Jim Garrison (November 20, 1921 - October 21, 1992) was District Attorney of New Orleans, 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 a wild goose chase motivated by Garrison's desire for self publicity.

Biography

Jim Garrison was born with the name Earling Carothers Garrison in Knoxville, Iowa. His family moved to New Orleans in his childhood. He served in the United States Army in World War II, then got a law degree from Tulane University. He briefly worked for the FBI, then went into private law practice. He served as New Orleans' assistant District Attorney from 1954 to 1958. In 1961 he ran for District Attorney, succeeding in the race despite lack of major political backing, and took office in May of the following year. In 1973 he lost the office to Harry Connick, Sr. . He was elected a State of Louisiana Appeals Circuit Court Judge, serving from 1978 to his death in 1992.

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). During the Shaw trial, Garrison attempted to connect Shaw to the CIA. At the time, no hard evidence could be produced regarding any such connection. Subsequently, in 1979, Richard Helms (former director of the CIA) gave sworn testimony in a civil deposition which confirmed Shaw's contact with the CIA prior to the Shaw trial. Whether in fact this CIA connection tied Shaw to the Kennedy assassination is an unresolved and contested issue even to date.

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 Justice Earl Warren.

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.

Quotes

• "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.]
• ""Most of the time you marshal your facts, then deduce your theories. But Garrison deduced a theory, then he marshaled the facts. And if the facts didn't fit he'd say they had been altered by the CIA." - Charles Ward, former assistant to Garrison [Patricia Lambert, False Witness (New York: M. Evans and Co., 1998), p. 228.]

Further reading

• Jim Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins. ISBN 0446362778
• Patricia Lambert, False Witness: The Real Story of Jim Garrison's Investigation and Oliver Stone's Film JFK. ISBN 0871319209

External links

• Jim-Garrison.com - a fan tribute site
• New Orleans and the Garrison Investigation - a skeptical assesment 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