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http://wtracyparnell.blogspot.com/2020/10/book-review-on-trail-of-delusion.html Great review of my book, On The Trail of Delusion by Tracy Parnell. "Fred Litwin has written a book that will be warmly welcomed by anyone who enjoys cold war era history and even long-time students of the Garrison saga will find fresh material here. Novices to the case will no doubt be shocked by the homophobia in both Garrison’s original investigation and Stone’s film and by Prouty and Stone’s anti-Semitic remarks. Undeniably, all but the most credulous Garrison acolytes will be appalled by the demonstrable miscarriage of justice against Clay Shaw and others documented by Litwin in this fine book."

Jim Garrison had a lot of power. And he was determined to use his powers to achieve hjs goals. One of his biggest was his power of subpoena. One of his favorite techniques was to subpoena you to appear before the grand jury, and then charge you with perjury. Once charged, you would have to get a lawyer, and you would have all sorts of other problems - like getting a job, bank loans, etc. Garrison would often dismiss the charges right before trial. And he had the power to subpoena you with just the stroke of a pen. He just had to sign a piece of paper. Here is a document from the early part of the Garrison investigation. While in office, the law changed an Garrison could subpoena you just to appear in his office for questioning. Not surprisingly, people were fearful of his power. Check out this headline. As I detail in Chapter 1 - The Taking of New Orleans 1-2-3, of my book On The Trail of Delusion, Garrison discovered and used other powers. He bragged to Richard Billings, an editor of Life Magazine: "I won't take no for an answer. I've not gonna let somebody lie to me in this case; they lied to the Warren Commission, they lied to the FBI, they're not gonna lie to me. I'm gonna use every legal form of power I have at my disposal. I have the right to made the decision. I have the power available, and I'm gonna use it. If they don't like the way I use the power, then the solution is for them not to elect me next time. But until the next election comes up, I have it and I'm going to use it as effectively as possible; and I'm going to use it in new ways, perhaps ways that haven't been used before, and with imagination and if neccessary with aggressiveness and audacity in order to get people who have concealed the truth previously, to tell the truth." I have a lot more about how Garrison yielded his power in my book.

In Chapter 2 of my book, A Beautiful Mind?, I discuss the several "recurring themes that colored Garrison's investigation: his mental illness, his bizarre investigative 'techniques,' his attraction to conspiracy theories, his irrational leftist politics, and his endless paranoia. I quoted from Garrison's psychiatric report from 1951. I did not include the actual report in my book because I didn't think it would reproduce properly. And so, here is that report. Garrison's records leaked to the press in 1968 and caused a stir. Aaron Kohn, head of the Metropolitan Crime Commission asked for an opinion of Dr. Alton Ochsner, and here is his reply. Hugh Aynesworth decided to poke Garrison and sent this telegram. Have a look at the notations, which are in Garrison's handwriting.

Clearly, my title explains the truth about Jim Garrison - that he was chasing a delusion. A mythical belief in a JFK conspiracy....and since he could never actually find it, he had to make one up. And, in the process, he ruined lives. The subtitle, The Great Accuser, comes from Harry Connick, Garrison's successor as District Attorney of New Orleans. He came up with it - here's an article from the Times-Picayune. And, where did Harry Connick get it from. Well from the New Testament. From 1 Peter 5:8 Curb every passion, and be on the alert. Your great accuser, the Devil, is going about like a roaring lion to see whom he can devour.

Please bookmark this page. I will be posting every day on this blog - pictures, documents, articles, and commentary about Jim Garrison and his investigation into the assassination of JFK. My book, On The Trail of Delusion, is now available in Kindle format. It will soon be available in print format, and you will also be able to shortly find it on Kobo, iTunes, and a variety of other platforms.

On The Trail of Delusion will be available in Mid-October. Please sign up for our newsletter to receive news about this important book.