Jim Garrison
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Earling Carothers "Jim" Garrison (November 20, 1921 - October 21, 1992) — who changed his first name to simply Jim in the early '60s — was the Democratic District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana from 1962 to 1973; he is best known for his investigations into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Garrison remains a controversial figure; opinions differ as to whether he uncovered the actual conspiracy behind the John F. Kennedy assassination but was blocked from successful prosecution by federal government coverup, whether he bungled his chance to uncover the truth of the conspiracy, or whether the entire case was an unproductive waste of resources motivated by Garrison's alleged desire for publicity.
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[edit] Early life and career
Earling Carothers Garrison was born in Knoxville, Iowa. His family moved to New Orleans in his childhood, where he was reared by his divorced mother. He served in the U.S. National Guard in World War II, then got a law degree from Tulane University in 1949. He worked for the FBI for two years and then returned to active duty with the National Guard. After fifteen months, he was relieved from duty. Army doctors concluded he had a "severe and disabling psychoneurosis" which "interfered with his social and professional adjustment to a marked degree. He is considered totally incapacitated from the standpoint of military duty and moderately incapacitated in civilian adaptability."[1] He was released from duty in October 1952.
[edit] District Attorney
Garrison worked for the New Orleans law firm Deutsch, Ketrigan & Stiles from 1954 to 1958, when he became an assistant district attorney. Garrison became a flamboyant, colorful, well-known figure in New Orleans, but was initially unsuccessful in his run for public office, losing a 1959 election for criminal court judge. In 1961 he ran for district attorney, winning against incumbent Richard Dowling by 6,000 votes in a five-man Democratic primary. Despite lack of major political backing, his performance in a televised debate and last minute television commercials are credited with his victory.
Once in office, Garrison engaged in a series of high profile charges which brought little tangible result. He indicted Dowling and one of his assistants with criminal malfeasance, but the charges were dismissed for lack of evidence. Garrison did not appeal. Garrison received national attention for a series of vice raids in the French Quarter, staged sometimes on a nightly basis. Newspaper headlines in 1962 were full of Garrison's exploits, Quarter Crime Emergency Declared by Police, DA. — Garrison Back, Vows Vice Drive to Continue — 14 Arrested, 12 more nabbed in Vice Raids. The raids, which he sometimes led packing a pistol, resulted in no trials or convictions. Then he attacked the police. Superintendent of Police Giarrusso challenged Garrison's legitimacy, claiming, "the DA is trying to run the police department."
After a conflict with local criminal judges over his budget, he accused them of racketeering and conspiring against him. The eight judges charged him with misdemeanor criminal defamation, and Garrison was convicted in January 1963. (In 1965 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction and struck down the state statute as unconstitutional.) At the same time, Garrison indicted Judge Bernard Cocke with criminal malfeasance and, in two trials prosecuted by Garrison himself, Cocke was acquitted.
Garrison charged nine policemen with brutality, but dropped the charges two weeks later. At a press conference he accused the state parole board of accepting bribes, but could obtain no indictments. He accused the state legislature of the same, but held no investigation. He was unanimously censured by the legislature.
In 1965, he ran for reelection against Judge Malcolm O'Hara, Garrison won with 60 percent of the vote.
[edit] Kennedy assassination investigation
- Further information: Trial of Clay Shaw
On March 1, 1967, Garrison had businessman Clay Shaw arrested, charging him with being part of a conspiracy in the John F. Kennedy assassination
According to Garrison, Shaw was the mysterious Clay Bertrand of the Warren Commission. In the Warren Commission, New Orleans attorney Dean Andrews claimed he was hired by a Clay Bertrand to find an attorney for Lee Harvey Oswald. Jim Garrison's key witness in his case against Clay Shaw was Perry Raymond Russo. During the trial, Russo told a story of an "assassination party" in which Shaw, David Ferrie, and Oswald discussed killing Kennedy. Perry’s version of events have been questioned by historians and researchers, such as Patricia Lambert, once it became known that much of his testimony was induced by hypnotism, and drugs such as Sodium Pentothal.[1]
At the trial, Russo gave the full alleged "hypnosis" version of his testimony, with Ferrie, and "Oswald", and "Clay Bertrand" (who Russo identified in the courtroom as Clay Shaw) talking about killing the President. The conversation included plans for the Dealey Plaza shooting ("triangulation of crossfire") and for alibis for all the participants.
