that Lee Harvey Uswaia uteri alone when he killed the president and that Jack Ruby, a Dallas night- club owner, had acted alone when he in turn gunned down Oswald in 86 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22,1992 1 the Dallas jail two days after the assassination. The subject has tantalized many Americans since the assassination occurred, and polls show that a ma- OBITUARIES jority of citizens believe that there is more to the story than the War- ren Commission reported. Many questions have been raised by stu- dents of the assassination, many of La. Judge Jim Garrison Dies; whom believe that there was a con- spiracy of some sort. But none ar- gue that Mr. Garrison uncovered it. Film `JFK' Based on His Ideas In 1969, Mr. Garrison prose- cuted a New Orleans businessman By J.Y. Smith named Clay Shaw on charges of tak- Washington Peat Staff Whirr ing part in an alleged CIA plot. Jim Garrison, 71, a former New Highlights included the refusal of Orleans district attorney and Lou- several witnesses to testify to isiana state judge whose theories on events they had described earlier to the assassination of Preside qt Ken- Mr. Garrison's investigators. nedy were the basis of the t ontro- One witness, a psychologist, told versial movie "JFK," died Oct. 21 at the jury that he regularly took his his home in New Orleans. daughter's fingerprints to assure The cause of death was not re- himself that conspirators had not ported, but news agencies said Mr. replaced her with a look-alike spy. Garrison had heart ailments. He Another witness had been hypno- had been in declining health for the tized. In the end, the jury took less past year. than an hour to find in Shaw's favor. Undeterred by this setback, Mr. Mr. Garrison, a former Army pilot who flew combat missions in Garrison elaborated his conspiracy World War II and later served as an views in three books, the last of FBI agent, gained a reputation as a which, ''On the Trail of the Assas- flamboyant and hard-hitting pros- sins," formed the basis for "JFK," ecutor in the early 1960s after win- the Oliver Stone film starring Kevin /sr Costner in the role of Mr. Garrison ning an upset electoral victory to JIM GARRISON become district attorney of New and Mr. Garrison himself in the role Orleans. of Earl Warren. In 1973, while still serving as Critics attacked the film for using district attorney, Mr. Garrison suc- old film clips and other "docudrama" cessfully defended himself against techniques to present as fact a view federal charges that he had taken in which virtually the entire govern- bribes to protect pinball operators. ment is part of a plan to kill Ken- He lost his bid for reelection as dis- nedy. They found it particularly trict attorney in 1974, and he later ironic that Chief Justice Warren, a lost a bid for a seat on Louisiana's figure held in great esteem, was Supreme Court. played by a man whom many re- But in 1978 he was elected to garded as a self-promoting fraud. Louisiana's 4th Circuit Court of Ap- Mr. Garrison was born in Den- peals. He served on the bench until ison. Iowa, and reared in New Or- last year, when he reached the leans. After World War 11 service in mandatory retirement age of 70. the Army Air Forces as the pilot of Mr. Garrison will be remem- low-flying observer planes in bered, however, for his claims that France and Germany, he went to President Kennedy was killed on Tulane University, where he re- Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas as the re- ceived a law degree. After law sult of a_conspiracy carried out by school, he was an FBI agent in Seat- the CIA to keep the war going in tle. Vietnam. He spent years attacking In the 1950s, Mr. Garrison re- the work of the presidential com- turned to New Orleans and estab- mission headed by Chief Justice lished a law practice. He ran unsuc- Earl Warren that gave the official cessfully for a judgeship in 1960 but report of the tragedy. gained public office two years later The Warren Commission found when he became district attorney. Mr. Garrison is survived by his wife, Leah Elizabeth Ziegler Gar- rison; five children; and a grand- child.