Patricia Lambert is the author of the indispensable False Witness: The Real Story of Jim Garrison's Investigation and Oliver Stone's Film JFK . I have been fortunate to have been allowed on two occasions to examine her papers at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas. Here is a paragraph from a memo she wrote to herself on Oliver Stone: These words just ring true. I see it every single day on Facebook where I am routinely insulted by people who have no interest in reading my posts.

Washington Evening Star, February 23, 1969 Money quote: As Edward Jay Epstein puts it: "A demagogue who demonstrates a willingness to alter elements of a story when it serves his purpose may temporarily excite public opinion, but he can never establish his version of the event as the truth." Previous Relevant Blog Posts Sylvia Meagher's Reaction to the Verdict in the Shaw Trial This blog post has Sylvia Meagher's review of Paris Flammonde's The Kennedy Conspiracy .

Pittsburgh Press, February 6, 1969 Money quote: At least a dozen witnesses -- none of whom came forward in the first three years after the assassination -- have placed Shaw with Ferrie, Oswald with Shaw or all three. Why Didn't Garrison's Witnesses Come Forward Before 1967? Stephen Roy, in his unpublished biography of David Ferrie, Perfect Villain: David Ferrie and the JFK Mystery , wrote: "The 1963 Ferrie investigation was as notable for what did emerge as for what did not

Money quote: On and on it went. Aides and newsmen close to the investigation wondered aloud how Garrison could tell the mental cases from the sincere witnesses, the truthful from the imaginative. You can see this in the leads that Garrison sent to the House Selection Committee on Assassinations. They were an amalgam of rumor, gossip and imagination. None of Garrison's leads amounted to anything. Here is a link to part two of this series. Here is a link to part one of this s

Money quote: The final irony of Shaw's two-year ordeal is that he will probably lose the jury trial now in progress and be convicted of conspiracy. It won't be because the Garrison case is any better than it ever was, but because of the spectacularly vague definition of conspiracy in Louisiana. Fortunately, Clay Shaw was not convicted. The point was the unfair fight that Clay Shaw faced in this trial. Here is a terrific memo written by Irvin Dymond, his trial attorney, on all

Part one of five-part series in the Pittsburgh Press , February 2, 1969 Previous Relevant Blog Posts Did the FBI Bug Garrison's Offices? Hugh Aynesworth debunks William Walters. Was Jim Garrison Napoleon or Rasputin? A terrific cover of Westward with a story by Hugh Aynesworth Why do Conspiracy Theorists Still Believe Julia Ann Mercer? Hugh Aynesworth saw Jack Ruby at the offices of the Dallas Morning News on the morning of November 22, 1963. Jim Garrison Hoped Clay Shaw

New Orleans States-Item, February 25, 1967 Garrison actually thought that Shaw would commit suicide. Here is an excerpt from "Garrison vs. Shaw: The Big Melodrama in New Orleans" by Hugh Aynesworth from the second of five articles written for The Pittsburgh Press, February 3 , 1969: Previous Relevant Blog Posts When Shaw was Arrested, What Serious Evidence did Garrison have that he Conspired to Kill JFK? Please take the challenge. In June 1970, Clay Shaw and Others Look Back

Sylvia Meagher wrote Harold Weisberg in September 1967 and enclosed some excerpts of an interview of Jim Garrison by Mike Wallace: Here is what Meagher wrote to Harold Weisberg about the interview: There is no shortage of Garrison craziness in the interview: "Marina Oswald had long since been taken over and controlled, literally, by elements of the White Russian community in Dallas; and there are individuals in the White Russian community in Dallas who are involved in the as

Bennett Gershman From the Harold Weisberg Archive: New York Law Journal, January 27, 1993 Bennett Gershman was the Assistant District Attorney in New York County from 1966 - 1972 and was Assistant Attorney General in the office of the New York State Special Prosecutor's Office from 1972 - 1976. Judge Christenberry held three days of hearings in January 1971. Jim Garrison took the stand and was cross-examined by Clay Shaw's attorneys. You can read the Christenberry decision

