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Last Word
Mark Lane tried the only U.S. court case in which the jurors concluded that the CIA plotted the murder of President Kennedy, but there was always a missing piece: How did the CIA control cops and secret service agents on the ground in Dealey Plaza? How did federal authorities prevent the House Select Committee on Assassinations from discovering the truth about the complicity of the CIA? Now, New York Times best-selling author Mark Lane tells all in this explosive new book—with exclusive new interviews, sworn testimony, and meticulous new research (including interviews with Oliver Stone, Dallas Police deputy sheriffs, Robert K. Tanenbaum, and Abraham Bolden) Lane finds out first hand exactly what went on the day JFK was assassinated. Lane includes sworn statements given to the Warren Commission by a police officer who confronted a man who he thought was the assassin. The officer testified that he drew his gun and pointed it at the suspect who showed Secret Service ID. Yet, the Secret Service later reported that there were no Secret Service agents on foot in Dealey Plaza. The Last Word proves that the CIA, operating through a secret small group, prepared all credentials for Secret Service agents in Dallas for the two days that Kennedy was going to be there—conclusive evidence of the CIA’s involvement in the assassination.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2011
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755 people want to read
About the author
Mark Lane
84 books24 followersBiography
Mark Lane is an author, lawyer and activist. His was the first voice to publicly question the top secret investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and his bestselling book, Rush to Judgment, was one of the first to question the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin. A Citizen's Dissent recounts the vast efforts of our government and the establishment media to suppress his investigation into the assassination of JFK and to silence and destroy him for his work. His later works on the JFK assassination detailed the involvement of the CIA through an actual trial in which Lane cross-examined multiple agents [Plausible Denial] and the role played by the CIA and Secret Service [Last Word]. He crossed the country speaking at countless colleges and other institutions about the murder of the president sparking the creation of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, which looked into the assassinations of Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A Freedom Rider while he served in the New York Legislature in 1961, he has defended the rights of the voiceless from his beginnings in East Harlem to Wounded Knee, where he successfully defended the leaders of the American Indian Movement. He freed James Joseph Richardson, a black man framed in rural Florida for the murder of his own seven children, from prison after serving over 20 years, many of them on death row [Arcadia]. He is a survivor of Jonestown [The Strongest Poison] and was a leader of the anti war movement during the Viet Nam era [Chicago Eyewitness; Conversations with Americans], Lane's autobiography, Citizen Lane, was published in 2012.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
December 12, 2022
Mark Lane presents a very convincing argument for why and how the CIA likely murdered JFK. He does a good job of linking the CIA and JFK with the Bay of Pigs/ Cuba, Vietnam, Allende/Chile, Iran/ the Shah and demonstrating how the two parties often had opposing long-term agendas and related implications. Overall, this book was really an indictment of the CIA, the agency's quest for power and control and its antagonistic relationship with Kennedy's White House.
I listened to the audiobook. It was well narrated. The actual book reads a little like someone with a grudge, but I guess this made it more "human" and less like a boring textbook. The entire chapter about Vincent Bugliosi disturbed the image of professionalism this book had.
I do believe the CIA controlled Lee Harvey Oswald. There is simply no motive he would have had, nor any indication that he felt so strongly against JFK and also had so much knowledge about his exact travel plans and route in Dallas etc. that he would have risked his life to end JFK's. And let's not forget the magic bullet. ;) The 1960s was a wild decade. I think this incident showed the CIA that they could enact this act of treason on a public stage, but that the same public who witnessed it would not necessarily accept the official conclusion. They haven't tried it again. e.g. Snowden is still out there.
Anyway, it was an interesting read that brings together a lot of details and presents a convincing case on the matter. Recommended for fans of this topic.
I listened to the audiobook. It was well narrated. The actual book reads a little like someone with a grudge, but I guess this made it more "human" and less like a boring textbook. The entire chapter about Vincent Bugliosi disturbed the image of professionalism this book had.
I do believe the CIA controlled Lee Harvey Oswald. There is simply no motive he would have had, nor any indication that he felt so strongly against JFK and also had so much knowledge about his exact travel plans and route in Dallas etc. that he would have risked his life to end JFK's. And let's not forget the magic bullet. ;) The 1960s was a wild decade. I think this incident showed the CIA that they could enact this act of treason on a public stage, but that the same public who witnessed it would not necessarily accept the official conclusion. They haven't tried it again. e.g. Snowden is still out there.
Anyway, it was an interesting read that brings together a lot of details and presents a convincing case on the matter. Recommended for fans of this topic.
November 24, 2019
Mark Lane was an early critic of the Warren Report which he presented in “Rush to Judgment” in both book and movie formats. This book, published in 2011, covers a range of topics, some relate to the assassination and cover up and others to Lane’s experience in seeking justice. It ends with an indictment of the CIA.
There is a very thorough treatment of the Secret Service failures with a spotlight on Abraham Bolden who was punished for raising the issues. Oswald’s alleged pre-assassination trip to Mexico City is discussed, but the issue of a potential double is not. There is information on witnesses you don’t hear much about: Acquilla Clemons who actually saw the murder of Officer Tippit (and not by Oswald); Roger Craig of the Dallas Police who ran to the grassy knoll when he heard the shots and stopped a suspect (who showed him a false secret service ID) and Martina Lorenz (the mother of Castro’s first child) who along with Frank Sturgis (later,a Watergate burglar) took weapons to Dallas to name a few.
From Lane’s own experience there is color on E. Howard Hunt who sued a media outlet for liable. The case turned on its reporting of Hunt's location on the day of the assassination. Lane won the suit for the publisher by proving Hunt was not home with his family (i.e. not in Dallas) as Hunt alleged. Given the failure of Jim Garrison’s case against Clay Shaw, this may be as close to a legal victory there is for those who have challenged the Warren Commission’s findings.
There is a lengthy report on how Lane pushed to get the House to appoint a Select Committee on Assassinations. He shows how the committee’s mixed results (Oswald fired shots but there was probably a conspiracy) were political and not based on evidence.
Other Lane encounters include those with William Buckley (who seems to know something) and Vincent Bugliosi who aggressively defends his 1000 page affirmation of Oswald acting alone. Lane points out how some of Bugliosi’s conclusions are based on debunked evidence. (For interesting background on Bugliosi see Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties)
The indictment of the CIA covers its activities in Iran, the Congo, Chile and elsewhere and gives a lengthy treatment of MKULTRA its drug research project on the vulnerable and unwitting. Lane notes that the uni-bomber may have been a victim.
The Appendix on George DeMohernshildt shows what a fascinating person he was, but does not have what I believe is the most significant fact: his (alleged) suicide the day he was notified his testimony was of interest to the House Select Committee on Assassinations.
The book is wide-ranging and at times it seems Lane is unnecessarily defensive, a posture that is understandable since he has been at this over 50 years. The text needs work. Most of the section’s introductory paragraphs have little context for what is to follow. People may be cited before you know who they are. Testimony is referenced, but not whether it is from the Warren Commission or the House Committee. While there is a lot of good material, it seems randomly culled from Lane’s memory.
There are no photos, no index. There are footnotes on the page cited, but these are too few for the type of book this is.
There is a very thorough treatment of the Secret Service failures with a spotlight on Abraham Bolden who was punished for raising the issues. Oswald’s alleged pre-assassination trip to Mexico City is discussed, but the issue of a potential double is not. There is information on witnesses you don’t hear much about: Acquilla Clemons who actually saw the murder of Officer Tippit (and not by Oswald); Roger Craig of the Dallas Police who ran to the grassy knoll when he heard the shots and stopped a suspect (who showed him a false secret service ID) and Martina Lorenz (the mother of Castro’s first child) who along with Frank Sturgis (later,a Watergate burglar) took weapons to Dallas to name a few.
From Lane’s own experience there is color on E. Howard Hunt who sued a media outlet for liable. The case turned on its reporting of Hunt's location on the day of the assassination. Lane won the suit for the publisher by proving Hunt was not home with his family (i.e. not in Dallas) as Hunt alleged. Given the failure of Jim Garrison’s case against Clay Shaw, this may be as close to a legal victory there is for those who have challenged the Warren Commission’s findings.
There is a lengthy report on how Lane pushed to get the House to appoint a Select Committee on Assassinations. He shows how the committee’s mixed results (Oswald fired shots but there was probably a conspiracy) were political and not based on evidence.
Other Lane encounters include those with William Buckley (who seems to know something) and Vincent Bugliosi who aggressively defends his 1000 page affirmation of Oswald acting alone. Lane points out how some of Bugliosi’s conclusions are based on debunked evidence. (For interesting background on Bugliosi see Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties)
The indictment of the CIA covers its activities in Iran, the Congo, Chile and elsewhere and gives a lengthy treatment of MKULTRA its drug research project on the vulnerable and unwitting. Lane notes that the uni-bomber may have been a victim.
The Appendix on George DeMohernshildt shows what a fascinating person he was, but does not have what I believe is the most significant fact: his (alleged) suicide the day he was notified his testimony was of interest to the House Select Committee on Assassinations.
The book is wide-ranging and at times it seems Lane is unnecessarily defensive, a posture that is understandable since he has been at this over 50 years. The text needs work. Most of the section’s introductory paragraphs have little context for what is to follow. People may be cited before you know who they are. Testimony is referenced, but not whether it is from the Warren Commission or the House Committee. While there is a lot of good material, it seems randomly culled from Lane’s memory.
There are no photos, no index. There are footnotes on the page cited, but these are too few for the type of book this is.
December 2, 2011
Having read Lane's 'Rush To Judgement' and 'Plausible Denial' a long way back on the trail, I was compelled to get hold of 2011's 'Last Word'. I have to say that Lane's 'Last Word-My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK' holds the perpetrators firmly in the cross-hairs, anyone new to Citizen Lane or the coup d'etat of '63 could be better served elsewhere. (Lifton,Marrs,Fonzi,Hancock & Douglass.)
I still think that Mark Lane has contributed to the 'critics' case, even though I found few new revelations in his book. Questions posed on the fly cover:-How did the CIA control forces of the law on the ground in Dealey Plaza? How did they also control the Dallas Police Department, the Dallas Sheriff's Department and the United States Secret Service? Read Lifton, Marrs, Hancock or Douglass. How did federal authorities prevent the House Select Committee on Assassinations from discovering the truth about the complicity of the CIA? Read Fonzi. What was the attitude of the United States Secret Service that day in Dallas? Read Bolden.
All in all 'Last Word', sectioned into five parts, with Tanenbaum's intro and a chapter from Oliver Stone, Harry S. Truman's 1963 article from the Washington Post and a previously unpublished appendix on George De Mohrenschild from 1965, as well as an open letter to Barak Obama, contains a comprehensive brief from a writer with fifty years spent in the legal profession. A prosecution case against the CIA and a defence case for the First Amendment.
I still think that Mark Lane has contributed to the 'critics' case, even though I found few new revelations in his book. Questions posed on the fly cover:-How did the CIA control forces of the law on the ground in Dealey Plaza? How did they also control the Dallas Police Department, the Dallas Sheriff's Department and the United States Secret Service? Read Lifton, Marrs, Hancock or Douglass. How did federal authorities prevent the House Select Committee on Assassinations from discovering the truth about the complicity of the CIA? Read Fonzi. What was the attitude of the United States Secret Service that day in Dallas? Read Bolden.
