James Carothers Garrison (born Earling Carothers Garrison; November 20, 1921 – October 21, 1992) was the District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana, from 1962 to 1973 and later a state appellate court judge. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best known for his investigations into the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the prosecution of New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw to that effect in 1969, which ended in Shaw's acquittal. Garrison believed the assassination was the result of a conspiracy involving the CIA, FBI, The Pentagon (United States Department of Defense), the Mafia and other organizations. He wrote three published books, one of which became a prime source for Oliver Stone's film JFK in 1991, in which Garrison was portrayed by Kevin Costner, while Garrison himself made a cameo appearance as Earl Warren.
Garrison was born in Denison, Iowa, in 1921. He was the first child and only son of Earling R. Garrison and Jane Anne Robinson, who divorced before his sixth birthday. His mother moved Jim and his sister from Iowa to New Orleans. He attended Alcée Fortier High School, class of 1939. He served in the U.S. Army Air Forces in France and Germany during World War II, having enlisted a year before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Among Garrison's duties was to fly very low-altitude surveillance planes, nicknamed "grasshoppers". The dangerous flights were meant to spot artillery targets and had high fatality rates. His artillery unit was one of the first to arrive for the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp.
After the war, he attended Tulane University Law School, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1949. He later went back for a Master of Civil Laws degree. After working briefly for the prestigious New Orleans law firm of Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles, he opted to join the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the Pacific Northwest, where he was stationed in the Seattle and Tacoma offices.
In the prelude to the Korean War, Garrison enlisted in the National Guard, and then applied in 1951 for active Army duty. However, because of his recurring nightmares of past missions, he was dismissed by the Army in October 1951. Remaining in the Guard—when it became apparent he suffered from what was then called "battle fatigue" due to his numerous high-risk grasshopper flights in WWII—led one Army doctor to conclude that Garrison had a "severe and disabling psychoneurosis" which "interfered with his social and professional adjustment to a marked degree. He was considered totally incapacitated from the standpoint of military duty and moderately incapacitated in civilian adaptability." Yet, when his record was reviewed further by the U.S. Army Surgeon General, he "found him to be physically qualified for federal recognition in the national army."
Upon returning again to civilian life, Garrison worked in several different trial lawyer positions before being appointed as an assistant district attorney in New Orleans. He served in that role from 1955 to early 1958, and developed a reputation as a flamboyant, colorful figure in the city. He made his first run for public office in 1958, losing the election for City Assessor. In 1960, he lost another race, this time for a Criminal Court Judge seat, but by then he had been appointed Assistant City Attorney, a part-time job paying a nominal salary. From the City Attorney's office, he had a close view of the incumbent District Attorney Richard Dowling and did not approve of the latter's conduct. In 1961, Garrison entered the race for New Orleans DA. In the five-man Democratic primary, he came in a surprise second place to Dowling. Garrison benefitted from what was considered a strong performance in a televised debate. In the runoff election, Garrison scored an upset win by 6,000 votes. Handicapped by a lack of major political backing, he had saved his meager campaign funds for an effective TV advertising blitz against Dowling in the final weeks.
Once in office, Garrison cracked down on prostitution and the abuses of Bourbon Street bars and strip joints. He indicted Dowling and one of his assistants for criminal malfeasance, but the charges were dismissed for lack of evidence. Garrison did not appeal the decision. He received national attention for a series of vice raids in the French Quarter, staged sometimes on a nightly basis. Newspaper headlines in 1962 praised his efforts, "Quarter Crime Emergency Declared by Police, DA. – Garrison Back, Vows Vice Drive to Continue – 14 Arrested, 12 more nabbed in Vice Raids." Garrison's critics often point out that many of the arrests made by his office did not result in convictions, implying that he was in the habit of making arrests without evidence; however, assistant DA William Alford said that charges would, more often than not, be reduced or dropped if a relative of someone charged gained Garrison's ear. Alford said Garrison had "a heart of gold".
After a conflict with local criminal judges over his budget, Garrison accused them of racketeering and conspiring against him. The eight judges charged him with misdemeanor criminal defamation, and Garrison was convicted in January 1963. In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction and struck down the state statute as unconstitutional. At the same time, Garrison indicted Judge Bernard Cocke with criminal malfeasance and, in two trials prosecuted by Garrison himself, Cocke was acquitted. Garrison charged nine policemen with brutality, but dropped the charges two weeks later. At a press conference, he accused the state parole board of accepting bribes, but could obtain no indictments. Critical of the state legislature, Garrison was unanimously censured by it for "deliberately maligning all of the members". In 1965, running for reelection against Judge Malcolm O'Hara, Garrison won with 60 percent of the vote.
Kennedy assassination investigation
As New Orleans D.A., in late 1966, Garrison began an investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, after receiving several tips from Jack Martin that a man named David Ferrie may have been involved in the assassination. The result of Garrison's investigation was the arrest and trial of New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw in 1969, with Shaw being unanimously acquitted less than one hour after the case went to the jury. Garrison was able to subpoena the Zapruder film from Life magazine. Thus, members of the American public – i.e., the jurors of the case – were shown the movie for the first time. Until the trial, the film rarely had been seen, and copies were made by assassination investigator Steve Jaffe, who was working with Garrison's office. In 2015, Garrison's lead investigator's daughter released his copy of the film, along with a number of his personal papers from the investigation.
Garrison's key witness against Shaw was Perry Russo, a 25-year-old insurance salesman from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. At the trial, Russo testified that he had attended a party at anti-Castro activist David Ferrie's apartment. At the party, Russo said that Lee Harvey Oswald (whom Russo said was introduced to him as "Leon Oswald"), David Ferrie, and "Clem Bertrand" (whom Russo identified in the courtroom as Clay Shaw) had discussed killing President Kennedy. The conversation included plans for the "triangulation of crossfire" and alibis for the participants.
Russo's version of events has been questioned by some historians and researchers, such as Patricia Lambert, once it became known that part of his testimony might have been induced by hypnosis and by the drug sodium pentothal (sometimes called "truth serum"). An early version of Russo's testimony (as told in Assistant D.A. Andrew Sciambra's memo, before Russo was subjected to sodium pentothal and hypnosis) fails to mention an "assassination party" and says that Russo met Shaw on two occasions, neither of which occurred at the party. However, in his book On the Trail of the Assassins, Garrison says that Russo had already discussed the party at Ferrie's apartment before any "truth serum" was administered. Sciambra said that the party information was simply accidentally left off the notes of his encounter with Russo. Throughout his life, Russo reiterated the same account of being present for a party at Ferrie's house along with Mr. Bertrand, where the subject of Kennedy's potential assassination had come up. Garrison defended his conduct regarding witness testimony, stating: