Clay L. Shaw

Background

He was born on March 17, 1913 in Kentwood, Louisiana, United States, the son of Glaris Lenora Shaw and Alice Rebecca Harrington. Later the family moved to Louisiana.

Education

Clay attended public schools in New Orleans until age fifteen.

Career

At age seventeen, he collaborated with his friend Herman Cottman on writing a one-act play, Submerged (1930), which achieved moderate success, mostly with amateur theater groups. Shaw wrote three more plays: A Message from Khufu (1931), The Cuckoo's Nest (1933), and Stokers (1934).

Shaw worked for Western Union in New Orleans until he transferred to New York where he managed about forty branches in mid-Manhattan between 1932 and 1935. He then worked as an independent public relations adviser until he joined the army during World War II.

Shaw returned to New Orleans in 1946 and became managing director of the nascent International Trade Mart (ITM). Over the next two decades, Shaw, who was fluent in many languages, traveled widely in South America and Europe, campaigning for elimination of barriers to international trade. In 1949, he began to restore several aging structures of New Orleans' French Quarter, and by 1960 had supervised the renovation of sixteen buildings, some of which were hailed as masterpieces of reconstruction.

In 1965, after overseeing the design of a new tower for the ITM at the head of Canal Street, Shaw retired. He later explained to James Kirkwood, "Although I wasn't a millionaire, I had enough put aside to devote my life to writing. " He also wanted to travel, and over the next year visited Mexico, London, and Barcelona. He returned to New Orleans after his father's death in November 1966, for what he thought would be a brief visit with his mother, only to find his plans irrevocably changed.

On December 23, Shaw received a call from the New Orleans district attorney's office, summoning him for questioning in connection with allegations that he had used the alias Clay Bertrand to try to obtain legal aid for Lee Harvey Oswald, who had been arrested for assassinating President Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Shaw denied all allegations. In Washington, the FBI announced that it had already cleared Shaw of any involvement, and President Johnson stated that he saw no reason to reopen the investigations of the Warren Commission, which had concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, had shot President Kennedy.

Two years to the day after his arrest, Shaw was free. That afternoon, Shaw talked to reporters about the costs of the trial, financial and emotional: "I feel (Garrison) tried to use me as a pawn, if you will, to mount an attack on the Warren Commission. " Shaw sold his house to raise money and toured the country speaking about his trial. He then took a job with the French Market Corporation.

He died in New Orleans, a $5 million lawsuit still pending against Garrison.

Achievements

• Clay L. Shaw helped to start the International Trade Mart in New Orleans, he was known locally for his efforts to preserve buildings in New Orleans' historic French Quarter. He was the only person prosecuted in connection with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and was acquitted. Despite his acquittal, Shaw's reputation and public image never fully recovered. For his performance as an aide-de-camp to General Charles Thrasher in southern England and northern France, Shaw received the Croix de guerre from France the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star from the United States, by Belgium he was named Chevalier of the Order of the Crown of Belgium.

Personality

He was a heavy smoker most of his life.

Connections

There is no information about his marital status.

Father:

Glaris Lenora Shaw

Mother:

Alice Rebecca Harrington

prosecutor:

Jim Garrison

Friend:

Herman Cottman