The attempt in 1995, largely unsuccessful thanks to the lobbying efforts of COPA and others, is recorded here for posterity.

More on the politics of Jim Garrison's successor to the New Orleans DA office, by Jim DiEugenio.

From the July-August, 1995 issue (Vol. 2 No. 5) of Probe

In the New York Times Magazine of August 6, 1995, author Gerald Posner was allowed to do what no other American can do at this moment: pass judgment on a 5 drawer file cabinet of materials from the late Jim Garrison's JFK assassination probe. DA Harry Connick has given Posner sole access to materials about which he said on local television last month: "Everything connected with that case [Shaw trial] should have been retained and preserved in some way." Later before the Assassination Record and Review Board hearing he stated that the files contained, ". . .things that would be of great interest to the American public and the world, as a matter of fact." In praise of the mission of the ARRB, namely to obtain and open up all records on the JFK murder, he said: "I compliment you for attempting to do what I think is a necessary undertaking"; and still later in his testimony, ". . .we think that what you are doing is important and we think that what we can hopefully add to what you're doing will clarify some of the clouded areas of the past and make sense out of what happened." At the time of his testimony-June 28th-Connick was arranging to ship these records to the National Archives so the American public could begin the "clarification of clouded areas" for itself.

Jim DiEugenio comments on a press release concerning Connick's testimony that he ordered the Garrison files destroyed (and some misleading statements that conclude it).