Jim Marrs

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Jim Marrs
Jim PR 2010.jpg
Born (1943-12-05)December 5, 1943
Fort Worth, Texas US
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Springtown, Texas, US
Occupation Journalist
Author

Jim Marrs (December 5, 1943 - August 2, 2017) was an American newspaper journalist and New York Times best-selling author of books and articles on a wide range of alleged cover ups and conspiracies.[1] Marrs was a prominent figure in the JFK conspiracy press and his book Crossfire was a source for Oliver Stone's film JFK. He wrote books asserting the existence of government conspiracies regarding aliens, 9/11, telepathy, and secret societies. He began his career as a news reporter in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex and taught a class on the assassination of John F. Kennedy at University of Texas at Arlington for 30 years. Marrs was a member of the Scholars for 9/11 Truth.[2]

Biography

A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Marrs earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the University of North Texas in 1966 and attended graduate school at Texas Tech in Lubbock for two years more. He worked for several Texas newspapers, including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where, beginning in 1968, he served as police reporter and general assignments reporter covering stories locally, in Europe, and in the Middle East. After a leave of absence to serve with a Fourth Army intelligence unit during the Vietnam War, he became military and aerospace writer for the newspaper and an investigative reporter.

From 1980 until his death, Marrs was a freelance writer, author, and public relations consultant. He also published a rural weekly newspaper along with a monthly tourism tabloid, a cable television show, and several videos. From 1976 until his retirement in 2007, Marrs also taught a course on the assassination of Kennedy at the University of Texas at Arlington.[3]

Beginning in 1992, Marrs spent three years researching and completing a non-fiction book on a top-secret government program called the Stargate Project involving the psychic phenomenon known as remote viewing, only to have the program canceled as it was going to press in the summer of 1995.

In May 1997, Marrs' investigation of UFOs, Alien Agenda, was published by HarperCollins Publishers. Publishers Weekly described Alien Agenda as "the most entertaining and complete overview of flying saucers and their crew in years." The paperback edition was released in mid-1998. It has been translated into several foreign languages and become the top-selling UFO book in the world.

In early 2000, HarperCollins published Rule by Secrecy, which claimed to trace a hidden history connecting modern secret societies to ancient and medieval times. This book also reached the New York Times Best Seller list. In 2003, his book The War on Freedom probed the alleged conspiracies of the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath. It was released in 2006 under the title The Terror Conspiracy.[4]

Marrs was a featured speaker at a number of national conferences including the annual International UFO Congress[5] and the annual Gulf Breeze UFO Conference,[6] but he also spoke at local conferences, such as Conspiracy Con[7] and The Bay Area UFO Expo.[8] From 2000 to 2007, he taught a course on UFOs at the University of Texas at Arlington. Marrs usually also gave a book signing at Brave New Books in Austin, Texas at least once a year until his death.

Marrs appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, C-SPAN, The Discovery Channel, TLC, The History Channel, This Morning America, Geraldo, The Montel Williams Show, Today, TechTV, Larry King (with George Noory), and Art Bell radio programs, as well as numerous national and regional radio and TV shows.

In October 2011, Marrs started his own radio program, "The View from Marrs" on the Jeff Rense Radio Network, which aired three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 3 pm Central time. Marrs had a wide variety of guests on his show and dedicated the entire month of November to the latest information regarding the JFK assassination. He also explored subject matter on UFO research, survival tips, and much more. This radio program was put on hiatus due to his two upcoming book contracts. In October of 2015, he resurrected his radio program on the TalkNetwork.com radio network (of NaturalNews), airing once a week, Monday, 10pm Pacific time. The program was one hour long, and was co-hosted by Sharon Schloss (thechembow.com).

With a friend, Michael H. Price, Marrs completed a Comic Book entitled, "Oswald's Confession & Other Tales from the War" published by Cremo Studios, Inc., in 2012 with Marrs as also the cartoonist of this book. February 2013 Marrs' book, "Our Occulted History: Do the Global Elite Conceal Ancient Aliens?" was published by HarperCollins.