All in all 'Last Word', sectioned into five parts, with Tanenbaum's intro and a chapter from Oliver Stone, Harry S. Truman's 1963 article from the Washington Post and a previously unpublished appendix on George De Mohrenschild from 1965, as well as an open letter to Barak Obama, contains a comprehensive brief from a writer with fifty years spent in the legal profession. A prosecution case against the CIA and a defence case for the First Amendment.
November 10, 2013
This is Mark Lane's summing up of his 50 years of research into the JFK assassination. His first book, Rush to Judgment, critiqued the Warren Report and led many Americans to question the official answer that Oswald acted alone. He has also written several other books and two documentary films. By now, Gallup and other polls consistently show that 81% of Americans believe there was a conspiracy behind the murders of JFK and Oswald.
There are few surprises for anyone who has been following the case for conspiracy, most of which cover crimes by the CIA that haven't been widely publicized before. Lane spends too much time refuting many lies told about him by the press, especially the NY Times, Anthony Lewis, and Vincent Bugliosi. He reports credibly that the CIA had then, and has now, prominent assets in the print and broadcast media that will make sure their brand of the truth is reported.
He also comments only in passing on usual suspects besides the CIA: LBJ, J. Edgar Hoover, and organized crime. He does question how Hoover could state positively only a few hours later, before any investigation, that Oswald was the sole person guilty of killing JFK and Officer Tippit. He says that Ruby was an FBI asset; my understanding is that he was acting for the Mafia. It's understandable that he would have feared for his life if he failed to carry out an assignment for the Mafia, less so if he was acting for the FBI. Other books claim credibly that Ruby had longstanding ties to organized crime. Lane also never mentions Oswald's lover, Judy Vary Baker, who claims prior knowledge of the events and Oswald's innocence.
Lane does explore in detail the apparent lapses by the Secret Service. Nine senior members applied for and were granted vacation time that took them off duty at the time of the assassination. Secret Service credentials were then produced by the CIA. The driver of JFK's car stopped or nearly stopped the car after the first shot, when training should have led him to accelerate immediately. The Secret Service agent in the passenger seat should have covered Kennedy's body with his own (LBJ's agent did) but never moved from his seat. A Dallas Police officer stopped a man who had just come from behind the fence at the grassy knoll. The man showed Secret Service credentials, and was released without questioning or even a description reported, but the Secret Service said all of their agents were in the motorcade.
The Warren Commission interviewed few, if any, of the hundreds of eye- and ear-witnesses who reported that the shots came from the grassy knoll and/or the 5th (not 6th) floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Lane interviewed several and includes a number of quotations from them.
It's less than two weeks before the 50th anniversary of the assassination. Many books mark it. This is one that deserves critical attention.
There are few surprises for anyone who has been following the case for conspiracy, most of which cover crimes by the CIA that haven't been widely publicized before. Lane spends too much time refuting many lies told about him by the press, especially the NY Times, Anthony Lewis, and Vincent Bugliosi. He reports credibly that the CIA had then, and has now, prominent assets in the print and broadcast media that will make sure their brand of the truth is reported.
He also comments only in passing on usual suspects besides the CIA: LBJ, J. Edgar Hoover, and organized crime. He does question how Hoover could state positively only a few hours later, before any investigation, that Oswald was the sole person guilty of killing JFK and Officer Tippit. He says that Ruby was an FBI asset; my understanding is that he was acting for the Mafia. It's understandable that he would have feared for his life if he failed to carry out an assignment for the Mafia, less so if he was acting for the FBI. Other books claim credibly that Ruby had longstanding ties to organized crime. Lane also never mentions Oswald's lover, Judy Vary Baker, who claims prior knowledge of the events and Oswald's innocence.
Lane does explore in detail the apparent lapses by the Secret Service. Nine senior members applied for and were granted vacation time that took them off duty at the time of the assassination. Secret Service credentials were then produced by the CIA. The driver of JFK's car stopped or nearly stopped the car after the first shot, when training should have led him to accelerate immediately. The Secret Service agent in the passenger seat should have covered Kennedy's body with his own (LBJ's agent did) but never moved from his seat. A Dallas Police officer stopped a man who had just come from behind the fence at the grassy knoll. The man showed Secret Service credentials, and was released without questioning or even a description reported, but the Secret Service said all of their agents were in the motorcade.
The Warren Commission interviewed few, if any, of the hundreds of eye- and ear-witnesses who reported that the shots came from the grassy knoll and/or the 5th (not 6th) floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Lane interviewed several and includes a number of quotations from them.
It's less than two weeks before the 50th anniversary of the assassination. Many books mark it. This is one that deserves critical attention.
July 11, 2015
This was a very good, but not stellar effort by Mark Lane the leading writer on the "Oswald wasn't in it alone" side of the JFK assassination question. Lane wrote the first widely heralded book on that subject way back in the 1960s when he published Rush to Judgement. This book is, as the title indicates, his final book on the subject as he is advancing in years. He basically puts into plain black and white why he thinks the CIA did it and / or at least mounted a massive cover-up along with others outside of that agency.
The argument is compelling although I'm not sure there is a lot of new stuff here. I listened to the unabridged audio book which was very well done.
The argument is compelling although I'm not sure there is a lot of new stuff here. I listened to the unabridged audio book which was very well done.
February 15, 2018
The CIA whose jobs were to protect JFK in Dallas failed in many ways. A well researched and written book about the JFK murder. Enjoy!
December 23, 2022
An alternative look at the evidence and the reasoning behind the events of November 22nd, 1963.
Firstly, I personally believe that JFK faked his own death/assassination, and would be today termed as what is known as an early 'psi-op', the purpose of which was done for one of many reasons, of which I will attempt to explain to the best of my abilities here.
1) MLK Junior was gaining much public support with his 'non violence' protests for civil liberties, and contrary to what we have been led to believe in the mainstream news/media, the Kennedy Administration, including Robert Kennedy, tried very hard to defame and undermine MLK Junior and his 'ever popular' civil rights movement.......Mahatma Gandhi, whom MLK Junior emulated, had great success with this 'non violent' stance, so much so that the British Empire literally felt 'compelled' to cede back what was 'their jewel in the crown' to its rightful owners, the indigeonous peoples of India.......it was 'imperative' that MLK Junior & the civil rights agenda were not foremost in the minds of the American people.......the JFK 'event' had the effect of doing just this ie temporarily taking the American people's attention away from MLK Juniors very worthy and noble cause.
2) With the relatively new advent of television, not just in America but all over our world, the 'perpetrators' knew that if they could stage and pull-off an event such as the one we currently understand and know today as the assassination of the President of The USA on live TV, that this would have the effect of 'stunning' the whole world into a state of 'fear' or shock & awe.......there is no denying the fact that the American people (and world) would have to some degree lost faith in The Church and possibly even turned their backs on The Lord, especially as the Kennedy's were said to be devout Catholics, making them 'God's own' in the eyes of the Christian world.
3) JFK was 'publicly' against getting involved in a war in Vietnam, so with JFK officially out of the picture the big industrialists of the day could have 'their war'........these very influential & powerful men would have literally made 'a killing' in profits at the expense of young American's lives, not to mention the tax-payers who ultimately footed the Trillion dollar plus bill for the Vietnam war (refer to General Smedley Darlington Butler's great revealing book, "War is a Racket" to understand better why wars are really fought).
4) Nobody can deny that even today people are seemingly just as enthralled & mystified about the events on that fateful day of 22/11/1963, as they were back then. You only need to see the amount of documentaries, films, books etc, which are perpetually being watched, seen & read by countless millions in every corner/part of the world over the decades. If you were of a mind to want to keep the masses off balance and 'looking the other way' ie keeping minds so occupied as to what's actually going on behind the scenes by orchestrating staged events, time & time again, then you would very probably to say to yourself "job done."
So, that's the reasoning behind 'why' it was done, now we need to look at what we 'think/believe' we actually saw unfold on TV in front if the whole world. I will lay out a list of key points that in my opinion need better answers than the ones we have been given to date ie the official narrative.
1) Why were there very few/hardly any onlookers lining the street (Elm St) when it could be seen that everywhere up until the cavalcade had reached Elm St was in fact heaving with crowds of onlookers?
2) Why were people seen to be walking & running in the background toward the cavalcade at around the same time JFK was reportedly being shot?
3) Who was the guy with the umbrella and his accomplice, why were they behaving so strangely and why were they never caught/questioned?
4) Why did pretty much everyone who was 'close' to the cavalcade die or mysteriously disappear? In fact, Why were there practically 'no' witnesses of note/value in the official report ie Warren Commission.
5) Why was the 'only' footage available the Zapruder version, which is quite far off, when it can be seen that there are at least two others with video cameras who are much closer to the cavalcade?
6) JFK was supposedly fumbling around his lapel/throat area because he had been shot 'through' the neck, but if you look at the mess a high velocity large caliber bullet actually makes when exiting flesh, then this quite frankly makes no sense in the real world. Furthermore, nobody else in the car was looking at JFK as if he'd just been shot and William Greer (the driver) actually slowed down, totally at odds with protocol as he should in fact have 'gone like the clappers' at the first hint of trouble.
7) Why did Jacquie Kennedy appear to pass something on to the bodyguard in the trailing limo when really they should have all been high-tailing it out of there asap, as per standard protocol?
As you know, I am of the firm belief this was a staged event, so here's what I believe actually happened on that fateful day........firstly, there were few to no people lining that particular stretch of Elm St as they didn't want any more witnesses than was absolutely necessary......the people we see arriving late in the background were in all likelihood paid 'crisis actors' who for whatever reason fluffed their cue, because they were late and should have been lining the road, so what we saw was very probably an early live TV 'balls-up'......When we see the umbrella guy and his accomplice raise their hand & umbrella, this was very likely the sign/nod for JFK to reach for his lapel area and press the button for the explosive device on the side of his head to detonate, only it didn't go off as planned, hence everyone else in the car behaving as they did and why the driver William Greer slowed down.......the device eventually goes off (we've all seen the footage) and then we see Jacquie Kennedy handing something to the bodyguard in the rear limo when she reaches over the back of the presidential car.......i beilieve that the explosive device was real and it did in fact mortally wound and kill someone, but that someone was not JFK, but a police officer named J D Tippit.
