When Harry Met CIA: Rob Reiner, Harry Connick, Jr., and the JFK Assassination

The release of Rob Reiner’s 1989 romantic comedy hit When Harry Met Sally made a star of pianist Harry Connick, Jr., who contributed youthful renditions of several old jazz standards to the soundtrack. Outside of New Orleans, however, comparatively few are familiar with Harry Connick, Sr., the corrupt Orleans Parish District Attorney who made his son’s music career possible. The elder Connick, who operated two record stores [1] with his Jewish wife, Anita Levy [2], also a lawyer, achieved some prominence as a US attorney, assisting Lyndon Johnson’s Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach in his efforts to desegregate America’s schools [3] and prosecute federal civil rights violation cases against local authorities [4]. Connick’s superior had been a key party to the cover-up of the JFK assassination. As Deputy Attorney General at the time, Katzenbach had written a memo directing that the “public must be satisfied that Oswald was the assassin; that he did not have confederates who ...