Did Clemon Johnson see Smoke from a Rifle on the Grassy Knoll?
- Fred Litwin
- Mar 7
- 3 min read
Another one of Mark Lane's witnesses to support his theory that a gunman was firing from the grassy knoll was Clemon Johnson: (page 40 of Rush to Judgment)
Clemon E. Johnson told FBI agents that he had observed 'white smoke.'
Johnson tells the FBI that, at the time, "he did not know that it was shots and he could not say how many shots he heard." But, for some strange reason, Mark Lane does not quote the last line:
Mr. Johnson stated that white smoke was observed near the pavillion, but he felt that this smoke came from a motorcycle abandoned near the spot by a Dallas policeman.
Here is what Clemon Johnson told Larry Sneed for his book, No More Silence: An Oral History of the Assassination of President Kennedy: (page 81 in the Kindle edition)
I didn’t have any idea where the shots came from, not even a guess. I was looking down at the President as they came through, and I didn’t hardly look up till he was gone. I wasn’t looking up at those bushes. I did see smoke, lots of puffs of smoke, but I was of the opinion that the smoke was coming out of those motorcycles. The smoke was coming up off the ground out where the motorcycles were, not on the grassy knoll. A lot of them said they saw smoke come out of the grassy knoll, but I didn’t. Maybe it’s because they were looking that way, and I was looking down on the car. But the smoke cleared up pretty quick after all the cars and motorcycles left. I’ve always thought the smoke came from those motorcycles.
Of course, Mark Lane leaves out of his book the fact that Mr. Johnson thought the smoke was from motorcycles.
Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Mark Lane
Walter Winborn saw smoke on the grassy knoll, but was it from a rifle?
Mark Lane and the HSCA.
An interesting anecdote from Mort Sahl's book, Heartland.
Some ads for Lane's film Rush to Judgment.
A Garry Wills opinion piece on Mark Lane.
Navasky tests Lane's book and finds it wanting.
A New York Times profile of Lane and his involvement with Jonestown.
An apt profile.
An opinion piece by Anthony Lewis in the New York Times on Mark Lane and Jonestown.
An opinion piece from the Washington Post
A good opinion piece from the Philadelphia Bulletin.
Meagher tells Labro a story about Mark Lane.
Even a left-wing magazine like The Progressive found Mark Lane hard to take.
Mark Lane's addition to the 1992 edition of Rush to Judgment is eye opening.
Lane tells Dolan about Garrison's amazing evidence.
Lane makes a startling allegation.
A profile from Mother Jones magazine.
Lane and Meagher feuded about a blurb for her book.
A profile from Esquire Magazine.
An article from the Tampa Bay Times.
An Anthony Lewis column on Mark Lane from 1978.
Howard Roffman finds that Mark Lane's scholarship is lacking.
A profile of Mark Lane in Newsweek.
Mark Lane offers to introduce Jim Garrison to a witness that, for $25,000, would tie Jack Ruby with Clay Shaw.
This post has a good case study of how Mark Lane exploited a redaction in a document.
Lane tells the Danish press he knows who killed JFK.
Lane speaks at the Louisiana State Bar Association.
