William Penn Jones, Jr. (October 15, 1914 – January 25, 1998) was a man with a varied background: as a hobo during the depression, a University of Texas at Austin student, an officer in the United States Army during World War II, a newspaper owner (the Midlothian Mirror of Midlothian, Texas) and recipient of the Elijah P. Lovejoy Award for courageous journalism. He became best known for his research into the John F. Kennedy assassination with his series of books Forgive My Grief. Penn was one of the first generation of researchers who felt the government was behind the assassination - probably a conspiracy involving military intelligence.[1] One of the notable features of the books was the tracking of additional deaths thought to be connected to the assassination in some way; a version of that list was published in the magazine The Rebel: A Newsweekly with a Cause in 1983 as "Disappearing Witnesses."[1]
Penn Jones was responsible for Jim Garrison's charging Clay Shaw as a co-conspirator in the John F. Kennedy Assassination. He specifically brought Jim Garrison's attention to the Fair Play For Cuba pamphlets marked with the address to the building in which Guy Banister's offices were housed. He was a consultant to Oliver Stone for the move JFK and received an onscreen credit. Without Penn Jones there would not have been an investigation by Jim Garrison nor charges laid against Clay Shaw.