View source for Jim Garrison

{{Short description|American district attorney (1921–1992)}}
{{About||the American football coach|Jim Garrison (American football)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = 
| name                = Jim Garrison
| honorific-suffix    = 
| image               = Garrison Jim.jpg
| caption             = 
| order               = 
| office              = [[District Attorney]] of [[Orleans Parish]]
| term_start          = 1962
| term_end            = 1973
| predecessor         = Richard Dowling
| successor           = [[Harry Connick Sr.]]
| constituency        = [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]], U.S.
| birth_name          = Earling Carothers Garrison
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1921|11|20}}
| birth_place         = [[Denison, Iowa]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1992|10|21|1921|11|20}}
| death_place         = [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]], U.S.
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse              = Leah Elizabeth Ziegler<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/22/obituaries/jim-garrison-70-theorist-on-kennedy-death-dies.html Jim Garrison obituary] accessed May 27, 2015</ref><br />Other<ref>[Jim Garrison: His Life and Times, the Early Years, 2008]</ref>
| relations           = 
| known_for           = [[Trial of Clay Shaw]]
| children            = 5
| residence           = 
| alma_mater          = [[Tulane University]] {{small|(LLB)}}
| occupation          = 
| profession          = 
| religion            = 
| signature           = 
| website             = 
| footnotes           = 
}}
'''James Carothers Garrison''' (born '''Earling Carothers Garrison'''; November 20, 1921 – October 21, 1992)<ref name="Lambert_Patricia">{{cite book |last=Lambert |first=Patricia |date=2000 |title=False Witness: The Real Story of Jim Garrison's Investigation and Oliver Stone's Film JFK |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X0rFb31qDAIC |location=New York |publisher=M Evans and Company, Inc. |page=11 |isbn=978-1-4617-3239-6 }}</ref> was the [[District Attorney]] of [[Orleans Parish, Louisiana]], from 1962 to 1973 and later a state appellate court judge. A member of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]], he is best known for his investigations into the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]] and the [[Trial of Clay Shaw|prosecution of New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw]] to that effect in 1969, which ended in Shaw's acquittal. Garrison believed the assassination was the result of a [[John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories|conspiracy]] involving the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], [[The Pentagon]] ([[United States Department of Defense]]), the [[American Mafia|Mafia]] and other organizations. He wrote three published books, one of which became a prime source for [[Oliver Stone]]'s film ''[[JFK (film)|JFK]]'' in 1991, in which Garrison was portrayed by  [[Kevin Costner]], while Garrison himself made a cameo appearance as [[Earl Warren]].

== Early life and career ==
Garrison was born in [[Denison, Iowa]], in 1921.<ref>"Jim Garrison", ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2003.</ref><ref>"Jim Garrison", ''The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives'', Volume 3: 1991–1993. Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001.</ref><ref>"Jim Garrison", ''Newsmakers'' 1993, Issue 4. Gale Research, 1993.</ref> He was the first child and only son of Earling R. Garrison and Jane Anne Robinson, who divorced when he was two years old.<ref name="Lambert_Patricia" /> His family moved to New Orleans quite early into his childhood, where he was raised by his divorced mother. He served in the [[U.S. Army Air Forces]] during [[World War II]], having joined the year before the [[attack on Pearl Harbor|Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor]]. After the war he obtained a law degree from [[Tulane University Law School]] in 1949. He then worked for the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) for two years where he was stationed with the Seattle office.<ref name="auto">"Jim Garrison", ''On the Trail of the Assassins'', Sheridan Square, 1988</ref>

