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Let Justice Be Done

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The 1967-69 investigation of the Kennedy assassination by the late New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison remains one of the most controversial moments of modern American history. William Davy's new book Let Justice Be Done provides important insights into the significance not only of the investigation and subsequent trial for conspiracy of local businessman Clay Shaw, but the world of clandestinism at an important phase of the Cold War.

Oliver Stone's film JFK offered a Garrison (played by Kevin Costner) very dependant on Hollywood superhero conventions. The real Garrison was a flawed man who was nevertheless folkloric in his commitment to the truth of the Kennedy murder. In contrast to the work of his detractors, Davy's book avoids long-distance psychoanalysis of Garrison and sticks with hard, documentary evidence.

We now know that the FBI, CIA, and, much later, the House Select Committee of the US Congress took Garrison very seriously, believing he indeed "had something." Davy shows incontrovertibly that sectors of government authority worked hard not just to discredit Garrison's evidence, but to destroy him utterly.

We also know several key points, thanks to Davy. Among them is that Clay Shaw was a liar and a perjurer. He lied to his own attorney in open court when he was asked whether he ever worked for the CIA. He lied repeatedly and with great facility to journalists on the same question. Between 1948 and 1956, Shaw filed over 30 reports to the CIA, some of them containing what amounts to psychological profiles of foreign leaders.

Many argue that Shaw was an "unwitting" CIA agent. The published record simply doesn't support this. Shaw certainly knew he wasn't filing reports to the Rotary Club. And Shaw's many rightist political associations show a ideologue who was hardly the "Wilson/FDR liberal" he represented to the press.

There is much more. Davy shows how the House Committee of the 70s found many of Garrison's key assertions about the Kennedy assassination to be correct. Some Garrison attackers argue that the Committee was somehow "taken in" by Garrison, this despite the fact that the Committee's chief counsel, G. Robert Blakey, despised Garrison. The phrasing of the documents cited by Davy shows that to a some degree the House Committee on Assassinations vindicated Garrison.

In the wake of the ongoing backlash against the Oliver Stone film and "conspiracy theory", Davy's book is an important interrogation of history. As so many conservative voices take over the discourse on the Kennedy assassination, Davy's book asks us to question further what constitutes "official" history.

In the fine legal tradition of jurisprudence, the line for determining innocence or guilt, acquital or conviction in a criminal trial has always been "reasonable doubt." Thusly, shortly after midnight on 1 March 1969, Clay L. Shaw, the only man ever indicted for conspiracy to kill President Kennedy, was acquited after deliberations of less than an hour.

Though I have always believed in Shaw's participation in the alleged conspiracy and supported the allegations of the late New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, I too would have to have voted to acquit based on the evidence presented at trial (which thanks to fellow reviewer Dave Reitzes, is available to anyone at www4.50megs.com/reitzes/shawtest.html). However, after reading Mr. Davy's book, I no longer have any doubt whatsoever in my mind that Clay Shaw was guilty as charged.

This book is by no means the definitive book on the Garrison probe. That book has yet to be written. What I would recommend is to first read James DiEugenio's "Destiny Betrayed," which is a far better summary of the actual investigative process, the assassination in general, Jim Garrison himself and the later aspects of the investigation (i.e. the HSCA) up until 1992. Then read this book. "Let Justice Be Done" doesn't bother to summarize all the information detailed in "Destiny Betrayed" and avoids dealing with Jim Garrison the person, but rather moves in for the kill by analyzing all the new evidence brought to light by the plodding work of the Assassination Record Review Board, which came into existence thanks to the uproar over Oliver Stone's film "JFK," which was based on the 1988 book "On the Trail of the Assassins," which--you guessed it--was Jim Garrison's personal retelling of the 1967-1970 investigation by his office into the assassination. As Davy notes, the case has come full circle. We are lucky that there was someone like William Davy who was willing to go through the reams of information released by the ARRB before it's demise in the fall of 1998 so soon after it's end, and also personally interview many of the crucial New Orleans witnesses.

