the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
Childhood Lessons of Respect & Tolerance
Born in New York City in 1946 to Josephine and Dominic Franklin, Larry remembers a happy childhood. As a World War II veteran, his father was entitled to housing in an apartment project on Amsterdam Avenue and 62nd Street. The Franklins were one of only six white families out of 92 in the building, and this shaped Larry’s perspective on race.
“My parents were simple, and they were intrinsically good without hate in their hearts,” Larry recalls. “They taught us to respect and look at others equally. My upbringing wasn’t about black vs. white – it was about good vs. evil.”
Religion played an integral role in Larry’s upcoming; the family was devout Irish Catholic. For Larry, his brother, and two sisters, life revolved around attending their neighborhood church and parochial school. Larry saw the example of hard work from his father, who drove a truck. His mother was a calming presence who called him “energetic” and made sure to keep him busy as a choir boy, altar boy, and cub scout. She nurtured his appreciation for reading and insisted he memorize poetry.
Larry gained an early perspective on the Jewish people from his “favorite” Uncle Albert Whalen and his Aunt Heni. Albert helped to liberate Mauthausen concentration camp.
“His stories of the atrocities he saw at the camp really made an impression on me. I learned about genocide and the dangers of religious intolerance,” Larry says.
Heni, who had a Jewish background, fostered Larry’s love of music by gifting him his first classical records.
An Education in Resilience
By the time Larry finished high school, the family moved to the Bronx as construction of Lincoln Center changed the dynamic of the neighborhood. Larry won a scholarship to the honors program at Iona College in New Rochelle, where he regularly hitchhiked the 23 miles with two friends.
“I graduated as the only remaining member of the honors program,” he recalls. “It was extremely hard, and a lot of students quit. But I learned early to never quit something that was worth it. That type of ‘stick-to-itiveness’ served me well. It built an iron rod up my spine and made me determined.”
Larry was eager for education. He took extra credits studying the Russian language and German history at the nearby women’s College of New Rochelle. He won a New York State Regents Scholarship to NYU, where he received his Master’s in History with a concentration in Russian history and Southeast Asian history.
While tackling the books, Larry strengthened his skills in martial arts – which honed his physical strength and enabled him to “take a kick later in life.”
In 1969, Larry was studying at Yale when he got word that two of his fellow “hitchhikers” were killed the same weekend in Vietnam.
“I knew it was time to put down the books, and I immediately enlisted,” he says.
A Mother’s Prayer
With the lure of combat, Larry had dreams of joining the U.S. Army Special forces or “Green Berets.” His mother wanted him to pursue something tamer in intelligence. Larry compromised and was assigned to the intelligence unit of Green Beret headquarters in Vietnam. Fate intervened.
“I didn’t know it, but as soon as I got my orders to ship out, my mother went to Mass every day to pray that I wouldn’t go,” he shares. “Her prayers were answered, but probably not the way she intended.”
While training rigorously, Larry collapsed in his barracks. Instead of Vietnam, he was shipped to Walter Reed Medical Center where a previously undetected cardiovascular problem necessitated multiple life-saving surgeries. A silver lining of the experience was that he met his future wife Patricia (née Taggart), who was a hospital volunteer.
This is one of many times that Larry has felt that G-d shifted the course of his life. He quotes a Portuguese proverb when he recalls the incident: “G-d writes straight with crooked lines.”
Intelligence Training on NYC Streets
When describing the appeal of the intelligence arena, Larry says that, for him, it was a “Walter Mitty moment,” referencing the James Thurber short story about a man with heroic daydreams.
These dreams began in earnest in Larry’s old New York City stomping grounds. After serving in the army infantry was ruled out, he joined a strategic intelligence unit that supported the Army War College. This, in turn, led to a critical stint with the Drug Enforcement Administration in Chinatown from 1973-1977.
“My time with the DEA, was my useful training,” he remembers. “I was part of a unit that went after Asian drug trafficking organizations. I worked with state and local police as well as federal drug agents. I was conversant in Mandarin and was able to interact with people on the
Larry, back row, with his parents and siblings
Larry with Ezer Weizman
streets at all levels.”
At the same time as he was honing his street skills, Larry was sharpening his research skills by authoring pamphlets on how China and Russia were attempting to exploit mineral resources from several African countries. He also went on to receive his PhD in Asian studies from St. John’s University in 1978.