Leading up to the [[Korean War]] era, Garrison joined the [[National Guard of the United States|National Guard]], even applying for active duty with the Army in 1951, but because of recurring nightmares of past missions Garrison was then relieved of duty by the Army. Remaining in the Guard, when it became apparent that he suffered from [[shell shock]] due to his numerous bombing missions flown during World War II,<ref>{{cite book| author = Joan Mellen| title = Jim Garrison, His Life and Times: The Early Years|author-link1=Joan Mellen| year = 2005|pages=33–36| publisher= Potomac Books| isbn = 1-57488-973-7 }}</ref> led one Army doctor to conclude that Garrison had a "severe and disabling psychoneurosis" which "interfered with his social and professional adjustment to a marked degree. He was considered totally incapacitated from the standpoint of military duty and moderately incapacitated in civilian adaptability."<ref>[[Associated Press]], "Garrison Record Shows Disability", December 29, 1967.  Warren Rogers, "The Persecution of Clay Shaw", ''[[Look (American magazine)|Look]]'', August 26, 1969, page 54.</ref> Yet, when his record was reviewed further by the [[U.S. Army Surgeon General]], he "found him to be physically qualified for federal recognition in the national army."<ref>{{cite book| author = Jordan Publishing|author2=William Davy| title = Let Justice Be Done: New Light on the Jim Garrison Investigation| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=anQBAAAACAAJ| date = May 1999| isbn = 978-0-9669716-0-6| page = 82 |publisher=Jordan Pub. }}</ref> Upon returning again to civilian life, Garrison worked in several different trial lawyer positions before winning election as New Orleans District Attorney, starting with his first of three terms in January 1962.<ref name="auto" />

== District attorney ==
In the years prior to winning office as New Orleans District Attorney in 1961, Garrison worked for the New Orleans law firm of Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles from 1954 to 1958, before he first 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. He lost a 1959 election for criminal court judge. In 1961, he ran for district attorney and won against incumbent Richard Dowling by 6,000 votes in a five-man Democratic primary. Despite lack of major political backing, he facilitated his victory through excellent performance in a television debate and last-minute television commercials.

Once in office, Garrison cracked down on prostitution and the abuses of [[Bourbon Street]] bars and strip joints. He indicted Dowling and one of his assistants for 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 praised Garrison's efforts, "Quarter Crime Emergency Declared by Police, DA. – Garrison Back, Vows Vice Drive to Continue – 14 Arrested, 12 more nabbed in Vice Raids." Garrison's critics often point out that many of the arrests made by his office did not result in convictions, implying that he was in the habit of making arrests without evidence; however, assistant DA William Alford said that charges would, more often than not, be reduced or dropped if a relative of someone charged gained Garrison's ear. Alford said Garrison had "a heart of gold".<ref>{{cite book| author = Joan Mellen|author-link1=Joan Mellen|title = A farewell to justice: Jim Garrison, JFK's assassination, and the case that should have changed history| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=scug_gAfL-wC| date = October 19, 2005| publisher = Potomac Books Inc| isbn = 978-1-57488-973-4| page = 11 }}</ref>

After a conflict with local criminal judges over his budget, Garrison accused them of [[Racket (crime)|racketeering]] and conspiring against him. The eight judges charged him with misdemeanor criminal defamation, and Garrison was convicted in January 1963. In 1964, the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] overturned the conviction and struck down the state statute as unconstitutional.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6463657344879720774&q=garrison&as_sdt=2,33|title=Garrison v. Louisiana, 379 US 64 – Supreme Court 1964 – Google Scholar}}</ref> 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. Critical of the state legislature, Garrison was unanimously censured by it for "deliberately maligning all of the members".<ref name="Spokane Daily Chronicle">{{cite news|title=Assassination Probe Conspiracy Being Kept Secret|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8Ac0AAAAIBAJ&pg=7346%2C967297|access-date=May 26, 2013|newspaper=Spokane Daily Chronicle|date=February 20, 1967|agency=AP|location=Spokane, Washington|page=2}}</ref> In 1965, running for reelection against Judge Malcolm O'Hara, Garrison won with 60 percent of the vote.

