Mark Lane (author)
Encyclopedia
Mark Lane is an American
lawyer who has written many books, including Rush to Judgment
, one of two major books published in the immediate wake of the John F. Kennedy assassination
that questioned the conclusions of the Warren Commission
. Another book, Plausible Denial
, published in 1991, continued his interest in the JFK assassination. Lane was thought to be a screenwriter for the 1973 action movie, Executive Action, starring Burt Lancaster
and Robert Ryan
, but in actuality he only worked on the first draft of the screenplay. He collaborated with Donald Freed on it and after seeing subsequent drafts, they complained both privately to the producer and publicly at press conferences, pointing out errors in the work.
Lane represented the Peoples Temple
, led by Jim Jones
, and was one of the few witnesses to survive the tragedy at Jonestown
, at which over 900 United States citizens died.
, where he served for one term with the support of Eleanor Roosevelt
and Presidential candidate, John F. Kennedy
. In the legislature, he spent considerable time working to abolish capital punishment
. Lane promised to serve for only one term, and then manage the campaign for his replacement—which he did. He also managed the New York City area's campaign for JFK's 1960 presidential bid.
In June 1961, during the civil rights movement, he was the only sitting legislator to be arrested for opposing segregation as a "Freedom Rider". Lane was elected to the New York State Assembly
in 1960. In 1962 he ran for Congress in the Democratic primary and lost. In the 1968 presidential election, Lane appeared on the ballot as a third party vice-presidential candidate, running on the Freedom and Peace Party ticket with Dick Gregory
.
and John F. Kennedy
from the perspective of a defense attorney, including the witnesses who claimed to have seen Oswald on the sixth floor of the school book depository; the paraffin
test which tended, in Lanes mind, that Oswald had not fired a rifle recently; the conflicting claims about the rifle which at first had been, as the police announced, a German Mauser
and afterwards an old WWII Manlicher-Carcano rifle; the Parkland Hospital doctors announcing an entrance wound in the throat; the role of the FBI and the press who convicted Oswald before his guilt was proven. In June 1964 according to historian Peter Knight
- Bertrand Russell, "prompted by the emerging work of the lawyer Mark Lane
in the US ... rallied support from other noteworthy and left-leaning compatriots to form a Who Killed Kennedy Committee, members of which included Michael Foot MP, the wife of Tony Benn MP, the publisher Victor Gollancz
, the writers John Arden
and J. B. Priestley
, and the Oxford history professor Hugh Trevor-Roper. Russell published a highly critical article weeks before the Warren Commission
Report was published, setting forth 16 Questions on the Assassination and equating the Oswald case with the Dreyfus affair
of late nineteenth century France in which the state wrongly convicted an innocent man. Russell also critized the American press for failing to heed any voices critical of the official version."
Lane applied to the Warren Commission to represent the interests of Lee Harvey Oswald
, but the Commission rejected his request. Three months later Walter E. Craig, president of the American Bar Association
, was appointed by the Commission to represent the interests of Oswald. Craig himself stated that he was not counsel for Oswald, and - according to Andrew Kiel - it "is not apparent in any official records that Craig or any of his associates named a witness of their own, or attended any of the over 20,000 interviews, or cross-examind one witness. This can hardly be construed as an example of justice in action." Lane continued to search for clues for Oswalds innocence. He was called to testify before the Commission but was not permitted to cross-examine witnesses. After the Warren Commission
Report was published in September 1964, Mark Lane interviewed numerous witnesses which were ignored by the Commission, and he published a "convincing indictment of the Commission, entitled Rush to Judment, using these interviews as well as evidence fromt he twenty-six volumes of the Commission's Report". The book spent seventeen weeks on the New York Times best-seller list and remains one of the most famous books in JFK conspiracy literature. It was adapted into a documentary film in 1966.
Lane questions the Warren Commission conclusion that three shots were fired from the Texas School Book Depository and focuses on the witnesses who had recounted having seen or heard shots coming from the grassy knoll. Lane questions whether Oswald was guilty of the murder of policeman J.D. Tippit shortly after the Kennedy murder, but does not mention witnesses Barbara and Virginia Davis (who claim to have seen Oswald crossing their lawn and emptying his pistol immediately after the shooting) or witnesses Ted Callaway and Sam Guinyard (who claim to have seen Oswald carrying a gun and fleeing on foot after the shooting). Lane also states that none of the Warren Commission firearm experts were able to duplicate Oswald's shooting feat.
Lane testified before the Warren Commission that witness Helen Markham described Tippit's killer to a reporter as "short, a little on the heavy side, and his hair was somewhat bushy". Lane contacted Markham and asked her to recall how she described the killer to reporters. "I read that you told some of the reporters that he was short, stocky, and had bushy hair", he prompted. Markham replied, "No, no. I did not say this." Markham went on to confirm the man she described was short, not too heavy - a little heavy, maybe 150 to 160 pounds, and had slightly bushy, uncombed hair. Lane testified, "I think it is fair to state that an accurate description of Oswald would be average height, quite slender with thin and receding hair." Markham identified Oswald in a police lineup after his arrest on November 22, with some difficulty though, "When I saw this man I was'nt sure but I had cold chills just run over me."
