Newspaper Article: a Reporter at Large

New Orleans.
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woultl only add to the t-lit-rt t.l (run.
Two wet-its later, in alt artiele writ- in-tlly charging art l-‘.li.l. agent. llut
left l*)' lluglt /\)nt'\wortlt, .\'rtr.'|tL'rr»i'
reported that a lriend of David l"errie's
had been offered a tltft:e-tl’tnu$And-dttl-
Lu bribe to implicate Clay Shaw in
the conspiracy. The offer had been *ll""*l l"*"$Wt-'1'-n " -
O tl venin I june 19,), lrontt-tit; itt\lt';ul helattttehctlltis coon
G.'trri=nn had .\~'t'ontl tltouglits about
attacking the l".ll.l. and, aeeortling to
Gurvich, chose tllc C.l.z\. because, as
Garrison himself put it, “they ‘can't
in-tn a smtrce as tluhi..o_\ M
ll\'-Ilt'lt'\'lI" tt'\t\ lvit the pr“.
§f.tttt'\ (‘ntl\‘lttw.n\ t-pen [ts
\-t't'totts t'(ttn‘t\t|t.
G.trri.'t‘\-|'|" did
not bother with serious
t‘riti\'i\m l the '|!ugr,1|l\‘\
secretly tape-recorded by the witness’; n te e g o , . _
lawyer. Although tlte tape left it un- l\'.ll.C. devoted an hour to a critical ll""'"-“'k l‘.“ ‘|""""“"'l'F. -\'-ll-(1 ~11 J
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|part_v to an "l'.~tablidnnmt" \‘utt.~|tit‘:t\‘_\’(lrar whether the money wat tn be tn
it was damaging under any circum-
stances. (At-one point, Garrison’; rep-
resentative said, "\Ve can change
the story around/') \Vbt-n Garrison
learned oi the impending .Vetutt4.'e(§
disclosure, he prepared a rnemorandum
on C.l./\. participation in the assassina-
tion; this document promptly found its
way into the hands oi>\ri(ht:)' and
¢>\;\InIflIttlon oi (nrnson s tmestigation,
payment for true information or false, entitled “The ].l‘.l§. Cr||t\pif3(\'1'.rl\C jl" ‘l"‘“"'." l'l"'- All "l ll“ ‘*""""“l"§i
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ll ll" in" 'l rd"evi~Lasc of Jim (zarrlsmt. lhe fir<t part
of the program dealt with l(u\<o's
allegation that he had sertt Uswald,
S_l"“"- and Ferric plotting the assassina-
tron at a party in Ferrie-'s ;tp.1rtm¢-or in
September oi l963. The N.ll.C. re-
porters demonstrated that at least one
other person present at the party nan
not_ seen Shaw or Oswald there‘ and
I
May, who wrote it up in an exclu.sive_that I-'errie's bearded roommate, w to
Hut)’ in the SI/irrr-Item. Upon being‘ Russo claimed was Oswald, had been
asltcd about the Nrwnurrb charges, identified by other people at the par-
Garriton answered by confirming the t_\' as jamet Lewallen. The progr.nn
. . , .
Starr:-Ilrm report on the C.l.4\. _“The then concentrated on (aarrtson s tttvrfie
lederal agents who concealed -vital
ltnowledge regarding President Ken-
nt-tly's assassination, and their superiors
wlto are now engaged in a dedicated
effort to discredit and obstruCt the
gathering of evidence, are guilty of
being :tcce.\.tories after the fact tn one
oi the Crttelcst murders in our ltistory,"
he declared, and be went on to warn
that “the arrogant totalitari.-in efforts
of these federal agencies to obstruct the
tliseovery oi truth is a matter which I
intend to bring tn light.” An article in
the New York Timrt the following
day attested to Garrison's success in
blurring issttes; although the Tirnn
article focussed on the Nrrwwrek re-
port, the ltcatllinc reatl, “(2AkKlS0t\'
(.'llAl((§l-IS L'.l-A. AND F.|l.l. CO-\'CEAL
E\‘lDE.\'L'E_ o.\' osw/u.0."
Garrison continued his offensive by
issuing .1 subpoena. int’ Richard Helms,
the director oi the Central intelligence
Agency, demanding that Helms pro-
duce a ohotograph showing Oswald in
tlte cotnpatty of :1 G.l.1\. agent in
.\le.\ici=. Subsequently, it was made
plain that Garrison had no reason to
believe that _a photograph showing
()swald with a Crl./\. agent had
ever existed, but Garrison's subpoena
drew national coverage and tended tn
dilute further the etlect oi the .\'rtt.~t-
rt'r'~t-1' story. lt is worth noting that
before Garrison subpoenaed the direc-
tor of the Central lntelligence .-\gr:n-
cy be had considered another mo\-e--
arresting Regis l'{enned_t', an F.li.l.