=== Kennedy assassination investigation ===

As New Orleans D.A., in late 1966, Garrison began an investigation into the [[assassination of President John F. Kennedy]], after receiving several tips from [[Trial of Clay Shaw|Jack Martin]] that a man named [[David Ferrie]] may have been involved in the assassination.<ref>[http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol10/html/HSCA_Vol10_0058b.htm David Ferrie], House Select Committee on Assassinations – Appendix to Hearings, Volume 10, 12, pp. 112–13.</ref> The result of Garrison's investigation was the [[Trial of Clay Shaw|arrest and trial]] of New Orleans businessman [[Clay Shaw]] in 1969, with Shaw being unanimously acquitted less than one hour after the case went to the jury.<ref>Clay Shaw Interview, ''Penthouse'', November 1969, pp. 34–35.</ref><ref>[http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/garr/trial/Feb_28e/html/Feb_28e_0048a.htm Clay Shaw Trial Transcripts], February 28, 1969, p. 47.</ref><ref>[http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/07/andrew_moo_moo_sciambra_who_wo.html "Andrew 'Moo Moo' Sciambra, who worked on Jim Garrison investigation of JFK assassination, dies at age 75"], July 28, 2010, by John Pope, ''The Times-Picayune''</ref> Garrison was able to [[subpoena duces tecum|subpoena]] the [[Zapruder film]] from ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine. Thus, members of the American public – i.e., the jurors of the case – were shown the movie for the first time. Until the trial, the film rarely had been seen, and copies were made by assassination investigator Steve Jaffe, who was working with Garrison's office. In 2015, Garrison's lead investigator's daughter released his copy of the film, along with a number of his personal papers from the investigation.<ref>{{Cite web|title = JFK assassination truthers will love this auction|url = https://nypost.com/2015/11/19/jfk-conspiracy-theorists-eye-auction-featuring-assasination-trial-items/|website = New York Post|date = November 20, 2015|access-date = November 23, 2015|first = Richard|last = Morgan}}</ref>

Garrison's key witness against Shaw was [[Perry Russo]], a 25-year-old insurance salesman from [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana]]. At the trial, Russo testified that he had attended a party at anti-Castro activist [[David Ferrie]]'s apartment. At the party, Russo said that [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] (whom Russo said was introduced to him as "Leon Oswald"), David Ferrie, and "[[Clay Bertrand|Clem Bertrand]]" (whom Russo identified in the courtroom as [[Clay Shaw]]) had discussed killing President Kennedy.<ref name="Testimony of Perry Raymond Russo">[http://www.jfk-online.com/pr01.html Testimony of Perry Raymond Russo], State of Louisiana vs. Clay L. Shaw, February 10, 1969.</ref> The conversation included plans for the "triangulation of crossfire" and alibis for the participants.<ref name="Testimony of Perry Raymond Russo" />

Russo's version of events has been questioned by some historians and researchers, such as Patricia Lambert, once it became known that part of his testimony might have been induced by hypnosis and by the drug [[sodium pentothal]] (sometimes called "truth serum").<ref name="mcadams">{{cite web |year=2007 |url = http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/hypnosis.htm|title = Perry Raymond Russo's Hypnosis: Making Testimony More Objective?|publisher = mcadams| access-date = December 18, 2007 }}</ref> An early version of Russo's testimony (as told in Assistant D.A. Andrew Sciambra's memo, before Russo was subjected to sodium pentothal and hypnosis) fails to mention an "assassination party" and says that Russo met Shaw on two occasions, neither of which occurred at the party.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russo2.txt |title=The Sciambra Memo |access-date=September 17, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/willing.htm |title=Perry Raymond Russo: Way Too Willing Witness |publisher=Mcadams.posc.mu.edu |access-date=September 17, 2010}}</ref> However, in his book ''[[On the Trail of the Assassins]]'', Garrison says that Russo had already discussed the party at Ferrie's apartment before any "truth serum" was administered.<ref>{{cite book| author = Jim Garrison| title = On the trail of the assassins: my investigation and prosecution of the murder of President Kennedy| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vtt3AAAAMAAJ| date = November 1988| publisher = Sheridan Square Pubns| isbn = 978-0-941781-02-2| page = 151 }}</ref> Scambria said that the party information was simply accidentally left off the notes of his encounter with Russo. Throughout his life, Russo reiterated the same account of being present for a party at Ferrie's house along with Mr. Bertrand, where the subject of Kennedy's potential assassination had come up.<ref name="redshift.com">[http://www.redshift.com/~damason/lhreport/articles/perry.html ''The Lighthouse Report'', "The Last Testament of Perry Raymond Russo"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080205032009/http://www.redshift.com/~damason/lhreport/articles/perry.html |date=February 5, 2008 }}, Will Robinson, October 10, 1992.</ref><ref>{{YouTube|49y3JlHWsFM|The JFK Assassination: The Jim Garrison Tapes}}, [[John Barbour (actor)|John Barbour]], 1992. {{dead link|date=August 2022}}</ref> Garrison defended his conduct regarding witness testimony, stating:
<blockquote>Before we introduced the testimony of our witnesses, we made them undergo independent verifying tests, including polygraph examination, truth serum and hypnosis. We thought this would be hailed as an unprecedented step in jurisprudence; instead, the press turned around and hinted that we had drugged our witnesses or given them posthypnotic suggestions to testify falsely.<ref>[http://www.jfklancer.com/Garrison2.html Jim Garrison Interview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022181453/http://www.jfklancer.com/Garrison2.html |date=October 22, 2019 }}, ''Playboy'' magazine, Eric Norden, October 1967.</ref></blockquote>

