Johnson at odds with Holt & Stanton in June of 1865

[Thomas Thorne]

Fascinating tidbit. If true,it makes Johnson's subsequent statements about being deceived by Holt about the mercy recommendation by the Commission more untenable.

If Johnson felt deceived by Holt or Stanton,it strikes me as extraordinary he would not seek out other opinions about the trial and verdicts before confirming the sentences. If he was telling people as early as May 31 he did not trust the Holt /Stanton version,he was already receiving information unfiltered by them. If I were president and my busy schedule prevented me from getting any information about the first part of the trial from anyone except Holt and the press, and the press reports gave me profound unease about the validity of the General Conspiracy, you can be sure I would have arranged for someone to get me information independent of Holt's version of events.

The presidency is a powerful office and there would have been people willing to act as Johnson's agents.

And please tell me what precisely what did Johnson and Holt talk about for 3 hrs when Johnson signed the death warrants. it certainly was not the effect George Atzerodt's execution would have on Prussian-American relations. You can be sure Andrew Johnson wanted to be convinced that Mrs Surratt should hang. After all Johnson had reduced the difficulty of the Civil War to the fact that women were not being executed. With this presidential attitude, there would have been no need for Holt to deceive him. In this instance there would have been a meeting of minds of Holt,the stern public moralist prosecutor and the vindictive chief magistrate against rebels and the silly chivalrous officers who wished to shield a murderer in petticoats.

I believe the commission's recommendation actually hurt Mary Surratt's chances of receiving a commutation from Andrew Johnson given his mentality and resentments against what used to be called "the better class of society."
Tom