Mark Lane

[John Simkin]

What do members think about the research of Mark Lane? A member of the Democratic Party, he helped establish the Reform Democratic Movement in 1959. A supporter of John F. Kennedy, he managed his presidential campaign in New York.

In 1960 Lane was elected to the New York Legislature. Over the next couple of years he campaigned to abolish capital punishment and worked closely with Mary Wagner in her attempt to deal with the city's housing problem. Lane was also the only public official arrested as a Freedom Rider.

After JFK was assassinated, Lane founded the Citizens' Committee of Inquiry. He volunteered to defend Lee Harvey Oswald before the Warren Commission. This offer was rejected but he was retained by Oswald's mother, Marguerite Oswald. Lane also wrote an article explaining how he would have defended Oswald. It was rejected by all the main newspapers and magazines but eventually appeared in the left-wing National Guardian (19th December, 1963).

Lane has written several books on the assassination of JFK. This has included Rush to Judgment (1966) and A Citizen's Dissent (1968). He also wrote two screenplays on the case, Executive Action and Plausible Denial. Lane also helped Jim Garrison in his attempts to prove that Kennedy had been assassinated by a right-wing group that involved Guy Bannister, Clay Shaw and David Ferrie.

In August, 1978, Victor Marchetti published an article about the assassination of JFK in the liberty Lobby newspaper, Spotlight. In the article Marchetti argued that the House Special Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) had obtained a 1966 CIA memo that revealed E. Howard Hunt, Frank Sturgis and Gerry Patrick Hemming had been involved in the plot to kill Kennedy. Marchetti's article also included a story that Marita Lorenz had provided information on this plot. Later that month Joseph Trento and Jacquie Powers wrote a similar story for the Sunday News Journal.

The HSCA did not publish this CIA memo linking its agents to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Hunt now decided to take legal action against the Liberty Lobby and in December, 1981, he was awarded $650,000 in damages. Liberty Lobby appealed to the United States Court of Appeals. It was claimed that Hunt's attorney, Ellis Rubin, had offered a clearly erroneous instruction as to the law of defamation. The three-judge panel agreed and the case was retried. This time Lane defended the Liberty Lobby against Hunt's action.

Lane eventually discovered Marchetti’s sources. The main source was William Corson. It also emerged that Marchetti had also consulted James Angleton and Alan J. Weberman before publishing the article. As a result of obtaining of getting depositions from David Atlee Phillips, Richard Helms, G. Gordon Liddy, Stansfield Turner and Marita Lorenz, plus a skillful cross-examination by Lane of E. Howard Hunt, the jury decided in January, 1995, that Marchetti had not been guilty of libel when he suggested that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated by people working for the CIA.

After interviewing Marita Lorenz Lane became convinced that Frank Sturgis and E.Howard Hunt had both been involved in the conspiracy to kill Kennedy. Lane outlined his theory about the CIA's role in Kennedy's murder in a 1991 book, Plausible Denial.

Lane also took a keen interest in the murder of Martin Luther King and wrote the book, Murder in Memphis (1993).

[John Simkin]

Namebase entry for Mark Lane:

http://www.namebase.org/main3/Mark-Lane.html

Baltimore Sun 1988-06-05 (27)

Berlet,C. Right Woos Left. 1991-12-16 (7, 33)

DiEugenio,J. Destiny Betrayed. 1992 (108, 115-7, 377)

DiEugenio,J. Pease,L. The Assassinations. 2003 (68-9, 195, 439-40, 453, 456, 573-4)

Duffy,J. Ricci,V. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy. 1992 (269-70)

Groden,R. Livingstone,H. High Treason. 1990 (364-5)

Hinckle,W. If You Have a Lemon, Make Lemonade. 1990 (209-10)

Judis,J. William F. Buckley, Jr. 1988 (449-50)

Kantor,S. The Ruby Cover-up. 1992 (180-1)

Keith,J. Secret and Suppressed. 1993 (133, 137, 146-8)

LaFontaine,R.& M. Oswald Talked. 1996 (373-4)

Lane,M. Gregory,D. Murder in Memphis. 1993

Lane,M. Plausible Denial. 1991

Lee,M. The Beast Reawakens. 1997 (228, 437, 456-7)

Lobster Magazine (Britain) 1992-#24 (7, 9)

Lobster Magazine (Britain) 1999-#37 (3, 5)

Marrs,J. Crossfire. 1990 (525)

Melanson,P. The Murkin Conspiracy. 1989 (88)

O'Toole,G. The Private Sector. 1978 (100)

Pepper,W. Orders to Kill. 1995 (xiii, 53, 61, 64-6, 68, 91-2, 99, 135-6)

Piper,M.C. Final Judgment. 1993 (174-5, 200-1, 299-300)

Scott,P.D. Deep Politics. 1993 (45)

Scott,P.D... The Assassinations: Dallas and Beyond. 1976 (3-4, 49-52)

Spotlight Newspaper 1992-02-17 (1, 12-3)

Spotlight Newspaper 1992-04-20 (A2, 3)

Spotlight Newspaper 1995-09-18 (12)

Spotlight Newspaper 1997-03-17 (12)

Thomas,K. Popular Alienation: A Steamshovel Press Reader. 1995 (48-53, 105, 115-6)

Turner,W. Hoover's FBI. 1993 (129)

Turner,W. Rearview Mirror. 2001 (165, 171, 173)

Tyson,J. Target America. 1981 (55, 152, 174, 204)

Vankin,J. Conspiracies, Cover-ups, and Crimes. 1991 (103, 150)

Vankin,J. Whalen,J. The 60 Greatest Conspiracies. 1998 (293)

Z Magazine 1992-03 (20)

[Ron Ecker]

Mark Lane is an American hero. He used his position as a lawyer and former member of the JFK political camp to do about as much as any researcher can do to expose the conspiracy. Rush to Judgment was a landmark book, and his court victory over E. Howard Hunt (and the info that came from that case) was priceless. I remember reading Lane say somewhere that he feels he has done his part. I agree.

