Editing Rush to Judgment (section)

{{Short description|1966 book by American lawyer Mark Lane}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox book
<!-- |italic title = (see above) -->
| name             = Rush to Judgment
| image            = File:Rush_to_Judgment_book_cover.jpg
| image_size    = 200
| caption          = Cover of first American edition
| author           = [[Mark Lane (author)|Mark Lane]]
| title_orig       = 
| translator       = 
| illustrator      = 
| cover_artist     = 
| country          = United States
| language         = 
| series           = 
| subject          = [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy]]
| genre            = 
| publisher        = [[Holt, Rinehart & Winston]]
| pub_date         = August 1966
| english_pub_date = 
| media_type       = Print ([[hardcover]])
| pages            = 478 pp.
| isbn             = 
| oclc             = 4215197
| dewey            = 
| congress         = E842.9 .L3 1966a
| preceded_by      = 
| followed_by      = 
}}

'''''Rush to Judgment: A Critique of the Warren Commission's Inquiry into the Murders of President John F. Kennedy, Officer J.D. Tippit and Lee Harvey Oswald''''' is a 1966 book by American lawyer [[Mark Lane (author)|Mark Lane]]. It is about the [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy]] and takes issue with the investigatory methods and conclusions of the [[Warren Commission]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,836375-2,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104024942/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,836375-2,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 4, 2012|title=Essay: Autopsy on the Warren Commission|publisher=Time Magazine|date=September 16, 1966}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/1992/9204/9204FIL.cfm|title=Oliver Stone's JFK in Historical Perspective|author=James N. Giglio|publisher=American Historical Association|date=April 1992}}</ref> The book's introduction is by [[Hugh Trevor-Roper]], [[Regius Professor of History (Oxford)|Regius Professor of History]] at the [[University of Oxford]].<ref name="Chicago Tribune; May 23, 1966">{{cite news |last=Cassidy |first=Claudi |author-link=Claudia Cassidy |date=May 23, 1966 |title=On the Aisle: Preview of Mark Lane's 'Rush to Judgment,' In Inquiry into the Evidence's Other Side|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1966/05/23/page/47/article/on-the-aisle |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |at=Section 2, p. 5 |access-date=July 24, 2015}}</ref> Although it was preceded by a few self-published or small press books, ''Rush to Judgment'' was the first [[mass market]] [[hardcover|hardcover book]] to confront the findings of the Warren Commission.<ref name="Hoover">{{cite news |last=Hoover |first=Bob |date=November 2, 2013 |title=The Next Page: The JFK assassination conspiracy circus |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2013/11/03/The-Next-Page-The-conspiracy-circus/stories/201311030074 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |accessdate=August 14, 2014}}</ref><ref>Prior authors included [[Harold Weisberg]] and Sylvia Meagher</ref>

The title of the book was taken from [[Lord Chancellor]] [[Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine|Thomas Erskine's]] defense of [[James Hadfield]], who had attempted to assassinate [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]] in 1800.<ref name="Chicago Tribune; May 23, 1966"/> According to Alex Raskin of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', "''Rush to Judgment'' opened the floodgate for [[John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories|Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories]]".<ref name="Los Angeles Times; December 29, 1991">{{cite news |last=Raksin |first=Alex |date=December 29, 1991 |title=Nonfiction |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-29-bk-1707-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |location=Los Angeles |access-date=May 4, 2015}}</ref>

[[Bertrand Russell]], who is thanked in the acknowledgements section of the book for being "kind enough to read the manuscript and make suggestions",<ref name=ack>{{cite book |last1=Lane |first1=Mark |title=Rush to Judgment |date=1992 |publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press |page=25}}</ref> set up the ''Who Killed Kennedy? Committee'' in response to the book. This committee, in Russell's words, was set up "for the purpose of making known the material [Lane] has uncovered and his further findings".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ayer |first1=A.J. |title=Bertrand Russell |date=1988 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=26}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Russell |first1=Bertrand |title=The Selected Letters of Bertrand Russell, Volume 2 The Public Years 1914-1970 |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |page=576}}</ref> [[Arnold J. Toynbee]] is also thanked in the acknowledgements section for the same reason.<ref name=ack/>