Clay Shaw

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Clay LaVergne Shaw (March 17, 1913 – August 15, 1974)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was an American businessman, military officer, and part-time contact of the Domestic Contact Service (DCS) of the CIA. Shaw is best known for being the only person brought to trial for involvement in the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, due to an investigation led by Jim Garrison, the District Attorney of New Orleans. The jury ultimately acquitted Shaw after less than an hour's deliberation in 1969, though some conspiracy theorists continue to speculate on his possible involvement.

Background

Shaw in 1951, on his Brazilian immigration card

Shaw, a native of Kentwood, Louisiana, was the son of Glaris Lenora Shaw,<ref>Template:Cite web shows Clay's father's full name "Glaris Lenora Shaw", born in Kentwood Louisiana on 25 November 1887.</ref> a United States Marshal, and Alice Shaw.<ref name="James and Wardlaw">Template:Cite book</ref> His grandfather had been the sheriff of Tangipahoa Parish.<ref name="James and Wardlaw"/> When Shaw was five, his family moved to New Orleans, where he eventually attended Warren Easton High School.<ref name="James and Wardlaw"/>

After graduating from high school in 1928, Shaw was hired by Western Union as manager of a local office in New Orleans. In 1935, Western Union transferred him to New York City where he became a district manager. While in New York, Shaw, who wanted to pursue a career as a writer, attended Columbia University. He later left Western Union to pursue a career in public relations, eventually accepting a position with the Keedick Lecture Bureau.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

Shaw enlisted in the United States Army upon the American entry into World War II and was assigned to the Medical Corps as a private. He later received an officer's commission and was posted to England where he served briefly in a hospital unit. He was transferred to the Quartermaster Corps and served as secretary to the General Staff in England and after the Normandy invasion served in France and Belgium.<ref name=":0" /> He was decorated by three nations: the United States with the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star, by France with the Croix de Guerre and named Chevalier de l'Ordre du Merite, and by Belgium named Knight of the Order of the Crown of Belgium. Shaw was honorably discharged from the United States Army as a major in 1946.<ref>"Clay L. Shaw", Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 9: 1971-75. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1994.</ref>

After World War II, Shaw helped start the International Trade Mart in New Orleans, which facilitated the sales of both domestic and imported goods. He was known locally for his efforts to preserve buildings in New Orleans' historic French Quarter.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Clay Shaw testimony, State of Louisiana v. Clay L. Shaw, February 27, 1969 "The JFK 100: Who Was Clay Shaw?" Template:Webarchive</ref> Shaw was also a published playwright. The best-known of his works, Submerged (1929),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> was co-written with H. Stuart Cottman<ref>Template:Cite web shows Herman Stuart Cottman birthdate as 23 March 1911.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web shows Herman S. Cottman residing in household of Alfred J. Lewis in New Orleans, Louisiana, being 19 years old as of April 4, 1930.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web shows Herman Stuart Cottman birthdate as 23 March 1911.</ref> when both were still high-school students.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Shaw represented the United States on the board of directors for Permindex, a Swiss trade organization.<ref name="Clark">Template:Cite news</ref>

On 9 May 1961 Shaw introduced Charles Cabell, Deputy Director of the CIA, at a Foreign Policy Association event in New Orleans.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Arrest and trial

Template:Main New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison prosecuted Shaw on the charge that he and a group of activists, including David Ferrie and Guy Banister, were involved in a conspiracy with elements of the CIA and the Mafia in the John F. Kennedy assassination. Garrison had Shaw arrested on March 1, 1967.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By the time of Shaw's arrest, Banister and Ferrie were both deceased but Garrison believed Shaw was the man named "Clay Bertrand" who was identified in the Warren Commission Report as having asked attorney Dean Andrews, via telephone, to represent accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. Garrison also claimed Shaw used the alias of Clay Bertrand in New Orleans's gay society.<ref>Template:Cite book)</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