The KGB
allegedly provided Lane with $2000 for research and travel in 1964. This was done indirectly through an intermediary, and without letting Lane know the source of the money. Mark Lane calls this "an outright lie" and wrote, "Neither the KGB nor any person or organization associated with it ever made any contribution to my work."
Lane later wrote A Citizen's Dissent, documenting his response to the Warren Commission's governmental findings on the Kennedy assassination. The 1973 movie Executive Action is largely based on Lane's writings concerning the Kennedy assassination.
In November of 2011, Lane published a third major book on the JFK assassination titled Last Word: My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK. The Library Journal Xpress Review characterizes Last Word as "Disturbingly convincing . . . Both readers who have followed the JFK assassination for years and those new to one of the great debates of the 20th century will find much to contemplate here."
inquiries being conducted primarily by antiwar organizations such as the Citizens' Commission of Inquiry (CCI) and the Vietnam Veterans Against the War
. Lane used his contacts and raised funds to support these events, including what would become the CCIs National Veterans Inquiry
and the VVAWs Winter Soldier Investigation
. CCI and VVAW had originally combined their efforts toward the production of one large war crime investigation, and Lane was initially invited to join the organizing steering committee. Lane suggested the Winter Soldier name, based on Thomas Paine's description of the "summer soldiers" at Valley Forge shrinking from service to their country in a time of crisis. Lane would often travel with fellow activist Jane Fonda
to antiwar speaking engagements and fundraising rallies. Lane was also writing a book, Conversations with Americans, a collection of interviews with US servicemen about war crimes in the Vietnam War
.
Lane's close association with CCI and VVAW would be short-lived. Tod Ensign of the CCI recalled
CCI staffers criticized Lane as being arrogant and sensationalistic, and said the book he was writing had "shoddy reporting in it". The CCI leaders refused to work with Lane further and gave the VVAW leaders a "Lane or us" ultimatum. VVAW didn't want to lose the monetary support of Lane and Fonda, so the CCI split from the project. The following month, after caustic reviews of Lane's book by authors and a Vietnam expert, VVAW would also distance itself from Lane.
James Reston Jr.
, in the Saturday Review, calls Lane's book disreputable, in that all of the reports contained in it are admittedly unverified, and lean toward the salacious. "Lane makes no pretense of distinguishing between fact and a soldier's talent for embellishment", Reston observed. Commenting on the books redeeming social value, Reston added that "it would be to show that a pattern of atrocities exists in Vietnam, proving that while My Lai was larger, it was not unique. This needs to be demonstrated, since the Pentagon continues to insist that My Lai was an isolated case. But the effort will have to be left to more responsible parties, like the National Veterans Inquiry
." A review of Lane's book by Neil Sheehan
in the New York Times Book Review claimed that 4 of the 32 servicemen interviewed by Lane for the book had misrepresented their military service, according to the Defense Department. Lane responded to Sheehan’s inquiries by stating that the Defense Department is the least reliable of all sources for verification of atrocity accounts and that verification of simple facts about the interviewees was “not relevant.” Sheehan called Lane's book irresponsible, concluding that, "Some of the horror tales in this book are undoubtedly true", and the "men who now run the military establishment cannot conduct a credible investigation... But until the country does summon up the courage to convene a responsible inquiry, we probably deserve the Mark Lanes."
The controversial book reviews caused concern in the VVAW leadership, as Andrew E. Hunt
notes,
VVAW veterans involved with the WSI event then realized they needed to take control, and insisted that there be no more interference from the likes of Lane. A new, all veteran, steering committee was formed without Lane. Ultimately, the WSI was an event produced by veterans only, without the need of civilians such as Lane and Fonda.
. Temple leader Jim Jones
hired Lane and Donald Freed
to help make the case of what it alleged to be a "grand conspiracy" by intelligence agencies against the Peoples Temple. Jones told Lane he wanted to "pull an Eldridge Cleaver
", referring to the fugitive Black Panther who was able to return to the United States after repairing his reputation.
In September 1978, Lane visited Jonestown
, spoke to Jonestown residents, provided support for the theory that intelligence agencies conspired against Jonestown and drew parallels between Martin Luther King and Jim Jones. Lane then held press conferences stating that "none of the charges" against the Temple "are accurate or true" and that there was a "massive conspiracy" against the Temple by "intelligence organizations," naming the CIA, FBI, FCC and the U.S. Post Office. Though Lane represented himself as disinterested, the Temple paid Lane $6,000 per month to help generate such theories. Regarding the effect of the work of Lane and Freed upon Temple members, Temple member Annie Moore wrote that "Mom and Dad have probably shown you the latest about the conspiracy information that Mark Lane, the famous attorney in the ML King case and Don Freed the other famous author in the Kennedy case have come up with regarding activities planned against us--Peoples Temple." Another Temple member, Carolyn Layton, wrote that Don Freed told them that "anything this drug out could be nothing less than conspiracy".
and four others were murdered at a nearby airstrip. For months before that tragedy, Jones frequently created fear among members by stating that the CIA and other intelligence agencies were conspiring with "capitalist pigs" to destroy Jonestown and harm its members. This included mentions of CIA involvement in the address Jones gave the day before the arrival of Congressman Ryan.
