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Mark Lane


John Simkin

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A truly fascinating interview. I was unaware that no critical comments about the WC were allowed to be broadcast by the US radio and TV networks for a full year after its publication. Lane was remarkably resourceful and tenacious in countering this wall of silence.

I agree that he's a genuine American hero.

Rush to Judgement remains the most comprehensive demolition of the WC I've read.

Lane's A Citizen's Dissent remains the most comprehensive demolition of the "free" American press I've read.

Although it enjoyed a much smaller readership, Accessories After the Fact by Sylvia Meagher was equally devastating to the Commission's findings, in my opinion. Of course, so was Weisberg's Whitewash.

The courage and persistence of Lane, Meagher and Weisberg in the face of incredible opposition are to be admired. It's a shame they never got to see justice administered to President Kennedy's murderers.

Mike: Do you really think any of us will ever see any kind of justice on this case? I mean it's as much a case- closed -national -security- operation- mockingbird travesty as it was day one. In spite of Mark Lane and all who came ofter him.

I also think Lane is an American hero.

Dawn

Nice to see Shanet back!

Yes, agreed, a hero in many ways.

At the same time that the "Southern Ingtelligence Network" was formed in mid 1961, and the FPCC was identified by them as an organisation to inflitrate and disrupt, Mark Lane was part of the "Freedom Riders", getting arrested in New Orleans. In the thick of the action from the start.

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Myra,

Not long after Freddie Prinze's death, a made-for-t.v. movie about his last days was aired on one of the major networks. I watched it naively, thinking it would have to mention the subject that, according to Mark Lane, completely consumed him at that time. Shockingly enough, no mention of the JFK assassination at all in the movie. Prinze's widow was a consultant to this broadcast, and she had to have known that her husband was thoroughly obsessed with this subject, to the exclusion of all others, in the last year of his life. The fact that she allowed such a piece of sensationalist trash to be aired, with its constant emphasis on his drug abuse, and how that led inevitably to his "suicide," while ignoring the subject that was so important to him, contributed greatly to my growing cynicism about the world.

For those who are interested, Lane told us (myself and another teenage volunteer) that Freddie Prinze had been calling him regularly, and wanted to try and "do something" to get the JFK case reopened. Apparently, his best friend at the time, Tony Orlando, was becoming interested in the subject as well. Prinze had an idea about trying to organize a national telethon to raise funds for a new investigation (this was just prior to Congress establishing the HSCA). He told Lane he was becoming frustrated by the lack of celebrity friends who were interested in the issue. Apparently, only Richard Pryor and Joan Baez had agreed to appear on any such future telethon. It's chilling to consider that, within a few years of this conversation, Prinze would be dead, Orlando would suffer a nervous breakdown and Pryor would nearly freebase himself to death, his life and career never really quite recovering from that. Three out of the token four celebrities who were willing to appear on a telethon to push for a new investigation into the assassination of JFK had terrible things happen to them afterwards. Hmm- I guess we're all familiar with that theme.

One thing that I found very curious, however, about Mark Lane, is the fact that he supposedly told Penn Jones that he didn't remember the JFK connection to Prinze. At least that's what Jones told me in a reply to a letter I sent him, in the early '80s, informing him of the possibly suspicious death of Freddie Prinze. That's one of the questions I'd really like to raise with Mark Lane, if he ever becomes a member here.

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Myra,

Not long after Freddie Prinze's death, a made-for-t.v. movie about his last days was aired on one of the major networks. I watched it naively, thinking it would have to mention the subject that, according to Mark Lane, completely consumed him at that time. Shockingly enough, no mention of the JFK assassination at all in the movie. Prinze's widow was a consultant to this broadcast, and she had to have known that her husband was thoroughly obsessed with this subject, to the exclusion of all others, in the last year of his life. The fact that she allowed such a piece of sensationalist trash to be aired, with its constant emphasis on his drug abuse, and how that led inevitably to his "suicide," while ignoring the subject that was so important to him, contributed greatly to my growing cynicism about the world.

For those who are interested, Lane told us (myself and another teenage volunteer) that Freddie Prinze had been calling him regularly, and wanted to try and "do something" to get the JFK case reopened. Apparently, his best friend at the time, Tony Orlando, was becoming interested in the subject as well. Prinze had an idea about trying to organize a national telethon to raise funds for a new investigation (this was just prior to Congress establishing the HSCA). He told Lane he was becoming frustrated by the lack of celebrity friends who were interested in the issue. Apparently, only Richard Pryor and Joan Baez had agreed to appear on any such future telethon. It's chilling to consider that, within a few years of this conversation, Prinze would be dead, Orlando would suffer a nervous breakdown and Pryor would nearly freebase himself to death, his life and career never really quite recovering from that. Three out of the token four celebrities who were willing to appear on a telethon to push for a new investigation into the assassination of JFK had terrible things happen to them afterwards. Hmm- I guess we're all familiar with that theme.

One thing that I found very curious, however, about Mark Lane, is the fact that he supposedly told Penn Jones that he didn't remember the JFK connection to Prinze. At least that's what Jones told me in a reply to a letter I sent him, in the early '80s, informing him of the possibly suspicious death of Freddie Prinze. That's one of the questions I'd really like to raise with Mark Lane, if he ever becomes a member here.

Thank you for sharing those details Don.

Very interesting.

It amazes me that when push comes to shove almost no hollywood type bigwig will go out on a limb for a cause no matter how critical. I guess no one wants to get Indigo Girled.

Do you know how long before his death Freddie Prinze was trying to arrange the telethon?

Did Mr. Lane mention what exactly Freddie wanted from him when he called?

Was he calling for information on JFK or to ask for Mr. Lane's support in some way?

Myra

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As it happens, Mark Lane's "Rush To Judgement" is one of the few books on the JFK assassination that I have read( not completely however). I wanted to know how Mark Lane explained what Lee Bowers told him. In the movie "Rush To Judgement" Lee Bowers mentions some things that he described earlier but they were not in the movie. So I thought they might be in the book.

I found something very interesting while doing this.

I also learned that Lee Bowers was killed in a car accident in August of 1966, the same month that the book "Rush To Judgement" was released in the United States(hardcover). It was released in Britain in September 1966(hardcover). Released in paperback in 1967.

Edited by Mike Rago
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