Tippit was the police officer who was allegedly killed by Lee Harvey Oswald after he supposedly was seen by Tippit leaving a cinema house where he allegedly shot Tippit to death......Tippit was very nearly a 'ringer' for JFK in looks, build, age etc, all apart from JFK's toothy smile. I believe Tippit was hoodwinked into playing the part of his President but ultimately didn't know that he 'was' going to have half his head blown away in doing so. I believe that Jacquie Kennedy was handing over Tippits false front teeth that would have fallen out after he slumped onto Jacquie's lap when Tippit unwittingly blew half his head off......furthermore, this would explain why no footage or witnesses that was close to the Presidential car was ever seen or heard 'officially'.......I also further believe Lee Harvey Oswald was part of the plot, mainly because in the scene where we see him on live TV get 'shot to death', Oswald looks as though he's already expecting to get shot while all the lawmen are 'looking the other way'......So! what do we have left by way of substantial witnesses to the killing of the President of the USA on live television in front of the whole world? Well, very little it would appear and not even the body of JFK, as we are informed that even an autopsy was not formally carried-out as per Texas State Law, as the body of JFK was whisked away by 'unknown' sources for reasons unexplained.......all-in-all a very neat and convenient set of circumstances if you were of a mind to perpetrate a hoax of this magnitude on an unsuspecting world.
I will include the details of the the other fake deaths (false-flag events) of RFK & JFK junior a little later, along with telling clues left by the perpertraters, who appear to get a kick out of advertising their handiwork with such slogans as "hidden in plain sight" and the reasoning behind the false-flag events that we have been experiencing around our world ie and where I ultimately believe them to be heading/taking us..........Shalom.
PS: research how the Kennedy's made their fortune and their family name, which happens to be one of the 13 ruling families that control our world (for now).
OK, some interesting stats & information concerning the events on 05/06/1968 and Robert Kennedy. Firstly, Robert Kennedy was said to have many bodyguards with him that evening and the fact Robert Kennedy was said to be leaving through the back entrance of the building, where he was apperntly warned by his security not to do because of security issues, the assassin Sirhan Sirhan 'still' managed to unload all six bullets of his gun into Robert Kennedy before he was apprehended (really!!!).......there was a photographer at the event who claimed he took many images of the 'shooting(?)' event but had his camera inexplicably taken off him by Robert Kennedy's body guards. The photographer in question took them to the High Court to get his images back (which he won) but the images which would have shed much needed light on the shooting(?) event were missing, (surprise, surprise).......furthermore, the judge put a 'sealing order' of a 100yrs on the case, effectively closing-down any future enquiries (source; Unsolved Mysteries).......Sirhan Sirhan claimed he had no memory whatsoever of the incident, so if could be he was possibly hynotised, but I personally don't believe it is possible to hypnotise someone to kill another person 'against' their free will, as this would be going against the sacred covenant of Almighty God for us ie 'free will'.
Let's look closer now at the dates and official times of death concerning these events. Let's look at Robert Kennedy's official stats of death recorded at 01:44am on the 06/06/1968, which was practically a full day after the 'incident'.......it can be seen we have the numbers 1+4+4=9 and then 06/06, making a potential stylised 666, or Mark of the Beast ie Satan.
JFK's date of 22/11/1963 is different in that I believe his date actually denotes the number sequence 22 and 3 (the 3 taken from the three seperate number 1's), thus making the number 223, which I firmly believe is in direct refence to the Biblical verse Genisis 3:22 "Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." This 322 number sequence can be found on the logo/symbol of the Skull & Bones secret society.......the second sequence of numbers is 963, or 369 reversed (again, inverting & reversing is a 'tag' ie hallmark of Satan). If you search the significance of this number sequence you will understand better their importance. I recommend Nikola Tesla here and his quote; "If you want to understand the sectrets of the universe, then unlock the mysteries of 369"........furthermore, JFK was said to have officially passed on at 12:30pm, which I believe is in refence to both himself (JFK), C S Lewis and Aldous Huxley (who also died(?) that day) making 1, 2, 3 'staged' or orchestrated deaths ie some form of Satanic Ritual.......search; C S Lewis and the occult, and search; Aldous Huxley and The Fabian Society, which is a Socialist 'think-tank org' and who's emblem/symbol is a 'sheep in wolfs clothing' (go look on Wikipedia what the Fabian Society are all about and past and present members).
Lastly, let's look at JFK Junior's stats, which are 16/07/1999, where we can see we have the number 16+7, making No:23 (very significant) and the inverted 666, which as you know is the Mark of the Beast ie Satan.......both Robert's, JFK junior's and most especially JFK seniors deaths(?) and the manor in which they supposedly died has left endearing scars on the 'psyche' of the American people and including many parts of the world, leading to what I firmly feel is a more 'apostic' outlook in general.
Lastly, there are many vids, books and docs claiming that there is the 'Kennedy Curse' or even that the Bush's had the Kennedy's killed (George Bush senior supposedly did the hit on JFK senior in Dallas and the numpty that is Bush's son supposedly had JFK Junior killed (source: Dark Legacy documentary) but if you look at how they 'actually' get along in public (the Bush's & Kennedy's in general) you would be forgiven for thinking the were all BFF.......Shalom.
I thought it prudent to include other notable dates and their 'tags' ie Satanic sequences, which not only helps with identifying their 'works' (if you know what to look for), but also gives you some indication of what to look for by way of exposing the deceit & lies being perpertrated against us by these very controlling, sick-in-the -head individuals.
Prince William: born 21/06/1982 at 9:03am.......William was 'induced' to make sure that he was born on the Summer Solstice, a very important date. The 21 is 3, while the 1982 is 20, add together to make the No:23, add the 6 and invert it to make 9, add to 23 to make 32, which is No:23 reversed.......the time of 9:03am could also mean 3 x 6=666 reversed.
Prince Harry: born 15/09/1984.......which add up to 37, take 6+6+6 (or 18) and times this number by 37 and you come to 666. I believe both William & Harry have major roles to play on the world stage in the coming years ahead (end time Prophecy).
Prince Charles was born on the 14/11/1948 and I could discern no hidden code.
Prince 'el psycho' Philip was born on the 20/06/1921 and I could discern no hidden code.
Elizabeth 11 was born on the 21/04/1926 and I could discern no hidden code.
Princess Di was killed on the 31/08/1997 and I could discern no hidden code.
MLK Junior was killed on the 04/04/1968 and I could discern no hidden code.
Mahatma Gandhi was killed on the 30/01/1948 and I could discern no hidden code.
Malcom X was killed on 21/02/1965 and here we have 21 and 2, which is No:23 reversed. Also, Malcom is 21, which is 3, the X is 6, so we have 3x6=666.......Malcom X earned the nickname 'Satan' in prison and on the night he died(?) at the Audubon Ballroom, there was a strict 'no' camera's allowed policy on the door, leaving us to rely 'solely' on witness statements/testimonies of those put in front of the cities press.......search: "The Violent End of a Man Called Malcom" Life Magazine, and you will see 'official' images of Malcom X lying dead(?) on the floor with 21 (yes, that's 21) gunshot wounds, one of which was a point-blank shotgun wound to the chest.......is this what we see in the images?
"(verify) test all things, hold fast to that which is good (Truth)" 1 Thessalonians 5:21
Firstly, I personally believe that JFK faked his own death/assassination, and would be today termed as what is known as an early 'psi-op', the purpose of which was done for one of many reasons, of which I will attempt to explain to the best of my abilities here.
1) MLK Junior was gaining much public support with his 'non violence' protests for civil liberties, and contrary to what we have been led to believe in the mainstream news/media, the Kennedy Administration, including Robert Kennedy, tried very hard to defame and undermine MLK Junior and his 'ever popular' civil rights movement.......Mahatma Gandhi, whom MLK Junior emulated, had great success with this 'non violent' stance, so much so that the British Empire literally felt 'compelled' to cede back what was 'their jewel in the crown' to its rightful owners, the indigeonous peoples of India.......it was 'imperative' that MLK Junior & the civil rights agenda were not foremost in the minds of the American people.......the JFK 'event' had the effect of doing just this ie temporarily taking the American people's attention away from MLK Juniors very worthy and noble cause.
2) With the relatively new advent of television, not just in America but all over our world, the 'perpetrators' knew that if they could stage and pull-off an event such as the one we currently understand and know today as the assassination of the President of The USA on live TV, that this would have the effect of 'stunning' the whole world into a state of 'fear' or shock & awe.......there is no denying the fact that the American people (and world) would have to some degree lost faith in The Church and possibly even turned their backs on The Lord, especially as the Kennedy's were said to be devout Catholics, making them 'God's own' in the eyes of the Christian world.
3) JFK was 'publicly' against getting involved in a war in Vietnam, so with JFK officially out of the picture the big industrialists of the day could have 'their war'........these very influential & powerful men would have literally made 'a killing' in profits at the expense of young American's lives, not to mention the tax-payers who ultimately footed the Trillion dollar plus bill for the Vietnam war (refer to General Smedley Darlington Butler's great revealing book, "War is a Racket" to understand better why wars are really fought).
4) Nobody can deny that even today people are seemingly just as enthralled & mystified about the events on that fateful day of 22/11/1963, as they were back then. You only need to see the amount of documentaries, films, books etc, which are perpetually being watched, seen & read by countless millions in every corner/part of the world over the decades. If you were of a mind to want to keep the masses off balance and 'looking the other way' ie keeping minds so occupied as to what's actually going on behind the scenes by orchestrating staged events, time & time again, then you would very probably to say to yourself "job done."
So, that's the reasoning behind 'why' it was done, now we need to look at what we 'think/believe' we actually saw unfold on TV in front if the whole world. I will lay out a list of key points that in my opinion need better answers than the ones we have been given to date ie the official narrative.
1) Why were there very few/hardly any onlookers lining the street (Elm St) when it could be seen that everywhere up until the cavalcade had reached Elm St was in fact heaving with crowds of onlookers?
2) Why were people seen to be walking & running in the background toward the cavalcade at around the same time JFK was reportedly being shot?
3) Who was the guy with the umbrella and his accomplice, why were they behaving so strangely and why were they never caught/questioned?
4) Why did pretty much everyone who was 'close' to the cavalcade die or mysteriously disappear? In fact, Why were there practically 'no' witnesses of note/value in the official report ie Warren Commission.
5) Why was the 'only' footage available the Zapruder version, which is quite far off, when it can be seen that there are at least two others with video cameras who are much closer to the cavalcade?
6) JFK was supposedly fumbling around his lapel/throat area because he had been shot 'through' the neck, but if you look at the mess a high velocity large caliber bullet actually makes when exiting flesh, then this quite frankly makes no sense in the real world. Furthermore, nobody else in the car was looking at JFK as if he'd just been shot and William Greer (the driver) actually slowed down, totally at odds with protocol as he should in fact have 'gone like the clappers' at the first hint of trouble.
7) Why did Jacquie Kennedy appear to pass something on to the bodyguard in the trailing limo when really they should have all been high-tailing it out of there asap, as per standard protocol?
As you know, I am of the firm belief this was a staged event, so here's what I believe actually happened on that fateful day........firstly, there were few to no people lining that particular stretch of Elm St as they didn't want any more witnesses than was absolutely necessary......the people we see arriving late in the background were in all likelihood paid 'crisis actors' who for whatever reason fluffed their cue, because they were late and should have been lining the road, so what we saw was very probably an early live TV 'balls-up'......When we see the umbrella guy and his accomplice raise their hand & umbrella, this was very likely the sign/nod for JFK to reach for his lapel area and press the button for the explosive device on the side of his head to detonate, only it didn't go off as planned, hence everyone else in the car behaving as they did and why the driver William Greer slowed down.......the device eventually goes off (we've all seen the footage) and then we see Jacquie Kennedy handing something to the bodyguard in the rear limo when she reaches over the back of the presidential car.......i beilieve that the explosive device was real and it did in fact mortally wound and kill someone, but that someone was not JFK, but a police officer named J D Tippit.