“I didn’t want to be one-dimensional, just sitting at a desk,” he explains, adding, “My early experience made me appealing to the intelligence agencies.”
Welcome to The Pentagon
In 1979, Larry began his career in the Pentagon at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He was initially tapped to work on the East Africa desk but was then traded to the Soviet/Warsaw Pact in 1982. The Cold War had been a fascination of Larry’s since he was a child, and he was soon in the thick of it. As the military political analyst for Soviet affairs under President Reagan, his job was to support the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense. This meant briefing Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and General Colin Powell.
“My time in this position was most gratifying, and it accelerated my career,” he says. “Reagan really challenged the Soviets, which meant that we dealt with a lot of crisis situations. I learned to be in control of my emotions when briefing and presenting my arguments.”
During this time, Larry gained tremendous respect for Natan Sharansky, for his heroic activism in the refusenik plight and his fight against the totalitarian Soviet regime. He kept Sharansky’s picture on his desk throughout his career.
Rising Through the Ranks
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Larry felt his services would be best suited in combating the growing threat of Iran. In 1992, he became a Central Asia specialist and then a key Iran analyst for the DIA. He learned Farsi and cultivated a network of Iranian contacts and sources. Since Larry’s PhD was in Asian studies, it aided his understanding of the Iranian culture.
“I constantly studied maps of each neighborhood in Iran. It was about more than recognizing the streets or alleyways. You had to know about the people in each area and the local politics,” he relates.
A 2013 letter on Larry’s behalf to President Obama from former CIA director R. James Woolsey attests that “in no time, he became one of the intelligence community’s premier analysts on Iran, Islam and terrorism.”
Larry recalls that his initial years in this position were “intense and invigorating, which readied me to become the Secretary of Defense’s Iran Desk officer. There were times I was so busy at the Pentagon that I would literally be on the phone 5-6 hours a day.”
The more his analysis was proving to be correct, the more he was sought out by other friendly intelligence agencies like Israel. Larry became so respected in Israeli intelligence circles that he was asked to brief Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran in 1999 as well as the Mossad and the chiefs of Israel’s Directorate of Military Intelligence.
Balancing Work & Family
While Larry was sowing the seeds of his career, he was also building a family with Patricia, whom he married in 1974. The couple went on to have five children – Christa, Raymond, Anna, Pierce and Fionan. They settled in West Virginia and put down roots in a house on a hill – where they still live today. When each child was born, Larry was inspired to write them a song, which would be sung at bedtime while they said their prayers.
“My family was my greatest treasure,” he says. “It set me apart from my colleagues, several of whom were single or divorced and chained to their desks.”
Larry’s devotion to his family would later become his greatest vulnerability.
In order to be there for his family and on top of his game at work, Larry kept an unrelenting schedule.
“I made it a point to be the first in the office in the morning. That meant waking up by 3 a.m. and driving 26 miles to catch a series of trains for a two-hour commute,” he said. “I was extremely focused on the job and didn’t waste any time so I could get home to my family almost every night.”
After a long week, Friday nights were reserved for family-time where he would enjoy a steak with Patricia and catch up with the children.
“Those were happy days. I couldn’t have been more satisfied. I knew that I was beginning to make a difference with how Iran was perceived by our allies and by analysts in other agencies. I had a job that allowed me to live a dream of helping the United States against an evil, totalitarian regime,” he says. “I had a family I adored. I felt like I had it all and that G-d answered my prayers.”
Building Intelligence Relationships
Larry explains that the hallmark of a successful, operations-oriented intelligence analyst is building relationships and cultivating contacts.
“You are in the business of sharing sensitive information with allies about common enemies. The key is communication and trust,” he shares. “You have to tell the truth to an ally. If you omit information, and lives are lost, the relationship is irrevocably damaged.”
To be clear, the exchange of information is not “spying” or “playing I got a secret.” It is an integral aspect of international relations. Larry points out that the U.S. and Israel had a military intelligence agreement with the code name “Monarch Gate” that specified that they would share all information on Iran, Iraq and Libya.
Hearing Larry describe these intelligence meetings is even a bit reminiscent of the dramatic portrayals in movies or bestselling novels.
“With the Israelis, we could meet in a restaurant or a military base. Iranian sources could be outside a church at midnight in Rome. Arabs could be in a luxurious tent on the banks of the Persian Gulf,” he reveals.
These meetings would be followed up with reports and briefings to his superiors.
The way Larry cultivated relationships was definitely a testament to how he was raised to see people as people.
“I naturally became close with my contacts and could understand what people’s ultimate concerns were,” he says. “When I was under investigation, the FBI couldn’t understand why I had so many close Jewish contacts. They assumed something wasn’t right, and this aroused suspicion. They didn’t give me credit for just doing my job.”
Larry offers an example of the strength of his contacts in a critical moment.
“When the Palestinians invaded the Church of the Nativity in 2002, I was able to get on the phone through my Israeli contacts to the commander of the Israeli unit who had orders to strike, at his discretion. I convinced him and his superiors not to clean the Palestinians out because it would have swayed many of the world’s Christians against Israel, which the Palestinians wanted.
“That is the type of personal trust that I had.”
An Out-of-the-Box Thinker Dr. Harold Rhode, an acclaimed Middle East specialist and a former colleague of Larry’s in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD),
sheds light on Larry’s work style and the environment at the Pentagon.
“I worked as a cultural specialist on the Islamic world in the office of the Secretary of Defense. When I got to know Larry, I was deeply impressed by his analytical abilities,” Harold says. “Larry recognized the importance of Iran and wanted to study Persian. I recommended that his superiors give him the opportunity to learn the language, which they did.”
Harold discloses a key aspect of how Larry assessed information.
“Like me, Larry would think out-of-the box. This is essential, because it meant that he was willing to entertain ideas that most people who work for bureaucracies don’t want to consider. During my 28 years at the Pentagon, I saw that the most fascinating people in government – those who do things for the good of America and mankind – are a little different from the norm. Larry was like that.”
Since they had a shared
approach, Larry and Harold often served as each other’s sounding boards.
“Larry was like a brother to me,” Harold says. “I would regularly drive him to the train and we had extremely lively conversations. It was like a chavruta studying Talmud. You go back and forth and argue to get to the essence of the matter.”
Larry says simply of Harold, “I was, and still remain, his student.”
Harold also points out that besides for his love for America, Larry had a natural affinity for Jews.
“He intuitively understood how we think about the world, and he respected it deeply. Most bureaucrats don’t understand this, and Larry’s Jewish friendships baffled – and at times, even concerned – them.”
He adds, “Larry and I agreed that there could be no negotiating with Iran, because the Iranian bizarre mentality could run circles around us. A lot of senior officials didn’t, and still don’t, want to hear such things.
“We also realized that much of the classified information we acquired did not help us understand the Iranian mentality, and how to use that mentality to support the policies advocated by our superiors. So, over the years, Larry and I developed our own sources who were
very experienced in Iran or Iranians themselves. Larry and I knew that the only way to understand a culture is to spend time living with and talking to average people in their own language – which is exactly what we did.»
This “out-of-the-box” approach did not sit well with many of the bureaucrats at the Pentagon.
“The bureaucracy thought about Larry the same way they thought about me – as a threat. But, senior officials in both Republican and Democratic administrations did appreciate our approach. They often asked us questions directly, outside of the accepted chain of command, which displeased the mid-level bureaucrats. By having direct access to the top decision-makers, we were eliminating the mid-level bureaucrats’ control over the flow of information up the chain and jeopardizing their agenda. In reality, many of these mid-level bureaucrats had tenure and couldn’t be fired. Senior officials often went around them, going straight to those ‘out-of-the-box thinkers’ who very often possessed the more interesting and critical information which these senior officials wanted.”
Meeting a “Soul Brother” In Israel
In addition to serving on the Iran desk, in the ‘90s Lar-
ry became the U.S. Air Force Reserve attaché to the Amercican embassy in Israel, which meant frequent trips.
“I was emotionally in sync not only with the Israeli position but also with Jewish history,” he explains.
As part of understanding Israeli national mindsets, Larry wanted to get to know the Jewish spiritual side. Harold Rhode introduced him to Rabbi Moshe Weiss, who frequently hosted people serving in Israel for Shabbos dinner. That first dinner was literally a meeting of the minds, and an enduring 30-year friendship was born.
Rabbi Weiss reflects on what it was like to have Larry as a Shabbos guest.
