THE CONTROVERSIAL FIRST NEWS BREAK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75B00380R000800140031-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 17, 2000
• Sequence Number: 31
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

Approved For Release 2000/08/27 : CIA-l
The controversial
first news break
On February 17, when a front-page headline blared,
"DA Here Launches Full JFK 'Plot' Probe," the inves-
tigation that was to draw a world-wide press pilgrimage
to New Orleans became public.
It. was the Stairs-Item. that broke the story that
warm Friday. Reporters Jack Dempsey, Rosemary
James and David Snyder compiled the story that had
been porpoising along in silence for nearly four months.
Though all local media knew bits and pieces of
the rumored investigation, it was not until February 10
that ,Slates-Item. City Editor John Wilds and Rosemary
lames conferred about the facts and figures that police
reporter jack Dempsey had put together. Orr Tuesday,
the 14th, Rosemary checked out 1)empsey's information
and fellow-reporter David Snyder scoured the public
records. Later that day site called Garrison's office for
an appointment. She told Garrison she wanted to talk
to hint about his "special investigation." When Garri-
son put her off she asked, "Well, are you conducting
an investigation into the assassination of President
Kennedy?" "I will neither confirm nor deny it," he
replied. Ile then talked of other matters and ended the
conversation with, "Conic on out to the office and
we'll have a clip of coffee."
Rosemary wrote the story the next day and turned
it in to john Wilds. 1Ic told her to take it to Garrison
'T'hursday and show it to him. She arrived at Garri-
son's office at 10 a.m. and asked to see him. According
to Rosemmary, she went in, handed Garrison the story
and greeted Lynn Loiscl and Louis Ivor, two of the
D.A.'s investigators. Both remained in the office. Gar-
rison, in his shirtsleeves, leaned on his cluttered desk
and read the first page of the story. Ile again repeated,
"I will neither confirm nor deny it."
Ile then shrugged, passed off the story and began
talking about other matters. Rosemary departed, after
talking with Loiscl and Lvon about a successful stake-
out operation they had completed. Late Thursday af-
ter the story was sent to type, Rosemary worked on
follow-up copy for Saturday.
After- the story broke Garrison charged the Stairs-
Itrn1 with hurting his investigation and stated "Anyone
who says I had an opportunity to sec this story is a
liar."
The following Monday, Rosemary went to his
official press conference at a local motel and was barred.
She saw Louis Lvon at the door. and lie said, "Hello,
I'w are you?"
THE PRESS: its actions
Along the windowed wall of the almost block-long
second floor marble hall of the New Orleans court-
house, reporters with impressive credentials from all
over the world were sitting on the floor, on wooden
benches, or hunched behind waiting television cameras
and lights. Microphones sat mute, waiting for targets;
pencils, sharpened like needles, waited to be manipn-
latcd. Conversation had long since dwindled away into
bored silence. The "wall watch," as the press corps
had come to call it, was now a week old and there
wasn't much left to talk about. 'I'hcre was some occa-
sional griping about the lack of action, but that is
common ,mong reporters. Most of then arc accustomed
to waiting for the action to begin-it comes with the
territory.
'1'hc subject of this daily vigil had become as elu-
sive as a chic in a Perry Mason mystery, an 1111cor11-
nlon role for New Orleans' controversial and usually
garrulous D. A., Jim Garrison, who is not best. known
for avoiding a consanguinity with publicity. Ile has,
(luring his career, blown sparks from many embers,
whipping up fires when only smoke seemed visible. Ile
entered the D. A.'s office in 1960 and immediately
ripped into the institution. Using cloak and dagger
methods, he took on the hookers and shakedown joints
along Bourbon Street and cleaned them up. Ile'
cracked clown on lottery racketeers and unscrupulous
bail bondsmen and even locked horns with eight crim-
nal court judges at one point. When they fined him
$1,000 for defamation he had the ruling set aside by
the United States Supreme Court. His exploits were
merrily chronicled in the national press, including the
Saturday Lverr.ing Post, the National Observer, and The
New York Tinges.
But this time Garrison was after much bigger fish.
't'his time lie was after the conspirators who lie said
7v1-or-[A-~Di76000880ROD10O001*400 LgF. Kennedy,
App lCpM 4Il FAQ R,@je"qc2QAQ/
yet to receive the promised cup of coffee from Garrison.
