LBJ was behind JFK's assassination, upcoming book contends

Knight Ridder Newspapers ^ | Aug. 20, 2003 | HYE JEONG

[new cruelty]

GULFPORT, Miss. - (KRT) - The father of the White House press secretary claims in his upcoming book, "Blood, Money & Power: How L.B.J. Killed J.F.K.," that former President Lyndon B. Johnson was behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Barr McClellan, father of White House press secretary Scott McClellan and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Mark McClellan, is preparing for a Sept. 30 release of a 480-page book by Hannover House that offers photographs, copies of letters, insider interviews and details of fingerprints as proof that Edward A. Clark, the powerful head of Johnson's private and business legal team and a former ambassador to Australia, led the plan and cover-up for the 1963 assassination in Dallas.

Kennedy was shot and killed while throngs watched his motorcade travel through Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Vice President Johnson was sworn in as president shortly after on Air Force One.

"(Johnson) had the motive, opportunity and means," said McClellan, 63, who was a partner in an Austin law firm that served Johnson. The book, McClellan said in an exclusive interview at his Orange Grove home, is about "(Johnson's) role in the assassination. He was behind the assassination, how he was and how it all developed."

McClellan and his wife have lived in Gulfport since 1998, where his wife's family lives. McClellan consults for some businesses on the Coast and writes books.

McClellan said he includes information in the book that alludes to Johnson's role in the assassination. An example is a story that was told to him by the late Martin Harris, former managing partner at the law firm, as told to Harris by Clark.

McClellan writes in his book that in a 1961 meeting on Johnson's ranch outside Johnson City, Texas, Johnson gave Clark a document that may have helped the assassin:

"Johnson suddenly let Clark go. `That envelope in the car,' he said quietly, almost an afterthought, `is yours.' Stepping toward the car, he muttered, `Put it to good use.' He turned, putting his arms across Clark's shoulders, pulling him along, (and) the two walked toward the convertible.

"As they drove back to the ranch, Clark opened the envelope. It contained the policy manual for protection of the president."

Barry Bishop, senior shareholder of Clark's former law firm, defended the attorney.

McClellan's theory is "absurd," Bishop said over the phone. "Mr. Clark was a big supporter of Mr. Kennedy. The day that President Kennedy was assassinated, there was going to a be a dinner that evening in Texas. Mr. Clark was a co-sponsor of that dinner."

McClellan's book is just one of numerous conspiracy theory books that criticize the conclusion of the FBI's investigation of the assassination, that found that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman.

According to the Warren Commission's 1964 report, "Examination of the facts of the assassination itself revealed no indication that Oswald was aided in the planning or execution of his scheme."

But that hasn't stopped people from writing books that challenge the Warren Commission's findings. Other ideas about who was behind the assassination include U.S. intelligence agents, the Mafia, Nikita Khrushchev, the military-industrial complex and Cuban exiles.

So why should people believe McClellan? What makes his book different?

"The big beauty is, (readers) don't have to believe a word I say," McClellan said. "They can believe the fingerprint examiner. They can believe the exchange of memos and letters."

"The book is the evidence," said Cecile McClellan, McClellan's wife, who has edited much of the book. "When you read that book and look at those exhibits, and say, `Do I believe this?' There it is … It's like (McClellan is) a lawyer presenting this book to the jury. You make your own decision. He's putting it all out there."

The theory that Johnson was involved is "exceedingly unlikely," said John C. McAdams, who is an outspoken supporter of the Warren Commission's findings and teaches a course on the JFK assassination at Marquette University in Milwaukee. "What did he (McClellan) find in the documents, and what does it, in fact, indicate? If he's looking at all the documents everyone else is looking at, I would want to know which documents he's interpreting as L.B.J."

Eric Parkinson, president of Truman Press Inc., the parent company of Hannover House, said the book comes out at a good time.

"Now, 40 years later, it's appropriate that this additional information be brought to light. It (the book) will provide closure for a lot of people."

McClellan began working with Clark in 1966 and said he had no role in the conspiracy. But he did hear rumors about it.

"When I first started work there and was told that Clark was behind the assassination, I didn't believe it. It was, `This guy you really liked, John Kennedy - he was killed by the guy you're working for now.' I think I went into a bad case of denial."

McClellan said he learned of Clark's role several times, from Clark and others in the law firm, including while he was acting as Clark's lawyer. The case involved the 1969 application for Clark to drill an oil well and name it after himself.

At the time, McClellan said he asked Clark about the rumors he had been hearing. He said Clark talked in code, but he said, "He wanted the payoff for it. When you mention Dallas, you were talking about the assassination. We had a discussion about it. That's in the book, pretty much verbatim."

But why didn't McClellan go public with the information back then?

"When you get inside the attorney-client privilege, you find out a whole lot," McClellan said. "At the time I thought everything I learned was privileged. I've since found out that there's no privilege for lawyers who plan crimes," he said, referring to Clark.

McClellan said he left the law firm in 1982 because Clark wanted him to represent a company that would conflict with interests of McClellan's other clients. Then, he said, Clark sued him over a personal loan. McClellan counter-sued. Then the bank holding the loan sued.

"When I found out what they were going to do to me, I got mad. The gloves came off. I said, `Forget it. They're not going to get away with this anymore.'"

But it took years before McClellan was able to publish the book that he said supports his assassination theory.

Finally in 1994, the 14-year legal battle with the lawsuits ended with dismissals. By that time, Clark had been dead for two years.

McClellan said he was trying to get a book out in 1984, while Clark was alive. "He knew I was going public - from the affidavits in one of those three lawsuits," McClellan said. And he said a book agent he approached in 1984 told him to "do an investigation."

So he began.

"I wanted to be comfortable with what I knew," McClellan said. He said it took a long time to verify fingerprints with several experts and to find a publisher.

