View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by DSpace at University of West Bohemia Západočeská univerzita v Plzni Fakulta pedagogická Bakalářská práce JFK - KONSPIRAČNÍ TEORIE: PŘÍPAD JIMA GARRISONA Kateřina J. Musilová Plzeň 2012 University of West Bohemia Faculty of Education Undergraduate Thesis JFK CONSPIRACY: THE CASE OF JIM GARRISON Kateřina J. Musilová Plzeň 2012 Tato stránka bude ve svázané práci Váš původní formulář Zadáni bak. práce (k vyzvednutí u sekretářky KAN) Prohlašuji, že jsem práci vypracoval/a samostatně s použitím uvedené literatury a zdrojů informací. V Plzni dne 28. červen 2012 ……………………………. Kateřina J. Musilová ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, William Bradley Vice, Ph.D. for his patience, advice and support. ABSTRACT Musilová, Kateřina Josefína. University of West Bohemia. June, 2012. JFK Conspiracy: The Case of Jim Garrison. Supervisor: William Bradley Vice, Ph.D. The thesis describes the investigation of the assassination of President Kennedy and the circumstances leading to it conducted by Jim Garrison and his staff. Also the most questionable aspects of the Warren Commission Report and the mistakes the Warren Commission had made during its investigation are described here. This work presents evidence that caused the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald and the possibility of him being innocent. There are also decried the conclusions of Jim Garrison and the main parts of the trial with Clay Shaw who was subsequently accused of being in charge of the conspiracy that killed the President. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION….............................................................................................................1 1 THE WARREN COMMISSION.........................................................................................3 2 THE MOST DISCUSSED EVIDENCE OF THE WARREN COMMISSION..................4 2.1 The Zapruder Film................................................................................................4 2.2 The Magic Bullet..................................................................................................5 2.3 The Possibility of the Second Shooter and More Shots.......................................7 2.4 The Autopsy of President Kennedy...................................................................10 3 LEE HARVEY OSWALD: ASSASSIN OR A PATSY?..................................................12 3.1 No Fingerprints..................................................................................................12 3.2 The 1st Class Shooting........................................................................................13 3.3 The Bulky Package.............................................................................................13 3.4 Oswald Outside the Building.............................................................................14 4 JACK LEON RUBY.........................................................................................................14 5 GARRISON’S INVESTIGATION...................................................................................15 5.1 The Beginning....................................................................................................15 5.2 The Second Impulse...........................................................................................16 5.3 The Key Aspects of the Investigation................................................................17 5.3.1 David William Ferrie...........................................................................17 5.3.2 The “Clay Bertrand” Theory................................................................18 5.3.3 The Changed Route.............................................................................19 5.3.4 The Neglect of the Safety Regulations................................................20 5.4 The Revelation of the Investigation....................................................................21 6 PRELIMINARY HEARING.............................................................................................22 6.1 Perry Raymond Russo........................................................................................23 6.2 Vernon J. Bundy, Jr. ….......................................................................................25 6.3 The Result of the Preliminary Hearing...............................................................25 7 THE ACTUAL TRIAL (STATE OF LUISIANA VERSUS CLAY SHAW)..........................26 7.1 The Witnesses.....................................................................................................26 7.1.1 Is Clay Shaw Clay Bertrand?...............................................................28 7.1.2 Shaw’s Connections to David Ferrie and Lee H. Oswald...................30 7.1.3 Defendant’s side..................................................................................32 7.2 The Most Interesting Evidence Presented..........................................................34 7.3 The End of the Trial............................................................................................34 7.4 The Verdict..........................................................................................................35 8 THE TRIALS AFTER THE TRIAL.................................................................................36 9 CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................38 WORKS CITED...................................................................................................................41 SUMMARY IN CZECH......................................................................................................46 INTRODUCTION The assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy is one of the most surprising, shocking and discussed events in American history. There were more than two hundred witnesses to the assassination as well as several home videos and an immense number of photographs and yet the circumstances remain unclear. There are a few theories about what exactly happened on 22nd November 1963 in the Dealey Plaza. There is, of course, Jim Garrison’s theory about C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies being involved and Clay “Bernard” Shaw being in charge. This is the only conspiracy theory to bring someone to justice for assassinating President Kennedy. G. Robert Blakey’s theory uses Garrison’s evidence and findings but with different results leading him to the Cuban mafia. According to James Files who claims to be the second shooter, he was hired by local crime boss Carlos Marcello, however, he also mentions connections to the C.I.A. and Lee H. Oswald. There is also a theory about French mafia being hired for the job but there is very little evidence. Probably the most controversial conspiracy theory was presented by the History Chanel in 2003. According to this theory, Lyndon B. Johnson Kennedy’s vice president and the President after the assassination was in charge of the assassination with the intelligence agencies acting on his order, but there were a lot of protests against this theory and History Chanel apologized for presenting it. Each theory has its own pros and cons but there are a few things that all of them have in common. For example, there is the fact that there must have been more than just one assassin, also they all disagree with the Report of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy (Warren Commission report) and with the exhibit 399 (the “magic” bullet) being the bullet that caused all damage. Therefore, it was not easy to choose one theory. I was lucky because by that time there was series of documentary movies about the incident and I got to see a few of them and one in particular where I heard the name Jim Garrison for the first time. This name occurred in a documentary about conspiracies in which there were footages from old news and some shows where he made an appearance. It was obvious that the media did not like him very much which only increased my interest in the man who back then in my opinion deserved much more than ridicule. Jim Garrison was a New Orleans district attorney in 1960s and early 1970s who unlike most Americans did not believe the official version of the assassination of J. F. Kennedy. Now, of course, most people if not all of them have the same opinion about the 1 Warren Commission report since it was proved so many times by so many people that this report and its conclusions are dubious. This fact was actually the reason why later the commission slightly changed the report. However, back in late 1960s the people of America did not have any reason not to believe what the government told them. Therefore, the fact that New Orleans D.A. office did not believe and even investigate something the nation considered a closed case caused a lot of trouble. Most patriotic Americans did not like someone pointing out that their own government might have lied to them. It is only understandable that these people became hostile toward Jim Garrison for suggesting that something is wrong with the government of their beloved country, after all it is in human nature to fight anybody who would come and try to change the status quo in their minds. Until this day there are a lot of people supporting Garrison’s theory as well as people against Garrison’s investigation and its result and even though some of the accusations turned out to be justified they all concern mostly the matter of Clay