As soon as details of the QUICK article got out, Jim Garrison was denying that he was the author.
Town Talk, Alexandria, Louisiana, April 3, 1967
It's interesting that Garrison complained that he "never told anyone the name of the person who fired the fatal shot at President Kennedy." He didn't say that didn't know the name of the assassin - he just hadn't told anybody.
An American reporter for the West German public radio broadcaster Deutsche Welle wrote to Jim Garrison the day after QUICK was released, detailing his attempt to authenticate it, in light of QUICK's bad reputation, asking him for confirmation or denial, and offering to bring any fraud to public attention:
Jim Garrison replied on April 14, denying involvement:
"I have no idea who dreamed this article up but it is neither my product nor is it authorized by me."
Carefully phrased, in light of what the next blog post will show. He never talked to a QUICK representative: no doubt true.
Mr. Jordan then wrote back:
There is no Garrison reply to his letter in his files. He probably decided to just let it go, and realized that a real investigation would reveal the truth about the article. So better to feign indignation, and then drop it.
Instead, Jim Garrison went into damage control mode, and turned to Der Spiegel, a very reputable mainstream magazine, who published an interview with him in its May 22, 1967 issue. An entire sidebar discussed QUICK magazine: (The first part discusses another QUICK controversy over a report about Stalin's supposed sexual antics)
Here is Don Jordan's translation of the second part of the article that I found in Jim Garrison's files:
The interview with Garrison was definitely damage control.
By this time, Garrison's focus had moved away from a homosexual conspiracy and towards the CIA - no doubt because the various critics pushed back, and because of the Paese Sera articles in Rome claiming an association between Clay Shaw and the CIA.
Here is an excerpt from the journal of Richard Billings: (entry for March 16, 1967)
Garrison now interested in possible connections between Shaw and the CIA . . . wants to check his tie to Mario Bermudez, international relations director for late mayor, Shep Morrison . . . Two leads re: CIA tie: article in March issue Humanite supposedly mentions Shaw's Company work in Italy.
Garrison is hot in the CIA angle.
QUICK was mentioned in the Der Spiegel interview:
SPIEGEL: Pardon me, there are quite a number of Warren Report critics who have spoken of a second Oswald.
GARRISON: I want to tell you this: Of all the magazines, perhaps with the exception of "Quick," and certainly of all the American newspapers, none of them went as far as "Newsweek" in their guesswork. This magazine deserves a special medal for its imaginative excursion into poetry. What "Newsweek" has done is inexcusable. This magazine understands what it's all about, but spreads its wild baseless speculations.
SPIEGEL: We are by no means talking about just "Newsweek," there are a whole range of others ...
GARRISON: Yes. Concerning "Quick," I surely don't need to tell you what a wild story it was.
SPIEGEL: No, we know that.
Garrison was referring to a March 13, 1967 story in Newsweek by Hugh Aynesworth which also quoted him talking about homosexuality:
"The D. A. insisted he already had proof that Shaw, Ferrie and Oswald were conspirators, but was still looking for a "gay boy" who resembled Oswald who actually fired the fatal shots."
and:
"Moreover, D. A. Garrison's decision to concentrate on homosexuals, a relatively vulnerable group, tended to produce a line-up of alleged conspirators that much of the public found difficult to take seriously."
Garrison had a direct response to the Newsweek quote:
SPIEGEL: Mr. Garrison, how have you actually solved the Tippit case? Police officer J. D. Tippit was shot 45 minutes after the president. Since, in your opinion, Oswald did not shoot anyone on November 22nd, 1963 - who was it then ...
GARRISON: I don't want to say anything about Tippit.
SPIEGEL: ... perhaps a 'gay boy’ who - as it is often said - looked like Oswald?
GARRISON: Thank you for asking that, because at no point have we looked for a ‘gay boy’ who looked like Oswald. This is an invention by "Newsweek". This magazine did not concern itself with the facts at all, but used all its power to bring every investigation into the assassination into disrepute. As "Newsweek" describes our investigations - that is very imaginative.
Homosexuality only came up two other times in the Der Spiegel interview:
SPIEGEL: Was it an anti-Castro conspiracy, a pro-Castro conspiracy, a homosexual conspiracy - or what other conspiracy?
GARRISON: The homosexual factor is insignificant. Some authors have blown it up a lot to - let's say - spice up their stories and make more money. But there is a Cuban factor, a very important Cuban factor.
Here are some very telling remarks by Garrison:
GARRISON: Certainly nobody can accuse me of being a communist. So I feel completely free to say that the Soviet government and press are more interested in the truth, more interested in knowing what actually happened to President Kennedy than the American government and press.
SPIEGEL: Is that really an interest in the truth? After all, the Soviet Union has banned the distribution of the Warren Report.
GARRISON: Perhaps it didn't meet their literary standards. But to come back to your question about Mrs. Oswald: She is a mother who has lost a son about whom many untrue things have been said, including the remark, which was wrongly attributed to me, that Oswald was a homosexual. That's not true, and I never said that. But it is only one example of the barrage that Mrs. Oswald has to go through. I am sorry for her and I am glad she is interested in a new investigation. Oswald was obviously involved in the affair. But that doesn't mean he shot anyone in Dealey Plaza in Dallas, It's perfectly clear that he didn't. I don't want to say more.
Note the fake indignation. Mrs. Oswald is suffering from a false allegation - which Garrison, of course, would never make - and he feels for her. But as we will show in an upcoming post, Garrison would tell another journalist that Oswald was a homosexual. And in a recurring pattern, Garrison would show the same indignation when the journalist reported the allegation.
Our next blog post about the QUICK article:
Jim Garrison Does it Again! He tells another reporter that Ruby and Oswald
were homosexuals and then then attempts damage control.
Previous Posts on the QUICK Article