Tippit was the police officer who was allegedly killed by Lee Harvey Oswald after he supposedly was seen by Tippit leaving a cinema house where he allegedly shot Tippit to death......Tippit was very nearly a 'ringer' for JFK in looks, build, age etc, all apart from JFK's toothy smile. I believe Tippit was hoodwinked into playing the part of his President but ultimately didn't know that he 'was' going to have half his head blown away in doing so. I believe that Jacquie Kennedy was handing over Tippits false front teeth that would have fallen out after he slumped onto Jacquie's lap when Tippit unwittingly blew half his head off......furthermore, this would explain why no footage or witnesses that was close to the Presidential car was ever seen or heard 'officially'.......I also further believe Lee Harvey Oswald was part of the plot, mainly because in the scene where we see him on live TV get 'shot to death', Oswald looks as though he's already expecting to get shot while all the lawmen are 'looking the other way'......So! what do we have left by way of substantial witnesses to the killing of the President of the USA on live television in front of the whole world? Well, very little it would appear and not even the body of JFK, as we are informed that even an autopsy was not formally carried-out as per Texas State Law, as the body of JFK was whisked away by 'unknown' sources for reasons unexplained.......all-in-all a very neat and convenient set of circumstances if you were of a mind to perpetrate a hoax of this magnitude on an unsuspecting world.
I will include the details of the the other fake deaths (false-flag events) of RFK & JFK junior a little later, along with telling clues left by the perpertraters, who appear to get a kick out of advertising their handiwork with such slogans as "hidden in plain sight" and the reasoning behind the false-flag events that we have been experiencing around our world ie and where I ultimately believe them to be heading/taking us..........Shalom.
PS: research how the Kennedy's made their fortune and their family name, which happens to be one of the 13 ruling families that control our world (for now).
OK, some interesting stats & information concerning the events on 05/06/1968 and Robert Kennedy. Firstly, Robert Kennedy was said to have many bodyguards with him that evening and the fact Robert Kennedy was said to be leaving through the back entrance of the building, where he was apperntly warned by his security not to do because of security issues, the assassin Sirhan Sirhan 'still' managed to unload all six bullets of his gun into Robert Kennedy before he was apprehended (really!!!).......there was a photographer at the event who claimed he took many images of the 'shooting(?)' event but had his camera inexplicably taken off him by Robert Kennedy's body guards. The photographer in question took them to the High Court to get his images back (which he won) but the images which would have shed much needed light on the shooting(?) event were missing, (surprise, surprise).......furthermore, the judge put a 'sealing order' of a 100yrs on the case, effectively closing-down any future enquiries (source; Unsolved Mysteries).......Sirhan Sirhan claimed he had no memory whatsoever of the incident, so if could be he was possibly hynotised, but I personally don't believe it is possible to hypnotise someone to kill another person 'against' their free will, as this would be going against the sacred covenant of Almighty God for us ie 'free will'.
Let's look closer now at the dates and official times of death concerning these events. Let's look at Robert Kennedy's official stats of death recorded at 01:44am on the 06/06/1968, which was practically a full day after the 'incident'.......it can be seen we have the numbers 1+4+4=9 and then 06/06, making a potential stylised 666, or Mark of the Beast ie Satan.
JFK's date of 22/11/1963 is different in that I believe his date actually denotes the number sequence 22 and 3 (the 3 taken from the three seperate number 1's), thus making the number 223, which I firmly believe is in direct refence to the Biblical verse Genisis 3:22 "Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." This 322 number sequence can be found on the logo/symbol of the Skull & Bones secret society.......the second sequence of numbers is 963, or 369 reversed (again, inverting & reversing is a 'tag' ie hallmark of Satan). If you search the significance of this number sequence you will understand better their importance. I recommend Nikola Tesla here and his quote; "If you want to understand the sectrets of the universe, then unlock the mysteries of 369"........furthermore, JFK was said to have officially passed on at 12:30pm, which I believe is in refence to both himself (JFK), C S Lewis and Aldous Huxley (who also died(?) that day) making 1, 2, 3 'staged' or orchestrated deaths ie some form of Satanic Ritual.......search; C S Lewis and the occult, and search; Aldous Huxley and The Fabian Society, which is a Socialist 'think-tank org' and who's emblem/symbol is a 'sheep in wolfs clothing' (go look on Wikipedia what the Fabian Society are all about and past and present members).
Lastly, let's look at JFK Junior's stats, which are 16/07/1999, where we can see we have the number 16+7, making No:23 (very significant) and the inverted 666, which as you know is the Mark of the Beast ie Satan.......both Robert's, JFK junior's and most especially JFK seniors deaths(?) and the manor in which they supposedly died has left endearing scars on the 'psyche' of the American people and including many parts of the world, leading to what I firmly feel is a more 'apostic' outlook in general.
Lastly, there are many vids, books and docs claiming that there is the 'Kennedy Curse' or even that the Bush's had the Kennedy's killed (George Bush senior supposedly did the hit on JFK senior in Dallas and the numpty that is Bush's son supposedly had JFK Junior killed (source: Dark Legacy documentary) but if you look at how they 'actually' get along in public (the Bush's & Kennedy's in general) you would be forgiven for thinking the were all BFF.......Shalom.
I thought it prudent to include other notable dates and their 'tags' ie Satanic sequences, which not only helps with identifying their 'works' (if you know what to look for), but also gives you some indication of what to look for by way of exposing the deceit & lies being perpertrated against us by these very controlling, sick-in-the -head individuals.
Prince William: born 21/06/1982 at 9:03am.......William was 'induced' to make sure that he was born on the Summer Solstice, a very important date. The 21 is 3, while the 1982 is 20, add together to make the No:23, add the 6 and invert it to make 9, add to 23 to make 32, which is No:23 reversed.......the time of 9:03am could also mean 3 x 6=666 reversed.
Prince Harry: born 15/09/1984.......which add up to 37, take 6+6+6 (or 18) and times this number by 37 and you come to 666. I believe both William & Harry have major roles to play on the world stage in the coming years ahead (end time Prophecy).
Prince Charles was born on the 14/11/1948 and I could discern no hidden code.
Prince 'el psycho' Philip was born on the 20/06/1921 and I could discern no hidden code.
Elizabeth 11 was born on the 21/04/1926 and I could discern no hidden code.
Princess Di was killed on the 31/08/1997 and I could discern no hidden code.
MLK Junior was killed on the 04/04/1968 and I could discern no hidden code.
Mahatma Gandhi was killed on the 30/01/1948 and I could discern no hidden code.
Malcom X was killed on 21/02/1965 and here we have 21 and 2, which is No:23 reversed. Also, Malcom is 21, which is 3, the X is 6, so we have 3x6=666.......Malcom X earned the nickname 'Satan' in prison and on the night he died(?) at the Audubon Ballroom, there was a strict 'no' camera's allowed policy on the door, leaving us to rely 'solely' on witness statements/testimonies of those put in front of the cities press.......search: "The Violent End of a Man Called Malcom" Life Magazine, and you will see 'official' images of Malcom X lying dead(?) on the floor with 21 (yes, that's 21) gunshot wounds, one of which was a point-blank shotgun wound to the chest.......is this what we see in the images?
"(verify) test all things, hold fast to that which is good (Truth)" 1 Thessalonians 5:21
November 21, 2013
I thought this was a very informative book. Lots of information jammed in there leaving someone to wonder why nothing extraordinary has been done about the investigation in the 50 years that the mystery has been alive.
Mark Lane seems to be a very knowledgeable person on the subject and his argument and proof leave me to believe pretty much everything I read.
I thought this was a good book but wasn't as exciting as I expected, he repeated some information here and there and there was a huge chunk that was just from his brain and previous knowledge that wasn't cited. I believe what he had to say and I suppose I should read his previous books on the subject, but I still want to see the sources. Towards the end was a full chapter dedicated to the CIA's wrongdoings which is understandable in order to build a case against them, explaining their history of atrociousness but I wanted to hear more about Kennedy before and on the day of the assassination.
In the end, I fully respect this author and his credentials and I will read more of his books in the future.
Mark Lane seems to be a very knowledgeable person on the subject and his argument and proof leave me to believe pretty much everything I read.
I thought this was a good book but wasn't as exciting as I expected, he repeated some information here and there and there was a huge chunk that was just from his brain and previous knowledge that wasn't cited. I believe what he had to say and I suppose I should read his previous books on the subject, but I still want to see the sources. Towards the end was a full chapter dedicated to the CIA's wrongdoings which is understandable in order to build a case against them, explaining their history of atrociousness but I wanted to hear more about Kennedy before and on the day of the assassination.
In the end, I fully respect this author and his credentials and I will read more of his books in the future.
August 18, 2016
Mark Lane was one of the first critics of the Warren Commission, publishing "Rush to Judgment" in 1966. When I began researching the JFK assassination in the mid-70s, after the Warren Commission Report, "Rush To Judgment" was one of the first few books I read on the subject (others including, and I recommend, Edward Epstein's "Inquest" and Josiah Thompson's "Six Seconds in Dallas").
This book is more recent (written in 2011). It is well written and gives a lot of detail about Lane's own odyssey of investigating the Kennedy assassination. This book specifically points the finger at the CIA as being the chief culprit behind John Kennedy's death.
Lane makes a pervasive case. I've read and written enough about the case to agree the CIA definitely had to be involved. Whether they were the main/chief culprit is another story. When I was younger, I thought one day the case would be solved. As I age, I realize this is one of those cases which will be forever debated and the full truth will never be known, but I hope that the next generation will continue the quest for the truth.
This book is more recent (written in 2011). It is well written and gives a lot of detail about Lane's own odyssey of investigating the Kennedy assassination. This book specifically points the finger at the CIA as being the chief culprit behind John Kennedy's death.
Lane makes a pervasive case. I've read and written enough about the case to agree the CIA definitely had to be involved. Whether they were the main/chief culprit is another story. When I was younger, I thought one day the case would be solved. As I age, I realize this is one of those cases which will be forever debated and the full truth will never be known, but I hope that the next generation will continue the quest for the truth.
December 30, 2014
Mr. Lanes most recent book updating the evidence for conspiracy. Read Plausible Denial first then this one. This is one of the best JFK assassination books ever written. Explosive evidence in this one.
November 25, 2013
authoritative! read Plausible Denial by same author first.
March 6, 2017
Rather than an explanation of the CIA's involvement in the JFK murder, Mark Lane goes more into the reactions to his research and writing of his own books. A bit tedious.
May 13, 2016
Lane opens with a remembrance to the 50 thousand-plus Americans who died in the Vietnam War, as well as the million or so Vietnamese who died in that conflict. I would like to open this review by stating what I've said elsewhere, that the debunkers who advocate the so-called official conclusions of the Warren Commission et al and deny government responsibility for John Kennedy's murder are actually far worse deniers than it would seem from the nitpicking and hair-splitting they do in arguing that Oswald did it.