-Eugene A. Sheehan
In mid-February, the local newspapers revealed that
Garrison was deeply involved in investigating a New Or-
 and reactions
leans-based conspiracy which lie believed had ended
with the death of the president. Garrison, who had
told the papers "no comment," reacted predictably.
lie called a press conference, barred the local papers,
and berated them for thirty minutes. Then, his spleen
vented, he announced: "We have solved the case. We
will make arrests and obtain convictions. The Warren
Report was wrong,"
Like lemmings, the press streamed into the city
from all over the world. Safaris of television crews ar-
rived from New York, loaded down with equipment. Re-
porters converged from most of the major newspapers
and press services. Because of the bizarre nature of the
story, many of the questions, too, were loaded. Because
the story had not emanated from his office, Garrison
could afford to play it cool, and cool it lie did. Interest
surged and ebbed, and Garrison, well aware of the
power of the press, played the story as a conductor
directs a symphony, feeding the press corps just enough
to keep them on the hook, making rare appearances
and entering and leaving his office by a private en-
trance. To many of the reporters, lie was inaccessible;
to others, whom he trusted and liked, he was available,
meeting them in hotel rooms, restaurants, and other
out-of-the-way places. At first, lie was hardly encourag-
ing, commenting that arrests might take months or
even years. 'l'oo much publicity, he said, night scare
off witnesses and conspirators. Some might even c:orn-
tnit suicide.
The American press was skeptical, most of them
eyeing Garrison as a small town boy trying to make a
name for himself with an incredible grandstand play.
The international press saw in Garrison a knight on
a white charger--a man who might finally "solve the
Kennedy murder." The attitudes of the reporters and
their approach to the Garrison investigation reflects
these opposing views and, in an odd way, the view,
opposing ArPkweidtF(Pr QIeA i@AIR 4 i
the rest of the world. In the first months after Ken-
: CI
nedy's death, the American public seemed content to
accept the "one man, one shot" theory of the assassina-
tion. The Europeans have never accepted it.
Evelyn Irons, a reporter for the Sunday Tines of
London said: "In Europe, where political plots and as-
sassinations are fairly common, nobody has ever be-
lieved Oswald acted alone. The Warren Report is
looked on with a great deal of skepticism. When I came
here, I was assigned to look for a hookup with the
Cuban situation, facts and figures and names involved
in 'the' plot to kill Kennedy and possibly get a report
from the Warren Commission. Notice I said 'tlie' plot.
My editors have no question about that. As far as
we're concerned there was a plot, period.
"The American press, on the other hand, doesn't
seem to want a plot to exist. They come armed to the
teeth with questions all related to Garrison's political
aspirations. For the most part they don't seem to take
Garrison at all seriously; they come with smiles on
their faces."
As the story progressed, however, the smiles were
wiped off more than one face. One fact is irrefutable:
As of this writing, Garrison has become "hot copy"
because there is a growing wave of doubt concerning
The Warren Report, not only abroad but in this coun-
try too. For the most part, public opinion is based on
what people read in the newspapers, see on their tele-
vision screens, see in their magazines. It is doubtful
that many people read the entire twenty-six volumes
of The Warren Report nor the shortened versions that
were printed. Knowledge of The Warren Report is
based on the interpretive reporting of the press. In
this country most of the newspapers assumed a positive
attitude toward the report. In Europe, the press was
negative toward it. Now, years after the assassination,
fresh donbts are creeping into many people's minds in
117 t714WQy0zVc1-r01*a14q0Jx1stcd, par-
ticularly when it is revealed by/ continued on page 52
 Approved For Release 2000/08/27 : CIA-RDP75B00380R000800140031-9
THE PRESS continued from page 13
the district attorney of New Orleans.
After all, if all the resources of the
FBI did not uncover a plot, how could
Jim Garrison? Some, with tongue in
check, were having a field day at Gar-
rison's expense. A week after the first
story on the investigation appeared,
Time magazine reported that "Garrison
all too clearly writes his own scripts"
and summed up its first story thus: "But
lie (Garrison) was not talking anymore
-no more, that is, than it took to keep
his name in the papers."
Netusweeh, in its second week of cov-
erage, under the tag "History or Head-
lines?", concluded an article laced with
anti-aphorisms ("Garrison's self-perpet-
uating investigation") by referring to a
one-man submarine which the late David
Ferric, one of the alleged conspirators,
had constructed to harass Castro's ship-
ping lanes. "The little craft," reported
Newsweek, "was made from an old B-25
gas tank, had no navigation instruments
and no power plant but foot pedals.
']'lie sub rested for a time in a back-
yard and finally ended up in a dump."
