On the Trail of the Assassins

Anyone who has seen the Stone movie JFK or anyone interested in the general subject of the murder of the President will enjoy this blow by blow account of New Orleans DA Garrison. The book was mainly written while he was a sitting Orleans Parish Appellate Judge, a position to which he was elected after the federal efforts to demolish his investigation and subvert the trial. His election to this post reflects his broad base of support in the city, and a broadened public acceptance of conspiracy at the highest levels after Warergate.

On the Trail of the Assassins is an excellent starting point for those trying to make sense of the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States. The author was the District Attorney of New Orleans, Louisiana at the time of the shooting. He felt, rightly it seems, that his jurisdiction contained a hotbed of intrigue against J.F.K. OTA is 2 tales in one: The first marshals the virtual kaleidoscope of sinister information, actual events, recreated events, innuendo, questions, malfeasance, lying, ineptitude, charges and countercharges behind the killing. The second relates the author's frustrating attempts to convict a real life person with plotting the act. The first effort is highly successful. This is true at least to the extent that the attentive reader should be convinced that 1) Lee Harvey Oswald certainly DID NOT assassinate Kennedy on his own and 2) was in every likelihood not DIRECTLY involved with the shooting -period. Furthermore, the author proved, to this reviewer's satisfaction that 3) Oswald also did not shoot Dallas Police Officer J.D.Tipitt that fateful afternoon. Linking Tippit to Oswald is critical in determining guilt. Finally, the author effectively eliminates the Mafia as the culprits in the crime. The foregoing is no small accomplishment. Left unanswered are the mysteries that have plagued virtually anyone who is unsatisfied with the Warren Commission or subsequent House investigation into the affair. A partial list of these issues encompass: the virtual criminal activities surrounding Kennedy's so called autopsy, the presence of a second and even third (!) gunman in Dallas that day, the outright theft of the President's brain from the National Archives and the total and complete failure of the Secret Service to protect J.F.K. in Dallas. The author properly raises the right questions. Like most investigators, he is unable to provide answers. The most tantalizing questions of all concern Oswald: Who was he? If he did not shoot the President, why is he so prominent And what on the fringes of the event? He certainly was on the scene that day. Was he set up to take the fall? Was he a patsy? His own murder two days after that of the President proved that someone wanted him silenced. The second tale surrounds the trial of one Clay Shaw, a local prominent business leader. Shaw was not charged with the murder but in forming a plot to carry out the assassination. No reader should be surprised at his acquittal. Garrison's case was unspecific and not coherently put together for such a serious charge. The jury s decision does not detract from the book one iota. There are so many unanswered questions and unexplained events to the Kennedy assassination it boggles the mind. The overriding burden lies in assigning specificity . At least Garrison tried to bring someone to justice. Conspiracy theorists will have to read further to get more answers to the frustrating questions. One weak point is the inadequ

There was abuse of power involved in this case, but it wasn't by Jim Garrison as some people would have you believe. The government's pursuit of various trumped up charges against Garrison, after the failed Clay Shaw trial, was an egregious abuse of governmental power against its citizens, in this case against Garrison. This occurred under President Nixon and was basically an extension of the abuses associated with Watergate. The discussion in the book of Garrison's experiences in this regard is a reminder of the fragile state of our freedoms. As for the heart of the book, the discussion of the conspiracy to kill Kennedy, Garrison covers a lot of ground. Appropriately, he focuses key parts of the discussion on Guy Banister. It was apparently out of Banister's office that Oswald seems to have been working in August 1963, when the conspirators set Oswald up, such that when a pro-Castro sympathizer (ie. Oswald) would get arrested in the case, they could argue for their long-sought war against Cuba. Garrison may not have been correct in everything he said, but he makes a strong case in this book that he was on the right track. He was undertaking a difficult job in resolving such a complex case, but the job was made much more difficult by the killing of witnesses and the penetration of his investigation by those seeking to obstruct justice. Up until now, the conspirators have won. Maybe if enough people read this book and demand justice, tomorrow will be different.

I only saw JFK on tv a couple of months ago. I heard that it was controversial and so decided to do some investigation to see if the facts in the film held up. After reading several books from different sides and looking just at the evidence that both sides agree on I can't see how anyone can seriously doubt Jim Garrison's account of the mysterious goings-on surrounding the murder.But it is amazing than even today there are propagandists who try to perpetrate Jim Garrison as a mentally sick man. It is documented that the CIA/FBI have many links to jounralists/authors with the aim of providing a distorted version of the events.Read this book for yourself, see if Jim Garrison appears to be a sick, powerhungry self publicist or someone on the wrong end of a well-planned conspiracy by the most powerful organisations in America.

If you are even remotely interested in the Kennedy assassination then you have to buy this book. I am not ashamed to say that I have read this book at least a dozen times. It is that good. Garrison not only shows us the errors of the Warren Commission but anyone reading it is guranteed not to put it down until they are finished reading it. Not only is it well written but all the evidence Garrison provides to prove that the murder was covered up and even committed by individuals in our governments intelligence community is undenialble. This book truly made me a believer. Although Garrison was humble in response to some of the praise he received there is no doubt in my mind that he is truly an unsung hero of our nation. Unfortunately this work makes one question the greatness of of our government.

Jim Garrison is one of the few men with the courage and straightness necessary for telling the truth about a dangerous issue. In this book he gives real , dependable and easily checkable evidence that prooves his case beyond doubt .Indeed ,contrary to common belief ,there are very strict and prooved evidence elements that shows clearly what Mr. garrison tells us to be correct. Like,for exemple, the senate commitee report that says that it has been prooven by expert reports that President Kennedy has been shot from at least two different places by at least two different persons at the same time.Which,of course buried forever the 'theory' that Lee Harvey Osvald was the lone assasin (theory still held strongly by Time magazine). Jim Garrison was a good and methodical D.A. His book is written in a clean and pleasurable technic .Gives better! excitement than most books I read.