“Imagine our table brimming with people. In the place of honor was my mother Rivka, a 90-year-old Auschwitz survivor. She took pride in preparing her chicken soup, kugel and gefilte fish and watched over our guests to make sure each person had enough to eat. There was my wife Sarah and our 10 young children. We always were fortunate to have many special guests, and Larry fit right in.”
The Weiss home was a place to put politics and work aside and to experience the simple beauty of Shabbos.
Larry remembers, “When I would sit around Moshe’s table, I felt pure joy. I got to know the whole family and really connected with Moshe’s mother. It was an honor for me to be in the presence of a woman who overcame the horrors of the Holocaust and created a wonderful family with such faith in G-d. It made me more committed to fight against evil.”
“It was a real experience for my Chassidic children to meet someone who was not Jewish but who shared so much in common with them,” Rabbi Weiss said. “I could see that Larry was in awe when the children recited the parsha since he has a vast Biblical knowledge, and he was moved when we sang zemirot. My family home became a place for him to come when he was missing his family.”
The relationship even extended to their children – two of Larry’s kids visited the Weiss’s as well.
Listening to Rabbi Weiss and Larry separately recount the same stories, it’s obvious why they refer to each other as “soul brothers.”
“I’ve had so many profound discussions with Larry about overcoming challenges. We share a similar outlook on mutual respect and tolerance,” Rabbi Weiss says. “We have a real friendship. It shows that when people of different religions come together and find common ground there is something powerful and validating. Larry is a righteous and decent man, and my family has gained so much from the relationship.”
Allen Lowy, Larry Franklin, and Alan Dershowitz
On a reconnaissance mission flying over Afghanistan
The friendship also allowed Larry to fulfill a longheld dream of meeting Natan Sharansky. Rabbi Weiss was a senior advisor to Yuli Edelstein and Sharansky in the Ministry of Absorption.
“When I met Sharansky we were able to communicate very quickly,” Larry says. “As a Soviet analyst, I understood what he went through. To me, Sharansky represented the epitome of moral courage.”
Through Larry’s travails, their friendship has remained strong. “During the toughest times, I made sure we still stayed in touch via email. I wanted Larry to know that I would always be there for him,” Rabbi Weiss says.
One of the treasured gifts that Rabbi and Mrs. Weiss gave the Franklins when they visited West Virginia is a Hebrew/English book of Tehillim. “Patricia and I say the Psalms every evening, and it gives us strength,” Larry shares.
9/11 and Its Aftermath
Larry was at work in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
“As soon as the first plane hit the World Trade Center, I knew it was Osama bin Laden,” he says.
It was a day that Larry considers “our Pearl Harbor.” The events enabled him to trust his instincts at work and make sure the information he gathered was not ignored.
“I was already questioning the effectiveness of how the government was allowing me to do my job. This was the turning point when I decided that I was not going to follow the ‘norm’ or go along with any ridiculous bureaucratic regulations. I was going to act on any intelligence that could save American lives or the lives of our allies.”
This decision for Larry proved to be problematic when it came to the government’s plan to invade Iraq. He couldn’t afford to lose his job by angering his bosses.
“I had to balance my courage to tell Douglas Feith, Under-Secretary of Defense, and Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, who hired me and had confidence in me, that their plan to invade Iraq would lead to Americans coming home in body bags. I knew Iran was the real threat. I had to figure out the best way to sound the alarm about Iran without losing my job. I’d seen it happen to other analysts earlier in my career who did not toe the line.”
This mindset would influence the choices Larry made later on when a seemingly viable opportunity presented itself.
In the interim, Larry volunteered for the mission to go to Afghanistan that November. “Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld was getting pressure from the White House to get things going and remove the Taliban from power,” he explains. “I was sent to tell Colonel John Mulholland, the head of the Green Berets, that Rumsfeld wanted him to hurry.”
While in Afghanistan, Larry experienced what he calls “the pinnacle of my career.” He was given the chance to express the gratitude of the American people to a few hundred members of the CIA and Green Beret troops.
“It was the biggest honor for me, a kid from the NYC projects, to address these warriors whose lives were at risk to protect our nation.”
Larry’s relationship with Mulholland would take on greater importance two years later when he became aware from an Iranian source in Rome of a threat to Green Berets in Afghanistan.