A simple reality check should help dispel the notion that the government "just wouldn't" bump off the chief executive like we saw in Dallas. The U.S. government and its large contractors like GE and Westinghouse have manufactured tens of thousands of doomsday thermonuclear bombs, sufficient to exterminate the entire human race many times over, and have pointed those devices of Ultimate Death at the heads of every human being on Earth, ostensibly to frighten all of us into submission should we have any notion to attack or threaten that government. One could argue that the above scenario applies only to nation-states and not individuals, however, an in-depth reading of the terror acts and principles makes it clear that those kinds of lines don't exist now, if they ever did.
Robert Tanenbaum introduces the book with notes about how Mark Lane and other critics of the Warren Report were smeared by the lapdog national press, owned in no small part by the CIA due to their incremental acquisitions over the years. Persons wishing to learn more about the press should check out articles on Project Mockingbird, Frank Wisner's Mighty Wurlitzer, and the history of the Washington Post. My point with this note is that given the intensity and severity of opposition these many JFK researchers have faced from what should have been a free and open press, one can surmise much about the nature and scope of what the press was and is hiding, even 48 years now after the assassination.
BOOK ONE - The Assassination (Chapters 1 to 7):
Lane begins by noting that the CIA has become so powerful that they now command their own Air Force, which adds an undeniable degree of muscle to their aspirations in making national policy. Lane also laments the notion that the press in 1963, acting on behalf of the government, should be able to declare Oswald the lone assassin almost immediately before even the most cursory investigation had begun. Lane goes on to make the point that the main members - the most active members of the Warren Commission - were people who personally befriended Hitler and imprisoned thousands of Americans in concentration camps in the 1940's (John J. McCloy) and who were responsible for numerous assassinations themself (Allen Dulles).
Lane describes his interactions with several eyewitnesses to the events in Dallas, which provides a good alternative to the major media's witness selection. I don't need to list any of those here, but they help illustrate the pattern of obfuscation that took place in the days after the assassination. More pertinent is the section on Liberty Lobby and Willis Carto, whom I know personally from working with him briefly in Orange County California. Carto was sued by E. Howard Hunt of Bay of Pigs fame (1961) and Watergate fame (1972), for stating in his newspaper that Hunt was in Dallas on the day of the assassination. Hunt won the first round, then Mark Lane took on the appeal and won the final round and the case.
The truly extraordinary thing about this case is Marita Lorenz, a CIA employee and girlfriend of Fidel Castro who had Castro's child in Cuba, and subsequently went to work for the CIA. Lorenz stated in a deposition read for the jury at the trial that she accompanied Frank Fiorini (Sturgis), Gerry Patrick Hemming, and the Novo brothers in a car caravan going from Miami to Dallas, arriving the day before the assassination. She stated that they met E. Howard Hunt when they arrived in Dallas, and he was apparently the paymaster for whatever was to take place there. Lorenz learned that she was to be a decoy for the operation, at which point she balked and returned to Miami.
BOOK TWO - The Media Response (Chapters 8 to 13):
In the Media Response chapters Lane names several major media pro-Warren Commission attack dogs, among them Max Holland who wrote for The Nation as a CIA asset, Christopher Andrew who lectures and writes for the CIA, and the New York Times' Anthony Lewis, who by Lane's description would qualify for Junkyard Dog of the Year. Lane goes on to describe CIA memoranda released under the Freedom of Information Act that instruct journalists and other assets on how to attack critics of the Warren Report, including specific language that would be most effective in smearing those critics.
Some of the most painful facts (for the CIA et al) are revealed in these chapters, among which are that the Warren Commission (controlled by the President and Chief Suspect in the assassination) was not representative of the people of the U.S. as was the HSCA, which found that there was indeed a conspiracy in Kennedy's murder. Other painful revelations are the eyewitness testimony of Amos Euins, Helen Markham, and Acquilla Clemons. The latter witness, having testimony not favorable to the Oswald Theory, was denied to even exist by the Commission until Mark Lane proved that she did, at which point the Commission excluded her testimony anyway.
Lane dissects much of Vincent Bugliosi's prose in Bugliosi's JFK book, demonstrating that rather than check his facts to be certain they were true, Bugliosi assembled as much derogatory information (mostly false) as he could find about Lane and other well-known critics and made that information one of the key pillars of his work. To demonstrate the falsity of many of Bugliosi's claims, Lane includes actual Warren Commission testimony of the subjects in question. Lane also describes how Bugliosi interviewed Dr. Cyril Wecht and then completely distorted and twisted his words, to make it appear that Wecht agreed with Bugliosi and the Warren Commission on the direction of the shots that were fired and how those were represented in the President's wounds.
BOOK THREE - The Secret Service (Chapters 14 to 19):
I thought by now I had read everything on the JFK assassination, especially about the rather obvious and visible Secret Service. Be prepared for some surprises. Where the Warren Commission glossed over the Secret Service "failures" the day of the assassination, the HSCA set the record straighter: "No actions were taken by the agent in the right front seat of the Presidential limousine to cover the President..." In fact, the two agents in the President's car and the eight agents in the car immediately behind the President did nothing between the first shot and the final shot more than six seconds later. By contrast, the agents in the Vice-President's car acted immediately on the first shot to protect the Vice-President, jumping on him and covering him completely.
A fascinating tidbit I had been unaware of is that 11 of the most experienced members of the White House Secret Service detail were transferred to other assignments in the 60 days preceding the assassination. There is no explanation for that as far as I know.
One former Secret Service member, Gerald Blaine wrote the book The Kennedy Detail in 2009, endorsing the Warren Report and offering explanations for the behaviors of the various agents the day of the assassination, although Blaine was not in Dallas that day. Errors and omissions abound in Blaine's book, among which are not knowing the nature of Drew Pearson's employment or reputation when they dismissed his newspaper column criticizing the Secret Service on December 1, 1963. Worse is Blaine's assertion that Pearson got it all wrong in his column about the agents' behavior the night before the assassination, when Pearson stated that the agents were out drinking until the wee hours of the morning.
Blaine's accusations against former agent Abraham Bolden are also telling, where Blaine states that there was no corroboration of any of Bolden's stories about the Secret Service and the virulent racism he encountered there. According to Mark Lane, Blaine states several times in his book that there was never a hint of racism in the Secret Service, although nearly 10 years before Blaine's book the Washington Post reported that a number of African-American Secret Service agents had applied to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to file a class action lawsuit against the Secret Service for racial discrimination. In 2007, National Public Radio reported that "58 African-American Secret Service agents issued sworn statements in a class action lawsuit claiming racial discrimination by the agency."
BOOK FOUR - Mexico City (Chapters 20 to 22):
Prior to reading this latest book, I hadn't understood the importance of the story that Lee Oswald had been in Mexico City in late September to early October 1963. That story as it turns out was to establish a relationship between Oswald and Valery Kostikov, a KGB official in the embassy who specialized in assassinations. Committing assassinations that is to say, not investigating them. Once that relationship was presented to the Warren Commission with the insinuation that the KGB was somehow involved in assassinating John Kennedy, the Commission would be less likely to cast a suspicious eye toward the CIA and instead direct their efforts to uncovering skullduggery in the Communist milieu.
A key component of the CIA's fabricated case involving the KGB would be the fear that if it were "known" that the Soviets were responsible for killing Kennedy, then the U.S. would be obligated to go to war which meant launching nukes and millions of people dying. Hence the Warren Commission would preemptively cover the whole thing up "for the good of the country", which actually did happen and which memoranda released under the Freedom of Information Act has proven.
In these chapters Lane describes in detail the success in getting more than a hundred thousand CIA documents released under the Freedom of Information Act in 1975, and having hundreds of student volunteers pore over those documents and pick out the gems. Some of those gems included detailed instructions written by the CIA for their agents and assets in the media to utilize in countering and discrediting critics of the Warren Commission. While the CIA described the Warren Commission members as "Men of integrity, experience, and prominence", most of them had a lot to hide such as assassinations, coups, covering up war crimes, imprisoning innocent people, and hiding exculpatory information that would preclude the conviction of persons they knew to be innocent.
In one interesting aside in these chapters, Lane describes the Gallup Poll taken in 1976 which revealed that 81 percent of Americans believed that John Kennedy was killed as the result of a conspiracy. ABC News confirmed that the percentage was still 81 in 1993, 17 years later. In an interview with Jim Lehrer in 2003, the editor of the Gallup Poll was asked whether the percentage fluctuated according to some current event or events, and he said "Not that I'm aware of - we just discovered that it ... remains at that height." Lane suggests that Gallup should have probed a little deeper and perhaps discovered that there was a rational basis for those beliefs.
Lane wraps up this part of the book by describing David Atlee Phillips' public confession that the Mexico City incident with Oswald never happened. Unfortunately for the CIA, Hoover and the FBI retained certain documents that proved Oswald was not in Mexico City at the time, and the CIA either didn't know those documents existed or they couldn't get to them to destroy them. Also covered in this section is the fate of the HSCA as the FBI and CIA were working feverishly to undermine the Committee, where someone convinced Congressman Louis Stokes to vote against continuation if its key member Richard Sprague remained.
With Sprague's and Robert Tanenbaum's efforts now stymied by the Congressional sponsors' withdrawal of support, they resigned from the HSCA at which point Robert Blakey took over and appointed a retired CIA officer, George Joannides to be the Committee's liason to the intelligence agencies. Joannides' duties prior to retirement were leading a CIA Psych Warfare operation in Miami which created the story that Fidel Castro was responsible for Kennedy's assassination. In a footnote to this section Lane notes Senator Church's committee investigating the CIA, and the fact that Church identified 50 American journalists directly employed by the CIA plus many other journalists who were affiliated with and paid by the CIA.
BOOK FIVE - The Indictment (Chapters 23 to 28):
Lane begins this last section with an article written by Harry Truman and published in the Washington Post in December of 1963. That article is a call for the CIA to be returned to its original mission of intelligence and for the CIA's policy-making and dirty tricks operations to be discontinued. Lane goes on in the next chapter to describe the CIA's assassinations and other operations in present-day Pakistan and how they give the CIA new confidence and assurances that their excesses will not be reined in by any government.
Lane presents a case for the "indictment" of the CIA for criminal conduct, noting the evidentiary requirements for a conventional criminal proceeding and how the CIA has used special privileges and powers to destroy most of the evidence against them. One of the more damning indictments of the CIA is the fact that many of their assassination targets have been among the most beloved personages in their respective countries.
In Vietnam the CIA carried out the assassination of more than 25,000 civilians who supported the National Liberation Front. A former agent for this program of assassinations (the "Phoenix" program) stated that on occasion orders were given to kill American military persons who were considered to be security risks. One former Phoenix case officer testified to Congress that he never knew of anyone detained for interrogation who lived through the interrogation. Extreme forms of torture were the routine procedures in Vietnam.