The first interview that Jim Garrison gave after the Clay Shaw trial was to Thomas Buchanan, author of Who Killed Kennedy?" Photo of the cover of my copy of Who Killed Kennedy? Buchanan wrote to Garrison in September of `1968: Here is Garrison's typed reply: The interview never happened. Buchanan sent in a second request. Buchanan writes "But it seems important to me to destroy the impression that most of the American journalists have given, throughout the world, that there

Gaeton Fonzi Here is a memo written by Gaeton Fonzi to Troy Gustavson about Kerry Thornley. This memo predates the HSCA and was written when Fonzi was doing some work for Senator Schweiker. Gustavson was Schweiker's press secretary. There are many people who believe that Fonzi was this amazing investigator. This memo shows him to be someone who was capable of swallowing the most amazing nonsense from Jim Garrison. Documents courtesy of the Malcolm Blunt Archive. You can downl

Here is another tape from the summer of 1977 of Jim Garrison being interviewed by investigators from the House Select Committee on Assassinations. The focus is on Kerry Thornley and his supposed impersonation of Lee Harvey Oswald. Here is a Word document with the transcript: Here is a PDF of the transcript: Jim Garrison takes a variety of 'sightings' of Oswald and then tries to convince the HSCA that it was really Kerry Thornley. Garrison starts off the discussion with James

In April 1967, Judge Haggerty handed down strict "guidelines governing conduct" of the prosecution and the defense in the Clay Shaw case. New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 1, 1967 Garrison didn't think much of Judge Haggerty's guidelines. Note Garrison's quote: "The judge was just making a suggestion when he handed out the guidelines. The District Attorney can make any statements he wishes." Previous Relevant Blog Posts ACLU had Concerns about a Fair Trial for Clay Shaw Garr

In December 1967, Jim Garrison issued a series of press releases about a supposed shot from the sewer on Elm Street. I have previously blogged about a shot from the sewer here, and here . I found Garrison's press releases in the Al Chapman folder in the Harold Weisberg Archive . Chapman was a researcher who supplied Jim Garrison with photographs. Here is his first press release: Jim Garrison writes that "the bullet has been identified -- by a comparison study of bullets -- a

Here is yet another recording of an HSCA interview with Jim Garrison. This took place in either in late July or early August of 1977. In this session, Garrison talked mostly about Guy Banister. Here is a Word document with the transcript. Here is a PDF file with the transcript. Discussion Garrison discusses the memos written about Betty Parrott (see below for documents). She was an informant in the French Quarter who was very close to Bill Dalzell, who started an anti-Castro

C ourtesy of the Malcolm Blunt Archive . The document is contained in the CIA folder within the Garrison folder. Here is a link to the actual document. The document is referenced on the last page of a just-released unredacted CIA chronology of Mexico City. See the last page. That comment can be more conveniently seen in of the searchable copies released earlier. Note written by COS: This guy GARRISON is so far gone that would not be acceptable in any luny [sic] bin!! "COS"

In July and August 1977, Jim Garrison was interviewed by staff members of the House Select Committee on Assassinations. I have five tapes of his interviews and, over the next several weeks, I will be publishing them here for the first time ever. Here is page one of the HSCA memo on the interviews: Here is the first of five tapes. And guess what? It's Jim Garrison at his craziest: This was not the first tape - it was recorded towards the end of the week with Garrison. Here is

San Francisco Chronicle, December 29, 1967

In March 1967, Frank Manning, chief investigator for Louisiana Attorney General Jack Gremillion, was attending the Midyear Meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General. He informed H. L. Edwards of the FBI that he was concerned about "the activities of New Orleans District Attorney Garrison." Here is an unredacted copy of the FBI memo written about Manning's concerns: [hat tip Malcolm Blunt] The FBI had little interest in investigating: I don't think anybody want

This is from a partial transcript of a discussion between Mark Lane and James Phelan. I don't have an exact date for this discussion, but it was probably in 1967. Phelan refers to Breck Wald, who was Breck Wall, an entertainer whom Ruby phoned on the evening of November 23d. Garrison believed he ordered Ruby to kill Oswald. The idea that homosexuals were "used" was also mentioned by Garrison to journalist Jack Anderson. A paragraph from On the Trail of Delusion: (page 78) "