In May 1967 Garrison appeared on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s ''[[Issues and Answers]]'' program to discuss his investigation.<ref>{{cite news |title=Garrison to 'Defer' Further Arrests |work=The Calgary Herald |date=29 May 1967}}</ref>

In January 1968, Garrison subpoenaed [[Kerry Wendell Thornley]] – an acquaintance of Oswald's from their days in the military – to appear before a grand jury, questioning him about his relationship with Oswald and his knowledge of other figures that Garrison believed were connected to the assassination.<ref>{{cite news
 |title=Writer Not Sure Oswald Assassin
 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YtUzAAAAIBAJ&pg=706,1957487
 |newspaper=[[The Miami News]]
 |date=January 10, 1968
 |access-date=March 18, 2013
 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Thornley sought a cancellation of this subpoena on which he had to appear before the Circuit Court.<ref>{{cite news
 |title=Writer Seeks Cancellation Of Subpoena
 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cHJQAAAAIBAJ&pg=2407,6423840
 |newspaper=[[Tampa Bay Times|St. Petersburg Times]]
 |date= January 20, 1968
|access-date=March 18, 2013}}</ref> Garrison charged Thornley with [[perjury]] after Thornley denied that he had been in contact with Oswald in any manner since 1959. The perjury charge was eventually dropped by Garrison's successor, [[Harry Connick Sr.]] Also in 1968, [[Mort Sahl]] used his connection to get Garrison a spot on ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]'' to discuss the assassination.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hopper |first1=Trtistin |title=Mort Sahl invented stand-up comedy — so what's he doing at a community theatre in Northern California? |url=https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/weekend-post/mort-sahl-invented-stand-up-comedy-so-whats-he-doing-at-a-community-theatre-in-northern-california |publisher=National Post}}</ref>

During Garrison's 1973 bribery trial, tape recordings from March 1971 revealed that Garrison considered implicating publicly the former [[United States Air Force]] [[General officer|General]] and [[Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency]], [[Charles Cabell]], of [[John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories|conspiracy in the assassination of Kennedy]] after learning that he was the brother of [[Earle Cabell]], the Dallas mayor in 1963.<ref name="The Washington Post; September 16, 1973">{{cite news |last=Kelso |author-link=Iris Kelso |first=Iris |date=September 16, 1973 |title=Garrison Planned To Link General To JFK Slaying |url=http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/G%20Disk/Garrison%20Jim/Garrison%20Jim%20Criminal%20Trial%201973/Item%20127.pdf |newspaper=The Washington Post |location=Washington, D.C. |page=E 10 |access-date=June 21, 2017}}</ref> Theorizing that a plot to kill the president was masterminded out of New Orleans in conjunction with the [[CIA]], with cooperation from the Dallas police department and city government, Garrison allegedly tasked his former chief investigator, Pershing Gervais, to look into the possibility that General Cabell had stayed in the city's Fontainebleau Motel at the time of the assassination.<ref name="The Washington Post; September 16, 1973" /> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported that there was no evidence that Gervais ever followed through with the request and that there was no further mention of General Cabell in Garrison's investigation. The article also noted that, by the date in question, Gervais was no longer working for the district attorney in New Orleans.<ref name="The Washington Post; September 16, 1973" /> 

