Last Word: My Indictment of the CIA in the Murder of JFK

by Mark Lane

  46.Ibid.

  47.I did correspond with a Canadian lawyer who asked me to raise with the Soviets the false imprisonment of a political prisoner. The CIA was aware of the fact that I persisted in that request and added that the prisoner was being held in solitary confinement and should be afforded the right to see local counsel. The request was met with a hostile and somewhat public response informing me that I was rude to persist, almost to the point of saying that I was no longer welcome in that Soviet bloc country. The Canadian lawyer’s politics were well-known; he was decidedly anti-Soviet.

  48.Andrew and Mitrokhin, The Sword and the Shield. 291.

  49.Ibid.

  50.Ibid.

  51.Volumes 1 through 15 contained the transcripts of the testimony of hundreds of witnesses; Volumes 16 through 26, many of them comprised of between 900 and 1,000 pages, included thousands of documents.

  52.The New York Times, November 30, 1978. A23

  53.The New York Times, November 21, 1978.

  54.Warren Commission Report, p. v.

  55.I knew then, as I know now, that publications have a history, but that they do not have an immutable tradition. Publications speak with the voice of the present owner. The New York Post, for example, was founded in 1801 by Alexander Hamilton; its most famous editor was William Cullen Bryant, the poet and abolitionist. When Dorothy Schiff bought the Post in 1939, it became the home for James Wechsler, its editor, and featured many popular columnists, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Murray Kempton, Eric Sevareid, and Max Lerner. It was at that time a bastion of liberal thought. Since then, it has been purchased by Rupert Murdoch and represents a very different view. The Nation was founded in 1865 by abolitionists. Its mission, according to its founding prospectus, stated that The Nation will “make an earnest effort to bring to the discussion of political and social questions a really critical spirit, and to wage war” upon various vices “by which so much of the political writing of the day is marred.” It listed those vices as “exaggeration and misrepresentation.” Today, it speaks in the voice of Katrina vanden Heuvel.

  56.All of the quoted citations regarding this episode are from the New Orleans Police Department Report.

  57.Brainy Quote.com

  58.Reclaiming History, p. 765.

  59.Regarding the book about her, Mrs. Oswald later stated that much of the book that Johnson had written was false and known to be false by Johnson.

  60.Vincent Bugliosi, The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President (New York, Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2001).

  61.BrainyQuotes.com.

  62.Ibid.

  63.Bugliosi, The Betrayal of America, p.86.

  64.Reclaiming History, p. 1001.

  65.Reclaiming History, page 1003.

  66.Rush to Judgment, page 81.

  67.Ibid.

  68.Reclaiming History, p. xvii.

  69.Reclaiming History, p. 961.

  70.Ibid.

  71.Portions of Helen Markham’s testimony are reproduced in Rush to Judgment, in the chapter entitled “The Murder of Officer Tippit: The Eyewitnesses,” pp. 178–89.

  72.Reclaiming History, p. 1006.

  BOOK THREE

  THE SECRET SERVICE

  Abraham Bolden

  He was called the Jackie Robinson of the United States Secret Service. Since I knew Jackie, I knew that it was not a simple accolade and that it encompassed an onslaught of racism and unearned suffering. It has been said that such pain is redemptive. That may be so, but not necessarily in this world.

  Abraham Bolden was the first African American to be assigned to the White House detail to protect the president as a member of the United States Secret Service. John Kennedy had personally invited him. Many of his new colleagues were former hard-drinking police officers, born and raised in Southern states, who referred to President Kennedy as a “nigger lover” who was “screwing up the country” with his civil rights initiatives. Some Secret Service agents assigned to the White House detail said that if shots were fired at the president, they would take no action to protect him. A few of the agents said that they would resign from the Secret Service rather than give up their lives to shield him. Abe Bolden heard those and similar assertions many times.

  Unlike some other national leaders who ignored their Secret Service agents who were always present, Kennedy made sure that they were comfortable, and he engaged them in conversations about matters unrelated to their work assignments. When the president passed by, he often stopped to chat with Bolden, asking about his family and sending his regards to them. This seemed to outrage Agent Harvey Henderson, Bolden’s immediate supervisor.

  Bolden vividly recalled the scene when Henderson was seated on a couch drinking beer and staring at him in a room with other agents. Henderson said, “Bolden.” Abe acknowledged the greeting, “Yeah, Harvey.” Then, staring at Bolden and speaking slowly to emphasize each word, Henderson said, “I’m going to tell you something and I don’t want you ever to forget it. You’re a nigger. You were born a nigger, and when you die you’ll still be a nigger. You will always be nothing but a nigger. So act like one!” The other agents present were silent.

  At that point Bolden thought it might be better to return to his less glamorous work in Chicago rather than continue with the prestigious assignment to the White House detail. He was depressed by the poor level of protection provided to the president by agents, some of whom were addicted to drinking, some of whom “were cocky senior agents” who showed little respect for Kennedy, and some of whom were “inexperienced probationary agents and trainees.” Bolden left the White House detail to work in Chicago. He was not discreet about his observations. He said that “every agent in the Chicago office knew my feelings about the White House detail and that I believed that its ‘protection’ of President Kennedy was a complete sham.”

