Henry Wade was the Dallas District Attorney at the time of the assassination. He had been in that elected position from 1951 and served until 1987. He began his career in 1939 when he joined the FBI and began working on espionage cases along the east coast and in South America. When war came to America he joined the Navy and served in the South Pacific.

After the war he was elected as Rockwell County District Attorney in 1947 but after a few years he joined the Dallas County District Attorney Office, and was elected to lead it a few years later.

When Lee Oswald was arrested and held in the Dallas Police custody, Wade received three or four calls from Cliff Carter instructing him to charge Oswald with the murder of the president and say nothing about any other shooters or conspiracy. Jack Ruby made certain that Oswald was never brought to trial and his guilt would be assumed.

It was also on Wade's watch that in 1973 Norma McCorvey (alias Jane Roe) would have the heralded abortion case brought to the Supreme Court. He failed to get the court to accept Texas abortion restriction and Roe v Wade legalized first trimester abortions. In spite of this he was still elected to several more terms.

Henry Wade was also a major player in The Thin Blue Line documentary by Errol Morris. The film told the story of Randall Adams 1977 conviction for the murder of Dallas Policeman, Robert Wood. His execution was scheduled for May 8, 1979. Supreme Court Justice Louis Powell Jr stayed the execution with three days to spare. Governor Bill Clements commuted the sentence.

Adams was one of fifteen convicts that were exonerated by recently available DNA evidence as of 2008 and the Texas Innocence Project was sure to find more. This ended the time when when the District Attorney would go for a conviction at any cost and in any way.