His Name Still Mudd to the End, Lincoln Assassin Doctor's Descendant Dies at 101

[ami]

His Name Still Mudd to the End, Lincoln Assassin Doctor's Descendant Dies at 101

May 22, 2002--Dr. Richard D. Mudd, grandson of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd who was convicted of involvement in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln days after the end of the Civil War, has died at his home in Saginaw, Michigan. He was 101 years old.

Mudd had spent most of the latter part of his life in an attempt to overturn the conviction of his grandfather. Despite gaining the sympathies of at least two presidents, he never achieved his goal.

Samuel Mudd was eventually pardoned for setting the broken leg of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. In July 1979, Richard Mudd's efforts brought a two-page, single-spaced letter from President Carter supporting Mudd's position on his grandfather's innocence.

Carter expressed regret that he "had been advised the findings of guilt and the sentence of a military commission that tried Dr. Samuel Mudd are binding and conclusive judgments and there is no authority under the law, by which, I, as president, could set aside his conviction."

He tried again with every president as new ones took office. In December 1987, Mudd received a note from President Reagan that also lamented that the law precluded changing convictions from the military court.

"In my efforts to help," Reagan wrote, "I came to believe as you do that Dr. Samuel Mudd was indeed innocent of any wrongdoing."

Mudd was a teen-ager when he happened on an account of his grandfather's conviction for aiding and abetting conspirators in the assassination, the Saginaw News reported.

Richard Mudd was born Jan. 24, 1901, in Washington, D.C. He received a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in 1921 and a master's of art degree in 1922.

He got a medical degree from Georgetown in 1926 and completed his residency at Ford Hospital in Detroit. He was named medical director for Chevrolet Saginaw Grey Iron Foundry in 1936, retiring from that position in 1965.

He spent his retirement traveling the nation on speaking engagements, many of them before Civil War historical organizations. Mudd also wrote a dozen scientific papers and books, and it took him 22 years to write the 1,465-page "Mudd Family of the United States," published in 1951.

Survivors include two sons and four daughters.

Courtesy of:
Civil War Interactive: The Daily Newspaper of the Civil War
www.civilwarinteractive.com

[hoosier]

I know nothing about the evidence at Dr. Mudd's military trial, so I don't feel qualified to comment on whether he may have been innocent or guilty.

It seems odd, though, that the President of the United States would not have the authority to overturn the verdict of a military commission. I should think the Commander in Chief would have the authority to order anything he wants in regard to military affairs.

Any legal eagles out there know why Carter and Reagan were forbidden to grant Mudd any sort of pardon?

[hoosier]

Now that I read the article again, I see that it says Dr. Mudd WAS "pardoned." What his grandson was trying to do was "overturn the conviction."

So, I guess my question for the legal eagles is - what's the difference between a pardon and an overturning of a conviction?