  Sometime after the assassination Bolden, then in Washington, attempted to contact the Warren Commission so that he could offer to testify. He called the White House switchboard to obtain the number of Rankin, the commission’s general counsel. That call was overheard by another agent. The Secret Service invited him to return at once to Chicago, falsely stating that there was a case that required his immediate presence there. There was no case, and when he arrived the threats and the interrogation began. “You called the White House didn’t you, Abe? We have the records and we know that you tried to call someone there.” He was told that he was in trouble and warned that “loose lips sink ships.” A Secret Service inspector said, “Listen, Abe, Kennedy is dead. We did our best to protect him and it didn’t work out. We are not going to stand by and let you bury our careers and destroy the Secret Service.”

  Bolden was indicted for attempting to sell information to a suspect. My own research into the matter, including interviews with Bolden while his appeal was pending, constrained me to believe that he was framed and that no crime was ever anticipated or committed. An examination of the court records, the criminal records of the accusers, the almost unprecedented actions of the judge and the appellate court, and the character of the judge and prosecutor, convinces me beyond any doubt that Bolden was denied a fair trial.

  At Bolden’s first trial the jurors were unable to reach a verdict, and a mistrial was declared. At that trial the judge informed the jury that the evidence demonstrated that Bolden was guilty. Later the judge defended himself by saying that he did not say that he believed Bolden was guilty, merely that the evidence showed that he was. That bizarre assertion relies upon a distinction without a difference. The judge violated the judicial canon of ethics and committed the most meaningful misconduct possible as a judicial officer. He then insisted upon presiding at the second trial as well, where his biased view was evident. The judge and the prosecutor systematically removed every black and Hispanic prospective juror. In Chicago, Bolden was tried by an all-white jury at a trial controlled by a biased judge who had said he was guilty and prosecuted by a lawyer who had apparently suborn
ed perjury. He was convicted.

  I have tried many hundreds of cases during the last sixty years. Judges, being human, often have fixed opinions about a case. Many of the judges both in state and federal courts have been fair. I have known judges who I was quite certain believed that my client was guilty and that his defense was meritless. Yet that private opinion was never communicated to the jury. That is my standard for determining whether a judge meets the strict discipline of his profession.

  The conviction was followed by another unrelated trial at which the testimony of a crucial government witness at Bolden’s trial testified that he had committed perjury to secure Bolden’s conviction and had been instructed to do so by the prosecutor. The prosecutor did not deny that he had suborned perjury. Yet the conviction was permitted to stand, and no action was taken against the prosecuting attorney. The hysteria surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy was the foundation for the creation of scoundrel time in America from which the judiciary was not immune.73

  After Bolden was convicted he was sentenced to six years in prison. When I learned that he was being held in the Springfield Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, I was concerned. In his book, The Echo from Dealey Plaza, 74 Bolden wrote:

  Lane was no novice, and knowing what Springfield might mean for me, he called a press conference in which he announced where I was being held, and described his fear that the government might try to silence me further by declaring me insane. Mark Lane’s statements were broadcast widely.75

  Not long after Bolden was incarcerated in the prison area at Springfield, he was placed in solitary confinement in the hospital section of the facility and forced to take mind-altering drugs. After his lawyer learned that he had not been before a classification committee and that his official status had not been changed, rendering the transfer and involuntary use of medication both in violation of the regulations and illegal, he was transferred to the prison facility and the medication was discontinued.

  The indictment and subsequent trial of Abraham Bolden had their anticipated effect. He was not permitted to testify before the Warren Commission, and that decision was made not just by corrupt prosecutors and biased judges but by Earl Warren himself. Since one of the responsibilities of the commission was to evaluate the role of the Secret Service, James Rowley, the director of the agency, was called as a witness.76 Warren presided, and as always, Dulles was at his side. Two lawyers and three other Commission members were also present. Rowley admitted that agents were drinking when they were on duty, which he conceded was a violation calling for termination from the agency. However, when asked if the men had been reprimanded, he answered that each man had been told that what they did was wrong and “I am quite sure that they all understand it at this time.”

  When asked if he had “any other complaints similar to this,” Rowley testified, “we had one last month” and quickly added that the agent “is currently under indictment.”77

  He asked to go off the record to discuss the matter; but Warren responded, “There is no reason to discuss that case here, Chief.” There followed some banter about when Bolden, the unnamed agent, made his “complaints” about the misconduct of members of the White House detail; but neither Warren, nor Dulles, nor the general counsel to the commission ever inquired or learned about the nature of the “complaints.” Bolden was never interviewed by the commission. He had been indicted in May 1964 just in time for Rowley, who testified in June, to make that claim to Warren. Warren, Dulles and Rankin were on a mission to reassure America that all was well and sat there side by side, simian-like, with their eyes, ears and mouths covered. In that blissful state of ignorance they determined that they had met their obligation to evaluate the Secret Service protection. If it had inquired about Bolden’s “complaints;” the commission would have obtained a great deal of information to properly evaluate the efforts and planning of the Secret Service to protect the president.