There was a special prison near Saigon that was being run by a group of psychologists employed by the CIA. When large doses of LSD and other drugs failed to produce confessions and other information the CIA sought, they resorted to Nazi-like tactics - opening the skulls of the detainees and exposing their brains, then jamming electrodes into the brain tissue so they could monitor the detainees' reactions when charges were applied through the electrodes. When these experiments also failed to produce useful results (or even if they did) the detainees were killed and their bodies burned to eliminate any evidence of what was taking place.
Lane goes on to note many of the more sensational cases where people were maimed or killed by the CIA, where many lawsuits were filed against the CIA, and where most of those lawsuits were dismissed by judges friendly to or fearful of the CIA. Lane notes that the CIA's MKULTRA program involved 44 colleges, 15 research foundations and pharma companies, 12 hospitals and clinics and three prisons. Sidney Gottlieb, chief of the Chemical Division of the CIA's Technical Services Staff in the early 1950's, believed that African-American test subjects were more vulnerable to the effects of LSD, and so in one experiment he injected black heroin addicts with LSD for 77 straight days. Besides the experimental value to Gottlieb, the experiment provided entertainment and amusement for the people on Gottlieb's staff.
A simple reality check should help dispel the notion that the government "just wouldn't" bump off the chief executive like we saw in Dallas. The U.S. government and its large contractors like GE and Westinghouse have manufactured tens of thousands of doomsday thermonuclear bombs, sufficient to exterminate the entire human race many times over, and have pointed those devices of Ultimate Death at the heads of every human being on Earth, ostensibly to frighten all of us into submission should we have any notion to attack or threaten that government. One could argue that the above scenario applies only to nation-states and not individuals, however, an in-depth reading of the terror acts and principles makes it clear that those kinds of lines don't exist now, if they ever did.
Robert Tanenbaum introduces the book with notes about how Mark Lane and other critics of the Warren Report were smeared by the lapdog national press, owned in no small part by the CIA due to their incremental acquisitions over the years. Persons wishing to learn more about the press should check out articles on Project Mockingbird, Frank Wisner's Mighty Wurlitzer, and the history of the Washington Post. My point with this note is that given the intensity and severity of opposition these many JFK researchers have faced from what should have been a free and open press, one can surmise much about the nature and scope of what the press was and is hiding, even 48 years now after the assassination.
BOOK ONE - The Assassination (Chapters 1 to 7):
Lane begins by noting that the CIA has become so powerful that they now command their own Air Force, which adds an undeniable degree of muscle to their aspirations in making national policy. Lane also laments the notion that the press in 1963, acting on behalf of the government, should be able to declare Oswald the lone assassin almost immediately before even the most cursory investigation had begun. Lane goes on to make the point that the main members - the most active members of the Warren Commission - were people who personally befriended Hitler and imprisoned thousands of Americans in concentration camps in the 1940's (John J. McCloy) and who were responsible for numerous assassinations themself (Allen Dulles).
Lane describes his interactions with several eyewitnesses to the events in Dallas, which provides a good alternative to the major media's witness selection. I don't need to list any of those here, but they help illustrate the pattern of obfuscation that took place in the days after the assassination. More pertinent is the section on Liberty Lobby and Willis Carto, whom I know personally from working with him briefly in Orange County California. Carto was sued by E. Howard Hunt of Bay of Pigs fame (1961) and Watergate fame (1972), for stating in his newspaper that Hunt was in Dallas on the day of the assassination. Hunt won the first round, then Mark Lane took on the appeal and won the final round and the case.
The truly extraordinary thing about this case is Marita Lorenz, a CIA employee and girlfriend of Fidel Castro who had Castro's child in Cuba, and subsequently went to work for the CIA. Lorenz stated in a deposition read for the jury at the trial that she accompanied Frank Fiorini (Sturgis), Gerry Patrick Hemming, and the Novo brothers in a car caravan going from Miami to Dallas, arriving the day before the assassination. She stated that they met E. Howard Hunt when they arrived in Dallas, and he was apparently the paymaster for whatever was to take place there. Lorenz learned that she was to be a decoy for the operation, at which point she balked and returned to Miami.
BOOK TWO - The Media Response (Chapters 8 to 13):
In the Media Response chapters Lane names several major media pro-Warren Commission attack dogs, among them Max Holland who wrote for The Nation as a CIA asset, Christopher Andrew who lectures and writes for the CIA, and the New York Times' Anthony Lewis, who by Lane's description would qualify for Junkyard Dog of the Year. Lane goes on to describe CIA memoranda released under the Freedom of Information Act that instruct journalists and other assets on how to attack critics of the Warren Report, including specific language that would be most effective in smearing those critics.
Some of the most painful facts (for the CIA et al) are revealed in these chapters, among which are that the Warren Commission (controlled by the President and Chief Suspect in the assassination) was not representative of the people of the U.S. as was the HSCA, which found that there was indeed a conspiracy in Kennedy's murder. Other painful revelations are the eyewitness testimony of Amos Euins, Helen Markham, and Acquilla Clemons. The latter witness, having testimony not favorable to the Oswald Theory, was denied to even exist by the Commission until Mark Lane proved that she did, at which point the Commission excluded her testimony anyway.
Lane dissects much of Vincent Bugliosi's prose in Bugliosi's JFK book, demonstrating that rather than check his facts to be certain they were true, Bugliosi assembled as much derogatory information (mostly false) as he could find about Lane and other well-known critics and made that information one of the key pillars of his work. To demonstrate the falsity of many of Bugliosi's claims, Lane includes actual Warren Commission testimony of the subjects in question. Lane also describes how Bugliosi interviewed Dr. Cyril Wecht and then completely distorted and twisted his words, to make it appear that Wecht agreed with Bugliosi and the Warren Commission on the direction of the shots that were fired and how those were represented in the President's wounds.
BOOK THREE - The Secret Service (Chapters 14 to 19):
I thought by now I had read everything on the JFK assassination, especially about the rather obvious and visible Secret Service. Be prepared for some surprises. Where the Warren Commission glossed over the Secret Service "failures" the day of the assassination, the HSCA set the record straighter: "No actions were taken by the agent in the right front seat of the Presidential limousine to cover the President..." In fact, the two agents in the President's car and the eight agents in the car immediately behind the President did nothing between the first shot and the final shot more than six seconds later. By contrast, the agents in the Vice-President's car acted immediately on the first shot to protect the Vice-President, jumping on him and covering him completely.
A fascinating tidbit I had been unaware of is that 11 of the most experienced members of the White House Secret Service detail were transferred to other assignments in the 60 days preceding the assassination. There is no explanation for that as far as I know.
One former Secret Service member, Gerald Blaine wrote the book The Kennedy Detail in 2009, endorsing the Warren Report and offering explanations for the behaviors of the various agents the day of the assassination, although Blaine was not in Dallas that day. Errors and omissions abound in Blaine's book, among which are not knowing the nature of Drew Pearson's employment or reputation when they dismissed his newspaper column criticizing the Secret Service on December 1, 1963. Worse is Blaine's assertion that Pearson got it all wrong in his column about the agents' behavior the night before the assassination, when Pearson stated that the agents were out drinking until the wee hours of the morning.
Blaine's accusations against former agent Abraham Bolden are also telling, where Blaine states that there was no corroboration of any of Bolden's stories about the Secret Service and the virulent racism he encountered there. According to Mark Lane, Blaine states several times in his book that there was never a hint of racism in the Secret Service, although nearly 10 years before Blaine's book the Washington Post reported that a number of African-American Secret Service agents had applied to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to file a class action lawsuit against the Secret Service for racial discrimination. In 2007, National Public Radio reported that "58 African-American Secret Service agents issued sworn statements in a class action lawsuit claiming racial discrimination by the agency."
BOOK FOUR - Mexico City (Chapters 20 to 22):
Prior to reading this latest book, I hadn't understood the importance of the story that Lee Oswald had been in Mexico City in late September to early October 1963. That story as it turns out was to establish a relationship between Oswald and Valery Kostikov, a KGB official in the embassy who specialized in assassinations. Committing assassinations that is to say, not investigating them. Once that relationship was presented to the Warren Commission with the insinuation that the KGB was somehow involved in assassinating John Kennedy, the Commission would be less likely to cast a suspicious eye toward the CIA and instead direct their efforts to uncovering skullduggery in the Communist milieu.
A key component of the CIA's fabricated case involving the KGB would be the fear that if it were "known" that the Soviets were responsible for killing Kennedy, then the U.S. would be obligated to go to war which meant launching nukes and millions of people dying. Hence the Warren Commission would preemptively cover the whole thing up "for the good of the country", which actually did happen and which memoranda released under the Freedom of Information Act has proven.
In these chapters Lane describes in detail the success in getting more than a hundred thousand CIA documents released under the Freedom of Information Act in 1975, and having hundreds of student volunteers pore over those documents and pick out the gems. Some of those gems included detailed instructions written by the CIA for their agents and assets in the media to utilize in countering and discrediting critics of the Warren Commission. While the CIA described the Warren Commission members as "Men of integrity, experience, and prominence", most of them had a lot to hide such as assassinations, coups, covering up war crimes, imprisoning innocent people, and hiding exculpatory information that would preclude the conviction of persons they knew to be innocent.
In one interesting aside in these chapters, Lane describes the Gallup Poll taken in 1976 which revealed that 81 percent of Americans believed that John Kennedy was killed as the result of a conspiracy. ABC News confirmed that the percentage was still 81 in 1993, 17 years later. In an interview with Jim Lehrer in 2003, the editor of the Gallup Poll was asked whether the percentage fluctuated according to some current event or events, and he said "Not that I'm aware of - we just discovered that it ... remains at that height." Lane suggests that Gallup should have probed a little deeper and perhaps discovered that there was a rational basis for those beliefs.
Lane wraps up this part of the book by describing David Atlee Phillips' public confession that the Mexico City incident with Oswald never happened. Unfortunately for the CIA, Hoover and the FBI retained certain documents that proved Oswald was not in Mexico City at the time, and the CIA either didn't know those documents existed or they couldn't get to them to destroy them. Also covered in this section is the fate of the HSCA as the FBI and CIA were working feverishly to undermine the Committee, where someone convinced Congressman Louis Stokes to vote against continuation if its key member Richard Sprague remained.
With Sprague's and Robert Tanenbaum's efforts now stymied by the Congressional sponsors' withdrawal of support, they resigned from the HSCA at which point Robert Blakey took over and appointed a retired CIA officer, George Joannides to be the Committee's liason to the intelligence agencies. Joannides' duties prior to retirement were leading a CIA Psych Warfare operation in Miami which created the story that Fidel Castro was responsible for Kennedy's assassination. In a footnote to this section Lane notes Senator Church's committee investigating the CIA, and the fact that Church identified 50 American journalists directly employed by the CIA plus many other journalists who were affiliated with and paid by the CIA.
BOOK FIVE - The Indictment (Chapters 23 to 28):
Lane begins this last section with an article written by Harry Truman and published in the Washington Post in December of 1963. That article is a call for the CIA to be returned to its original mission of intelligence and for the CIA's policy-making and dirty tricks operations to be discontinued. Lane goes on in the next chapter to describe the CIA's assassinations and other operations in present-day Pakistan and how they give the CIA new confidence and assurances that their excesses will not be reined in by any government.
