Why were the treason charges against Ezra Pound dropped in 1958?

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Pound, Ezra — Ezra Pound Ezra Pound, photograph by Alvin Langdon Coburn, c. 1913.

The treason charges against Ezra Pound were dropped in 1958 because he was declared unfit to stand trial.1

Following his arrest by U.S. forces in 1945 for his pro-Fascist radio broadcasts during World War II, Pound had been confined to Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., for 12 years after a panel of doctors previously pronounced him "insane and mentally unfit for trial". On April 18, 1958, this status was reaffirmed, leading to the dismissal of the treason charges and his subsequent release from the hospital.21