During the visit of Congressman Ryan, Lane helped represent the Temple with its other attorney, Charles R. Garry
, who was furious with Lane for holding numerous press conferences and alleging the existence of conspiracies against the Peoples Temple. Garry was also displeased with Lane for making a veiled threat that the Temple might move to the Soviet Union
in a letter to Congressman Ryan.
Late in the afternoon of November 18, two men wielding rifles approached Lane and Garry, who had earlier been sent to a small wooden house by Jones. It is not clear whether the gunmen were sent to kill Lane and Garry, but one of the gunmen recognized Charles Garry as an attorney in a trial that the gunman had attended. After a relatively friendly exchange, the men informed Garry and Lane that they were going to "commit revolutionary suicide" to "expose this racist and fascist society". The gunmen then gave Garry and Lane directions to exit Jonestown. Garry and Lane then sneaked into the jungle, where they hid and called a temporary truce while the tragedy unfolded.
On a tape made while members committed suicide by ingesting cyanide-poisoned punch, the reason given by Jones to commit suicide was consistent with Jones' previously stated conspiracy theories of intelligence organizations allegedly conspiring against the Temple, that men would "parachute in here on us", "shoot some of our innocent babies" and "they'll torture our children, they'll torture some of our people here, they'll torture our seniors". Parroting Jones' prior statements that hostile forces would convert captured children to Fascism, one temple member states "the ones that they take captured, they're gonna just let them grow up and be dummies". Annie Moore and Carolyn Layton were among the 900 who died.
, who Lane alleged had repeatedly prompted the Temple to take radical action before defecting, "had evidently led three lives", with one being a government informant or agent.
(previously titled Code Name Zorro
, after the Central Intelligence Agency
's name for King) about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
, in which he alleged a conspiracy and government coverup. Lane represented James Earl Ray
, King's assassin, before the House Select Committee on Assassinations inquiry in 1978. The HSCA said of Lane in its report "Many of the allegations of conspiracy that the committee investigated were first raised by Mark Lane ... [A]s has been noted, the facts were often at variance with Lane's assertions ... Lane was willing to advocate conspiracy theories publicly without having checked the factual basis for them ... Lane's conduct resulted in public misperception about the assassination of Dr. King and must be condemned."
He is the author of the book Arcadia in which he details the effort to prove that James Richardson, a black migrant worker in Florida, had been falsely accused of killing his seven children by unlawful actions on the part of the authorities involved. Richardson had been on death row for the crime, but after the book was published he received a new trial in which he was found not guilty. Richardson was released from prison after 21 years and Richardson's babysitter later confessed to the murders.
Lane represented the political advocacy group Liberty Lobby
as an attorney when the group was sued over an article in The Spotlight
newspaper implicating E. Howard Hunt
in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy
. Hunt sued for defamation and won a substantial settlement. Lane successfully got this judgment reversed on appeal. This became the basis for Lane's book Plausible Denial
. In the book, Lane claimed that he convinced the jury that Hunt was involved in the JFK assassination, but mainstream news accounts asserted that most jurors decided the case on the issue of whether The Spotlight
had acted with "actual malice", rather than merely engaging in sloppy and irresponsible journalism.
Lane also acted as attorney for Liberty Lobby when the group unsuccessfully sued the magazine National Review
. At one point, NR editor William F. Buckley, irritated by Lane's questions, asked the judge, "Your Honor, when he asks a ludicrous question, how am I supposed to behave?"
Lane now resides in Charlottesville, Virginia
. He still practices law and lectures on many subjects, especially the importance of the United States Constitution
(mainly the Bill Of Rights
and the First Amendment
) and civil rights
.
On the annual Law Library of Congress and American Bar Association Law Day symposium 2001, in response to the question "Who are the paradigms for the lawyer as reformer in American culture?", one of twelve legal figures, featured by panel moderator, Bernard Hibbitts, professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, was Mark Lane..
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer who has written many books, including Rush to Judgment
Rush to Judgment
Rush to Judgment is a book by American lawyer Mark Lane. It is about the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and takes issue with the conclusions of the Warren Commission, suggesting there was a conspiracy to assassinate John F...
, one of two major books published in the immediate wake of the John F. Kennedy assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
that questioned the conclusions of the Warren Commission
Warren Commission
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established on November 27, 1963, by Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
. Another book, Plausible Denial
Plausible Denial
Plausible Denial is the title of a book by American lawyer, Mark Lane that chronicles his legal defense of Victor Marchetti, a former-CIA agent who wrote an article for The Spotlight about the JFK assassination and was sued for defamation by E...
, published in 1991, continued his interest in the JFK assassination. Lane was thought to be a screenwriter for the 1973 action movie, Executive Action, starring Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
and Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
, but in actuality he only worked on the first draft of the screenplay. He collaborated with Donald Freed on it and after seeing subsequent drafts, they complained both privately to the producer and publicly at press conferences, pointing out errors in the work.
