Hat Tip: Joe Alesi. In 2019, Stephen Fagin, the Curator of the Sixth Floor Museum, conducted an oral history interview with Gail Cronauer, the actor who played Janet Williams, aka Ruth Paine, in Oliver Stone's JFK . Here is an excerpt from a transcript: (38:00) Gail Cronauer : Now there was a very definite point of view that Stone had about it, which affected what we did, all right. So do it this way. So there's a little TV interview that's being formed. So it's this way. So

Hat Tip: Robert Reynolds and Paul Hoch provided much of the research for this article. Marc Caputo of Axios recently unveiled the identification of a supposed CIA whistleblower. A CIA whistleblower, revealing his identity for the first time, tells Axios he saw a secret document in which an agency official bragged about misleading congressional investigators about Lee Harvey Oswald's activities in Mexico before President Kennedy was assassinated. "It's a blueprint of a cove

The recent ABC special, "Truth and Lies: Who Killed JFK?", has made Oliver Stone go over the bend. The recent ABC News Special "Truth and Lies: Who Killed JFK?" went to great pains to convince me to appear (along with Jim DiEugenio, who I insisted would join me on the air for "protection purposes," as I made the mistake of giving an interview to Peter Jennings in 2003 that was essentially cut to pieces). I figured this time they'd behave better. DiEugenio was on "for protecti

My friend James Lambert has produced an interesting short documentary on conspiracy theory. James made the documentary, Conspiracy Theorists Lie. You can watch the documentary here. Previous Relevant Blog Posts Mae Brussell: Queen of Conspiracy A Paul Krassner article from 1978. Hollywood must bear some blame for the rise of QAnon Oliver Stone played a significant role in the rise of conspiracy theories. Mordecai Richler on Conspiracy Theorists... A Richler article from Playb

Jefferson Morley believes that a recent ABC documentary on the JFK assassination used an outdated animation of the single-bullet theory. Perhaps the biggest journalistic fail was the extraordinary reliance on Myers as a primary source. ABC News failed to report that Myers’ 20-year-old video animation of the Dealey Plaza shooting is a technological anachronism rendered defunct by contemporary photogrammetry. The Knott Laboratory, a Colorado forensic engineering firm hired by f

My annual visit to Dallas for the commemoration of the JFK assassination was a mixed bag. It was great to see all of my JFK friends, but Dealey Plaza was, once again, a complete travesty as two cults vied for prominence. The first stop on the trip was to a service road near Midlothian Texas where there is a marker for Lee Bowers, who died in a car crash in 1966. Bowers worked in the Union Terminal Company's two-story interlocking tower behind the parking lot next to the Texas

Brian Roselle has some very interesting ideas on the timing of the first shot fired by Lee Harvey Oswald. Previous Episodes of On the Trail of Delusion : Episode 1 My first guest was Robert Reynolds who is an expert on the JFK assassination files . Episode 2 Robert A. Wagner discusses his new book, JFK Assassinated . Episode 3 Gerald Posner discusses the JFK assassination and conspiracy theories. Episode 4 Dr. Martin Kelly, Jr., discusses conspiracy theories and the medical e

Mark Lane's mugshot from his arrest in Mississippi. See below for further information. Here is an article from the May 7, 1962, edition of the New York Post . Mark Lane was trying to win the Reform nomination for the 19th district of New York State for the House of Representatives in D.C.: New York Post, May 7, 1962 Lane would go on and lose this vote. Here is the report written by the five residents: Money Quote : While some newspaper readers have been impressed by Lane's pu

This article appeared in The Sun , first in 1969 and then in 1973: The Sun, July 18, 1973, a newspaper in Tangipahoa Parish. Murray posits a conspiracy at the end of his article that is just plain ridiculous. Clay Shaw was chosen as a sacrificial goat in order to destroy Garrison so that there will never be another inquiry into the JFK assassination. It's bad enough that he wrote this article in 1969 but to reprint it in 1973 is bizarre. Clay Shaw saw Murray's article and wro

Hat Tip: Jerry Shinley. Back in 2000, researcher Jerry Shinley found a description of a voter registration drive in Clinton, Louisiana in the CORE papers which matched a statement of Clinton witness Henry Palmer. Here is a a field report of a registration event from October 10, 1963: Early this morning we had 14 people at the house ready to go to the registrars office at 8:00 A.M. The[y] walked from Mama Jo's [Josephine Holmes] house to the registrars office. By the end of th