Lane presents a case for the "indictment" of the CIA for criminal conduct, noting the evidentiary requirements for a conventional criminal proceeding and how the CIA has used special privileges and powers to destroy most of the evidence against them. One of the more damning indictments of the CIA is the fact that many of their assassination targets have been among the most beloved personages in their respective countries.
In Vietnam the CIA carried out the assassination of more than 25,000 civilians who supported the National Liberation Front. A former agent for this program of assassinations (the "Phoenix" program) stated that on occasion orders were given to kill American military persons who were considered to be security risks. One former Phoenix case officer testified to Congress that he never knew of anyone detained for interrogation who lived through the interrogation. Extreme forms of torture were the routine procedures in Vietnam.
There was a special prison near Saigon that was being run by a group of psychologists employed by the CIA. When large doses of LSD and other drugs failed to produce confessions and other information the CIA sought, they resorted to Nazi-like tactics - opening the skulls of the detainees and exposing their brains, then jamming electrodes into the brain tissue so they could monitor the detainees' reactions when charges were applied through the electrodes. When these experiments also failed to produce useful results (or even if they did) the detainees were killed and their bodies burned to eliminate any evidence of what was taking place.
Lane goes on to note many of the more sensational cases where people were maimed or killed by the CIA, where many lawsuits were filed against the CIA, and where most of those lawsuits were dismissed by judges friendly to or fearful of the CIA. Lane notes that the CIA's MKULTRA program involved 44 colleges, 15 research foundations and pharma companies, 12 hospitals and clinics and three prisons. Sidney Gottlieb, chief of the Chemical Division of the CIA's Technical Services Staff in the early 1950's, believed that African-American test subjects were more vulnerable to the effects of LSD, and so in one experiment he injected black heroin addicts with LSD for 77 straight days. Besides the experimental value to Gottlieb, the experiment provided entertainment and amusement for the people on Gottlieb's staff.
November 3, 2023
Listened to Audiobook. This book covers a lot of territory. For whatever reason I thought it was going to be focused solely on the CIA involvement in the Kennedy assassination. But the author goes off in multiple different directions showing where the CIA came from where it’s been and where he thinks it’s going.
Last 20 or 30% of the book is a little long just for the simple fact that it’s deep into the weeds on what the CIA has been up to for the last few years prior to the Book’s publication. And because of the wide ranging storyline, the book becomes repetitive.
I think my main surprise was based on how detailed the author was in his various legal and investigative work that he is still a devoted Democrat. It doesn’t necessarily mean that he should be a devoted Republican instead. It’s just that this book seems to expose both parties as being very complicit in investigating the Kennedy assassination, as well as allowing the CIA to maintain, sustain, and grow beyond its original scope. A lot of that blame lays at the feed of Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson. And we’ve obviously had several Democratic presidents since then including two that served two terms. And yet the CIA continues to grow out of control and beyond control of elected officials, and the citizens of the United States.
I have no reason not to think the information brought forward in this book is not factual. It certainly sheds new light on the Kennedy assassination for me. And the author does it in a way that makes it seem very matter of fact. Not some wild, unhinged conspiracy theory/crackpot take on things. However, I can see more clearly why there are so many theories and crackpots looking into this and not trusting government. This book really veers off into that place during the last 20 to 30% of the book. If the government is able to cover up this many things from all levels, as well as lie about what it is doing or not doing, what is the hope of actually closing this agency and stopping all the problems it’s creating both domestically and internationally?
The book ends with the letter from the author to then President Barack Obama. asking him to prosecute and shut down the CIA. And yet here we are involved in multiple battlefronts and with global Dee stabilization. The author is certainly made a very compelling case to me that what he saying is true.
Last 20 or 30% of the book is a little long just for the simple fact that it’s deep into the weeds on what the CIA has been up to for the last few years prior to the Book’s publication. And because of the wide ranging storyline, the book becomes repetitive.
I think my main surprise was based on how detailed the author was in his various legal and investigative work that he is still a devoted Democrat. It doesn’t necessarily mean that he should be a devoted Republican instead. It’s just that this book seems to expose both parties as being very complicit in investigating the Kennedy assassination, as well as allowing the CIA to maintain, sustain, and grow beyond its original scope. A lot of that blame lays at the feed of Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson. And we’ve obviously had several Democratic presidents since then including two that served two terms. And yet the CIA continues to grow out of control and beyond control of elected officials, and the citizens of the United States.
I have no reason not to think the information brought forward in this book is not factual. It certainly sheds new light on the Kennedy assassination for me. And the author does it in a way that makes it seem very matter of fact. Not some wild, unhinged conspiracy theory/crackpot take on things. However, I can see more clearly why there are so many theories and crackpots looking into this and not trusting government. This book really veers off into that place during the last 20 to 30% of the book. If the government is able to cover up this many things from all levels, as well as lie about what it is doing or not doing, what is the hope of actually closing this agency and stopping all the problems it’s creating both domestically and internationally?
The book ends with the letter from the author to then President Barack Obama. asking him to prosecute and shut down the CIA. And yet here we are involved in multiple battlefronts and with global Dee stabilization. The author is certainly made a very compelling case to me that what he saying is true.
June 18, 2021
Confessing to a bit of bias, I give Last Word a 5-star rating even though it lacks an index, which it could use, because I've always admired Mark Lane.
It's a kind of mini-autobiography, written in Lane's customarily fluid style. As a lawyer, he had a way of viewing things that always struck me as sensible. His first book, Rush to Judgment is largely to thank for having initiated and kept alive a view of the JFK assassination contravening the Warren Report. His analytical style is very lawyerly, and makes a fine complement to Accessories After the Fact by Sylvia Meagher, who was a public health official and analyst.
Last Word points out a disturbing reality about the role of the Secret Service in the assassination. Although no Secret Service agents were meant to be outside of the presidential motorcade in Dallas, numerous witnesses attested to having been confronted with people who, when approached, produced authentic-looking Secret Service credentials. This almost certainly allowed accomplices (and probably actual assassins) to escape without suspicion.
In one passage, Lane explains that police officers ran up the hill that has been identified for posterity as the "grassy knoll" and searched the area behind the fence with their weapons drawn.
Lane explains that a CIA "chemist" named Sidney Gottlieb had earlier written a memo revealing that "the CIA had provided to the Secret Service all important forms and identification to be used by Secret Service agents, focusing upon documents to be used by those agents during presidential campaigns." Gottlieb was head of the TSD.
Secret Service agent Abraham Bolden was not allowed to testify before the Warren Commission, but had he appeared, "he would have revealed that during January 1964, less than two months after the assassination, the Secret Service withdrew the CIA-prepared identification documents and issued new credentials prepared by its own agency."
By then, of course, it would be too late to save the life of President John F. Kennedy.
Mark Lane was a great man in his own way. He died in 2016.
It's a kind of mini-autobiography, written in Lane's customarily fluid style. As a lawyer, he had a way of viewing things that always struck me as sensible. His first book, Rush to Judgment is largely to thank for having initiated and kept alive a view of the JFK assassination contravening the Warren Report. His analytical style is very lawyerly, and makes a fine complement to Accessories After the Fact by Sylvia Meagher, who was a public health official and analyst.
Last Word points out a disturbing reality about the role of the Secret Service in the assassination. Although no Secret Service agents were meant to be outside of the presidential motorcade in Dallas, numerous witnesses attested to having been confronted with people who, when approached, produced authentic-looking Secret Service credentials. This almost certainly allowed accomplices (and probably actual assassins) to escape without suspicion.
In one passage, Lane explains that police officers ran up the hill that has been identified for posterity as the "grassy knoll" and searched the area behind the fence with their weapons drawn.
They found men there who produced valid Secret Service credentials. Those credentials were apparently created by a top secret group within the CIA operating illegally as the Technical Services Division (TSD).
Lane explains that a CIA "chemist" named Sidney Gottlieb had earlier written a memo revealing that "the CIA had provided to the Secret Service all important forms and identification to be used by Secret Service agents, focusing upon documents to be used by those agents during presidential campaigns." Gottlieb was head of the TSD.
Secret Service agent Abraham Bolden was not allowed to testify before the Warren Commission, but had he appeared, "he would have revealed that during January 1964, less than two months after the assassination, the Secret Service withdrew the CIA-prepared identification documents and issued new credentials prepared by its own agency."
By then, of course, it would be too late to save the life of President John F. Kennedy.
Mark Lane was a great man in his own way. He died in 2016.
April 16, 2022
Subtitle: My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK
Mark Lane is a former attorney and New York state politician who achieved his greatest fame as a critic of the Warren Commission’s handling of the witness testimonies during their investigation of the JFK assassination. He has authored several books on the subject, including Rush to Judgment (the very first best-selling book examining the contortions the Warren Commission went through to support the lone assassin theory), and Plausible Denial (the story of how Lane defended a small magazine against libel charges made by former CIA agent E. Howard Hunt and in the process proved that Hunt was in Dallas the day Kennedy was killed). Lane passed away in 2016, so this 2011 book was meant as his last written statement on the topic.
Much of the material covered here is a rehashing of the shortcomings of the Warren Commission and Lane’s courtroom success against Hunt, but there was one new bit of information that blew me away. After JFK was shot, police encounter three different men at the scene who produced Secret Service identification and were released (one on the grassy knoll immediately afterward, and two who emerged from the Texas School Book Depository sometime later). Afterward, all of the Secret Service personnel were accounted for, with none of them assigned to be present in either of those areas. Lane references a 2007 response to a Freedom of Information Act request which revealed that while the Secret Service printed its own credentials for the bulk of their agents, the CIA’s secret Technical Services Division printed credentials, parking passes, and other materials for the Secret Service’s White House detail. Shortly after the assassination, the Secret Service withdrew those credentials and replaced them with ones they had their own printing office produce. This provides a strong link between the CIA and individuals who were likely involved in the killing.
I gave Last Word five stars on Goodreads. It inspired me to find the video documentary of Rush to Judgment on YouTube. It includes statements from several witnesses of the assassination that serve as a sampling of how the Warren Commission twisted and slanted the evidence to fit their pre-conceived conclusions.
Mark Lane is a former attorney and New York state politician who achieved his greatest fame as a critic of the Warren Commission’s handling of the witness testimonies during their investigation of the JFK assassination. He has authored several books on the subject, including Rush to Judgment (the very first best-selling book examining the contortions the Warren Commission went through to support the lone assassin theory), and Plausible Denial (the story of how Lane defended a small magazine against libel charges made by former CIA agent E. Howard Hunt and in the process proved that Hunt was in Dallas the day Kennedy was killed). Lane passed away in 2016, so this 2011 book was meant as his last written statement on the topic.