Lane represented the Peoples Temple
Peoples Temple
Peoples Temple was a religious organization founded in 1955 by Jim Jones that, by the mid-1970s, included over a dozen locations in California including its headquarters in San Francisco...
, led by Jim Jones
Jim Jones
James Warren "Jim" Jones was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, which is best known for the November 18, 1978 mass suicide of 909 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana along with the killings of five other people at a nearby airstrip.Jones was born in Indiana and started the Temple in...
, and was one of the few witnesses to survive the tragedy at Jonestown
Jonestown
Jonestown was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones. It became internationally notorious when, on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement as well as in a nearby...
, at which over 900 United States citizens died.
Early career
In 1959, Mark Lane helped found the Reform Democratic Movement within the New York Democratic Party. In 1960, he was elected to the New York LegislatureNew York Legislature
The New York State Legislature is the term often used to refer to the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York. The New York Constitution does not designate an official term for the two houses together...
, where he served for one term with the support of Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
and Presidential candidate, John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. In the legislature, he spent considerable time working to abolish capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
. Lane promised to serve for only one term, and then manage the campaign for his replacement—which he did. He also managed the New York City area's campaign for JFK's 1960 presidential bid.
In June 1961, during the civil rights movement, he was the only sitting legislator to be arrested for opposing segregation as a "Freedom Rider". Lane was elected to the New York State Assembly
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
in 1960. In 1962 he ran for Congress in the Democratic primary and lost. In the 1968 presidential election, Lane appeared on the ballot as a third party vice-presidential candidate, running on the Freedom and Peace Party ticket with Dick Gregory
Dick Gregory
Richard Claxton "Dick" Gregory is an American comedian, social activist, social critic, writer, and entrepreneur....
.
Kennedy assassination
Four weeks after the assassination (December 19) Mark Lane published an article in National Guardian dealing in-depth with 15 questions regarding public official statements about the alleged assassination of J. D. TippitJ. D. Tippit
Tippit attended a Veterans Administration vocational training school at Bogata, Texas, from January 1950 until June 1952. He was then hired by the Dallas Police Department as a patrolman on July 28, 1952...
and John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
from the perspective of a defense attorney, including the witnesses who claimed to have seen Oswald on the sixth floor of the school book depository; the paraffin
Paraffin
In chemistry, paraffin is a term that can be used synonymously with "alkane", indicating hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2. Paraffin wax refers to a mixture of alkanes that falls within the 20 ≤ n ≤ 40 range; they are found in the solid state at room temperature and begin to enter the...
test which tended, in Lanes mind, that Oswald had not fired a rifle recently; the conflicting claims about the rifle which at first had been, as the police announced, a German Mauser
Mauser
Mauser was a German arms manufacturer of a line of bolt-action rifles and pistols from the 1870s to 1995. Mauser designs were built for the German armed forces...
and afterwards an old WWII Manlicher-Carcano rifle; the Parkland Hospital doctors announcing an entrance wound in the throat; the role of the FBI and the press who convicted Oswald before his guilt was proven. In June 1964 according to historian Peter Knight
Peter Knight
Peter Knight is a folk musician, member of the electric folk group Steeleye Span.Peter Knight was born in London on 27 May 1947. As a child he learned the violin and mandolin before going to the Royal Academy of Music from 1960 to 1964. The recordings of the Irish fiddler Michael Coleman inspired...
- Bertrand Russell, "prompted by the emerging work of the lawyer Mark Lane
Mark Lane
Mark Lane may refer to:*Mark Lane , JFK assassination researcher who wrote Rush to Judgment*Mark Lane , English cricketer now coach of the England women's cricket team*Mark Lane , New Zealand cricketer...
in the US ... rallied support from other noteworthy and left-leaning compatriots to form a Who Killed Kennedy Committee, members of which included Michael Foot MP, the wife of Tony Benn MP, the publisher Victor Gollancz
Victor Gollancz
Sir Victor Gollancz was a British publisher, socialist, and humanitarian.-Early life:Born in Maida Vale, London, he was the son of a wholesale jeweller and nephew of Rabbi Professor Sir Hermann Gollancz and Professor Sir Israel Gollancz; after being educated at St Paul's School, London and taking...
, the writers John Arden
John Arden
John Arden is an award-winning English playwright from Barnsley . His works tend to expose social issues of personal concern. He is a member of the Royal Society of Literature....
and J. B. Priestley
J. B. Priestley
John Boynton Priestley, OM , known as J. B. Priestley, was an English novelist, playwright and broadcaster. He published 26 novels, notably The Good Companions , as well as numerous dramas such as An Inspector Calls...
, and the Oxford history professor Hugh Trevor-Roper. Russell published a highly critical article weeks before the Warren Commission
Warren Commission
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established on November 27, 1963, by Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
Report was published, setting forth 16 Questions on the Assassination and equating the Oswald case with the Dreyfus affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
of late nineteenth century France in which the state wrongly convicted an innocent man. Russell also critized the American press for failing to heed any voices critical of the official version."
