The Diaries of Tom Bethell and Richard Billings
Updated: Sep 6
Tom Bethell was a Garrison staffer and Richard Billings was an editor at Life Magazine. They both kept diaries of the Garrison investigation and, on my documents page, you can download a document with both diaries.
My document collects the Bethell entries from the late John McAdams’ site and the Billings entries from David Reitzes’ site.
In April, Hood College uploaded the Sylvia Meagher archives. There is a folder of her correspondence with Tom Bethell and a folder with documents he sent her.
I noticed that several of Bethell's documents contain additional diary entries. I decided to add these pages to my Bethell-Billings document. Here is a summary of the additions:
Beginning of Diary, 23 additional pages
Entries beginning June 1, 1967, 13 pages
January 17, 1968, one insert
After April 4, 1968, 2 pages
Last entries to the diary, 11 pages
I have added an additional 50 pages to his diary.
Here are the complete Bethell-Billings diaries (PDF)
complete bethell billings diaries
.pdf
Download PDF • 11.98MB
Here are the complete Bethell-Billings diaries in Word format:
complete bethell billings diaries
.docx
Download DOCX • 53.22MB
If anybody has some good ideas on how I can easily convert this document into text, let me know.
Previous Relevant Blog Posts
Perry Russo Talks - in Baton Rouge, Part Five
Additional information about a meeting with Perry Russo and James Phelan.
Perry Russo Talks - in Baton Rouge, Part Four
Tom Bethell wrote Sylvia Meagher details about a meeting he had with Richard Billings in which they discussed Perry Russo and James Phelan.
Tom Bethell Writes Sylvia Meagher about the Shaw Trial
Bethell sat through the Shaw trail and he wrote Meagher about what happened.
Jim Garrison's Files and Mark Lane
Tom Bethell had lots to say about Mark Lane's usage of Jim Garrison's files.
"Earl Warren: On the Mob's Payroll" by Tom Bethell
An article by Tom Bethell from the Washington Monthly of March 1976.
Tom Bethell Died This Week at Age 84, R.I.P.
A tribute to Tom Bethell and an article he wrote for the National Review.