4. Jim Garrison was a homophobe, not a hero.

Jim Garrison, the former District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana, who Kevin Costner portrayed in Oliver Stone’s JFK (1991), had a reputation for dishonesty and sensationalism in a city known for corruption. What he actually believed about the assassination of President Kennedy is questionable, but he clearly used the case to put himself in the national spotlight, with appearances on TV programs like The Tonight Show.

Garrison propelled himself into celebrity by putting New Orleans businessman, Clay Shaw, on trial for the murder of President Kennedy. Garrison painted Shaw as a CIA Agent who consorted with very nefarious individuals, and he seems to have picked Shaw as the target of his persecution based on the fact that Shaw was a homosexual. Garrison certainly did not pick his victim because of any actual evidence against Shaw. Stone followed Garrison’s lead and got actor Tommy Lee Jones to play up Shaw’s sexuality in a stereotypical way that clearly told the audience, “You can’t trust this guy. He’s a faggot.” 

It took the jury less than an hour to find Shaw, “Not Guilty,” but Garrison continued to come after him, this time for a charge of perjury, until a judge forced Garrison to stop his baseless attacks. Finally, Shaw sued Garrison for the years of mistreatment he had been subjected to, but unfortunately, Shaw died before that case was completely and Garrison escaped justice for his reckless abuse of power.

The real Clay Shaw after the jury acquitted him.

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Return to the complete list of 55 reasons to accept that Oswald acted alone.