Was Jim Garrison a Prophet of the American People?
- Fred Litwin
- 15h
- 5 min read
Updated: 9h
From an interview with Mark Lane on WVUE-TV, New Orleans on April 29, 1978. Aaron Kohn of the Metropolitan Crime Commission produced a transcript and here is an excerpt about the JFK assassination: (the rest of the interview was about the Martin Luther King assassination, Lane was in town to promote his book, Code Name Zorro, which was co-authored with Dick Gregory)
Kohn sent copies of the transcript to the FBI and to Robert Blakey. He made the transcript from a video tape copy of the program that he received from the television station.
Money Quote:
Mark Lane: And I'd just like to say one thing if I can in closing because when I look back, because it comes up when you talk of the King assassination, more than 10 years ago, eleven, twelve years ago before Dr. King was killed, there was a lone voice in this country saying, "Lee Harvey Oswald worked for the American Intelligence organization; the Warren Commission Report is in essence a license to kill national leaders and we have to do something about it; we have to get to the bottom of this." And that voice was Jim Garrison of this City. And if he'd been listened to in 1967, I believe that maybe Robert Kennedy would not have been assassinated; maybe Martin Luther King would not have been assassinated. He was trying to revoke, Mr. Garrison alone in a struggle in this City, which the whole world was listening to, was trying to revoke the Warren Commission Report which was a license to kill national leaders. And I don't know how people in New Orleans feel about him now. I know that there really is no such thing as a prophet in your own time and especially in your own home town, but he is indeed a prophet of the American people.
And Mark Lane was just lying when he said that the HSCA totally corroborated everything that Jim Garrison said. The HSCA final report said that Garrison had been "fairly criticized for questionable tactics." They did find some credence in the Clinton allegations but that part of their investigation was poorly handled.
Update:
Was Oswald's gonorrhea in the line of duty, as alleged by Mark Lane?
John McAdams covers this in his book, JFK Assassination Logic: (page 211 - 212 in the Kindle edition)
Author Anthony Summers phoned one of the doctors who treated Oswald and reported, “He did not recall the episode and explained that the notation was most probably a routine device to avoid jeopardizing Oswald’s pay.” More specific information is available in the Warren Commission’s Folsom Exhibit. Apparently, “not due to own misconduct” is a term of art. As explained by the judge advocate general, in a memo dated October 17, 1958,
Misconduct is wrongful conduct. Simple or ordinary negligence, however, does not constitute misconduct. The fact that an act violates a law, regulation or order does not, of itself, constitute misconduct. In order to support a determination of misconduct, it must be found that the injury was intentionally incurred, or resulted from negligence that was so gross as to demonstrate a reckless disregard of the consequences.
Translation: you can screw up to a degree, and we aren’t going to call it “misconduct.” Mark Zaid, a JFK researcher and a lawyer, notes that the Manual of the Judge Advocate General (section 0809 [b]) specifies, “Any disability resulting from venereal diseases shall not support a misconduct finding if the member has complied with regulations requiring him to report and receive treatment for such disease” (emphasis added).
Oswald had done exactly this. Zaid further found that actions that do not rise to the level of “misconduct” will be ruled “in the line of duty” so as not to threaten a Marine’s severance benefits.
There is one final piece of evidence: when Oswald shot himself with a Derringer pistol that he was not allowed to have in his possession, according to Marine rules, his injury was ruled “in the line of duty” and was “not the result of his own misconduct.” And this incident led to his being court-martialed. So screw-ups worse than contracting VD might still be ruled “in the line of duty” and “not the result of his own misconduct.”
Of course, the Marine Corps could have mounted a crusade against VD, and harshly punished any soldier coming down with a case, but that would have invited large problems as Marines failed to get treated, and would have been a big hassle all around. So, the Corps had a rather forgiving and sensible policy. Oswald was dealt with in an entirely routine way. But you can’t know that based on how the bureaucratic language sounds. You have to do a little research to find out what it means.
Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Mark Lane
Lane cuts out a scene in which Price says the man he saw might have been carrying a hat.
An excellent article from the Dallas Morning News on Lane's witnesses.
Lane cuts out a few of Reynolds' answers.
Sylvia Meagher was incensed at Lane's inclusion of this story in his film.
A good case study in Lane's intellectual dishonesty.
Robert Blakey and the HSCA were very critical of Mark Lane.
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.
