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The documents, mostly dating from December 1963 to December 1964, were selected from the "Key Persons" File of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, also known as the Warren Commission.
Attorney Mark Lane is best known as an author exploring John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories. In 1966, his book critical of the Warren Commission, "Rush to Judgment" became a best seller. In 2011, his "The Last Word: My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK," was published.
Four weeks after the November 22, 1963 Kennedy assassination, the far left New York newspaper the National Guardian published an article written by Lane. In the article Lane took the role of Oswald's defense attorney, addressing several issues including the witnesses who claimed to have seen Oswald on the sixth floor of the school book depository; the paraffin test which, to Lane, indicated that Oswald had not fired a rifle recently; the conflicting claims about the rifle which at first had been, as the police announced, a German Mauser and afterwards an old WWII Mannlicher-Carcano rifle; the Parkland Hospital doctors announcing an entrance wound in the throat; the role of the FBI; and the press, who Lane said convicted Oswald before his guilt was proven.
Lane later contacted the Warren Commission desiring to participate in the Commission's inquiry, representing the interests of Lee Harvey Oswald. Three months later the Commission appointed Walter E. Craig, president of the American Bar Association, to represent the interests of Oswald. However, Lane did become the attorney chosen by Marguerite Oswald, Lee Harvey's mother, to publicly represent Oswald's interest.
The documents contained in these files were photocopied by the Commission from the mass of documents that were created or accumulated by the Commission, to form a segmented collection of documents covering Mark Lane. Most documents were created by the Warren Commission, FBI, Department of Justice, and the Department of State. |