  In its report the commission concluded, after stating that there were “many standard operating procedures of the Secret Service in addition to its preventive intelligence operations,” that “examination of these procedures shows that in most respects they were well conceived and ably executed by personnel of the Service.”78

  The Warren Commission made this summary statement:

  The Commission finds that the Secret Service agents in the motorcade who were immediately responsible for the President’s safety reacted promptly at the time the shots were fired. Their actions demonstrate that the President and the Nation can expect courage and devotion to duty from the agents of the Secret Service.79

  It was almost as if Kennedy had survived. After the politicians had concluded that Rowley was doing a heck of a job, a more serious investigation took place; and the result was quite different. In 1978, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), with the participation of experienced lawyers not burdened with preconceptions, was in this instance willing to listen to eyewitnesses, not just the head of the bureaucracy. After a careful review its conclusions were startling to those who had relied upon the Warren Commission. Under the heading “THE SECRET SERVICE WAS DEFICIENT IN THE PERFORMANCE OF ITS DUTIES,”80the HSCA concluded that:

  The Secret Service possessed information that was not properly analyzed, investigated, or used by the Secret Service in connection with the President’s trip to Dallas; in addition, Secret Service agents in the motorcade were inadequately prepared to protect the President from a sniper.81

  The HSCA was specifically concerned about the refusal of an agent to protect the president when the firing began:

  No actions were taken by the agent in the right front seat of the Presidential limousine to cover the President with his body, although it would have been consistent with Secret Service procedure for him to have done so.82

  The committee stated that incorrect instructions were given to the agent by the Secret Service and that those instructions were responsible for the failure of the Secret Service agent to act appropriately.83

  Unlike the Warren Commission, the HCSA had obtained the testimony of Abraham Bolden.84 They knew that members of the Secret Service assigned to protect the president disliked him and had vowed never to take a bullet to save his life.

  The only responsibility for Secret Service members assigned to the White House detail is to protect the president. It is for that sole commitment that they received specialized training. The Secret Service driver is obligated to drive at a maximum speed if shots are fired and the Secret Service agent in the passenger seat is required to cover the president’s body with his own.

  The first bullet struck President Kennedy in the back. It caused a painful but not a fatal wound. Five and six tenths of a second later, a bullet fired from the front struck his head and killed him. That brief period is an eternity for Secret Service agents to accomplish their mission. The driver is required to speed up immediately and the other agent required to rush to the back seat and throw the president down and cover his body with his own.

  When the first shot was fired, the driver slowed down the limousine. The agent in the passenger seat sat still in frozen indifference, not moving to the rear of the vehicle, not even attempting to reach the man he was sworn to protect. At that defining moment in history, the agents in the limousine violated their oaths and cowered instead of acting appropriately. The agents violated their sworn duty but were true to the commitment they had previously made to each other when they stated that they despised the president’s civil rights initiatives and would never take a bullet to save his life.

  Bolden was also prepared to tell the Warren Commission about the assassination that had been planned to take place on November 2, 1963, almost three weeks before Dallas. President Kennedy was scheduled to arrive in Chicago that morning in order to ride in a motorcade and attend the Army–Air Force football game at Soldier Field. The Secret Service was warned about a death threat. The manager of a Chicago motel was suspicious about two guests. She had seen several
automatic rifles equipped with telescopic sights lying on a bed in the room they had rented. On the bed also was the outline of the route that President Kennedy would travel in Chicago. It would have taken the president past the building with the weapons and the two male occupants. The Secret Service placed the two men under surveillance. It should not have been much of a challenge; the suspects had carelessly left incriminating evidence in a room protected only by a “Do Not Disturb” sign. Yet it proved to be a task the Secret Service was not able to handle or had decided to bungle.

  The agents lost track of the men and at some level it was decided not to pursue the matter. Bolden said that “no one was sent to the room to fingerprint it or get an I.D. The case was lost and that was the end of it.” When Kennedy was informed that two heavily armed, possible hit men were loose in the city, he cancelled plans for the visit. The White House reported that the president had a cold.

  About three weeks later, when the president was killed by a shot fired from behind a wooden fence on a grassy knoll, officers, weapons drawn, ran up the hill to search the area behind the fence. They found men there who produced valid Secret Service credentials.85Those credentials were apparently created by a top secret group within the CIA operating illegally as the Technical Services Division (TSD).

  A memorandum written by Sidney Gottlieb of the CIA’s secret TSD revealed that the CIA had provided to the Secret Service all important forms of identification to be used by Secret Service agents, focusing upon documents to be used by those agents during presidential campaigns. During 1963, Gottlieb, at the request of the CIA, had also devised a method for killing Castro just as rapprochement between Cuba and the United States seemed possible.