" 'So, says Garrison's own growing gal-
lcry of critics, will the D. A.'s case.' "
Another reporter, representing a
northern newspaper, said lie came to
New Orleans believing Garrison was
simply publicity hungry. He just
hasn't. been making headlines much
lately," he said. "Besides, he must be
out of his mind to try and discredit the
whole Warren Commission." In the next
breath he admitted that his newspaper
is interested in the Garrison investiga-
tion because of a "growing distrust of
the Warren findings by the public."
As the story progressed, the skepticism
of some American pressmen began to
alter slightly. Ferries death, called a
suicide by Garrison and a natural death
by coroner Nicholas Chetta (a broken
blood vessel at the base of the neck) ,
came a few (lays after Garrison pre-
dicted premature news stories might
lead to the suicide of some witnesses.
Characteristically, Garrison leaped on
Ferrie's death, calling him "one of his-
tory's most important men," and fin-
gering him as the getaway pilot for
Oswald's co-conspirators. Less than a
week later, Garrison provided more ac-
tion and arrested one of New Orleans'
more prominent businessmen and real
he got them. Many newspapers, which
had underplayed the story until then,
finally put it on the front page. The
normally conservative Memphis Press-
Scimitar, which had been playing the
story down, headlined Shaw's arrest with
a banner, two-deck headline on the
front page. The New Yorh Times con.
tinned to relegate the Garrison investi-
gation to the back pages. Coroner Chet-
ta's announcement that Ferric died na-
turally appeared in three paragraphs on
page sixty-nine. But by the end of the
second week, many reporters were be-
ginning to regard Garrison as an enigma,
rather than a publicity hound.
Garrison also requested a preliminary
hearing, a move which generally sur-
prised the press since it's usually a matter
of routine procedure for the defense to
ask for the hearing. A hearing is de-
signed to show either that the evidence
held by the state is sufficient to bind
the accused over for trial, or insufficient,
in which case the defendant is dis-
charged. By filing for the state, Garrison
was obviously taking a legal opportunity
to perpetuate testimony in the form of
official notes taken by the court re-
porter. The move was another show of
confidence by Garrison.
The divergent attitudes of the U.S.
and foreign press regarding the Garrison
story are perhaps best indicated by the
editorial approaches of two reporters,
Jack Nelson, Pulitzer Prize winning
southern correspondent for the Los An-
geles Times, who is based in Atlanta,
and Phillipe La.Bro, a columnist for
France-Soir, the largest daily newspaper
in France, who has been vitally inter-
ested in the Kennedy assassination since
he went to Dallas the day after the death.
Both arc recognized, competent, and
hard-nosed men. LaBro learned journal-
ism in this country.
Nelson was returning to Atlanta from
another assignment when the Garrison
story first appeared on the national
newswires. The Los Angeles Times put
the story on page one.
"If they had been able to contact me,
I would have advised them to play the
story clown, the same as The New Yorh
Times played it," Nelson said. "With
it on the front page, I came over to
New Orleans to try and put it in some
context - everybody out there was won-
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, was
tough, reflecting Nelson's opinion that
Garrison was "exploiting all the doubts
about the commission." "You know how
those things go," Nelson said. "Every.
time somebody (lies, this kind of thing
feeds on itself. If there is a plot, I
think the world should know about it,
So far Garrison hasn't got anything."
Nelson's story quoted Aaron Kohn, of
the Metropolitan Crime Commission, as
saying he was surprised that Garrison
would let himself get caught in a "bush
league play when he wants to be a big
leaguer." The story, however, failed to
point out that Kohn only recently had
accused Garrison of protecting "organ-
ized crime" in New Orleans by pardon-
ing Bourbon Street stripper Linda Bri-
gette, accused of obscene dancing. Nel-
son also confided that one of the city
officials had told him, off the record,
that Garrison was dealing with nothing
but psychopaths.
LaBro, wolfing down a sandwich and
writing a daily column at the same
time in his hotel room, had also heard
the report that Garrison was dealing
with psychopaths. His reaction was
quite different than Nelson's,
"Of course lie's dealing with psycho-
paths," Labro said. "Who else but
psychopaths would conspire to kill the
president of the United States?" LaBro
had left Paris the day Ferric (lied and
looked on Garrison's investigation as a
"possible breakthrough in the assassi-
nation plot after all these years." lie has
read all twenty-six volumes of The
Warren Report and was the first report-
er in the world to mention Ferric in a
news story (last October) .
"I've talked to everyone who has
seriously criticized The IVarren Report,
and I've made five trips to Dallas since
the assassination, refreshing myself on
the details and any new developments.
I think this is the most important de-
velopment to date." LaBro had talked
to Garrison twice, once for five hours.