Jack Martin This audiotape, made by Jack Martin in May of 1967, shows that he was trying to entrap the reporters working on a NBC documentary that would expose Jim Garrison. In May 1967, Walter Sheridan was in New Orleans working on a documentary for NBC that would ultimately air in June. He was assisted by the local affiliate WDSU and Rick Townley was the reporter who helped him. Here is the actual NBC documentary which was broadcast on June 19, 1967: Jack Martin could be th

Conclusion Clay Shaw with his attorney Edward Wegmann at a press conference after his arrest for conspiring to kill President John. F. Kennedy. No one came to help Clay Shaw. The Department of Justice could have investigated the bribery allegations against Garrison and charged him with a variety of crimes. Perhaps that would have stopped the entire investigation and ended the prosecution of Clay Shaw. But President Johnson told Attorney General Ramsey Clark not to interfere,

The Bonderman Memo I think this was a photograph taken when Shaw was being booked on March 1, 1967. His lawyers Sal Panzeca and Ed Wegmann are on the left, and Garrison Chief Investigator Lou Ivon is on the right. David Bonderman, a special assistant in the DOJ, was given the task of reviewing the materials submitted by Shaw's attorneys. Here is his memo from April 3, 1969: David Bonderman died in December of 2024. Bonderman writes that "prosecutorial discretion covers at lea

Clay Shaw's Acquittal; New Charges; and Wegmann Goes Back to the Department of Justice. March 3, 1967, Clay Shaw arrives for a press conference after his arrest. Our last post ended with the start of Clay Shaw's trial for conspiring to kill JFK. During the course of the trial, there was ample opportunity for the Department of Justice to get involved and help Clay Shaw. For instance: Clay Shaw's attorneys had trouble with the Clinton witnesses because they did not have access

Wegmann files a forty-five-page complaint in the U.S. District Court in New Orleans. Photo from Rosemary James' article, "The Dark Side of Not Guilty," in New Orleans Magazine. In May of 1968, Wegmann filed a forty-five-page complaint in the U.S. District Court in New Orleans. What does he have to lose? The DOJ won't help him so perhaps the courts will help. Click here for his complaint. Wegmann asks for "a 'sanctuary' in this Court to grant him relief from the irreparable ha

Wegmann Files a Civil Rights Complaint with the Department of Justice. Clay Shaw leaving the court house in New Orleans. Our last post on Clay Shaw left off with Ed Wegmann sending a letter to John Doar at the Department of Justice in late-September of 1967. He promised Doar that information on the case was being compiled and would soon be sent to him. As you can see in this post, there is some desperation on the part of Shaw's attorneys. They don't have many cards to play an

Wegmann Goes Back to Washington with Irvin Dymond Clay Shaw on the left, 1944 - 1945, with General Thrasher. In mid-September 1967, Wegmann and Dymond flew north to Washington D.C. They enlisted the help of Herbert 'Jack' Miller, a former assistant attorney general, who had been hired by Robert Kennedy in 1961. They told Miller that they waned to meet with someone at the CIA who can "steer them to the true facts and circumstances," of the various allegations being made by Gar

The CIA Gets Involved On March 4, 1967, Paese Sera , a communist-controlled newspaper in Rome began a multi-part series on Clay Shaw and the Centro Mondiale Commerciale (CMC), a world trade center. The articles alleged that Clay Shaw was on the CMC's Board and that the CIA used the organization to funnel American dollars to ultra-rightists. Paese Sera, March 4, 1967 This hit the New Orleans newspapers in April: New Orleans States-Item, April 25, 1967 The story was again menti

Ed Wegmann Goes to Washington Part Two of our series on Clay Shaw discussed the Washington Post  article of March 3 , 1967 in which Ramsey Clark said that the FBI had investigated and cleared Shaw right after the JFK assassination. This made it sound like the FBI suspected Clay Shaw back in 1963 - 1964. Wegmann realized they needed some clarification and he sent a telegram to the Department of Justice requesting a meeting but was turned down. He also phoned the FBI who told

The DOJ is Told Not to Get Involved. The FBI Follows Suit. Jim Garrison's investigation into the JFK assassination became public in late February of 1967. Garrison bragged that he had solved the case. Washington Post, February 24, 1967 Washington got wind that he was also alleging that Lyndon Johnson was somehow linked to the assassination: This headline was from a later speech by Garrison but it illustrates his belief that Johnson was hiding something. Garrison, to my knowle