Illness and death

In March 2017, an announcement was made on Marrs' official Facebook page about an unspecified illness that caused him to cancel appearances at two upcoming events, the 5th annual Out of this World UFO Conference in Edinburg, Texas, and the Free Your Mind Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, both in April.

In June 2017, additional announcements were made about health issues Marrs was experiencing, including being on kidney dialysis at home, and problems with his remaining good eye.

Marrs died on August 2, 2017, from a heart attack at age 73.

Crossfire

In 1989, Marrs' book, Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy, was published and reached the New York Times Paperback Non-Fiction Best Seller list in mid-February 1992.[9] It became a basis for the Oliver Stone film JFK.[10]

According to Stephen E. Ambrose (in an essay generally critical of conspiracy theorists) Marrs wrote in Crossfire that motives for the murder of Kennedy were "Attorney General Robert Kennedy's attack on organized crime (Mafia motive); President Kennedy's failure to support the Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs (Cuban and C.I.A. motive); the 1963 Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (military-industrial complex, or M.I.C. motive); Kennedy's plan to withdraw from Vietnam before the end of 1965 (Joint Chiefs of Staff and M.I.C. motive); Kennedy's talk about taking away the oil-depletion allowance (Texas oil men motive); Kennedy's monetary policies (international bankers motive); Kennedy's decision to drop Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson from the ticket in 1964 (L.B.J. motive) and Kennedy's active civil rights policy (Texas racist billionaires motive)."[11]

Sylvia Meagher is a critic of the Warren Commission and author of Master Index to the JFK Assassination and Accessories After the Fact. In April 1987, Meagher received the manuscript of Marrs' Crossfire. She was asked to evaluate the book by Simon & Schuster, which was considering publishing it. Meagher concluded, "The accuracy of the manuscript in dealing with a vast body of complex evidence is nearly impeccable...the manuscript is, in my opinion, a fine and admirable work." Despite this glowing recommendation, Simon & Schuster became one of about 25 major U.S. publishers to turn down the book. It was finally published in 1989 by Carroll & Graf Publishers. "[12]

Media

Books

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Videos

Audio

CDs
  • 16 Questions[13] {Original CD is corrupted, no longer available.}
Radio Interviews

Though participating in a number of radio shows, it has become tradition for Marrs to be the guest of the season premier of Binnall of America Audio

  • Binnall of America Season 1 Premier – Part 1 and Part 2 – September 10, 2005
  • Binnall of America Season 2 Premier – Part 1 and Part 2 – September 30, 2006
  • Binnall of America Season 3 Premier – Part 1 and Part 2 – October 20, 2007
  • Binnall of America Season 4 Premier – Part 1 and Part 2 – October 26, 2008
  • Binnall of America Season 5 Premier – Part 1 and Part 2 – November 24, 2009
  • Binnall of America Season 6 Premier – Part 1 and Part 2 – November 29, 2010
  • Binnall of America Season 7 Premier – [1] May 1, 2012
Radio Guest-Host Appearances
  • Marrs is also a guest-host of a Paranormal/Conspiracy themed Internet Radio talk-show EPIC Voyages Radio produced by the Inception Radio Network.[14]

See also

References

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  2. Stephen E. Atkins (Editor), The 9/11 Encyclopedia, page 125 (ABC-CLIO, LLC, Second Edition, 2011). ISBN 978-1-59884-921-9
  3. University of Texas
  4. '"The Terror Conspiracy"', 2006, The Disinformation Company, Ltd.
  5. UFO Congress: Speakers
  6. Saucer Smear: Another Gulf Breeze UFO Congress, James W. Moseley, April 25, 1998
  7. Conspiracy Con: Video & Audio (past speakers)
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  9. New York Times Archive, Paperback Best Sellers February 23, 1992
  10. Patricia Lambert, False Witness: The Real Story of Jim Garrison's Investigation and Oliver Stone's Film JFK, footnote, page 212: "Jim Marrs' Crossfire, an encyclopedia of assassination theories...enabled Stone to draw on a wealth of information without spending more money on rights to other books." (M. Evans & Company, Inc., 1998. ISBN 978-0-87131-920-3)
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  14. EPIC Voyages Radio

External links