A U.S. talk-radio host, David Mendelsohn, conducted a comprehensive interview with Garrison that was broadcast in 1988 by [[KPFA]] in Berkeley, California. Alongside Garrison, the program featured the voices of Lee Harvey Oswald and ''JFK'' filmmaker [[Oliver Stone]]. Garrison explained that cover stories were circulated in an attempt to blame the killing on the Cubans and the Mafia, but that he blames the conspiracy to kill President Kennedy firmly on the CIA, which wanted to continue the [[Cold War]].<ref>[http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/86549]  {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014094324/http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/86549|date=October 14, 2013}}</ref> The very same reasonings as to why he thought that President Kennedy was killed were espoused by Garrison in filmed television appearances that he would make leading up to his death, the year after Stone's release of his cinematic film ''JFK'', largely based on Garrison's pioneering role in the lone prosecution in the case of [[President Kennedy]]'s assassination.

== Later career and death ==

In 1973, Garrison was tried and found not guilty by the jury for accepting bribes to protect illegal [[pinball machine]] operations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=110&dat=19771004&id=qB8vAAAAIBAJ&pg=7289,404315 |title=Bill Crider, "This U.S. Attorney defies patronage system – He stays", October 4, 1977|access-date=June 29, 2013}}</ref> In an interview with [[Pershing Gervais]] conducted by New Orleans reporter Rosemary James, Gervais had admitted to concocting the charges.<ref>[http://karws.gso.uri.edu/JFK/the_critics/Whitmey/Gervais.html "Pershing Gervais and the Attempt to Frame Jim Garrison"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830040130/http://karws.gso.uri.edu/JFK/the_critics/Whitmey/Gervais.html |date=August 30, 2008 }}, Peter R. Whitmey, ''The Fourth Decade'', vol. 1, 4, May 1994, pp. 3–7.</ref> In the same year, Garrison was defeated for reelection as district attorney by [[Harry Connick Sr.]] On April 15, 1978, Garrison won a [[special election]] over a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] candidate, Thomas F. Jordan, for Louisiana's 4th Circuit Court of Appeal [[judge]]ship, a position for which he was later reelected and which he held until his death.<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_v38/ai_4328771/pg_7?tag=artBody;col1]{{dead link|date=September 2010}}</ref>

In 1987, Garrison appeared in the film ''[[The Big Easy (1987 film)|The Big Easy]]'' where he essentially played himself, and the next year he was featured in ''[[The Men Who Killed Kennedy]]'' series, airing in the United States beginning in 1988. After the Shaw trial, Garrison wrote three books on the Kennedy assassination, ''A Heritage of Stone'' (1970), ''The Star Spangled Contract'' (1976, fiction but based on the JFK assassination), and his best-seller, ''[[On the Trail of the Assassins]]'' (1988). ''A Heritage of Stone'', published by [[G. P. Putnam's Sons|Putnam]], places responsibility for the assassination on the CIA and claims the [[Warren Commission]], the Executive Branch, members of the Dallas Police Department, the pathologists at Bethesda, and various others lied to the American public.<ref name="The Day; December 8, 1970">{{cite news |last=Leonard |first=John |author-link=John Leonard (critic) |date=December 8, 1970 |title=The Story of Garrison Vs. Shaw |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&dat=19701208&id=KSIiAAAAIBAJ&pg=848,1369994 |newspaper=The Day |volume=90 |issue=134 |location=New London, Connecticut |page=22 |access-date=August 24, 2015}}</ref> The book mentions neither Shaw by name nor Garrison's investigation of him.<ref name="The Day; December 8, 1970" />