However, a memo detailing a pre-hypnosis interview with Russo in Baton Rouge, and the two hypnosis session transcripts had been given to journalist James Phelan by Garrison. There were striking differences between the two accounts.[2] Both Russo and Sciambra testified under cross examination that much more was said at the interview, but omitted from the memorandum. However, James Phelan testified that Russo had admitted to him in March 1967 that the February 25 memorandum of the interview, which contained no recollection of an assassination party, was accurate.
Police officer Aloysius J. Habighorst (who fingerprinted Shaw following his arrest) gave evidence that Shaw admitted — when asked — that he had used the name Clay Bertrand as an alias. This was on the fingerprint card, along with Shaw's signature. Shaw contended that he had never admitted the alias to Habighorst, and also claimed that he had signed the fingerprint card while it was still blank.[2]
Officer Habighorst's testimony and the fingerprint card were deemed inadmissible as evidence as the judge concluded that any such questioning - during the booking — constituted a violation of both Miranda v. Arizona and Escobedo v. Illinois. The judge went on to say that he believed Habighorst's testimony was a fabrication and doubted that the incident even took place — stating in court that, "I do not believe Officer Habighorst." [3]
Notwithstanding the credibility issues of Russo, Garrison's case also included unreliable witnesses such as Charles Spiesel, who believed he had been repeatedly hypnotized by government forces.[4] The jury took less than one hour to find Shaw not guilty.
Garrison was able to subpoena the Zapruder film and show it in public for the first time. Until the trial, the film had not been seen by the public, and bootleg copies made by assassination investigators working with Garrison led to the film being widely distributed.
[edit] Later career
In 1973 Garrison lost the office to Harry Connick, Sr.. Garrison was then elected as a State of Louisiana Appeals Circuit Court Judge and served from 1978 until his death.
After the Clay Shaw trial, Garrison wrote three books about the Kennedy assassination, A Heritage of Stone (1970), The Star Spangled Contract, and the best selling book, On the Trail of the Assassins (1988).
The 1991 Oliver Stone motion picture JFK was largely based on Garrison's book. Kevin Costner played a fictionalized version of Garrison in the movie. Garrison himself had a small on-screen role in the film, playing United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren.
Garrison also played himself in a cameo in the 1987 film The Big Easy.
Garrison was the subject of the song "Keep A Workin' Big Jim" by Johnny Rebel.
[edit] Quotes
- "Fascism will come to America in the guise of National Security" - Jim Garrison [Playboy interview, 1967. (unknown)]
- "This is not the first time I've charged a person before I've made the case." - Jim Garrison [James Phelan, Scandals, Scamps, and Scoundrels (New York: Random House, 1982), p. 155.]
| Preceded by Richard Dowling |
District Attorney, Orleans Parish, Louisiana 1962-1973 |
Succeeded by Harry Connick, Sr. |
[edit] Further reading
- Jim Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins. ISBN 0-446-36277-8
- James DeEugenio, The Assassinations. ISBN 0-922915-82-2
- William Davy, Let Justice Be Done: New Light On The Jim Garrison Investigation. ISBN 0-9669716-0-4
- Patricia Lambert, False Witness: The Real Story of Jim Garrison's Investigation and Oliver Stone's Film JFK. ISBN 0-87131-920-9
- Christine Wiltz, 'The Last Madam" p. 145 - 150 ISBN 0-571-19954-2
- Joan Mellen, "A Farewell To Justice: Jim Garrison, JFK's Assassination, And The Case That Should Have Changed History". ISBN 1-57488-973-7
[edit] References
- ^ Associated Press, "Garrison Record Shows Disability", December 29, 1967. Warren Rogers, "The Persecution of Clay Shaw", Look, August 26, 1969, page 54.
- ^ James Kirkwood American Grotesque: An Account of the Clay Shaw-Jim Garrison-Kennedy Assassination Trial in New Orleans pp. 353-359 (ISBN 0-06-097523-7).
[edit] External links
- Jim-Garrison.com - a fan tribute site
- Garrison's Closing Argument - Text of Jim Garrison's Closing Argument at Trial of Clay Shaw
- New Orleans and the Garrison Investigation - a skeptical assessment on Kennedy Assassination Site
- JFK Online: The Jim Garrison Investigation
- JFK Online: The JFK 100 - Oliver Stone's portrayal of Jim Garrison - a detailed study comparing the real Jim Garrison to his fictional counterpart in the film JFK played by Kevin Costner
- JFK Online: Jim Garrison audio resources - mp3s of Garrison speaking
- Jim Garrison: A Road To The Truth
- Playboy interview, October 1967
- "Garrison Guilty. Another Case Closed" by Gerald Posner, New York Times Magazine, August 6, 1995