[Tim Gratz]

John, invite him to join!

[Owen Parsons]

I have a very high opinion of Mark Lane and his work (Rush to Judgement was one of my first JFK assassination books). He doesn't back down from anything (I was amused to learn from James Earl Ray's book that Mark was the best man at James' wedding). Somehow, though, despite the many biographical details he provides about himself, I feel that I know less about him than any other JFK researcher.

Edited November 5, 2005 by Owen Parsons

[Terry Mauro]

Mark Lane is an American hero. He used his position as a lawyer and former member of the JFK political camp to do about as much as any researcher can do to expose the conspiracy. Rush to Judgment was a landmark book, and his court victory over E. Howard Hunt (and the info that came from that case) was priceless. I remember reading Lane say somewhere that he feels he has done his part. I agree.

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"Mark Lane is an American hero. He used his position as a lawyer and former member of the JFK political camp to do about as much as any researcher can do to expose the conspiracy. Rush to Judgment was a landmark book, and his court victory over E. Howard Hunt (and the info that came from that case) was priceless. I remember reading Lane say somewhere that he feels he has done his part. I agree."

EXACTLY!!!

Rush To Judgement and Plausible Denial answered many questions, and posed much more than any of us ever hoped possible. The fascists would rather have us believe that Mark Lane was nothing more than a showboater, the same as they wanted us to believe of Garrison. But, those of us who actually read with the willingness to learn, and the skepticism to know better than to trust the U.S. gov. to give us ANYTHING BUT the truth, will always be indebted to attorneys such as Lane, Garrison, Weisberg, and those who've worked tirelessly behind the scenes. Yet, in the face of brutal ridicule, and despite the orchestrated attempts at derision by Operation Mockingbird's "media machine", have managed to bring the dirty laundry regarding this American coup d'etat to the light of day for all the world to see. They said it couldn't happen here, but it sure in hell did.

[Robert Howard]

Mark Lane is an American hero. He used his position as a lawyer and former member of the JFK political camp to do about as much as any researcher can do to expose the conspiracy. Rush to Judgment was a landmark book, and his court victory over E. Howard Hunt (and the info that came from that case) was priceless. I remember reading Lane say somewhere that he feels he has done his part. I agree.

**************************************************************************

"Mark Lane is an American hero. He used his position as a lawyer and former member of the JFK political camp to do about as much as any researcher can do to expose the conspiracy. Rush to Judgment was a landmark book, and his court victory over E. Howard Hunt (and the info that came from that case) was priceless. I remember reading Lane say somewhere that he feels he has done his part. I agree."

EXACTLY!!!

Rush To Judgement and Plausible Denial answered many questions, and posed much more than any of us ever hoped possible. The fascists would rather have us believe that Mark Lane was nothing more than a showboater, the same as they wanted us to believe of Garrison. But, those of us who actually read with the willingness to learn, and the skepticism to know better than to trust the U.S. gov. to give us ANYTHING BUT the truth, will always be indebted to attorneys such as Lane, Garrison, Weisberg, and those who've worked tirelessly behind the scenes. Yet, in the face of brutal ridicule, and despite the orchestrated attempts at derision by Operation Mockingbird's "media machine", have managed to bring the dirty laundry regarding this American coup d'etat to the light of day for all the world to see. They said it couldn't happen here, but it sure in hell did.

Anybody that Hoover and Company were calling Communists in the 1960's is in the company of the elect, certainly Mark Lane was in at the beginning, as far as serious enquiry about the assassination. His bona fides are impeccable, if he were to join the Forum, it would be a feather in the cap.

[John Simkin]

John, invite him to join!

Does anyone have his contact details?

Tim, have you considered on what grounds Mark Lane was called a communist? Do you think it was because he was a "Freedom Rider"? See thread on Rosa Parks.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=5248

[Dawn Meredith]

I agree that the research community owes a great debt to Mark Lane. I don't have his contact information but can try to got it. He's often in Dealy Plaza on 11/22. (Not sure of his plans for this year).

IN fact I have not seen him featured on any speaker list for several years now. NOt sure why that is.

Perhaps Larry can address this, since I believe he has some control over who presents at Lancer.

Dawn

[John Geraghty]

Mark Lane started hosting a radio show about a year back, there should be details of it on the lancer forum if you do a search. I'm sure you could get in touch with him via the station.

John

[Owen Parsons]

http://www.wsnjam.com/laneslaw.htm is the website for his show. You can listen to it from here.

[Chris Cox]

Would like to ask Mark Lane why he was with Wes Swearingen in the woods escaping Jim Jone's wrath? Anyone know more about this?

[Shanet Clark]

Mark Lane was the leader of out research society from his first work in 1964 through his

trial against Howard Hunt.

I think his scope and range was the most encompassing, and his standards properly exacting.

We need more Mark Lanes......................

[John Simkin]

Len Osanic tells me that the Mark Lane interview is now online at:

http://www.blackopradio.com/

[Michael Hogan]

Len Osanic tells me that the Mark Lane interview is now online at:

http://www.blackopradio.com/

Lane's closing comment in that interview:

"When the Government lies to the people, the people, with no other information available, go into this fertile field of speculation, because all that's left to them is that...."

We need more Mark Lanes......................

That's for sure. Americans owe Lane a lot for his efforts in uncovering the truth. But in a real sense, Mark Lane will always remain one of a kind.