Lane applied to the Warren Commission to represent the interests of Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
, but the Commission rejected his request. Three months later Walter E. Craig, president of the American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
, was appointed by the Commission to represent the interests of Oswald. Craig himself stated that he was not counsel for Oswald, and - according to Andrew Kiel - it "is not apparent in any official records that Craig or any of his associates named a witness of their own, or attended any of the over 20,000 interviews, or cross-examind one witness. This can hardly be construed as an example of justice in action." Lane continued to search for clues for Oswalds innocence. He was called to testify before the Commission but was not permitted to cross-examine witnesses. After the Warren Commission
Warren Commission
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established on November 27, 1963, by Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
Report was published in September 1964, Mark Lane interviewed numerous witnesses which were ignored by the Commission, and he published a "convincing indictment of the Commission, entitled Rush to Judment, using these interviews as well as evidence fromt he twenty-six volumes of the Commission's Report". The book spent seventeen weeks on the New York Times best-seller list and remains one of the most famous books in JFK conspiracy literature. It was adapted into a documentary film in 1966.
Lane questions the Warren Commission conclusion that three shots were fired from the Texas School Book Depository and focuses on the witnesses who had recounted having seen or heard shots coming from the grassy knoll. Lane questions whether Oswald was guilty of the murder of policeman J.D. Tippit shortly after the Kennedy murder, but does not mention witnesses Barbara and Virginia Davis (who claim to have seen Oswald crossing their lawn and emptying his pistol immediately after the shooting) or witnesses Ted Callaway and Sam Guinyard (who claim to have seen Oswald carrying a gun and fleeing on foot after the shooting). Lane also states that none of the Warren Commission firearm experts were able to duplicate Oswald's shooting feat.
Lane testified before the Warren Commission that witness Helen Markham described Tippit's killer to a reporter as "short, a little on the heavy side, and his hair was somewhat bushy". Lane contacted Markham and asked her to recall how she described the killer to reporters. "I read that you told some of the reporters that he was short, stocky, and had bushy hair", he prompted. Markham replied, "No, no. I did not say this." Markham went on to confirm the man she described was short, not too heavy - a little heavy, maybe 150 to 160 pounds, and had slightly bushy, uncombed hair. Lane testified, "I think it is fair to state that an accurate description of Oswald would be average height, quite slender with thin and receding hair." Markham identified Oswald in a police lineup after his arrest on November 22, with some difficulty though, "When I saw this man I was'nt sure but I had cold chills just run over me."
The KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
allegedly provided Lane with $2000 for research and travel in 1964. This was done indirectly through an intermediary, and without letting Lane know the source of the money. Mark Lane calls this "an outright lie" and wrote, "Neither the KGB nor any person or organization associated with it ever made any contribution to my work."
Lane later wrote A Citizen's Dissent, documenting his response to the Warren Commission's governmental findings on the Kennedy assassination. The 1973 movie Executive Action is largely based on Lane's writings concerning the Kennedy assassination.
In November of 2011, Lane published a third major book on the JFK assassination titled Last Word: My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK. The Library Journal Xpress Review characterizes Last Word as "Disturbingly convincing . . . Both readers who have followed the JFK assassination for years and those new to one of the great debates of the 20th century will find much to contemplate here."
Antiwar activism
In 1970, Lane involved himself in several war crimeWar crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
inquiries being conducted primarily by antiwar organizations such as the Citizens' Commission of Inquiry (CCI) and the Vietnam Veterans Against the War
Vietnam Veterans Against the War
Vietnam Veterans Against the War is a tax-exempt non-profit organization and corporation, originally created to oppose the Vietnam War. VVAW describes itself as a national veterans' organization that campaigns for peace, justice, and the rights of all United States military veterans...
. Lane used his contacts and raised funds to support these events, including what would become the CCIs National Veterans Inquiry
National Veterans Inquiry
The National Veterans Inquiry was a national-level inquiry into American war crimes in Vietnam. They were held December 1 - December 3, 1970 in Washington, DC.-Origin:...
and the VVAWs Winter Soldier Investigation
Winter Soldier Investigation
The "Winter Soldier Investigation" was a media event sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War from January 31, 1971 – February 2, 1971. It was intended to publicize war crimes and atrocities by the United States Armed Forces and their allies in the Vietnam War...
. CCI and VVAW had originally combined their efforts toward the production of one large war crime investigation, and Lane was initially invited to join the organizing steering committee. Lane suggested the Winter Soldier name, based on Thomas Paine's description of the "summer soldiers" at Valley Forge shrinking from service to their country in a time of crisis. Lane would often travel with fellow activist Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
to antiwar speaking engagements and fundraising rallies. Lane was also writing a book, Conversations with Americans, a collection of interviews with US servicemen about war crimes in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Lane's close association with CCI and VVAW would be short-lived. Tod Ensign of the CCI recalled
It was a mistake to think that celebrities like Jane Fonda and Mark Lane who were used to operating as free agents would submit to the discipline of a steering committee. We should have placed them, instead, on an advisory panel where their visibility and political and money contacts would have been used without having to tangle with them on broader strategic and tactical questions.