“I called Mulholland myself, and they were able to stop
an attack,” Larry recalls. Lives were saved, but Larry got a message from his boss at the Pentagon that the CIA wanted him to “knock it off” since he didn’t abide by their communication channels. Under Surveillance
As the United States was moving closer to invading Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld became more interested in Iran. “I would update his top aide daily, but President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Paul Wolfowitz had made their decision.”
Then, in February 2003, Larry saw a chance to act. He was asked by a colleague to call Steve Rosen, a lobbyist from AIPAC. Rosen had been looking to connect with an expert on Iran. As part of his vast network of contacts, it was not unusual for Larry to speak with civilian lobbyists.
“Rosen would drop a lot of names and claimed he had connections with members of the National Security Council,” Larry recalls. “I thought I could use his channels to get my message on Iran across and hopefully change U.S. policy before we invaded Iraq.”
Unbeknownst to Larry, Rosen was already under surveillance by the FBI, and by speaking with him, Larry came under suspicion, too. Larry explains that he discussed two items with Rosen and his colleague Keith Weissman – that were not secrets or classified.
“I shared the conflict in
ideology between various factions of the Bush administration on how to deal with Iran. This had already been written about by journalists, but my saying it gave it credibility. I also specified a list of three Americans who were murdered in Karachi in 1988 by a pro-Iranian hit squad. When I was on trial, the CIA claimed that the Karachi information was classified, but I shared facts I received from an open source of mine.”
Larry’s attempt to save lives by sounding the alarm on Iran, albeit using alternative channels, would mark the beginning of the end of his career.
The Investigation: A Hunt for Jewish Spies
Viewed from the lens of 2021, when government schemes are more apparent, it should not be shocking that Larry soon found himself in the middle of a punitive, anti-Semitic agenda. His meetings with AIPAC made him a person of interest in an FBI investigation. Led by David Szady, assistant director of counterintelligence and an alleged anti-Semite, the aim was to uncover Jewish spies in the Pentagon. Prior to this case, Szady had another botched espionage investigation under his belt. In the search for Soviet spy Robert Hanssen, his team had mistakenly targeted the wrong man and almost ruined his career. Larry was not so lucky.
In the aftermath of the Jonathan Pollard case, there was an unfounded belief that Pollard had an accomplice who was still at large.
“There was definitely suspicion around all Jewish employees and people who were deemed ‘too friendly’ with Jews that we could be spying for Israel,” Larry shares. “Over the years, colleagues
would even call the validity of my analysis into question. They were bewildered that as an Irish Catholic I had such strong Jewish relationships. Connecting with people made me better at my job, but they felt that I couldn’t possibly be objective on Israel.”
In the spring of 2003, Larry initially participated with FBI agents in what seemed like friendly, periodic conversations about Hezbollah and Iranian activities in the U.S. However, in a late June meeting, the FBI agents confronted Larry with a CIA report which alleged that an Iranian terrorist team was assigned the mission to assassinate Israeli agents in northern Iraq along with Kurdish collaborators. Larry admitted that he had warned his Israeli contacts about this Iranian plot without going through channel, because he believed the report was accurate and “you do not wait on time-consuming procedures when lives are at stake.”
He cooperated fully and didn’t seek legal counsel while speaking with the FBI because he didn’t feel he had anything to hide. Larry soon realized, though, that the investigators did not have pure intentions when most of their questions were about Jews in the Pentagon – including his bosses Feith and Wolfowitz. After Larry called them out on their anti-Semitism and stopped cooperating, they raised the stakes and opened an espionage case against him.
When as many as 20 FBI agents searched the Franklin home and interrogated his family, “they knew that threatening my family was my weakness,” Larry recalls.
It was open knowledge that Larry brought copies of documents home to review at night, so he could prepare for work and still be there for his family. He’d known others who did it as well, with maybe a slight reprimand. By this time, Patricia was suffering from a debilitating chronic condition that was requiring more of his attention. Larry handed over these borrowedfrom-work documents, and then the FBI used them to force Larry to cooperate in the AIPAC investigation.
Eventually, Larry was charged with “spying for Israel,” along with the two AIPAC officials.
Love Burdened
Even though Larry wanted to fight back against the trumped-up charges, he felt that he should take the path of least resistance because his family needed him.
“I was love burdened,” he discloses. “My family was my life, and they came before everything else. In addition to my wife and kids, I was supporting my elderly father and mother-in-law. I weighed the years of hard work and sacrifice to build my career and good name, versus protecting my family. There was no choice.”
