What Was The Role of David Herold

[John Fazio]

(02-01-2013 02:01 PM)JMadonna Wrote:  John,
I've read a number of articles by you and needless to say I'm a big fan.

On your reply to Roger you said:
"More importantly, Johnson was such a heavy drinker, and most probably had a few that night before retiring, that I doubt that he would have been in a condition to accomodate company, physically or emotionally. Alcohol has diminishing returns where matters amorous are concerned. At 57 he was probably slowing down anyway even if he were sober. (That should kick up some dust.) Third, I doubt that he would risk scandal. He was already under a heavy cloud because of the spectacle he made of himself on Inauguration Day. Lastly, it was about 10:30, past a good hour for a 57-year old to retire, alone."

If Johnson was a smart politician (which he was not) he would have avoided alcohol at all costs because of the inauguration spectacle, obviously he didn't. Secondly, who really cares who the VP sleeps with? It was well known that madams regularly went in and out of the WH when he became President so he really didn't care about discretion. Thirdly, Johnson was a well known night owl. It was more unusual for him to retire before midnight especially since all of Washington was celebrating the end of the war on that particular night.

Jerry:

Thanks for your response and for your compliment.

You are right to say that most people would not have given a hoot who he slept with, but the suggestion has been made that if he were with someone that night, she was a plant to keep him bound to the room so that an assassin would find him at home. That is the proposition I have some difficulty with.

You may be right about the hour he chose to retire. This is obviously beyond anyone's knowing, because there is no evidence one way or the other.

If we start with the knowledge that Johnson was targeted (because without him dead, there is no reason to kill Seward, and also because of Jefferson Davis's remark upon hearing of Lincoln's death, i.e. "...if the same would have happened to Andy Johnson, the beast, the job would have been complete.."), it follows that he could in no way have been complicit in the crime. Accepting sexual favors in exchange for a pass to Richmond is dangerously close to complicity. I believe the evidence for that is quite weak.

John