CCI staffers criticized Lane as being arrogant and sensationalistic, and said the book he was writing had "shoddy reporting in it". The CCI leaders refused to work with Lane further and gave the VVAW leaders a "Lane or us" ultimatum. VVAW didn't want to lose the monetary support of Lane and Fonda, so the CCI split from the project. The following month, after caustic reviews of Lane's book by authors and a Vietnam expert, VVAW would also distance itself from Lane.
James Reston Jr.
James Reston Jr.
James Reston Jr. is an American author and journalist. His father was the American journalist James Reston.Reston was raised in Washington, D.C. He earned his BA in philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill while on a Morehead Scholarship...
, in the Saturday Review, calls Lane's book disreputable, in that all of the reports contained in it are admittedly unverified, and lean toward the salacious. "Lane makes no pretense of distinguishing between fact and a soldier's talent for embellishment", Reston observed. Commenting on the books redeeming social value, Reston added that "it would be to show that a pattern of atrocities exists in Vietnam, proving that while My Lai was larger, it was not unique. This needs to be demonstrated, since the Pentagon continues to insist that My Lai was an isolated case. But the effort will have to be left to more responsible parties, like the National Veterans Inquiry
National Veterans Inquiry
The National Veterans Inquiry was a national-level inquiry into American war crimes in Vietnam. They were held December 1 - December 3, 1970 in Washington, DC.-Origin:...
." A review of Lane's book by Neil Sheehan
Neil Sheehan
Cornelius Mahoney "Neil" Sheehan is an American journalist. As a reporter for The New York Times in 1971, Sheehan obtained the classified Pentagon Papers from Daniel Ellsberg. His series in the Times revealed a secret U.S. Department of Defense history of the Vietnam War and resulted in government...
in the New York Times Book Review claimed that 4 of the 32 servicemen interviewed by Lane for the book had misrepresented their military service, according to the Defense Department. Lane responded to Sheehan’s inquiries by stating that the Defense Department is the least reliable of all sources for verification of atrocity accounts and that verification of simple facts about the interviewees was “not relevant.” Sheehan called Lane's book irresponsible, concluding that, "Some of the horror tales in this book are undoubtedly true", and the "men who now run the military establishment cannot conduct a credible investigation... But until the country does summon up the courage to convene a responsible inquiry, we probably deserve the Mark Lanes."
The controversial book reviews caused concern in the VVAW leadership, as Andrew E. Hunt
Andrew Hunt (historian)
Andrew Emerson Hunt is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He is also the Director of the Tri-University Graduate Program in History.-Life:...
notes,
Sheehan's exposé had placed VVAW leaders in a difficult position. Lane's involvement with the planning of the Winter Soldier Investigation had been extensive. His legal and financial assistance had proven invaluable. Few VVAWers doubted his sincerety or devotion to the effort. Yet they feared associating with Lane could tarnish months of difficult work. "Then the question became, 'How do we protect our integrity?'" recalled Joe Urgo, "'How do we separate ourselves from this guy?'" Organizers hoped Lane would maintain a low profile. Their wishes were fulfilled.
VVAW veterans involved with the WSI event then realized they needed to take control, and insisted that there be no more interference from the likes of Lane. A new, all veteran, steering committee was formed without Lane. Ultimately, the WSI was an event produced by veterans only, without the need of civilians such as Lane and Fonda.
Engagement and work for the Peoples Temple
In 1978, Lane began to represent the Peoples TemplePeoples Temple
Peoples Temple was a religious organization founded in 1955 by Jim Jones that, by the mid-1970s, included over a dozen locations in California including its headquarters in San Francisco...
. Temple leader Jim Jones
Jim Jones
James Warren "Jim" Jones was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, which is best known for the November 18, 1978 mass suicide of 909 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana along with the killings of five other people at a nearby airstrip.Jones was born in Indiana and started the Temple in...
hired Lane and Donald Freed
Donald Freed
Donald Freed is an American playwright, novelist, screenwriter, and actor. He is associated with writing programs at the University of Southern California, and was Artist in Residence at the Workshop Theatre, University of Leeds, UK , and Playwright in Residence at York Theatre Royal ,...
to help make the case of what it alleged to be a "grand conspiracy" by intelligence agencies against the Peoples Temple. Jones told Lane he wanted to "pull an Eldridge Cleaver
Eldridge Cleaver
Leroy Eldridge Cleaver better known as Eldridge Cleaver, was a leading member of the Black Panther Party and a writer...
", referring to the fugitive Black Panther who was able to return to the United States after repairing his reputation.
In September 1978, Lane visited Jonestown
Jonestown
Jonestown was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones. It became internationally notorious when, on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement as well as in a nearby...
