Slowing Interest in the Jim Garrison Investigation?

 Over the years since 1967-69, when interest in what came to be known as the Jim Garrison Investigation, the high point of which was the arrest, trial, and prosecution of Clay Shaw, was at its peak, the case has vanished completely from the news and been resurrected several times. The two year period between arrest and trial was very intense, but after the acquittal of Clay Shaw, interest diminished quickly, even though during the 1969-71 period. Shaw was re-arrested on perjury charges two days after his acquittal, and that case limped along for two years before a Federal court prohibited any further prosecution. Shaw filed an a civil suit against Garrison and others, and it, too, progressed very slowly, seeming to pick up steam only shortly before Shaw's death in 1974. It was quite a tangled mess, one that I explain in much detail in the context of Shaw's life in my biography of him, Man of a Million Fragments: The True Story of Clay Shaw.

Now, 55 years after it all began, I sensed a diminished interest in Shaw, even among conspiracy theorists. Since Shaw was the only person ever tried for the assassination, it was natural that many would cling to him as a suspect or person of interest. Even if he wasn't technically guilty, many said, he must have known Oswald, must have shepherded him around New Orleans. And Shaw surely knew David Ferrie, the somewhat strange, shadowy man also allegedly present at the all-important "party" or meeting where the assassination was discussed.

I haven't seen the recent Oliver Stone documentary about the assassination, but my understanding is that there is very little mention of Shaw, perhaps more of Garrison (but not as much as in Stone's 1991 movie JFK.

What does it all mean? Does it signify that the Garrison case and any suspicions of Shaw are dying out? Or is it a temporary resting point, as has happened in the past? There are reasons for believing that this time, it might be different. But I don't think so.

Clay Shaw and Alfred J. Moran

Alfred J. Moran figured somewhat prominently (but behind the scenes) in the evidence presented against Clay Shaw at Shaw's trial. As I explain in some detail in my biography of Clay Shaw, Man of a Million Fragments: The True Story of Clay Shaw, Alfred Moran dropped some information at a social gathering in the fall of 1967, after Shaw's initial trial date had been postponed. The trial was reschedule to begin in about four or five months, and it was during this period that the evidence of Shaw's supposed visit to the Eastern Airlines VIP room, where he allegedly signed the guest register using the name "Clay Bertrand," was being developed. Alfred Moran had been present in the VIP Room on the date in question, and the information he gave was consistent. However, it was garbled in a series of CIA memos (a CIA employee who knew Moran had been present at the social gathering where Moran discussed his knowledge of the event. Confusion about the nature of that information caused noticeable confusion at the CIA for a period.

Clay Shaw and Richard Townley

One of the journalists who figures prominently in the first six months of the period before and after Clay Shaw's arrest was Richard Townley, an investigative reporter for WDSU-TV in New Orleans. I e-mailed with Richard, interviewed him by telephone, and then drove to his residence in Mountain Home, Arkansas during the middle part of 2007. Richard provided quite a lot of useful information, about which I reported in my biography of Clay Shaw, entitled Man of a Million Fragments: The True Story of Clay Shaw.

Richard was alerted to the Garrison investigation before news of it broke on February 17, 1967, and certain information he received from inside of Garrison's office convinced him that it was an invalid investigation from the start. He was eventually indicted by Garrison, and found it necessary to seek employment outside of New Orleans. I give a detailed account of this in my book.

I found Richard credible. He was forthright about things that went on, and he was very candid about his investigative "partner", Walter Sheridan, a former key aide to Robert Kennedy and, at the time of Garrison's investigation, an investigative reporter for NBC News.

Richard passed in early 2009, way too young, after several long-term health issues.

Nashville: The Mood

 I have taken a two-year break from my miniseries entitled Nashville: The Mood after completing Part 10 in Summer, 2020. In fact, I took a break from writing altogether. However, I have been giving serious though to resuming the series. There have been lots of changes in Nashville in recent years, and things are still changing rapidly--and yet--in many ways, things remain the same, only more so.

Stay tuned.