Garrison's investigation received widespread attention through [[Oliver Stone]]'s film, ''[[JFK (film)|JFK]]'' (1991),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.signature-reads.com/2016/09/truth-tailor-snowden-and-10-of-oliver-stones-strongest-adaptations/ |title=On Truth: 'Snowden' and Oliver Stone's 10 Strongest Adaptations |first=Jay A. |last=Fernandez |date=September 13, 2016 |access-date=January 26, 2019 |work=Signature Reads |publisher=[[Penguin Random House]] }}{{Dead link|date=October 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref> which was largely based on Garrison's book as well as [[Jim Marrs]]' ''Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Fisher |first=Bob |title=The Whys and Hows of ''JFK'' |magazine=[[American Cinematographer]] |date=February 1992 |url=https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-1254069351/the-whys-and-hows-of-jfk |access-date=January 26, 2019 |archive-date=January 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190127035121/https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-1254069351/the-whys-and-hows-of-jfk |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Riordan |first=James |date=September 1996 |title=Stone: A Biography of Oliver Stone |location=New York |publisher=[[Aurum Press]] |isbn=1-85410-444-6 |page=351}}</ref> [[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 of the United States|Chief Justice]] [[Earl Warren]] in two scenes; one interrogating [[Jack Ruby]] in prison with the commission, and one facing the press disputing Garrison's (Costner) theory of a conspiracy in favour of the lone-gunman theory on the steps of the Supreme Court. Garrison also appears live and comments on the Shaw Trial in the documentary ''The JFK Assassination: The Jim Garrison Tapes'', written and directed by actor [[John Barbour (actor)|John Barbour]]. 

Having been bedridden for some time with heart disease, Garrison died in 1992 and is survived by his five children.<ref name="Lambert_Bruce">{{cite news |last=Lambert |first=Bruce |date=October 22, 1992 |title=Jim Garrison, 70, Theorist on Kennedy Death, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/22/obituaries/jim-garrison-70-theorist-on-kennedy-death-dies.html |newspaper=The New York Times |location=New York |access-date=December 9, 2014}}</ref><ref>[http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/archived/garrison.htm "Epitaph For Jim Garrison: Romancing the Assassination" ''The New Yorker'' 30 November 1992] Retrieved January 12, 2012</ref> He is interred at [[Metairie Cemetery]] in New Orleans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mausoleums.com/portfolio/brunswig-mausoleum/|title=Brunswig Mausoleum &#124; Classic Mausoleum Images and Information|website=Mausoleums.com}}</ref>

== Legacy ==

Garrison's investigation and trial of Shaw has been described by critics as "a fatally flawed case built on flimsy evidence that featured a chorus of dubious and even wacky witnesses".<ref name="UPI; October 22, 1992">{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=October 22, 1992 |title=Former New Orleans DA, Kennedy prober, Jim Garrison dies |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/10/22/Former-New-Orleans-DA-Kennedy-prober-Jim-Garrison-dies/9416719726400/ |work=upi.com |agency=UPI |access-date=February 7, 2023}}</ref> Political commentator [[George Will]] wrote that Garrison "staged an assassination 'investigation' that involved recklessness, cruelty, abuse of power, publicity mongering and dishonesty, all on a scale that strongly suggested lunacy leavened by cynicism."<ref>{{cite news |last=Will |first=George |author-link=George Will |date=December 26, 1991 |title='JFK': PARANOID HISTORY |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1991/12/26/jfk-paranoid-history/1353d5cd-9d26-4088-acf7-d3ba5a0f8a0d/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=February 7, 2023}}</ref> Former Orleans Parish district attorney [[Harry Connick Sr.]] said it was "a travesty of justice",<ref name="UPI; October 22, 1992"/> and that he "thought it was one of the grossest, most extreme miscarriages of justice in the annals of American judicial history."<ref>{{cite news |last=Posner |first=Gerald |author-link=Gerald Posner |date=August 6, 1995 |title=Garrison Guilty. Another Case Closed. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/06/magazine/garrison-gulty-another-case-closed.html |work=The New York Times Magazine |page=41 |access-date=February 7, 2023}}</ref> Journalist [[Max Holland]] also described the investigation of Shaw as an "egregious miscarriage of justice".<ref>{{cite news |last=Holland |first=Max |author-link=Max Holland |date=February 8, 2005 |title=Carson Showed Stuff When Confronted With Conspiracy |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2005-02-08-0502080030-story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210708062758/https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2005-02-08-0502080030-story.html |archive-date=July 8, 2021 |work=Orlando Sentinel |access-date=February 7, 2023}}</ref>

