On The Trail Of Delusion

[Walt Cakebread]

Alecia Long's New Book: Cruising for Conspirators
I finally received my copy yesterday. I strongly urge everybody to buy a copy of this very important book. A terrific addition to the literature on the so-called Garrison investigation.

https://www.onthetrailofdelusion.com/post/alecia-long-s-new-book-cruising-for-conspirators

Why are you hawking this book?.....  Are you desperate to discredit Jim Garrison?   

[Fred Litwin]

I am not hawking the book.

I believe that ANY new book on the JFK assassination is worthy of discussion. In this case, I was fortunate enough to
be able to read a manuscript before publication. This is an excellent book, and I heartily recommend everybody buy a copy.

The scholarship in this book is first-rate.

fred

[Walt Cakebread]

I am not hawking the book.

I believe that ANY new book on the JFK assassination is worthy of discussion. In this case, I was fortunate enough to
be able to read a manuscript before publication. This is an excellent book, and I heartily recommend everybody buy a copy.

The scholarship in this book is first-rate.

fred

OK, Fred, You had me fooled, ......  Your posts sound like "hawking"

[Fred Litwin]

I do hope that you and others keep replying to this message so that it stays on top of the board.

This book is very important.

Here are some of the reviews:

“This shocking narrative uncovers how decades of police surveillance in New Orleans created a vast paper trail that set the stage for a corrupt district attorney to frame the only man to face prosecution for John F. Kennedy’s assassination, creating a lasting homophobic conspiracy theory in the process. With keen historical sensitivity, Alecia Long reveals the longer patterns and plots that frame this must-read story.”— Jim Downs, author of Stand by Me: The Forgotten History of Gay Liberation

"Exposing the corrupt world of New Orleans policing and the complex gay subculture that thrived in the city’s shadow, Long’s book features an intriguing cast of characters, including ambitious prosecutor Jim Garrison and closeted businessman Clay Shaw. More importantly, it uncovers how cultural notions of gay men as criminal sexual psychopaths came to permeate JFK conspiracy theories and American culture more generally."— David K. Johnson, author of The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government

In Cruising for Conspirators Alecia Long offers us a fresh new perspective on an endlessly enthralling subject—the alleged conspiracy behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy—revealing how a pervasive cultural and institutional homophobia shaped the prosecution of the only person ever tried in the affair. This is an engrossing and important book, meticulously researched and profoundly relevant to our country’s ongoing attempts to grapple with the deep-rooted inequities of its past.”—Gary Krist, author of The Mirage Factory and Empire of Sin

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Alecia Long's New Book: Cruising for Conspirators
I finally received my copy yesterday. I strongly urge everybody to buy a copy of this very important book. A terrific addition to the literature on the so-called Garrison investigation.

https://www.onthetrailofdelusion.com/post/alecia-long-s-new-book-cruising-for-conspirators

Fred: Didn't Garrison totally abandon the homosexual angle - the "thrill kill" claim about Shaw, Ferrie and Oswald - pretty early in his investigation? At least the public one. If I have the timeline right, the story first broke in the New Orleans newspapers that Garrison was investigating the assassination on February 17, 1967.

Clay Shaw was arrested about two weeks later on March 1, 1967. I believe it was then that Garrison for first time publicly claimed that the motive was a "homosexual thrill kill." Correct? However, about two weeks later on March 16 Richard Billings, who covered the investigation for Life magazine, wrote in his diary that:

"Garrison now interested [my emphasis] in possible connections between Shaw and the CIA. . . . Article in March issue Humanities [l’Humanité, the organ of the French Communist Party] supposedly mentions Shaw’s company [CIA] work in Italy."

Six days later, Billings’s wrote that Garrison had an article from the Humanite claiming a Shaw/CIA connection.  "Story about Shaw and CIA appears in Humanite, probably March 8 . . . [Garrison] has copy date-lined Rome, March 7th, from la presse Italien....

It appears that by mid to late March, Garrison had moved on from the homosexual angle to the CIA one. So I don't think the homosexual motive claim was anything more than a brief smear - a terrible one to be sure - but I don't think it was anything more than Garrison's twisted mindset.

Other than that March 1 comment did Garrison ever publicly repeat the "thrill kill" claim? Especially after roughly March 16?

Most of this is given greater detail by Max Holland in this piece: https://www.washingtondecoded.com/site/files/the_demon_in_jim_garrison.pdf

[Fred Litwin]

Garrison did move beyond the homosexual thrill killing angle. But, i do believe, in the back of his mind, he
always thought it was relevant. For instance, you see memo after memo discussing homosexuality. When he submitted
questions to the HSCA to ask Thomas Beckham, he suggested asking them about whether Beckham had
slept with Fred Crisman.

You can see some of this here:

https://www.onthetrailofdelusion.com/post/final-thoughts-on-the-quick-article

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Garrison did move beyond the homosexual thrill killing angle. But, i do believe, in the back of his mind, he
always thought it was relevant. For instance, you see memo after memo discussing homosexuality. When he submitted
questions to the HSCA to ask Thomas Beckham, he suggested asking them about whether Beckham had
slept with Fred Crisman.

You can see some of this here:

https://www.onthetrailofdelusion.com/post/final-thoughts-on-the-quick-article

Obviously he did move on from the "homosexual thrill kill" claim - I don't think he repeated it after the arrest of Shaw; or certainly after mid-to-late March. He may have been paranoid - he was - but he was a smart and well read one (paranoids often are). Nowhere in the Shaw trial was homosexuality ever mentioned. In fact, if I recall no motive at all was mentioned (it wasn't legally necessary to do so).

If his theory as to what happened - multiple shooters firing from different locations - was to make any sense it had to involve more than Shaw, Ferrie and Oswald. And getting others to go along required more than joining a "homosexual thrill kill." I think he recognized that quite early in his investigation. So the "thrill kill" claim was just a typical off-the-cuff smear; one of a long list that he issued.

[Fred Litwin]

Homosexuality was mentioned in the Shaw trial. There were several questions to witnesses about wearing "tight pants."

In addition, the Sciambra memorandum was read out lout in court.

You could say that Garrison didn't make a big deal out of homosexuality at trial.
But why was that?

James Kirkwood interviewed Irvin Dymond for his book. He asked him why garrison did not
make a big deal out of homosexuality. Dymond said he had a "secret weapon," and that he
was prepared to use it. Kirkwood asked him what it was, and Dymond told him to turn off the
tape recorder. He said "he didn't want to put it on tape."

I suspect he knew something about Garrison.

fred