Much of the material covered here is a rehashing of the shortcomings of the Warren Commission and Lane’s courtroom success against Hunt, but there was one new bit of information that blew me away. After JFK was shot, police encounter three different men at the scene who produced Secret Service identification and were released (one on the grassy knoll immediately afterward, and two who emerged from the Texas School Book Depository sometime later). Afterward, all of the Secret Service personnel were accounted for, with none of them assigned to be present in either of those areas. Lane references a 2007 response to a Freedom of Information Act request which revealed that while the Secret Service printed its own credentials for the bulk of their agents, the CIA’s secret Technical Services Division printed credentials, parking passes, and other materials for the Secret Service’s White House detail. Shortly after the assassination, the Secret Service withdrew those credentials and replaced them with ones they had their own printing office produce. This provides a strong link between the CIA and individuals who were likely involved in the killing.
I gave Last Word five stars on Goodreads. It inspired me to find the video documentary of Rush to Judgment on YouTube. It includes statements from several witnesses of the assassination that serve as a sampling of how the Warren Commission twisted and slanted the evidence to fit their pre-conceived conclusions.
July 7, 2023
It’s hard to really put introspective how much information is in this book. Mark Lane in plane measured prose goes point by point through the evidence, and the complete failure of the Warren Commission to responsibly investigate the murder, to question hundreds of different pieces of evidence, and in a final, incredulous pronouncement to state that one pristine bullet caused seven different wounds. Lane also discusses the CIA smear campaign. The teams of trained assassins left over from the Bay of Pigs used to kill Kennedy. the corporate, CIA imperialist interest in central and South America. The history of CIA in overthrowing democratic movements that threaten corporate interests (Congo, Nicaragua, Chile, Iran, and failed attempts in France and Cuba). The CIA MK ultra (MKULTRA) program and the illegal, unethical, and immoral experimentation upon Americans, volunteers prisoners and children with psychoactive medications, psychological torture, experimental operations, shock treatments, and other depraved, monstrous fantasies. this book is a thorough denouncement of the CIA and what is effectively a fourth branch of government that is unchecked non-accountable and has zero oversight. This is one of the most important books of the second half of the 19th century, and it illustrates that more important than the Kennedy assassination is what the conspiracy to kill a democratic leader, on US soil, by a secret wing of the government, says about United States as a whole.
February 12, 2024
Fascinating read about a subject that I'm a bit obsessed with. The author seems to assume that we know the background information going in - that we have read his previous book on the subject, Rush to Judgment, first published in 1966. This book deals with the assassination of JFK, the way Lee Oswald was set up to take the fall for the crime, and lots of shady background goings on with the Warren Commission Investigation and how it was conducted. Mark Lane was a prominent attorney, civil rights activist and New York state legislator. I give this book four stars (should be three but I want people to pick up the book) because it is challenging to plow through, partly because of the writing style and organization. One has to be interested in the subject. The multitudinous players involved are hard to keep straight. Lane used the Freedom of Information Act to acquire much of the information he cites. There is an actual copy of an FBI document outlining detailed actions for the agency to take to silence him and discredit his work and block his career. He does spend maybe a bit too much time on the vendetta against him. Nevertheless, it is fascinating (and not a little bit disheartening) to get a peek at the murky underbelly of the FBI, CIA, and our elected leaders in Congress, and how they operate. I found that listening to the 8 episode podcast, Who Killed JFK? by Rob Reiner and Soledad O'Brien, was super helpful in providing more context for everything.
April 15, 2019
I haven't really made a habit out of reading conspiracy theory books in the past. However, I have had a strong feeling that JFK was assassinated through a government conspiracy. When I had the fortune to find this book on Kindle I took the plunge. The findings are well documented with multiple sources and testimonials. Mark Lane has been tirelessly investigating and writing about this tragedy since it occurred and has several previous books on this same subject.
This is a story, sadly true (in my opinion), of corruption in the CIA and in areas of the US government that is so enormous that it's hard to grasp that it could be happening in the USA.
According to the author, and other sources, a number of people who knew too much about the truth of JFK's assassination are also among the dead. Some of those people and the circumstances are in this book.
The book is well laid out and comprehensive. There is a section in the middle that I felt was a bit repetitive but it then progressed into a very important end of the book. I highly recommend this to anyone willing to consider, truthfully, what may have really happened on that fateful day.
This is a story, sadly true (in my opinion), of corruption in the CIA and in areas of the US government that is so enormous that it's hard to grasp that it could be happening in the USA.
According to the author, and other sources, a number of people who knew too much about the truth of JFK's assassination are also among the dead. Some of those people and the circumstances are in this book.
The book is well laid out and comprehensive. There is a section in the middle that I felt was a bit repetitive but it then progressed into a very important end of the book. I highly recommend this to anyone willing to consider, truthfully, what may have really happened on that fateful day.
April 14, 2019
I'm not sure how to rate this. I was thinking that this book would put forth Mark Lane's thoughts and evidence on who killed JFK. After reading this book, it appears that "Rush to Judgement" is the book that is about that topic. This book is about all the different ways that the CIA has sought to discredit Mark Lane and his theories, and while it does contain some witness statements and other evidence, it's more to show those statements and then, demonstrate how the CIA twisted them.
I find some aspects of the book to come across long-winded and in places, a bit paranoid and whiny. For example, there's a whole section on Mark Lane being a judge in a film festival, and his wanting to award a film that no one else wanted to award. In the end, the film got the award, but Lane was never invited back to be a judge again. Maybe I missed it, but I don't get how this relates to the topic, unless the premise is that it was a film about JFK or that it was the CIA who blocked Lane from being a repeat judge.
I find some aspects of the book to come across long-winded and in places, a bit paranoid and whiny. For example, there's a whole section on Mark Lane being a judge in a film festival, and his wanting to award a film that no one else wanted to award. In the end, the film got the award, but Lane was never invited back to be a judge again. Maybe I missed it, but I don't get how this relates to the topic, unless the premise is that it was a film about JFK or that it was the CIA who blocked Lane from being a repeat judge.
November 4, 2022
Mark Lane was the first one to question the "party line" when the WC Report came out, and he has continued to serve the greater public interest by making the uncovering of who really assassinated JFK, his life's work, in addition to assisting other organizations and people who have been abused by the system in the USA...and actually across the globe. This work is the coup de grace against those who forever changed the direction of our country, his indictment of the CIA with the corresponding evidence, is what has been needed to once and for all, put the final nail in the coffin of that dastardly organization. Unfortunately, we have seen no change in their behaviour or in how the people of our country fail to man-up and take on the dark forces which have taken over our country and continue to hold it hostage. Even if you have read what you believe to have been all the worthwhile books about this evil deed, I would still highly recommend reading this last great work by the late great public servant, Mark Lane.
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April 3, 2022Disclaimer: I’ve heard audiobook instead of written format so some of my criticism might be due to the fact that audio format does not allow for references, section titles etc.
I picked up this book for a long plane ride so I really had 0 expectations especially since it was free on audible. Even though this book feels like addendum to previous works I’m not familiar with, author does a great job at getting his points across and gives enough context for reader to understand how superficial investigation into JFK killing was. He also goes to great lengths in replying to criticism about his previous books.
What I didn’t like was lack of clear timeline - author is referring to events spanning half a century and besides obvious ones directly around assassination it was difficult to understand when exactly something takes place.
I picked up this book for a long plane ride so I really had 0 expectations especially since it was free on audible. Even though this book feels like addendum to previous works I’m not familiar with, author does a great job at getting his points across and gives enough context for reader to understand how superficial investigation into JFK killing was. He also goes to great lengths in replying to criticism about his previous books.
What I didn’t like was lack of clear timeline - author is referring to events spanning half a century and besides obvious ones directly around assassination it was difficult to understand when exactly something takes place.
September 25, 2018
The book presented detailed facts, interviews, details, etc that were very convincing. While the author's conclusion that the CIA killed the president and that the FBI and others in government covered it up is certainly plausible and likely true, it is quite clear that there is a LOT more to the story than what we were told by our government.
The weakness in the book is the details of other abuses committed by the government. Valid as those accusations may or may not be, they are immaterial to the question at hand.
I don't know if it's appropriate to say whether or not I 'liked' the book. It's not that type of book.
The weakness in the book is the details of other abuses committed by the government. Valid as those accusations may or may not be, they are immaterial to the question at hand.
I don't know if it's appropriate to say whether or not I 'liked' the book. It's not that type of book.
December 2, 2023
The JFK assassination has been an ongoing intriguing obsession with me for many years now … in this book … I felt like Mark Lane summarizes his frustration with our country’s lack of leadership, guts and bravery in the investigation of the assassination. I do agree with Mr. Lane … John F. Kennedy was assassinated by his own government and as a result of a well organized conspiracy! I’m hoping a researcher stumbles upon an overlooked detail and unravels the truth! It will have to take something like that … because, the people that do know what truly occurred that day will never spill … they realize that the truth would destroy every shred of faith in the United States!
August 9, 2023
Less about the details of the CIA’s involvement in the murder of JFK and more so a memoir of Mark Lane’s long career of probing into the CIA’s many successful attempts to keep the American public naive to their misdeeds. What details that are included are instances of perjury by CIA on itself, constantly slipping up, indicting themselves, and yet never paying the consequences. The beauty of this book is that it is remarkably free of speculation, allowing for an analysis of the CIA and it’s assassination of JFK without falling into the typical conspiratorial pitfalls of such projects.
September 19, 2019
Extremely well researched in great detail. If I ever had any doubts about those responsible for the death of John Kennedy I certainly no longer have them. I am going to acquire all other available writings by this author. Very illuminating! i
The chapter by Oliver Stone also added depth to the information imparted in this book! I highly recommend this book.
The chapter by Oliver Stone also added depth to the information imparted in this book! I highly recommend this book.
June 22, 2021
From the months following JFK's assassination, after seeing the Zapruder film, anyone who has ever fired a weapon (armed forces and law enforcement) HAS TO COME TO THE CONCLUSION that the fatal shot CAME FROM THE FRONT..Behind the fence, on the grassy knoll...Mark Lane based his book on this conclusion, and I agree with him 100%!!!...Great job, Mr.Lane
October 11, 2021
Last Word
A straight forward, logical and vary readable work pointing to the theory that the CI A was the planner and executor of the JFK assassination. A very good book that presented a strong case. The book was concise, to the point without a lot of fluff and filter to fill out the book.
A straight forward, logical and vary readable work pointing to the theory that the CI A was the planner and executor of the JFK assassination. A very good book that presented a strong case. The book was concise, to the point without a lot of fluff and filter to fill out the book.
January 1, 2022
I found this a really informative book and at times really engaging.
But I also felt like I was being pulled around, things were being repeated and that it didn't read well. Nothing wrong with the prose itself. Just a bit . . . repetative.
I am not sure I agree with him on everything but found the links to Nixon interesting.
But I also felt like I was being pulled around, things were being repeated and that it didn't read well. Nothing wrong with the prose itself. Just a bit . . . repetative.
I am not sure I agree with him on everything but found the links to Nixon interesting.
December 6, 2023
Wow, incredible investigation, incredible case!
There is way too much that makes for a case. But even if you only start with the shot from the front, and even if you just ask “why don’t most people know about the bullet hole in the forehead” and that alone will be enough to know there is much more to this.
There is way too much that makes for a case. But even if you only start with the shot from the front, and even if you just ask “why don’t most people know about the bullet hole in the forehead” and that alone will be enough to know there is much more to this.
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