, spoke to Jonestown residents, provided support for the theory that intelligence agencies conspired against Jonestown and drew parallels between Martin Luther King and Jim Jones. Lane then held press conferences stating that "none of the charges" against the Temple "are accurate or true" and that there was a "massive conspiracy" against the Temple by "intelligence organizations," naming the CIA, FBI, FCC and the U.S. Post Office. Though Lane represented himself as disinterested, the Temple paid Lane $6,000 per month to help generate such theories. Regarding the effect of the work of Lane and Freed upon Temple members, Temple member Annie Moore wrote that "Mom and Dad have probably shown you the latest about the conspiracy information that Mark Lane, the famous attorney in the ML King case and Don Freed the other famous author in the Kennedy case have come up with regarding activities planned against us--Peoples Temple." Another Temple member, Carolyn Layton, wrote that Don Freed told them that "anything this drug out could be nothing less than conspiracy".
Jonestown tragedy
Lane was present in Jonestown during the events of November 18, 1978, when more than 900 Peoples Temple members died in a murder-suicide by cyanide poisoning, and Congressman Leo RyanLeo Ryan
Leo Joseph Ryan, Jr. was an American politician of the Democratic Party. He served as a U.S. Representative from California's 11th congressional district from 1973 until he was murdered in Guyana by members of the Peoples Temple shortly before the Jonestown Massacre in 1978.After the Watts Riots...
and four others were murdered at a nearby airstrip. For months before that tragedy, Jones frequently created fear among members by stating that the CIA and other intelligence agencies were conspiring with "capitalist pigs" to destroy Jonestown and harm its members. This included mentions of CIA involvement in the address Jones gave the day before the arrival of Congressman Ryan.
During the visit of Congressman Ryan, Lane helped represent the Temple with its other attorney, Charles R. Garry
Charles R. Garry
Charles R. Garry was an American civil rights attorney who represented a number of high-profile clients in political cases during the 1960s and 1970s, including representing the Peoples Temple in Jonestown during the 1978 tragedy that occurred at that location.-Early life:Born in Bridgewater,...
, who was furious with Lane for holding numerous press conferences and alleging the existence of conspiracies against the Peoples Temple. Garry was also displeased with Lane for making a veiled threat that the Temple might move to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in a letter to Congressman Ryan.
Late in the afternoon of November 18, two men wielding rifles approached Lane and Garry, who had earlier been sent to a small wooden house by Jones. It is not clear whether the gunmen were sent to kill Lane and Garry, but one of the gunmen recognized Charles Garry as an attorney in a trial that the gunman had attended. After a relatively friendly exchange, the men informed Garry and Lane that they were going to "commit revolutionary suicide" to "expose this racist and fascist society". The gunmen then gave Garry and Lane directions to exit Jonestown. Garry and Lane then sneaked into the jungle, where they hid and called a temporary truce while the tragedy unfolded.
On a tape made while members committed suicide by ingesting cyanide-poisoned punch, the reason given by Jones to commit suicide was consistent with Jones' previously stated conspiracy theories of intelligence organizations allegedly conspiring against the Temple, that men would "parachute in here on us", "shoot some of our innocent babies" and "they'll torture our children, they'll torture some of our people here, they'll torture our seniors". Parroting Jones' prior statements that hostile forces would convert captured children to Fascism, one temple member states "the ones that they take captured, they're gonna just let them grow up and be dummies". Annie Moore and Carolyn Layton were among the 900 who died.
After the tragedy
Lane later wrote a book about the tragedy, The Strongest Poison. Lane reported hearing automatic weapon fire, and presumes that U.S. forces killed Jonestown survivors. While Lane blames Jones and Peoples Temple leadership for the deaths at Jonestown, he also claims that U.S. officials exacerbated the possibility of violence by employing agents provocateur. For example, Lane claimed that Temple attorney (and later defector) Timothy StoenTimothy Stoen
Timothy Oliver Stoen , is best known for his central role as a member of the Peoples Temple and later opposition to the group in a multi-year custody battle over John Stoen that led to an investigation of the Peoples Temple's settlement at Jonestown, Guyana...
, who Lane alleged had repeatedly prompted the Temple to take radical action before defecting, "had evidently led three lives", with one being a government informant or agent.
Later career
Lane wrote Murder In Memphis with Dick GregoryDick Gregory
Richard Claxton "Dick" Gregory is an American comedian, social activist, social critic, writer, and entrepreneur....
(previously titled Code Name Zorro
Zorro
Zorro is a fictional character created in 1919 by New York-based pulp writer Johnston McCulley. The character has been featured in numerous books, films, television series, and other media....
, after the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
's name for King) about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
, in which he alleged a conspiracy and government coverup. Lane represented James Earl Ray
James Earl Ray
James Earl Ray was an American criminal convicted of the assassination of civil rights and anti-war activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr....
, King's assassin, before the House Select Committee on Assassinations inquiry in 1978. The HSCA said of Lane in its report "Many of the allegations of conspiracy that the committee investigated were first raised by Mark Lane ... [A]s has been noted, the facts were often at variance with Lane's assertions ... Lane was willing to advocate conspiracy theories publicly without having checked the factual basis for them ... Lane's conduct resulted in public misperception about the assassination of Dr. King and must be condemned."
He is the author of the book Arcadia in which he details the effort to prove that James Richardson, a black migrant worker in Florida, had been falsely accused of killing his seven children by unlawful actions on the part of the authorities involved. Richardson had been on death row for the crime, but after the book was published he received a new trial in which he was found not guilty. Richardson was released from prison after 21 years and Richardson's babysitter later confessed to the murders.
