Dean Andrews Jr

Warren Commission testimony

On November 25, 1963, Andrews informed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that three days earlier (on the day of the assassination of President Kennedy) he received a telephone call from a Clay Bertrand who asked him whether he would be willing to represent the suspected assassin of Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald. Andrews subsequently repeated his claim regarding the phone call in testimony before the Warren Commission in July 1964. Andrews described Bertrand as a "swinging cat" (what Andrews defined as a bisexual) who occasionally guaranteed fees for some of Andrews' homosexual clients.

Two weeks after the assassination, the FBI reported that Andrews had admitted that Bertrand was a "figment of his imagination". The FBI report stated that Andrews had been hospitalized at the time with pneumonia and was under heavy sedation. However, Andrews would later deny the FBI report, claiming that he had never suggested that Bertrand might not be real. Later, Andrews would claim that Bertrand was a cover for his friend Eugene Davis. In later years, Andrews continued to maintain that he had, in fact, received the phone call asking him to defend Oswald, but claimed that he was afraid to reveal the caller's true identity.

Trial of Clay Shaw

In the spring of 1967, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison — who over the course of several months had been investigating the assassination of President Kennedy — asserted that Clay Bertrand was actually New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw. Garrison alleged that Shaw used the alias Clay Bertrand among New Orleans' gay society. Garrison further believed that Shaw and a group of right-wing activists, including David Ferrie and Guy Banister, were involved in a conspiracy with elements of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the Kennedy assassination. Garrison arrested Shaw on March 1, 1967. Shaw was booked on conspiracy to commit murder, but denied that he had ever used the name Clay Bertrand. Shaw was eventually acquitted of the charges.

Shortly after appearing before the Orleans Parish grand jury, Dean Andrews stated in an interview on June 28, 1967 that Bertrand was not Shaw but was Eugene Davis, his friend and client. Davis denied in an affidavit that he was Bertrand or the person who suggested that Andrews go to Dallas to help Oswald. Andrews was subsequently convicted on three counts of perjury for lying to the grand jury on August 14, 1967. On February 25, 1969, Andrews testified during the trial of Clay Shaw that the name "Clay Bertrand was a figment of [his] imagination" and that he had been "carrying on a farce" in order to prevent "bring[ing] a lot of heat and trouble to someone who didn't deserve it."

A Secret Service report issued in December 1963, two weeks after the assassination of President Kennedy, stated that Dean Andrews said that Lee Harvey Oswald had visited Andrews' office on approximately three occasions in June and July 1963, seeking legal advice from Andrews concerning his citizenship status, his wife's status and his undesirable discharge from the Marine Corps. Andrews described his encounters with Oswald in testimony before the Warren Commission in July 1964.

Portrayals

Andrews was portrayed by John Candy in Oliver Stone's 1991 film JFK.