Mark Lane Responds

[Mark Lane]

I have just received the first review of my autobiography, Citizen Lane. Citizen Lane will be published on June 1, 2012 by Chicago Review Press.

The review is by Kirkus Review and will be available to subscribers to Kirkus Review on April 1, 2012. If you are not a subscriber, it will be available to the public two weeks before publication date of Citizen Lane, or about May 15, 2012.

I am not permitted to publish the review at this point since Kirkus has property rights to its product, which I respect. However, I am permitted to say that the review was one of the best I have ever seen and Kirkus concluded that Citizen Lane was the story of my efforts on behalf of underdogs for six decades and "as one would expect from a person of this caliber, Lane's story focuses on the needs of those he served rather than the extraordinary part he played in so many lives."

My thanks to Kirkus for its kind words. If you read Citizen Lane and have comments about it, I would be pleased to hear from you.

Thank you all for your support in the efforts of so many to make our government more responsive to its people.

Mark Lane

March 30,2012

Edited March 30, 2012 by Mark Lane

[Michael Hogan]

Mr Lane,

I wish to take this opportunity to thank you for all you have done over the years.

It was a tremendous act of courage and integrity to do what you did after November 22, 1963.

History will remember you in the best possible way. Without doubt, you are an American hero.

It is hard to put in words the respect I (and so many others) have for what you did.

Rush to Judgment changed history.

Thank you for joining the Education Forum.

Mike Hogan

Edited March 31, 2010 by Michael Hogan

[Bernice Moore]

May i welcome you Mr lane a privelege to have you on the education forum, your great research and reputation, your fine books precede you, thank you for all your work and efforts of the past and the work that you have recently completed, and the best to you in the future.....b

Edited March 31, 2010 by Bernice Moore

[Jack White]

Mark...I have only met you twice, I think...but yours (RTJ) was the first book I read on

the JFK murder, along with Sylvia Meagher's AATF...and these two books got me started

on a 45 year quest for truth. By the way, I have 4 copies of RTJ...one that I read and

three pristine that I bought several years later on a $1 clearance table (all first edition

hardback); I also have a paperback of it, I think. Great book for its time, and still holds

up well.

Thanks for making yourself available for questions.

Jack White

[John Dolva]

Mark, from that era, particularly 1961 and 1964, you were a shining light to many. My questions are many and varied and you can always put me on ignore.

''I will, of course, respond on this forum to questions or observations about Rush To Judgment, Plausible Denial and the fiction work of Vincent Bugliosi''

Does this mean you will only respond as said?

Some of my questions are ones you may not wish to answer. Is there any point in asking them?

Welcome to The Forum.

edit:add : I should explain I've not read any of your books nor Bugliosis but read bits and pieces of references. For me, relatively very new to the assasination research grouping and only here on this forum, I figure here or never, the MSC files and reading about it from copies of newspapers of the time, documents in the archives, and so, for me, you are a relatively unsung hero of the Civil Rights Movement and that is a primary thing I'm interested in.

Edited March 31, 2010 by John Dolva

[Glenn Viklund]

Mr Lane,

Interesting to see one of the "original" researchers here. I would hope that you are open to questions beyond those where your opinions are well known.

[Bill Grote]

Hi Mark,

I met you in a hamburger stand in La Jolla, CA a few million years ago. You were getting ready to give a talk on Plausable Denial, at a local bookstore.

At that time I gave you a newspaper article from the San Diego Union on Chauncy Holt, which had just made the news and encouraged you to see him, since he lived in nearby La Mesa. Just curious if you ever followed up, and what your thoughts on Mr. Holt were. If he and his story were real, or fiction, or maybe a little of both? As a lawyer you can probably see events from a different set of eyes than most of us.

[B. A. Copeland]

I have been reading the postings for sometime now. I wish to express my deep appreciation for all of you who have commented on my work. I also have an announcement to make. After ten years I have now completed my autobiography. It took awhile since I have been practicing law for about one quarter of the life of the American judicial system. The book is Dancing With Bullies and is, I believe, the best thing I have written. For more information please contact me by email at mlane@marklane.com.

I will, of course, respond on this forum to questions or observations about Rush To Judgment, Plausible Denial and the fiction work of Vincent Bugliosi who apparently still believes that the world is flat. Rush To Judgment was thoroughly vetted by the CIA in 1966, before it was published. Somehow, that agency obtained a copy even before I did. It was unable to point to a single error in the book according to a CIA Memorandum that I was able to secure by Court Order under the Freedom of Information Act. If you read Bugliosi’s book, you will discover that he relied almost exclusively upon discredited FBI and CIA assertions about the facts.

Mark Lane

Whoa....THE Mr. Mark Lane, it is a PURE honor, thank you so very much for your work (as well as so many others) over the years of such a tragic event that we are still living with (in so many ways) to this very day. Thank you.

