A.Johnson or J.Holt-? Who do you believe?

[Thomas Thorne]

I recall reading stories that the Mary Surratt mercy recommendation was in contemporary press accounts.

Holt met with Johnson for 3 hours to discuss the sentences of the conspirators. It is hard to conceive that all aspects of the issue of the US government executing a woman for the first time did not come up.

Johnson's statement that the trouble with the Civil War was the failure to hang enough women is very revealing. His subsequent attempts to side with public opinion which turned against Mary Surratt's hanging after the fact is not very convincing. Running for office as he did after his presidency, he was none too eager to advertise his earlier fascination with hanging. Remember Johnson's statement "Treason is a crime and must be made odious."

I am not a Joseph Holt fan by any means but I can't buy the idea that he withheld the commutation recommendation from Johnson.
Tom