On the Trail of the Assassins: One Man's Quest to Solve the Murder of President Kennedy

by Jim Garrison

Overview

The New York Times Bestseller. about the search for the assassins of JFK. “Garrison’s book presents the most powerful detailed case yet made that President Kennedy’s assassination was the product of a conspiracy, and that the plotters and key operators came not from the Mob, but the CIA.”—Norman Mailer

More than fifty years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, his murder continues to haunt the American psyche and stands as a turning point in our nation’s history.

The Warren Commission rushed out its report in 1964, but questions continue to linger: Was there a conspiracy? Was there a coup at the highest levels of government?

On March 1, 1967, New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison shocked the world by arresting local businessman Clay Shaw for conspiracy to murder the president. His alleged co-conspirator, David Ferrie, had been found dead a few days before. Garrison charged that elements of the United States government, in particular the CIA, were behind the crime. From the beginning, his probe was virulently attacked in the media and violently denounced from Washington. His office was infiltrated and sabotaged, and witnesses disappeared and died strangely. Eventually, Shaw was acquitted after the briefest of jury deliberation and the only prosecution ever brought for the murder of President Kennedy was over.

On the Trail of the Assassins—the primary source material for Oliver Stone’s hit film JFK—is Garrison’s own account of his investigations into the background of Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination of President Kennedy, and his prosecution of Clay Shaw in the trial that followed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620872994
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	10/16/2012
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	360
Sales rank:	115,602
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Jim Garrison was the district attorney of Orleans Parish who rose to prominence during his investigations into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He passed away in October 1992.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

1 The Serenity of Ignorance 3

2 The Awakening 12

3 War Games 29

4 The Social Triumphs of Lee Oswald 44

5 Setting Up the Scapegoat 61

6 Deep Cover 79

7 The Front Page 91

8 Covert Operations 105

9 The Bonds of Friendship 117

10 The Ides of February 126

11 Checkmate 137

12 Confrontation 149

13 The Assault 160

14 The Company 173

15 Shell Game 193

16 Escape of the Assassins 204

17 The Reluctant Investigators 216

18 The Trial of Clay Shaw 228

19 The Majesty of the Law 254

20 The Secret Sponsors 273

Afterword Carl Oglesby 297

Notes 309

Index 331