A quick question Mr Lane, in a video by John Hankey regarding Bush Sr's involvement in the JFK hit, he mentions the fact that you had a small piece in your book (Rush to Judgement(?) regarding the Hoover Memo where a "Mr. George Bush of the C.I.A" is mentioned. He says you did not expand on it beyond showing an image of the memo itself. It has been a while since I have listened to or seen the video so please forgive any errors, but Hankey goes on to say (in your defense) that you probably did not mention much else on it "because he enjoys breathing" lol, could you expand on the Hoover Memo in your own words or perspective and if that is indeed the reason you have not spoken much concerning it? Thank you so very, very much for ALL your hard and honest work and may your name always be connected with the benevolent work of the quest for truth regarding the honest investigation of the JFK Murder.

Edited March 31, 2010 by B. A. Copeland

[Dean Hagerman]

Welcome to the forum Mark

Like many others have already said RTJ was one of the first books I read on the assassination

As you were one of the original researchers I looked up to you as a kid, and as many years have gone by I still look up to you

I very happy you have become a member of the forum

Dean Hagerman

Edited March 31, 2010 by Dean Hagerman

[Michael Hogan]

In my opinion, one of Mark Lane's finest hours (and he had so many) came when he appeared twice before

the Warren Commission. Reading Lane's words today reminds me what a gifted legal mind Mr Lane had (has).

His economy of words and incredible grasp of facts so early in the case demonstrated genius. As he did later

in a series of debates, Mr Lane used logic and truth as they were meant to be used.

Here it was in 1964 and Mr. Lane was telling the Commission about discrepancies in the backyard photos,

important witnesses, evidence that cast significant doubt on the source of the shots, and many more questions

that were never answered by the Warren Report.

The courage that Mr Lane displayed in front of such a superficially august government body that was doing

its best to diminish him cannot be overstated. The way that Mark Lane stood up for the truth was nothing short of heroic.

When general counsel J Lee Rankin tried to intimidate Lane, it provoked this response (among others):

Mr. Rankin, I am astonished to hear that statement from you. There are 180 million Americans in this country.

I am perhaps the only one who is a private citizen who has taken off the last 6 months to devote all of his efforts to securing

whatever information can be found, and to making that known to this Commission, and publicly to the people of this country

at great personal cost in terms of the harassment that I have suffered, in terms of the terrible financial losses that I have suffered.

And to sit here today, after 6 months of this work, which I have given all to this Commission, voluntarily, and again have come

here again today voluntarily to give you this information, and to hear you say that I am not cooperating with the Commission,

and I am going to do harm to the country by not making information available to you astonishes me.

You have hundreds of agents of the FBI running all over the Dallas area--agents of the Secret Service, Dallas policemen.

Are you telling me that in one trip to Dallas where I spent something like 2 days, I uncovered information which the whole police force

of this Nation has not yet in 6 months been able to secure? I cannot believe that is a valid assessment of this situation. I cannot, Mr. Rankin.

Brilliant words. Simply brilliant.

[Frankie Vegas]

Mr Lane, I just want to thank you for all of the work you have done and to tell you that you were the inspiration for me to study law.

I'm looking forward to your book.

[Don Jeffries]

Hi Mark,

Don't know if you remember me or not. I spent a memorable afternoon in your Washington, D.C. office back in the winter of '76. I was one of the teenage volunteers running a local chapter of the Citizens Committe of Inquiry. While I was there, you received an interesting call from Freddie Prinze in Hollywood.

You are one of my personal heroes. Rush To Judgment was the second book I read on the assassination (after the much less notable They've Killed The President ). It was a seminal work on the subject, and the accompanying film you made, as well as your follow up book A Citizen's Dissent, assure your place in history. When the truth about the assassination ever truly emerges, you will be remembered by future historians as one of those who stood up for the truth.

I'm sure I speak for everyone here when I say it's an honor to be able to communicate with you on this forum.

[David G. Healy]

...

After ten years I have now completed my autobiography. It took awhile since I have been practicing law for about one quarter of the life of the American judicial system. The book is Dancing With Bullies and is, I believe, the best thing I have written. For more information please contact me by email at mlane@marklane.com.

...

Mark Lane

Glad to hear it, Mark! When is it on bookshelves?

David Healy

[Paul Baker]

It was a tremendous act of courage and integrity to do what you did after November 22, 1963.

History will remember you in the best possible way. Without doubt, you are an American hero.

Whoa! Take your blinkers off folks! Has anyone here read the transcript of Mark Lane's telephone conversation with Helen Markham, compared to what he said to the WC about it? You can find it here. Integrity is not a word that immediately springs to mind.

I'd also point you all towards the section dedicated to Mark Lane in Reclaiming History.

American Hero? Didn't Jim Garrison once describe Lee Harvey Oswald as such?

[Paul Baker]

Forget the Tippit killing for a moment, Lee. Simply consider the way in which Mark Lane questioned Mrs Markham over the telephone, and how he subsequently presented that evidence to the WC. Do you believe this demonstrates integrity on Mr Lane's part? Do you believe he was searching for the truth?

Who's really blind here, Lee?