During the trial, which took place in January and February 1969, Garrison called insurance salesman Perry Russo as his main witness.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Russo testified that he had attended a party at the apartment of anti-Castro activist David Ferrie. At the party, Russo said that Lee Harvey Oswald (who Russo said was introduced to him as "Leon Oswald"), Ferrie, and "Clem Bertrand" (whom Russo identified in the courtroom as Shaw) had discussed assassinating Kennedy.<ref name="Testimony of Perry Raymond Russo">Testimony of Perry Raymond Russo Template:Webarchive, State of Louisiana vs. Clay L. Shaw, February 10, 1969.</ref> The conversation purportedly included plans for the "triangulation of crossfire" and alibis for the participants.<ref name="Testimony of Perry Raymond Russo"/>

Critics of Garrison argue that his own records indicate Russo's story evolved substantially over time, undermining Russo's creditability.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A key source was the "Sciambra Memo", which recorded Assistant D.A. Andrew Sciambra's<ref>Direct Examination of Assistant District Attorney Andrew Sciambra by Defense Attorney Alcock Template:Webarchive, State of Louisiana vs. Clay L. Shaw, February 12, 1969.</ref> first interview with Russo. The memo does not mention an "assassination party" and states that Russo met with Shaw on two occasions, neither of which occurred at the party.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On February 25, 1969, Andrews testified during Shaw's trial that the name "'Clay Bertrand' was a figment of [his] imagination.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On March 1, 1969, the 34-day trial concluded when the jury acquitted Shaw after deliberating less than an hour.<ref name="Evening Independent; March 1, 1969">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Clay Shaw Interview, Penthouse, November 1969, pp. 34-35.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Shaw denied any part of a conspiracy and said of the slain President: "I was a great admirer of Kennedy. I thought he had given the nation a new turn after the rather drab Eisenhower years ... I felt he was vitally concerned about social issues, which concerned me also. I thought he had youth, imagination, style, and élan. All in all, I considered him a splendid president."<ref name="Bugliosi">Template:Cite book</ref>

Death

Shaw died at the age of 61 at his home on August 15, 1974.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was a heavy cigarette smoker for most of his life, and the cause of death was listed as metastatic lung cancer.<ref name="mcadams">Template:Cite web Date of Hospitalization Case Report: 1974-08-28</ref> He was buried in Woodland Cemetery in Kentwood, Louisiana.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

At the time of his death, Shaw was engaged in a $5 million lawsuit against Garrison and members of an organization, Truth and Consequences Inc., that had financed Garrison's investigation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As Shaw, a lifelong bachelor, had no heirs or surviving relatives who might stand to benefit from the lawsuit, the United States Supreme Court dismissed the suit in 1978.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Later disclosures

In 1979, Richard Helms, former Director of the CIA, testified under oath that Shaw had been a part-time contact of the Domestic Contact Service (DCS) of the CIA, where Shaw volunteered information from his travels abroad, mostly to Latin America. He did so from 1948 till at least 1956.<ref name=Holland>Template:Cite journal</ref> Shaw was one of approximately 150,000 Americans (including businessmen and journalists) who had provided such information to the DCS by the mid-1970s "on a nonclandestine basis", and that "such acts of cooperation should not be confused with an actual Agency relationship".<ref name=Holland/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In popular culture

Tommy Lee Jones portrayed Shaw in Oliver Stone's 1991 film JFK.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Further reading

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

External links

• Jim Garrison and New Orleans
• Louisiana v. Shaw (1969) trial transcript
• Orleans Parish Grand Jury transcripts
• Esquire December 1968 interview with Clay Shaw, James Kirkwood
• Penthouse interview with Clay Shaw
• Jim Garrison Interview, Playboy magazine, Eric Norden, October 1967 Template:Webarchive
• JFK Online: Jim Garrison audio resources - mp3s of Garrison speaking
• The JFK 100: One Hundred Errors of Fact and Judgment in Oliver Stone's JFK: Who was Clay Shaw?
• Template:Find a Grave