Memorializing Clay Shaw
RE: “What To Do With The World Trade Center,” Speaking Out column. April 2012 issue.
In response to your timely editorial “What To Do With The World Trade Center,” it would be the start of righting a terrible injustice to have the repurposed building (or park or plaza, if that’s its fate) named after Clay Shaw. As you know, from 1946 to ’65 Shaw was the managing director of the International Trade Mart, the original owner of the building. He was a trusted advisor and agent of former mayor Chep Morrison and managed the Louisiana Purchase sesquicentennial celebrations in ’53. Shaw was the prime mover in the ITM/WTC’s construction, and it has been said that he did everything but put up the building himself. That New Orleans has never uttered an official apology for his ordeal is a lasting stain on the city’s integrity. The naming of the recommissioned (or replaced) building at this site would go along way to remembering this great New Orleanian with the truth and respect he deserves.
Scott S. Ellis
Panama City, Fla.
Ed. Reply: We certainly agree that Clay Shaw suffered a great injustice by being implicated in former district attorney Jim Garrison’s misguided investigation of the Kennedy assassination. We agree that Shaw’s name deserves special recognition and there would be no more appropriate place for that than the World Trade Center site.
People to Watch
Once a year we face the task of identifying out annual class of People to Watch: mostly new faces who are doing something interesting in their lives that’s worthy of our awareness or, in some cases, familiar faces moving in a different direction. Selections are made by the editorial staff of New Orleans Magazine, with recommendations from readers. If you have a recommendation, please visit MyNewOrleans.com/My-New-Orleans/May-2012/Nominate-Someone-for-People-to-Watch/. Submissions will be accepted until July 1.