Larry was provided with a government attorney and was set to sign a plea agreement that would have sent him to jail for years. Then he saw “G-d’s hand” again.
“I went to church at 2 a.m. and prayed to G-d to give me a sign that He had not abandoned me. I felt hopeless. The next morning, I received phone calls that restored my faith.”
Rabbi Weiss and Michael Ledeen, a trusted colleague and former key anti-Soviet policymaker for President Reagan, called to urge him not to accept the plea. Plato Cacheris, a premier Washington defense lawyer, took the case pro-bono.
The prosecutors charged Larry with the felony of mishandling classified documents. This is staggering in light of the consequence-free Hillary Clinton email scandal (among others) and the fact that government employees do the same all the time.
In 2006, Larry pled guilty to taking classified documents home and sharing information with the AIPAC officials on a “classified subject,” even though nothing was classified. Sadly, when Larry subsequently told Cacheris about the “Monarch Gate” intelligence agreement with Israel, he said he could have gotten him off on all the charges.
The charges against the AIPAC officials were dismissed in 2009, but Larry’s punishment would continue. Prosecutors were gunning for a 12-year prison sentence, but the judge sentenced him to 10 months in a halfway house so he could work and take care of his wife. The judge was impressed with Larry’s intrepid, unarmed investigation of a major drug ring in West Virginia and his gathering of information on an automatic weapons distribution net in Washington, D.C., which had Islamic terrorist connectivity. Nevertheless, with a felony conviction, Larry was stripped of his military benefits and pensions. He was left bankrupt after years of legal limbo and medical expenses.
“I was made an example of to send a larger message and deter government officials from supporting Israel,” he says.
A Son’s Regrets
One of Larry’s strongest regrets is the loss of his potential to help in the war on terrorism.
“What a waste. They took me out when I could have helped,” he laments. “I was trained linguistically, culturally, militarily, and in intelligence. The government spent a lot of money on me to create someone who was a human weapon against terrorists, against the Republic of Iran. I could have saved more lives. But that opportunity was lost, just because a few guys were driven by hate or crazy conspiratorial ideas.”
Larry is also haunted by the fact that his father, Dominic, died in 2005 at the height of the scandal.
“My father died confused. One minute I’m a hero to him, and the next minute I’m being called an American traitor on the news.”
Enduring Faith & Gratitude
After all his years of service, Larry should be enjoying a comfortable retirement with Patricia. At 74, he is dignified, sharp and charming. He’s the type of person who could talk to anyone about anything. A man with his education and experience could be a consultant on a variety of topics. He could be teaching history at a university. He could easily captivate a crowd on a speaker’s circuit. Instead, he is left struggling to keep his family afloat on a daily basis.
Larry doesn’t complain; he accepts his responsibility to take care of his loved ones. As a “felon” and the primary caretaker of Patricia, his employment options are limited. He sees no job as beneath him and has done everything from washing dishes, to parking cars, and even cleaning manure from septic tanks.
The Franklins experienced such unfathomable poverty that their house fell into disrepair, and they lived without running water. They have been unable to take care of their basic needs and stay on top of certain medical and dental care. But, there is so much more to Larry than his current circumstances.
Despite not getting the pardon, Larry feels gratitude.
“Like I’ve done so many times in my life, I went to church and prayed for guidance as I waited for the news,” he recalls. “When I didn’t get the pardon, I understood that this was G-d’s answer. I feel so grateful for all the people who have gone out of their way to fight for me and help our family. They are old friends, new friends, and people who have never met me. They keep my faith strong.”
Larry recognizes that, in recent years, it has been mostly Jews who have committed
Larry and Rabbi Moshe Weiss
Larry with his son Pierce and his grandson Dominic
to improve his life. This includes an Orthodox donor who gave over $100,000, along with other donors, to make his home habitable. In the past few weeks, money was raised to gift him with a wheelchair accessible van to transport Patricia. More is possible, and a fundraising campaign is now underway to create an annuity to replace Larry’s lost pensions.
Honoring a Man & Preserving a Legacy
There is a core group of individuals who have been rallying to help Larry. Including Rabbi Weiss and Harold Rhode, it’s a highly accomplished and fascinating group in their own right. They are individuals who are not looking for attention or praise but who are eager and insistent on discussing Larry.