Others who have called Garrison's case against Shaw a "miscarriage of justice" or "travesty of justice" include historian Alecia Long,<ref>{{cite news |last=Laney |first=Ruth |date=September 23, 2014 |title="The Trouble with Tight Pants" |url=https://countryroadsmagazine.com/art-and-culture/history/the-trouble-with-tight-pants/ |work=Country Roads Magazine |location= |access-date=February 7, 2023}}</ref> as well as journalist [[Gerald Posner]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Boulard |first=Garry |author-link=Garry Boulard |date=October 13, 1993 |title='JFK' Is More Than a Film In City of Conspiracy Buffs |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1993/1013/13072.html |work=The Christian Science Monitor |access-date=February 7, 2023}}</ref> Conspiracy researcher<!-- theorist? --> [[Harold Weisberg]] called it a "tragedy".<ref>{{cite news |last=Seal |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Seal |date=December 1991|title=Can Hollywood Solve JFK's Murder? |url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/can-hollywood-solve-jfks-murder/ |work=Texas Monthly |access-date=February 7, 2023}}</ref> Political analyst and conspiracy believer [[Carl Oglesby]] was quoted as saying to "have done a study of Garrison: I come out of it thinking that he is one of the really first-rate class-act heroes of this whole ugly story [the killing of John F. Kennedy and subsequent investigation]."<ref>Interview with Carl Oglesby. ''JFK: The Question of Conspiracy'', Documentary. Dir. & Writ. Danny Schechter, Dir. Barbara Kopple (Regency Enterprises, Le Studio Canal, & Alcor Films: A Global Vision Picture, 1992)</ref> Conspiracy author [[David Lifton]] called Garrison "intellectually dishonest, a reckless prosecutor, and a total charlatan".<ref>{{cite web|last=Reitzes |first=Dave |url=http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/buffs_on_jim.htm |title=Garrison and JFK Conspiracy Writers |publisher=Mcadams.posc.mu.edu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226114459/http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/buffs_on_jim.htm |archive-date=December 26, 2008 |access-date=February 7, 2023}}</ref> At the time, Garrison came under criticism from author and researcher Sylvia Meagher, who in 1967 wrote that "as the Garrison investigation continued to unfold, it gave cause for increasingly serious misgivings about the validity of his evidence, the credibility of his witnesses, and the scrupulousness of his methods.<ref>{{cite book| author = Sylvia Meagher| title = Accessories After the Fact: The Warren Commission, the Authorities, and the Report| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ATtJAAAACAAJ| date = April 7, 1992| publisher = Vintage Books| isbn = 978-0-679-74315-6| pages = 456–457 }}</ref> According to Shaw's defense team, witnesses, including Russo, claimed to have been bribed and threatened with perjury and contempt of court charges by Garrison in order to make his case against Shaw.<ref>Gerald Posner, ''Case Closed'', p. 441.</ref>

== Filmography ==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
|1986|| ''[[The Big Easy (film)|The Big Easy]]'' || Judge ||
|-
|1991|| ''[[JFK (film)|JFK]]'' || Judge [[ Earl Warren ]] || (final film role)
|}

== Selected bibliography ==
=== Books ===
* ''A Heritage of Stone''. [[Putnam Publishing Group]] (1970) {{ISBN|978-0399103988}}.
* [[iarchive:starspangledcont00garr|''The Star Spangled Contract''.]] New York: [[McGraw-Hill]] (1976). {{ISBN|978-0070228900}}. {{OCLC|1992214}}.
* [[iarchive:ontrailofassassi00jimg|''On the Trail of the Assassins''.]] New York: [[Sheridan Square]] (1988). {{ISBN|978-0446362771}}.
=== Articles ===
* "The Murder Talents of the CIA". ''[[Freedom (magazine)|Freedom]]'' (April/May 1987)

