. >>> the book is "lincoln's forgotten ally: judge advocate general joseph holt of kentucky" judge advocateor and lincoln prize winner is elizabeth leonard. elizabeth? tell us our audience who this man is. >> judge holt is a kentucky native who came to washington in 1857 after a career as a lawyer and an or or it. orator and became a member of the james buchanan cabinet until the end of the administration. the last post in that administration was to serve as the secretary of war. so he was the secretary of war during the succession winter. he then in 1862 after lincoln had become president and a year in the war became he was the head of military justice and oversaw the court marshall and the military commission. the war department had to conduct. >> why a book on the gentleman? >> the title should give you a clue. i think he's a important figure and he has been understudy. he has not entirely forgotten. that might be a slightly misleading aspect of the title. he is remembered for one aspect. he was the prosecutors of the i sass sin of lincoln. john willings booth action team. he served in t

. >> the book is "lincoln's forgotten ally: judge advocate general joseph holt of kentucky", judge joseph holds, and the author, elizabeth leonard. >> he served as the secretary of war, he was the secretary of war during the winter. in 1862, after lincoln had become president, about a year and a half, it means that he was the head of military justice and oversaw all of the court-martials and military commissions. he served in 1857 until 1875, he was very important during the civil war, his role as judge advocate general was extremely important. it was time that somebody brought the story to life. >> what did you learn about him? through the process, what did you learn about him the most interested you? >> well, i knew from very early on in my acquaintance with judge holds, as a historical figure, the more i studied him, the more i found that he was even more complicated than i had realized. he was a very wise, thoughtful, prickly, challenging figure that was both powerfully loved and hated, and even i came to forgive him for the reasons that i was initially so angered him about. i am very

it is not the joseph holt that i know from my research. i'm delighted, of course, that joseph holt's name has become known and he's hit the silver screen, but the character in "the conspirator" is much less law-abiding and much more manipulative and vicious than the joseph holt than you know -- and underhanded. i think one of the film tries to suggest is that the federal government largely in the person of edwin stanton and the person of joseph holt basically railroaded poor mary surrot to her death, and without any interest in what the truth was. they determined she should hang regardless, and they went after her, poor mary, and this is not the way the assassination trial played out. there was no deal between stanton and holt to ensure she was convicted and so on. that made him out to be a vengeful two dimensional character who didn't reflect him and who he is as i know him. >> being the advocate in the lincoln administration and afterwards had to be an incredibly difficult job. could you sort of expand upon what that job was maybe before

can assure you this is a great place to go because there are very few people who know much about joseph holt. of now more than before and i think he's a very important figure to no one i think it will open up all kinds of areas of study. just knowing more about him. so i think it's a great story. i think he's a very compelling figure and for a a civil war enthusiast why not learn something new? >> elizabeth thank you very much for spending time with us. >> thank you. >> syndicated columnist molly ivins -- in 1998 she sat down for an interview on booknotes to discuss her book, you got to dance with them that brung you" politics in the clinton years. the book is a collection of them is ivins's collinson discusses several topics including the financial corruption of the american political system and what it means to be a texan. an encore presentation of that interview now on booktv. c-span: molly ivins, where did you get the title, "you got to dance with them what brung you"? >> guest: it's one of the oldest sayings in politics, 'you got to dance with them what brung ya.' and what it means is t

. >> the book is lincoln's forgotten ally, the judge advocate general joseph holt. author and lincoln prize winner is elizabeth leonard. elizabeth. tell our audience who this man is. >> a kentucky native who came to washington in 1857 after a career as a lawyer and ordered and became a member of james began his cabinet and serve in his cabinet until the very end of buchanan's administration. his last post in that administration was to serve as the secretary of work, so he was the secretary of war during the session winter. he then in '86 to after lincoln became president and about a year-and-a-half into the work became his judge advocate general which means he was the head of military justice and oversaw all of the court-martial's and military commissions and so on the of the administration. >> why a book on this gentleman? >> the title should give you a clue. a very important figure, and he has been completely under study. he is not entirely forgotten. that might be slightly misleading. he is remembered for one aspect of his service in the government, which is that