At the forefront are Kika and Allen Lowy, a Manhattan couple who have picked up the mantle and become close friends.
Allen spearheaded all legal efforts for Larry in the past eight years. His relationship with Larry is an example of life coming full circle. As fate would have it, Allen’s mother was a child survivor of Mauthausen – the camp Larry’s Uncle Albert liberated. When Allen calls Larry a “Righteous Gentile,” the term coined to honor non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust, he means it.
Kika, who is Israeli, has taken care of the family’s personal and household needs to bring comfort back into their daily lives.
Larry calls the Lowys “my guardian angels.”
“They have raised my spirits at a particularly low point in my internal exile. Nothing would have happened to me for the better without Kika and Allen, who opened their home and hearts to my entire family.”
Allen shares his perspective on the pardon not being granted.
“After being upset, something hit me. This was from G-d. If Larry had gotten the pardon, the legal battle to restore his benefits and pensions would have first begun and could take years. Everyone would wrongly assume that justice was served and that Larry’s financial struggles were over.
“Also, a pardon is a piece of paper,” Allen says. “But the movement we started has raised awareness and support for Larry from around the world. Larry’s self-esteem is restored almost daily by receiving an outpouring of affection and admiration from thousands of people who had never heard of him before and are in awe of what he has done for the world and the Jewish people.
“One hundred pardons could never achieve that.” Kika makes a resounding statement, “As Jewish people, it is in our DNA to help. It is not an option to look away and do nothing. We are not the bystanders; we are the doers. We are the kind that will learn about a hero like Larry Franklin. We are the kind that will make dozens of phone calls to recruit others. We are the kind that will reach into our pockets, our closets, our food pantries to help. We are the kind that wants an American hero and righteous person like Larry to go to sleep with a hot meal in a warm bed. It is our zechus to make him whole and demonstrate what we stand for as Jews.”
Joining the Lowys in supporting Larry is Gary Apfel, who is no stranger to fighting legal injustice. As Sholom
Mordechai Rubashkin’s lead pro-bono attorney, he was successful in getting the 27-year prison sentence commuted by President Trump, after eight years served .
“Larry is a genuinely fine, decent and humble human being. He’s a real hero,” Gary says. He shares an email he received from Larry the night they heard that the pardon would not be granted. Larry wrote: “No pardon, but no sweat. I am vindicated by the character of the people on my side, like you Gary.”
Gary underscores a critical point about Larry’s character. “Something that I admire about Larry is his dignity and determination to work any job to provide for his family. He is a highly intelligent person who held sophisticated government positions, yet I’ve never once heard Larry complain about his circumstances.”
As to why people should help, Gary quotes Hillel, “’Im ein ani li, mi li’ – If I am not for myself, who will be for me? Larry is one of us.”
Then there is Rabbi Chesky Rothman, the spiritual leader and executive director of the Chabad Community Center in Rockford, Illinois. Rabbi Rothman came to know Larry through L’taken Olam, a nonprofit organization he founded to save the lives of Jews trapped in precarious situations around the world. L’taken also assists those who suffer because of their sup-
port of the Jewish people and Israel.
“I met Larry when I was involved in the first phase of helping him, which was remodeling his home. He is a very special person, a ‘real tzaddik,’” Rabbi Rothman explains. “Now we need to help him move forward, not just financially, but by restoring his spirit and giving him his life back.”
In addition to helping people like Larry, and preventing this kind of situation from happening again, L’taken Olam is looking to the future.
“Our mission at L’taken is to tell future heroes: do what is right, just and legal! Have the courage to help the Jewish people, and you will not be left behind,” Rabbi Rothman expounds.
Finally, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Chairman of the Coalition for Jewish Values and Jonathan Pollard’s longtime rabbi and advocate, has a message for anyone, like himself, who is just learning about Larry Franklin’s plight.
“We have a moral responsibility to say thank you and show Larry that the Jewish people never forget,” Rabbi Lerner says. “He is in this situation because he cared about the Jewish people and the Jewish State. It’s our turn to take care of him.”
L’Taken is coordinating the fundraising campaign to ensure that Larry and his family have the financial se-
curity to live with dignity. In addition to providing for the family’s immediate needs, an annuity will be created to fund a monthly distribution for ongoing expenses. For further information and to contribute to the campaign, visit Ltaken.org/Larry. All donations will be matched and doubled by generous supporters.