== References ==
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{{Reflist|2}}

== Further reading ==
* Milton E. Brener, ''The Garrison Case: A Study in the Abuse of Power'' (Clarkson N. Potter, 1969)
* [[Vincent Bugliosi]], ''[[Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy]]'' (W.W. Norton and Company, 2007) – pp.&nbsp;1347–1436 of the main text and pp.&nbsp;804–932 of the endnotes are devoted to "Jim Garrison's Prosecution of Clay Shaw and Oliver Stone's Movie ''JFK''"
* William Hardy Davis, ''Aiming for the Jugular in New Orleans'' (Ashley Books, June 1976)
* Sean Egan, ''Ponies & Rainbows: The Life of James Kirkwood'' (Bearmanor Media, December 2011)
* Paris Flamonde, ''The Kennedy Conspiracy''
* Paris Flamonde, ''The Assassinastion of America'' (2007)
* James Kirkwood, ''American Grotesque: An Account of the Clay Shaw-Jim Garrison-Kennedy Assassination Trial in New Orleans''
* {{cite book| author = Patricia Lambert| title = False Witness: The Real Story of Jim Garrison's Investigation and Oliver Stone's Film JFK| date = September 25, 2000| publisher = M Evans & Co| isbn = 978-0-87131-920-3 }}
* [[Mark Lane (author)|Mark Lane]], ''Rush to Judgement'' (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2nd edition, March 1992) {{ISBN|978-1560250432}}
* Mark Lane, ''Last Word: My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK'' (Skyhorse Publishing, November 2011) {{ISBN|978-1616084288}}
* [[Gerald Posner]], ''Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK'' (New York: Random House Publishers, 1993)
* {{cite book| author = Oliver Stone| author-link = Oliver Stone| author2 = Zachary Sklar| author3 = Jim Marrs| title = JFK: The Book of the Film| date = February 2000| publisher = Applause Books| isbn = 978-1-55783-127-9| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/jfkbookoffilmdoc0000ston}}
* {{cite book| author = James Andrew Savage| title = Jim Garrison's Bourbon Street brawl: the making of a First Amendment milestone| date = June 1, 2010| publisher = University of Louisiana at Lafayette| isbn = 978-1-887366-95-3 }}
* [[Harold Weisberg]], ''Oswald in New Orleans: Case for Conspiracy with the C.I.A.'' (New York: Canyon Books, 1967)
* Christine Wiltz, ''The Last Madam'' pp.&nbsp;145–150 {{ISBN|978-0-571-19954-9}}
* DiEugenio, James (1992). Destiny Betrayed: JFK, Cuba, and the Garrison Case. New York: Sheridan Square Press. {{ISBN|1-879823-00-4}}.
* Davy, William (1999). Let Justice Be Done: New Light on the Jim Garrison Investigation. Reston, VA: Jordan Pub. {{ISBN|0-9669716-0-4}}.
* [[Joan Mellen]] (2005-10-19). A Farewell to Justice: Jim Garrison, JFK's assassination, and the case that should have changed history. Potomac Books Inc. {{ISBN|978-1-57488-973-4}}.

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{commonscat}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqo2c_SxQag Jim Garrison's Reply to NBC News], July 15, 1967
* [http://www.jfk-online.com/garrison.html JFK Online: The Jim Garrison Investigation]
* [http://www.jfk-online.com/jfkaudio.html JFK Online: Jim Garrison audio resources] – mp3s of Garrison speaking
* {{Find a Grave|6333088}}
* [http://www.jfklancer.com/Garrison2.html Jim Garrison Interview, Playboy magazine, Eric Norden, October 1967] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022181453/http://www.jfklancer.com/Garrison2.html |date=October 22, 2019 }}
* {{IMDb name|id=0308426|name=Jim Garrison}}

{{Assassination of John F. Kennedy}}

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