There may be no smoking gun in what the ARRB released, but there's a hell of a lot of smoke--and most of it points straight at Clay Shaw. As Davy reveals, this humble businessman and civic leader was anything but. We now know that Shaw--along with E. Howard Hunt (found by the jury of the 1985 civil trial Hunt v. Liberty Lobby to have been an assassination conspirator) and Richard Nixon--was one of only three people who couldn't remember where they were when John Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas. This book is an absolute must read for any student of the assassination or Jim Garrison.

This is one of the 2 or 3 best books ever written on the JFK assassination for several reasons. First of all, it is based on the newest available evidence from declassified documents plus the author's own interviews of numerous eyewitnessess who were involved in the events surrounding the Garrrsion probe. Secondly, the book is very well written and easily accessible to anyone. A person who knows little about the assassination, but wants to know more, can pick this book up and become extremely informed in a short period of time.

There is no theorizing in this book. The author simply presents the facts as they are and lets the reader see for himself that the evidence is overwhelming and persuasive. Jim Garrison was indeed on the right track in prosecuting Clay Shaw for conspiracy to murder President Kennedy. The author discusses Shaw's extensive CIA background as well as how the Justice Department, in an unprecedented move in American history, clandestinely aided Shaw's defense and infiltrated Garrison's staff.

Author Davy exposes much of the lies and disinformation that have been spread about Garrison. The chapter titled, "Fourth Estate or Fourth Reich" is by far the most important in the book and should be required reading for any American citizen who cares about what it means to live in a democracy. In this chapter Davy takes the reader on a journey through the national news media that very few Americans are aware of. He details how well know journalists and major TV networks conspired with U.S. intelligence agencies to destroy Garrison's investigation before it ever got off the ground. I have done research on the assassination at the National Archives and have seen some of the documents Davy discusses. They are quite revealing and very frightening.

Jim Garrison never had a chance and now the average American who reads this book can understand why. There will be people who will attack this book because they don't want you to know the truth about our secret history. Don't take their word for it. Read the book and decide for yourself.

This book is a masterwork. As thoroughly researched and footnoted as any book I've ever read, this is the definitive take on the conspiracy that killed JFK. Lee Oswald's connections with David Ferrie and Clay Shaw, as well as many other CIA operatives is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Also there is disturbing proof of a coordinated smear campaign against Jim Garrison; an effort to lie about him (and the assassination) to the American people that continues to this day. Every citizen should own this book.

Bill Davy's Let Justice Be Done is must reading for those who wish to be informed by facts, not hysterical bias, about the 1969 investigation into, and trial for, the murder of President John F. Kennedy. Jim Garrison, the former District Attorney of New Orleans remains the sole public official to ever bring a thorough and honest inquiry into the facts surrounding this murder. For his efforts the media smeared and libeled him, while the FBI bugged and infiltrated his office. For citizens struggling to make sense of Waco and the FBI's startling lack of disclosure six years ago, Davy takes the reader back thirty six years, to the true "crime of the century." To the investigation by the D.A. whose integrity was not for sale and back to the salient questions of "Why?" and "Who benefited?" read this book and draw your own conclusions. Attorney Dawn Meredith, Austin, Texas

let justice be done is a clear, logical book which backs up Garrison's misunderstood case. Bill Davy seems to have actually dug thru the ARRB declassified documents and saw a clearer picture of the case. he offers pure facts, not speculation or theory like in every conspiracy book. moreover, the fingers do point at Shaw and Ferrie as co-conspirators. highly recommended. dont believe authors like Pat Lambert and Dave Ritzes or others who are Anti-Garrison, they are more bias into smearing Garrison by believing in the negative rumors and snotty remarks about the late DA. this is a man who learned to fight the Govt. and Media Establishment with honesty and courage.

This scholarly, readable book is full of insight, surprises, newly uncovered facts, and the revelation of hidden connections between well-known facts. Certain people will want to suppress this book.

