Stanley Marks: Forgotten hero

[Rob Couteau]

Jim, I'm glad that you said that about Len, because he's another person who doesn't get the attention he deserves.

This (below) is the bibliography on Stan Marks that I've been able to cobble together so far. Excerpted from our new reprint of MMF. And as Jim said, typed with two fingers (but at a really fast speed, according to Bobbie Marks) on an old Underwood manual typewriter. The remarks in quotes are taken from the dustjackets of the books:

 

Books by Stanley J. Marks

 Since the Markses’ works on religion contain a powerful political dimension, they have also been included here.

The Bear That Walks Like a Man: A Diplomatic and Military Analysis of Soviet Russia (Dorrance and Company, 1943).

History of the U.S. Army and Military Science. (Circa 1945; most likely extant only in manuscript form in a U.S. military archive.)

Murder Most Foul! The Conspiracy That Murdered President Kennedy: 975 Questions & Answers(Los Angeles: Bureau of International Affairs, September 1967).

Two Days of Infamy: November 22, 1963; September 28, 1964 (Los Angeles: Bureau of International Affairs, March 1969). “A textbook for government agents, lawyers, professors, and students analyzing the methods of the Warren Commission.” “An analytical and legal study.”

Coup d’État! Three Murders That Changed the Course of History. President Kennedy, Reverend King, Senator R. F. Kennedy (Los Angeles: Bureau of International Affairs, February 1970).

A Time to Die, A Time to Cry (Los Angeles: Bureau of International Affairs, late 1970). “A three-act play concerning the three murders that changed the course of history: President Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.” (Originally copyrighted February 19, 1968 under the title “A Murder Most Foul; or, A Time to Die, A Time to Cry” and described as: “A three-act play that reveals how a Chief of State was assassinated.” See Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. Library of Congress Copyright Office, 1971.) By 1981 this had been retitled Murders Most Foul! or A Time to Die, A Time to Cry (also renamed A Time to Die: No Time to Cry!) and was described as “A three-act play relating to the past, present, and future of the figures and events surrounding the murders of President Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.”

American Dream, American Nightmare (Los Angeles: Bureau of International Affairs, 1971). [We don't even know what this one is about, although it's listed in the House Select Committee on Assassinations Report, volumes 11-12, p. 695.]

Watch What We Do … Not What We Say! (Los Angeles: Bureau of International Affairs, 1971). “An account of the present trend of the Nixon–Agnew–Mitchell–Southern strategy axis to the possibility of Orwell’s ‘1984’ being accomplished by 1972” (from the title page). Also described elsewhere as “guidebook” on Watergate.

Through Distorted Mirrors! The Impact of Monotheism–One God–Upon Modern World Civilization, by Stanley and Ethel Marks (Los Angeles: Bureau of International Affairs, 1972). “A brief history of the Jewish people.”

A Time to Die: No Time to Cry! or The Four-hour War A.K.A. World War III (Pasadena, CA: Bureau of International Affairs 1980). “A one-act, two-scene play dealing with reasons why nuclear war is inevitable.” This is a new piece that borrows its title from the author’s earlier work. Relying “heavily” on documents and statements made by Congressional leaders, the drama is largely a critique of the Carter Doctrine (which justified the use of military force in the Persian Gulf). The play is set entirely in the War Rooms of the Pentagon and Kremlin. The final page of this publication includes a bibliography and a suggestion: “If the world is still ‘teetering on the brink,’ relax and read something more relaxing.” The first book underneath this sentence is Philip Agee’s Inside the Company: CIA Diary.

Three Days of Judgment! by Stanley J. and Ethel Marks (Bureau of International Affairs, March 1981). “A three-act play.”“A mystery-detective story, written in the form of a trial, that deals with religion” as well as with the CIA and Vatican politics.

The Two Christs or the Decline and Fall of Christianity, by Stanley J. and Ethel Marks (Los Angeles: Bureau of International Affairs, September 1983). The Two Christs is based on secret Vatican documents that became available to the public in 1981, some of which expose the Church’s dealings with Mussolini, Franco, and Hitler. The author discusses the establishment of Christianity in the Roman Empire as well as the Reagan–Weinberger doctrine of a preventative nuclear first strike against the USSR. Published in the fall of 1983, Marks also explores the contemporaneous fears of nuclear apocalypse and Armageddon, and the possibility of extermination through the use of nuclear weapons and the widespread use of toxic materials.

Judaism Looks at Christianity, 7 B.C.E.–1986, by Stanley J. and Ethel Marks (San Marino, CA: Bureau of International Affairs, 1986). “A bugle call summoning the American populace to withstand the insidious messages used by the ‘re-born’ fundamentalist leaders that appeal for a nuclear war against the ‘evil empire.’”

A Year in the Lives of the Damned! Reagan, Reaganism, 1986 (San Marino, CA: Bureau of International Affairs, 1988). “The format is written in the form of a diary; each month is a chapter.”

Jews Judaism and the United States or the Impact of Judaism upon the American People, by Stanley J. and Ethel M. Marks (San Marino, CA: Bureau of International Affairs, 1990).

Yes, Americans, A Conspiracy Murdered JFK!, by Stanley J. and Ethel M. Marks (San Marino, CA: Bureau of International Affairs, June 1992).

The Defeat, Dishonor, and Disgrace! The Reagan–Bush Regimes: 1981-1993, by Stanley J. Marks (Bureau of International Affairs, 1993).

If This be Treason…! (San Marino, CA: Bureau of International Affairs, 1996). “The truth of how citizens Reagan, Bush, Casey, and their friends betrayed and destroyed the Carter administration in the 1980 presidential election.” “Dedicated to those who seek the spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom.”