agent in New Orleans who had taken
part in the go'yernntent's investigation
of the axstssittatitin. Garrison explained
to Gurvieh that although tile agent
would deny the charge, the denial
\
tigative methods, and a parade of wit-
nesses was presented to allege that
Garri.<on represt.-nt:ttiv'_'s had ztttetnptrtl
to bribe or intimidate tliem. ln ad-
dition, t\'.ll.C. revealed that both oi
Garrison's key witnesses, Russo and
lltttttly, had failed lie-detertor tests be-
fore tvstiiting at the preliminary hear-
ing. l"ranlt McGee, the l\'.li.C. aiicltor
man, concluded, “The case ltc has built
against Clay Shaw is based on testi-
mony that did not pass a liq-ttmetttr
test Garrison ordt-red—~antl 'Garrison
knew it." The lie-detector evitlettee
that l’\'.l5.C. used to cap its case agaittst
Garrison was almost eertaittly the
weakest part of that ease. The lic-de-
tt-ctor test carries :1 certain authority in
the popular imagination, because it ap-
pears to give an unambiguous .1nswer—
the man is either lying _or telling the
truth——antl .\'rtt.-ttt.-er}, the Chicago
Trilmur, and the Hearst lleadline
Service also used lie detectors to dem-
onstrate that Garrisw-n's case was hawd
on untruths. lint the lie tltttvtrtttr is in
fact nterely .1 device for on-asttring the
emotional stress that a witness is under-
going while he is being qttestiottetl. Snell
stress nut)‘ itulieate l1t.'t‘\'ttlt.\|lt"&§ over dr-
ception or it may indicate any of a
number of other emotional responses.
J. Edgar Hoover had inlormetl the-
\\ arren 'Lotnmi.\<ion in it memoran-
dum th:tt lie-detector tests were un-
reli.1l\le and of dubious valtttr.
t\'.ll.C.' h:nl- assembled a
‘(mil tl\'.'tl til Ytrgent, €ttl'I\~
ple.\, e\'i\lent'c to show that
Rus<o's .'lllt‘g.’tlh'bfl was un-
‘true. But tor it to resort
,tinall_\' to a simple in'di\‘tment
ihased on esidenee drawn_
am rotting now ing tea ts
drnee that we have caught .1 vet)‘ large
fish," he proclaimed the morning alter
the N.ll.C. sltow. “ll is ttl\\‘int|_\ that
there are elrcmrntt in \\'a.~hington,
l).C., which are tlt'\p\'r:\tt‘ l\et"au.~e we
are in the procru ot’ t|ttt'n\'\'t'utg their
ltoait." To account for N.ll.C.'s inter-
est in his ittvmtigrttiott, he told an in-
terviewer that the networl: “is uWl|\'t|
by Ratlio Corporation oi .'\|ttcri\'a, one
oi the top ten defense eotttra\'t~-rs in
the country." (lt is .tetuall_\~ twrttty-
sen-titlt_ arroriiing to the |)t-p,tr:mt-qt
oi l)~:it'nw.) Garrison :ttltlt'tl, “.'\ll oi
llt|:$t.‘ l."tdies of the evening are very
tnuelr aliltc-—tlte prt-ferretl eustotner is
the one with the big lianltroll and any
position he suggests is eagerly as-
stnned." Moreovt-r, Garrison implied
that the program hail been secretly
finaneed by the C.l./\.
Garrison tlemanded equal time, and
i\'.li.C. granted him a hall hour oi
prime evening time on _lult"| 5, W6‘/,
to rt'pl_t' to the charges. Once on the
air, however, he vtid, “l am not even
going to hotltt-r to tligttily the foolish-
ness which .Vr1u1tt~rrl' and l\'.li.C. and
s-one ol the other news agencies have
tried to m':tlte you belietw: about my
oilitv," and went on to tletttntttre tltc
media for manipul.-tttn;5 the news. .~\t'tt-r
giving five \pt.'t‘iliC eaatnples oi “sup-
|N’t'.\§etl Itcws," be pt'e.~'t-ntt-tl his la-
tniliar argument that the attmtlxs on his
ease :tttt'Stetl to its V:tiitlit)'Z “. . . if our
investigktiott was as l);\_\'Wir\' as the_\'
would. like to have you think, then _\'utt
would ttnt see stnlt a cor"-rtlittatetl har-
rage routing from the news ertitt-r~.s_ in
the East." :\nd he eonelutleil, “. . . as
long as l am aloe, no one is going to
stop me in-tn we-ittg that _\'mt obtain
the tuilttruth, and nothing lt'\s than the
lull truth, and no fair_\' t.-tlr.\.'.' G.-tr-.
rison had an attdi-.-nre oi .<'otne"twent_\'
million, and for that, he mid in hisI
Plat-/w_r interview, be was
“singularl)' grateful to\\"alter
Sheridan." one of llhtse who
had prepared the t\'.ll.C. Cri-
tique oi his Cast.
(.iarri~on'.~ ;,_'r:ttitotl\~ was
lexs than total. Not long
aiter the .\'.li.C. progmm,
he issued warrants tor the