On the Trail of the Assassins

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Summary: The Search for the Truth
Review: "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 the President's 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 Shaw's 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 inadequacy of the one map of Dealey Plaza, the murder site. A more serious detraction is that so many facts are spread out over the text, many buried in footnotes. Readers will have to work hard! These facts, like Shaw's prosecution are not always coherently presented, a strange omission from such an experienced lawyer. In fairness to the author, this may reflect poor editing, not poor writing. One cautionary note from this observer: The Kennedy assassination is highly similar to another troubling affair: The missing POWs and MIAs from Indochina. In both instances, our Government failed us. And in both cases, the full truth will never be known. There remains no reason not to continue to seek answers no matter how frustrating. If enough of us try hard enough for long enough, perhaps more of the truth will one day emerge.

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Summary: WhoDIDN'Tdunnit
Review: As conspiricies and subsequent investigations go, there are as many suspects and theories as there are original questions. However you view the Kennedy assassination, or whomever you suspect committed the act, this is a well written novel that
shows quite clearly tha Lee Harvey was not the lone gunman. A book for any serious student of that 22nd day in November.

Rating:
Summary: WhoDIDN'Tdunnit
Review: As conspiricies and subsequent investigations go, there are as many suspects and theories as there are original questions. However you view the Kennedy assassination, or whomever you suspect committed the act, this is a well written novel that
shows quite clearly tha Lee Harvey was not the lone gunman. A book for any serious student of that 22nd day in November.

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Summary: Staying on the Trail
Review: As the only elected official to ever bring a criminal prosecution forward on the JFK assassination, this is definitely a must read book. Every newspaper in the country had as their first paragraph the announcement that the FBI and the Dallas police had an air-tight case against a marxist communist named Lee Harvey oswald. It was impossible to believe otherwise. Our government had facts that indicated otherwise. As District Attorney of New Orleans, Garrison had the authority to bring the facts out into the open. This wasn't a reseacher looking for the truth; this was a DA in a courtroom. Too many things didn't fit into the government's story and this is when Garrison approached the JFK case with a police mentality. From the opening cover depicting how the President's motorcade route was changed the morning of the assassination (only then would it be in front of the depository) to the fact that a first-class Mauser rifle was found by Dallas police on the 6th floor of the Book Depository ( not just the cheap mail order Mannlicher-Carcano rifle Oswald was alleged to have used), the facts continue to frustrate us today. The rifle alone leaves a hundred questions. Three empty cartridges from the Mannlicher-Caranolaying almost parrallel next to each other by the sniper's window in the same room as a 7.65 Mauser only complicated the set-up. One is left with the overwhelming feeling after reading this book that the JFK murder should still be classified as an open investigation. Facts that the government are keeping closed for 75 years from the time of this murder should be released. As entertaining as the Oliver Stone movie was; this should leave the reader numb. I don't often see this book as JFK material for the average reader and the fact that it's no longer published makes one wonder why. Maybe we're still not supposed to look at this case like a prosecutor but only as historians. I like the police mentality that Garrison brings to the story.

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Summary: Jim Garrison proves himself to be the ultimate patriot.
Review: Can't help but wonder if mumjo2 at WIU is Robert Blakey's stooge, or perhaps the lackey of some other governmental entity who still wants the public to subscribe to the thinly sliced baloney that the Warren Commission tried to feed us (see Gerald Ford's reaction to the Oliver Stone film "JFK"). Garrison's public service set a fine example as to what we should expect from all of our elected officials.

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Summary: Garrison's work is the most important research ever done.
Review: District Attorney Garrison may have slipped off this mortal coil but his work will maintain him as one of the most important Americans ever to have lived. In the course of his investigations Garrison finds the keys that link Oswald to Ferrie Rubie, Shaw and the murder of the President. This title is a must read for anyone who cares about America. The 35 years of turmoil and scandal since Nov 22 1963l are finally given a motive.

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Summary: Ever wonder why Garrison's books are out of print?
Review: Ever wonder why Garrison's book's are out of print?
Every American patriot needs to ask themselves that question,,,

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Summary: [e-mail]
Review: Excellent book. I read it before I watched the Oliver Stone movie and it made it much more interesting. Jim Garrison presents evidence from many different angles, and reveals, not only the details surrounding the government's conspiracy to assassinate the president, but also the cover up.

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Summary: All Americans Should Read This One
Review: Garrison must have had something. I don't know what to believe anymore about the murder of JFK(I used to always believe that Oswald acted alone and he did it...case closed(read Posner's book!).My mind is still open since reading this and other books, plus watching several good documentaries.This book reads like a good novel(I read it in a day and a half).While reading this one, I also studied the Warren Report. After reading this excellent book, the questions are still in my head with no answers:Did David Ferrie know Oswald?Was Clay Shaw a black operative for the CIA?Were Ferrie,Shaw,and Oswald connected to the murder?Did Julia Ann Mercer really identify Jack Ruby in the pick up moments before the shooting?What was really going on in Guy Bannister's office?Was there any credibility to Jack Martin's story? All Americans must read this because whether or not you believe there was more to the assassination of JFK, Garrison must have been on to something.

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Summary: Interesting account of searching for the truth
Review: Garrison was a former FBI agent and New Orleans DA searching for the truth. While he may not have found the final truth, he did serve to raise the consciousness of Americans to the possibility of an underground govt which really runs things and which is unaccountable to the body politic. A concern one might have behind this account is that if the powers behind it were powerful enough to conceal themselves, why wouldn't they have a vehicle in place to gather information on investigations into it and from there be able to stem off anyone from getting to close to the truth? How do we know today that JFK historians and theorists sometimes aren't playing this role to throwoff anyone close to the truth?