Lane represented the political advocacy group Liberty Lobby
Liberty Lobby
Liberty Lobby was an American political advocacy organization founded in 1958 that went bankrupt in 2001. It was founded by Willis Carto. In their own words,-Antisemitic world-view:...
as an attorney when the group was sued over an article in The Spotlight
The Spotlight
The Spotlight was a weekly newspaper in the United States, published in Washington, D.C. from September 1975 to July 2001 by the now-defunct Liberty Lobby...
newspaper implicating E. Howard Hunt
E. Howard Hunt
Everette Howard Hunt, Jr. was an American intelligence officer and writer. Hunt served for many years as a CIA officer. Hunt, with G...
in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. Hunt sued for defamation and won a substantial settlement. Lane successfully got this judgment reversed on appeal. This became the basis for Lane's book Plausible Denial
Plausible Denial
Plausible Denial is the title of a book by American lawyer, Mark Lane that chronicles his legal defense of Victor Marchetti, a former-CIA agent who wrote an article for The Spotlight about the JFK assassination and was sued for defamation by E...
. In the book, Lane claimed that he convinced the jury that Hunt was involved in the JFK assassination, but mainstream news accounts asserted that most jurors decided the case on the issue of whether The Spotlight
The Spotlight
The Spotlight was a weekly newspaper in the United States, published in Washington, D.C. from September 1975 to July 2001 by the now-defunct Liberty Lobby...
had acted with "actual malice", rather than merely engaging in sloppy and irresponsible journalism.
Lane also acted as attorney for Liberty Lobby when the group unsuccessfully sued the magazine National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
. At one point, NR editor William F. Buckley, irritated by Lane's questions, asked the judge, "Your Honor, when he asks a ludicrous question, how am I supposed to behave?"
Lane now resides in Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
. He still practices law and lectures on many subjects, especially the importance of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
(mainly the Bill Of Rights
Bill of rights
A bill of rights is a list of the most important rights of the citizens of a country. The purpose of these bills is to protect those rights against infringement. The term "bill of rights" originates from England, where it referred to the Bill of Rights 1689. Bills of rights may be entrenched or...
and the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
) and civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
.
On the annual Law Library of Congress and American Bar Association Law Day symposium 2001, in response to the question "Who are the paradigms for the lawyer as reformer in American culture?", one of twelve legal figures, featured by panel moderator, Bernard Hibbitts, professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, was Mark Lane..
Works
- Rush to Judgment. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966.
- 2nd Edition: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1992, ISBN 978-1560250432.
- A Citizen's Dissent: Mark Lane Replies to the Defenders of the Warren Report. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968.
- Chicago Eyewitness. Astor-Honor, 1968.
- Arcadia. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970, ISBN 978-0030818547.
- The Strongest Poison, Hawthorne Books, 1980, ISBN 0-8015-3206-X.
- Plausible Denial: Was the CIA Involved in the Assassination of JFK? Thunder's Mouth Press, 1991, ISBN 978-1560250005.
- Conversations with Americans: Testimony from 32 Vietnam Veterans. Simon & Schuster, 1970, ISBN 978-0671207687.
- Code Name Zorro. Pocket, 1978, ISBN 978-0671811679 (with Dick Gregory).
- Reissued as: Murder in Memphis: The FBI and the Assassination of Martin Luther King. Thunder's Mouth Press, 1993, ISBN 978-1560250562.
- Last Word: My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK. Skyhorse Publishing, 2011, ISBN 978-1616084288.
See also
- Neil SheehanNeil SheehanCornelius Mahoney "Neil" Sheehan is an American journalist. As a reporter for The New York Times in 1971, Sheehan obtained the classified Pentagon Papers from Daniel Ellsberg. His series in the Times revealed a secret U.S. Department of Defense history of the Vietnam War and resulted in government...
- Vietnam Veterans Against the WarVietnam Veterans Against the WarVietnam Veterans Against the War is a tax-exempt non-profit organization and corporation, originally created to oppose the Vietnam War. VVAW describes itself as a national veterans' organization that campaigns for peace, justice, and the rights of all United States military veterans...
- Winter Soldier InvestigationWinter Soldier InvestigationThe "Winter Soldier Investigation" was a media event sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War from January 31, 1971 – February 2, 1971. It was intended to publicize war crimes and atrocities by the United States Armed Forces and their allies in the Vietnam War...
Sources
- Bugliosi, VincentVincent BugliosiVincent Bugliosi is an American attorney and author, best known for prosecuting Charles Manson and other defendants accused of the Tate-LaBianca murders. His most recent books are Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy , The Prosecution of George W...
. Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. 2007, Norton, 1612 p. ISBN 978-0-393-04525-3.
- R. Andrew Kiel, J. Edgar Hoover. The Father of the Cold War. How His Obsession with Communism Led to the Warren Commission Coverup and Escalation of the Vietnam War, University Press of America, New York, 2000, ISBN 978-0-7618-1762-8.