Jim Garrison, a highly accomplished district attorney of New Orleans, took the unprecedented step of holding a trial in connection with the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a case that has remained shrouded in mystery for decades.
It was three years after the assassination that Garrison's suspicions about the affair were piqued, primarily due to the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged lone assassin, seemed unlikely to have acted alone. This suspicion was further fueled by links from Oswald to offices in New Orleans, which Garrison's investigations uncovered.
Garrison's investigations ultimately culminated in a trial against Clay Shaw in 1967, which ended with Shaw's acquittal. However, the evidence presented by Garrison sent shockwaves throughout the United States, reigniting debate about the assassination of Kennedy and sparking a discussion that would continue for years to come.
At the heart of Garrison's evidence was the contention that there was a conspiracy against JFK, and that the investigations conducted by the Warren Commission were fundamentally misguided. Garrison's assertions were unwavering, and an investigation conducted in 1979 ultimately concluded that "there may well have been more than one assassin."
Today, Jim Garrison is retired from his position as district attorney, but his legacy lives on. He made a brief appearance in the film "JFK," which tells the story of his own investigations, as the leader of the official investigation team led by Earl Warren. The film, which starred Kevin Costner as Garrison, went on to win an Academy Award.
