The JFK Conspiracy - Mr "X" is Fletcher Prouty

The following can be found at : http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/prouty3.txt

Fletcher Prouty, Mark Lane,
JFK Assassination Theories,
& the Fascist Right

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I am posting this at the request of some folks who are
active in this conference. Please do not deluge me with
E-mail. When I use the terms conspiracist, conspiracism,
and conspiracy theory, I mean theories for which there is
inadequate information to draw reasonable conclusions. I
am well aware that there are numerous actual conspiracies,
especially among government officials. I have worked on
many lawsuits against the FBI and CIA trying to prove
such conspiracies.  -Chip Berlet
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The JFK Conspiracy

The Oliver Stone film "JFK" stimulated nationwide
interest in conspiracies. Some right-wing
paranoid theories are woven into the film, not
surprising since Fletcher Prouty was an advisor
to Stone, and the film's character "Mr. X" was
primarily based on Prouty. Several of the film's
themes echo conspiracist claims appearing in a
John Birch Society magazine article on the JFK
assassination by Medford Evans. The article was
first published in September 1967 and was
reprinted in April 1992 in the Birch magazine
"The New American" to catch the wave of publicity
around the Stone film. In the article, Evans
discusses rumors that Lyndon Johnson may have
engineered the Kennedy assassination, considers
the assassination a "coup d'etat" . and suggest
the American Establishment had JFK killed. The
publisher complains, however, that "if Oliver
Stone is seriously trying to indict the CIA,
defense contractors, Big Oil, Big Business, the
news media, and a host of others, he errs in
suggesting that the whole business was a
right-wing plot. These are not individuals of the
Right."

As the film "JFK" was making headlines, Prouty
was promoting the new IHR edition of his book on
the CIA, "The Secret Team" and Lane was promoting
his new book on the Kennedy Assassination,
"Plausible Denial," in tandem with the film.
Prouty wrote the introduction to Lane's book.
Stone highlighted the research of Prouty in a
December, 1991 "Op-Ed" article in the "New York
Times" . Prouty was widely discussed as a model
for the "Mr. X" character featured in the Stone
film, and Prouty served as an advisor to the
film. Both Prouty and Lane have been featured on
nominally progressive radio stations discussing
the JFK assassination. There has been a
reluctance to discuss some of these issues among
some progressives, for instance a new film by
respected documentarians Daniel Schechter and
Barbara Kopple, "Beyond 'JFK': The Question of
Conspiracy," features Lane and Prouty but makes
no mention of the controversy surrounding
their affiliations.

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"Spotlight" used the opportunity of the release
of Oliver Stone's film "JFK" to promote Fletcher
Prouty, Mark Lane, and Victor Marchetti. Prouty
was an advisor on the film and was the model for
the film's character "Mr. X." Prouty and Lane
went on book promotion tours in tandem with the
film. "Spotlight" wove its coverage of the film
"JFK" around its theories about Jewish "dual
loyalist" control of the U.S. government and the
claim that the Israeli intelligence agency,
Mossad, controls CIA covert operations.

While concern over Reagan Administration
participation in joint intelligence operations
with Mossad is legitimate, the use of
anti-Zionism as a cover for conspiracist
anti-Jewish bigotry can be seen in an article in
the August 24, 1981 issue of "Spotlight" :

"A brazen attempt by influential
"Israel-firsters" in the policy echelons of the
Reagan administration to extend their control to
the day-to-day espionage and covert-action
operations of the CIA was the hidden source of
the controversy and scandals that shook the U.S.
intelligence establishment this summer."

"The dual loyalists, whose domination over the
federal executive's high planning and
strategy-making resources is now just about
total, have long wanted to grab a hand in the
on-the-spot "field control" of the CIA's
worldwide clandestine services. They want this
control, not just for themselves, but on behalf
of the Mossad, Israel's terrorist secret police."

"Spotlight" not only rails against
"dual-loyalist" Jews in government, but also has
praised the Nazi skinhead movement and reported
favorably on the "spirit" of the Nazi Waffen SS
during World War II.

Prouty is quoted in the October 8, 1990 edition
of "Spotlight" as saying the enemy of the
American people is the CIA along with "usury, the
political parties, the media and our textbooks."
The issue of usury (high interest rates) is often
coupled with a bigoted critique of Jewish
financial influence and power, and whether or not
that was the way Prouty meant it to be taken, in
the context of a Liberty Lobby conference, the
anti-Jewish inference would be drawn by many in
the audience.

Prouty also was quoted in the "Spotlight" as
saying that "If anybody really wants to know
what's going on in the world today he should be
reading "The Spotlight." Prouty refused to
confirm or deny the accuracy of the quote in an
interview with the author. [f-17]

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