"Our readers want to know everything
about this Garrison and about New
Orleans. But you must rcrncmbcr, no-
body in France believes that Oswald
was alone in his plan to kill Kennedy.
We are used to complicated political
plots. The average Frenchman can't be-
lieve it was all that simple. After talking
estate speculators, Clay Shaw, a decorat- Bering what the hell was going on. with Garrison, I am sure he has some-
cd m~(~i;NO~rl I~el~~100 /N/2litlfA1P6S0~80Rt0i?BiOclrc8against him on
helped Ns art tie nternationa rack Nelson's story, which appeared in the this. He's not a kook, he's not a nut.
Mart. If headlines were Garrison's meat, Sunday editions of both the Times and He's a very sound guy. And if he is
 Approved For Release 2000/08/27 : CIA-RDP751390 8
political, lie certainly would not risk it
on anything this important unless he
was sure he had the cards."
LaBro feels that the press explosion
will help, not hinder, Garrison be-
cause it will accelerate the evidence.
And, like many other reporters both
here and abroad, LaBro believes Garri-
son was "ready for the story to leak. It
is a risk, doing it. this way, but he was
ready for the gamble.
"Sometimes I do not understand
American reporters. They pursue a line
of uluestions based on what they think
before they arrive on the scene. In
Europe we take nothing for granted and
we look both ways. I (10 not say that
American reporters are all bad report-
ers, but I think the press of any country
reflects the attitude of its people and
in this country I think perhaps the press
reflects the naivete of the Americans.
It also reflects the great fear in this
country of communism. We are always
suspicious of communism in France, but
we are not petrified of it.
"Perhaps that is why it was so easy
to accept the Oswald theory in this
country. You point to him. You say he
is a Marxistl 'Ala, Grcatl' everybody
says. It is the easy answer. The death
of Kennedy was an awesome thing .. .
totally horrible. Why discount the idea
that the plot which led to his death was
awesome and totally horrible?
"'I'his could explain why the FBI,
in its investigation for The Warren
Commission, might have overlooked-or
ignored-a plot involving Oswald. If
they started out on the theory that it
was one man acting alone, their ques-
tions and the development of their case
might easily have proceeded on just that
line. In which case, they might have
tended to give little credence to infor-
mation that would have shown some-
thing else."
By the end of the second week, some
reporters-and newspapers-were taking
a second look at Garrison's story of in-
trigue. The Atlanta Journal-ConstituT-
lion, which had published Nelson's story.
published It second story the following
Sunday by Clarence Doucet, assistant
city editor of the New Orleans Times-
Picayune, copyrighted by The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, headlined: ''Garri-
son is just beginning to swing." 'I'hc
story began; "Big Jim Garrison has
shaken the confidence of a lot of peo-
ple who thought his much-publicized
probe of the assassination of President
Kennedy already would have fallen flat
on its face." The story, a favorable one,
concludes: "It is apparent that Garrison
has something. But what it is, near miss
or conspiracy, only time will tell.
"One thing is certain, he won't allow
himself to be rushed. And Garrison is
now calling the plays."
In the courthouse hall, the wall watch-
ers, bored with the waiting, speculated,
talked, conjectured. Garrison was still
calling Ferrie's death a suicide. Well,
perhaps. Ferric was a noted hypochon-
driac and had abnormally high blood
pressure. Under the extreme pressure of
the investigation lie might simply have
stopped taking medication, inducing the
stroke which killed him; in which case
both the coroner and Garrison would
have been right: suicide by normal
means. Even more bizarre were other
theories. A shot of adrenalin, for in-
stance, could have caused the affliction
that killed Ferric. And what about the
opposing political viewpoints of some of
those allegedly implicated - Castroites
and anti-Castroites involved in the same
plot? Impossible. Yet there were strong
implications of homosexuality; perhaps
these tics were strong enough to over-
come political differences.
Meanwhile the jokes and the specu-
lation ran rampant. Garrison was the
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Perhaps the only foreign newsmen hidden man and the press simply
who did not express opinions one way watched the big oak doors at the end of
or the other were the Russians. But even the hall, waiting for his next move.
they were on the scene here. Yuri Bar- "He's holed up at the Athletic Club,"
sukov of Izvestia, Henry Borovik of No- said one reporter. .
vosti Press Agency, and Harry Freeman "Nah, lie's in Miami," said another.
.of TASS, said they were covering the Still another: "I hear he's operating
story entirely objectively and would con- out of an apartment in the Quarter."
time to do so. "It is true," said Borovik, "All wrong," said another. "tie's in
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hell's he doing in Las
and even in Russia arc suspicious of the "What
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