I will proceed further into Jeffrey Caufield's recent book, General Walker and the Murder of President Kennedy: The Extensive New Evidence of a Radical Right Conspiracy (2015) which forms so much of the inspiration for this web site.
Jeff Caufield told me personally that he had complete access to all of Jim Garrison's investigative papers. As he prepared this recent book for publication, Caufield was astounded to learn that Jim Garrison did not originally hold a CIA-did-it CT. Rather, he held a Right-wing-did-it CT. In Chapter 9 of his book, entitled, Oswald in New Orleans and the Jim Garrison Case, we read a great deal an astounding new fact about Jim Garrison, that we never see in any CIA-did-it literature. Caufield writes:
David Ferrie – at the onset of Garrison’s investigation – told him that prominent members of the far right, including H.L. Hunt, General Walker, Billy James Hargis and Carl McIntire were involved in the assassination. Garrison’s purported former CIA employee-suspects, Gordon Novel and Ed Butler, as well as the California suspects, were nothing more than right-wing extremists tied to one or more of the far-right organizations of the John Birch Society, Ku Klux Klan, Minutemen, National States’ Rights Party, and Citizens’ Council. (Caufield, General Walker and the Murder of President Kennedy, 2015, p. 241)
As Chapter 9 proceeeds, we learn more about Jim Garrison’s investigation into Carlos Quiroga, Gordon Novel, Ed Butler, Kerry Thornley, Thomas Beckham, Edgar Eugene Bradley, Carl McIntire, Billy James Hargis, Stanley Drennan and Clinton Wheat. What is strange is how few of these names were raised during Jim Garrison's famous trial against Clay Shaw. Why the sudden shift away from these earlier suspects? Caufield offers the following explanation:
During his investigation, Garrison’s life was threatened, making it unlikely that Garrison could have openly pursued a prosecution of the determined and murderous individuals in the hardcore underground and remain alive…For his faults and deceptions, Garrison can be thanked for his investigation of Guy Banister and the 544 Camp Street story…as well as for leaving his District Attorney JFK assassination files to posterity. (Caufield, General Walker and the Murder of President Kennedy, 2015, p. 242)
In other words, Jim Garrison had to struggle to stay alive, and this best explains his superficial, CIA-did-it CT. It was a cover that let him continue to investigate the Radical Right. It is interesting that Jim Garrison did offer an in-depth portrait into Guy Banister and his operation at 544 Camp Street, because Guy Banister died in June, 1964. So, Garrison was not a threat to Garrison at the time that Garrison pursued charges upon Clay Shaw. IMHO, if he had more help, Jim Garrison could have solved the JFK Assassination plot. Anyway, despite his failings, Jim Garrison still pushed genuine JFK research onto a higher ground. Jeff Caufield concludes:
If Garrison’s evidence against Gale, Bradley and McIntire had been combined with the evidence amassed by Willie Somerset for the FBI, a powerful case against the radical right could have been made. Unfortunately, the FBI concealed Somerset’s information, and Garrison concealed much of the evidence against McIntire, Bradley, Gale, and the other California suspects. (Caufield, General Walker and the Murder of President Kennedy, 2015, p. 242)
This account tallies with the account from former FBI agent Don Adams, who had the duty to track Willie Somersett and his undercover information about Right-wing radical, Joseph Milteer. Don Adams also reported that the FBI had shut down his investigation, and had concealed all files on Willie Somerset following the JFK Assassination.
Jim Garrison acted to save his life and to protect his family -- because the FBI was not going to expose the role of the US Radical Right in the JFK Assassination. This is not because the FBI was an "accomplice" of the JFK assassins (as Jim Garrison had worried) but because of our Cold War with Russia at the time. It would have divided America dangerously, possibly sparking riots, and definitely giving Russia a better position. It was a National Security issue, but it also confounded American history for more than 50 years, as countless CT's came and went.
Jeff Caufield advocates a scholastic return to Jim Garrison’s investigative files to finally expose to the public what Jim Garrison had concealed in order to save his own life and protect his own family. Caufied forgives Garrison. Let's take a closer look and see where the dots connect.
Best regards, --Paul Trejo