Justice for Whom? or, Is Justice for WASPs Only? How the WASP Justice System Worked in Five Trials (Los Angeles: Bureau of International Affairs, 1996). [“Five Americans” (including Oswald) “whose criminal or civil trials engaged the attention of millions of people.”]

Judgment Day! A Play in Three Acts (registered for copyright in 1997). As of this writing, it is not known whether this is an original play or a retitling and reworking of one of Marks’ earlier dramatic pieces.

Beginning in 1974, the Markses also authored at least five guide books on stock and business investment.

 

 

[Rob Couteau]

5 minutes ago, Ron Bulman said:

Based on this thread I just ordered both Books

Glad to hear it Ron! Thanks and enjoy and let us now what you think.

[James DiEugenio]

Funny about his career.  His first book appears to have been released by a publisher and was a best seller. 

But after that, what happened?  It looks like all his other books were self published.  Kind of odd.

BTW, what was the idea behind that first book The Bear that Walks like a Man.

[Rob Couteau]

1 hour ago, James DiEugenio said:

what was the idea behind that first book The Bear that Walks like a Man

This (below) is a copy of former ambassador John Cudahy's review of The Bear, which features a detailed synopsis of the book.

As I mentioned in my Intro to the new MMF (which is greatly expanded from the essay that first appeared at Kennedys and King), The Bear was published by Dorrance and Company, a vanity press which nonetheless paid for the book's publication. The company was founded by Gordon Dorrance in 1920, after a book he was editing for Scribner’s failed to reach the publication stage, and he decided to publish it under his own imprint. In 1954, on the I Love Lucy Show, Mr. Dorrance was portrayed by the actor Pierre Watkin in an episode called “Lucy Writes a Novel.”

Stanley's next book was commissioned by the Army but never appeared in any commercial press. (It's probably sitting gathering dust in an Army archive somewhere.)

The remainder of his books were self-published under his own imprint: "The Bureau of International Affairs." In his books he speaks often of the Oswald Affaire, the Tippit Affaire, the Dreyfus Affaire ("affaire" spelled the French way). I suspect this has something to do with why he gave his imprint this name. (Maybe with a sly poke at the inadequate Bureau of J. Edgar.)

Bobbie Marks said that Stanley was focused on raising a family in the 1940s and '50s, and was involved with various business ventures. But keep in mind he was blacklisted in 1944. As far as I know if was pretty difficult for a blacklisted writer to get published by a major publisher during this period.

For example, after William Shirer was named in "Red Channels," he couldn't find work in broadcasting or journalism anymore. Simon and Schuster helped him out by hiring him as an editor, while he quietly worked on Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, which was finally published in 1960 (with the help of editor Michael Korda).

As far as we know, Stanley Marks didn't write again until he published Murder Most Foul in 1967. Then he kept knocking books off about once every two years. But even with the blacklisting consideration aside, not many publishers would have dared to publish his books from this period. He directly attacked Dulles, Hoover, the CIA, the FBI, and described the murder of JFK as a coup d'etat. It's also possible that after all those years of self-publishing he may not have wanted to relinquish any editorial control.

 

Edited December 21, 2020 by Rob Couteau

[Ron Bulman]

"Stanley's name turns up in a House Un American Committee in 1944 hearing and cites his book on Russia."  He was blacklisted.   

[Rob Couteau]

This one is also really neat:

[Ron Bulman]

10 minutes ago, Rob Couteau said:

This one is also really neat:

Click the article then click the magnifying glass, twice if your vision's like mine.  Good stuff.

[Rob Couteau]

Thanks for that Ron - and my vision's definitely worse than yours!

[James DiEugenio]

Do you plan on recovering all of his books on the assassinations? 

Which would be four.

[Rob Couteau]

48 minutes ago, James DiEugenio said:

Do you plan on recovering all of his books on the assassinations? 

Which would be four.

Yes. I have them and am working on them right now. ("Coup d’État!" and "Yes, Americans".) In addition, I am in contact with the Copyright Office and the Library of Congress, each of which may have the only copies of his plays about the assassinations; and if I can get them I will reissue them as well.

[Anthony Thorne]

That’s going above and beyond, Rob, but is characteristic of the thoroughness and dedication you bring to the field. Great work and I’m looking forward to getting them all.

[James DiEugenio]

So would I.

Its really something that this guy worked a full time job while putting out this many books on his own.

There is a big difference between writing a book and doing a magazine article. 

 

[Rob Couteau]

6 hours ago, Anthony Thorne said:

Great work and I’m looking forward to getting them all.

Thanks Anthony! I was just thinking of you while I was thumbing through his book on Reagan, because the research you're doing would dovetail with so much of it.

 

48 minutes ago, James DiEugenio said:

Its really something that this guy worked a full time job while putting out this many books on his own.

Just as there are at least two Jim DiEugenios churning out all that good stuff at K&K, there must have been at least two Stanley Marks. We will have to channel the spirit of Professor Popkin to ask him.

Seriously it is pretty mind blowing that he ran all those businesses and pumped this stuff out at such a high rate, about one book every two years since 1967.

He also wrote a regular feature column in the California Jewish Voice. This exists in microfilm in only three libraries, two of them university libraries that only students and faculty can access, but the third is the good old New York Public Library. When they reopen, I will be poking through the old canisters of microfilm to see what I can find.

 

 

[James DiEugenio]

Good, i would be interested to see his take on that one.

[Rob Couteau]

On December 20th the two biggest Dylan blogs (Expectingrain.com and Dylanology on Facebook) posted a link to Len's interview with Bobbie Marks. Last I checked Expectingrain gets 25K unique visitors daily and the Facebook Dylanology group has 43K members. These were the same two that posted our links to the various Dylan / Marks pieces on K&K.