William Davy is to be commended for coming up with a great companion volume to James DiEugenio's "Destiny Betrayed" on the Garrison Case (and, to a lesser extent, Joan Mellen's new book on Garrison). Some excellent info. on Clay Shaw; heavily documented. Recommended.
Vince Palamara

Bill Davy's book came a few yeasr after his friend James DiEugenio's masterpiece: Destiny Betrayed : J.F.K., Cuba, and the Garrison Case.

Both books deal with New Orleans DA Jim Garrison's investigation of the JFK assassination in Dallas, in 1963. Both works covers the whereabouts of protagonists such as David Ferrie, Clay Shaw, Guy Banister or Sergio Arcacha Smith.

Bill Davy uses a lot of documents that were declassified by the ARRB (Assassination Record Review Board), bringing new light on many events depicted in Oliver Stone's seminal movie JFK (Special Edition Director's Cut) - Oliver Stone Collection. Unsurprisingly, most of this new material vindicates Jim Garrison's original probe.

Well researched, well documented, well footnoted, Let Justice Be Done is probably one the top 20 books ever published on the assassination of the John Kennedy. A sefl-published Kindle version is now available. But it remains a shame that this major piece of research was never picked up by a major publisher.

Bill Davy's Let Justice Be Done is a sadly misinformed exercise in hero worship, as Davy tries in vain to redeem New Orleans DA Jim Garrison, whose story was also radically fictionalized for Oliver Stone's JFK. What does Davy's "new light" on the Garrison investigation consist of? Evidence that was not credible enough for Jim Garrison himself to use in the first place.

Davy also has an unsettling habit of telling the reader only half the story. For example, Davy cites a 1977 House Select Committee Report that says, "We have reason to believe [Garrison suspect Clay] Shaw was heavily involved in the anti-Castro efforts in New Orleans in the 1960s and possibly one of the high-level planners or 'cut out' to the planners of the assassination." Davy doesn't mention, however, that this report does not reflect the opinions of its author, but rather the statements of its interview subject: Jim Garrison!

An example of the kind of witness Garrison could have called to testify against Clay Shaw, but didn't, for obvious reasons, is Jules Ricco Kimble, an admitted member of the Ku Klux Klan, whose claims include having been a CIA agent, having met Clay Shaw and Garrison suspect David Ferrie on numerous occasions, and possessing first-hand knowledge of Shaw's alleged career as a clandestine agent of the CIA. Davy doesn't mention that Kimble is a convicted murderer, that the early accounts of his story vary drastically from later ones, and that Kimble later claimed to be 'Raoul,' James Earl Ray's infamous alleged Martin Luther King assassination conspirator.

Among other things, Davy also claims:

That Shaw had a 'covert security clearance' for a CIA operation called QK/ENCHANT, when Shaw was actually cleared for unwitting use as a source of information by the Agency.

That Clay Shaw, David Ferrie and Lee Harvey Oswald appeared one day in a rural Louisiana town together, a story debunked in Patricia Lambert's False Witness.

That Shaw, Ferrie and Oswald plotted the assassination of John F. Kennedy, despite the fact that the witness who so claimed at the Shaw trial, Perry Raymond Russo, recanted his entire story two years later.

That Clay Shaw told a police officer he used the alias "Clay Bertrand" (a name dubiously linked to Oswald) when an independent witness, NOPD Sgt. Jonas Butzman, testified unequivocally that Shaw said no such thing.

That David Ferrie 'confessed' that he knew Oswald and Shaw, and that Ferrie and Shaw worked for the CIA, when not a soul in Jim Garrison's office ever mentioned this 'confession' until Oliver Stone came along -- two decades after the Shaw trial. (It's not even in Garrison's 1988 memoirs!)

And, unfortunately, much more.

By systematically eliminating evidence that casts doubt on Garrison's case, such as the hundreds of pages of easily accessible Shaw trial testimony and much new evidence, Davy reveals himself to be an advocate first and an investigator second.

Anyone who wants to learn more about the assassination of John F. Kennedy is going to find no answers here.