"A lot of it wouldn't have been available except that old Clark's records" were bequeathed to Southwestern University, McClellan said, making them available for research. Previously "they were stored in his private records. I'm sure if he had thought about it before he died, he would have probably thrown away a few."

McClellan had been writing bits and pieces of the book since he left the law firm. He logged numerous hours of research and 10 researchers helped him, he said.

Supporters and detractors have talked to McClellan about possible repercussions from the book, McClellan said, but he's not losing any sleep.

McClellan said he hasn't had any overt threats. He said people imply retributions, like suggesting that "I'm not going to make it in Austin. `You're going to be out of here.'"

McClellan said at least some in his family accept his work on the book.

"They said, `OK, I guess that's what Dad's doing now,'" McClellan said.

But he said he has not had the chance to ask sons Scott and Mark for their reactions.

"I assume that they know about it," McClellan said. "They know what I'm doing. They're not going to comment on it. The oldest, Mark, was then maybe 15 when I left the law firm."

When asked if he was concerned for the safety of his twin sons, Dudley, an Austin lawyer in private practice, and Bradley, a Texas state associate attorney general, McClellan said: "The Democrats are pretty much out of power, really, in the state of Texas. So as far as Republicans go, they're in good shape. My ex-wife (Carole Keeton Strayhorn) - she's the comptroller of the state of Texas. There's really none of this influence or anything like that."

[Diddle E. Squat]

You're assuming the administration would object to this book. How do you know it isn't meant as a warning of what other RAT misdeeds might be revealed if the RATs are excessively uncooperative?

Interesting theory. Not sure if I buy it, because believe it or not, many things do move independently, but it is still an interesting theory. And I am sure the administration was aware of this upcoming book through the vetting process of Scott.

[tpaine]

Yes indeed.
You should have seen old fred25 jumping thru hoops a couple of years ago to justify the magic bullet.

We had several very informative threads on the subject back then. The upshot?
There are those duped by the warren report, and, all the rest of us.

[Diddle E. Squat]

I have no problem believing that Oswald was the one, and only, shooter. However, Jack Ruby and his background is very suggestive that Oswald was acting for somebody or group, not as a lone nutcase.

[Diddle E. Squat]

No no no, aluminum foil is just fine. There is a reason that they are called the Aluminati...

[The KG9 Kid]

"... How about the "single bullet theory"? That of the three shots fired, One missed, One was the final head shot, and the third hit both Kennedy and Connally a total of seven times?"

I want to preface my comment by saying that I'm not against a multiple gunmen theory, or CIA + Cuba + Russia + LBJ + Illuminati + Cthulhu worshippers being behind the assassination of President Kennedy --- only that I believe that Oswald could certainly have been a trigger puller on that day.

As far as the 'Magic Bullet Theory' goes, I should note that one of the first eye-opening experiences I had with the crazy things high-velocity rifle bullets do was as a machinegunner in the Marine Corps. In that role, you tend to have a job where you shoot more rounds in a year's time that most other service members will do in their whole career. You get to see firsthand what the effects are on all sorts of various targets -- Armor plate, dirt embankments, tree trunks, tree limbs, bushes, tires, barrels, GI cans filled with water, unexploded ordnance on occasion, vehicle relics, trash and crap, etc. etc. etc.

The thing that really makes an impact is tracer rounds during night fire at the range. Some tracers jump up in the air and spin like a glowing ball, some zig-zag after bouncing off three small rocks, some make trails like a bolt of lightning, etc. I've even had some shots damn near come right back at me when shooting at a range that has a lot of fired lead buildup. They all describe the random bullet path of each round fired. They don't all do that, but you get to witness some weird shots numerous times per night.

When I really sat down to read the account of the 'Magic Bullet Theory', it later made me think several things:

1. Was the path of the 'Magic bullet' a lot straighter than the anti-'Magic Bullet Theory' conspiracists lead us to believe? They claim that Kennedy and the governor of Texas were at precisely this angle with their arms just so and their torsos angled exactly in such a way based solely upon the Zapruder Film. I look at the Zapruder Film and think that they've got a great imagination. I see a short and blurry home video starring Jackie Kennedy wearing a big ass hat right before JFK's head explodes.

2. Rifle bullets have a lot of punching power. Fold a piece of paper over on itself a few times and poke a pencil through it. Have you made one hole or multiple seperate holes?

3. I believe in the *possibility* that the Carcano bullet could have zipped around in a skewed path causing several wounds to Kennedy and Connally and come out partially intact. I only say this because I've personally witnessed bullets do strange things after they hit and picked up damned near pristine bullets fired downrange on numerous occasions.

Ever seen strange things happen on the break in a game of billiards? It's a lot the same way. I landed a cue ball inside someone's pitcher of beer five feet away from the table with a giant sploosh one time and the triangle of balls on the table hardly broke up.

In relation to the rest of the Kennedy Assassination conspiracy, I can't say that I'm a serious student of the Warren Report or a fanatic about the subject. I'm interested, but not scholarly about it. I just wanted to make the point that I noticed that just about all conspiracies about the assassination of President Kennedy are based upon the belief that Oswald couldn't have made the shot because bullet will always take on a ballistic laboratory's flight characteristic expectancies.

It just ain't always so. Why not this time?

As for LBJ being in on the murder, or the CIA, or the Soviets, or Castro... Who knows? That's not my point.

[ntnychik]

Are you thinking of the work Hillary did just after college on the team that was working on Nixon's impeachment? LOL, she wrote the standard for that one, then went into BIG LIE mode when the Pubbie House Managers tried to use the same standard for Clintoon.

[PhilDragoo]

I recall Fred25, the omnipresent expert, the fly on the wall, no doubt the precursor to the unnamed source behind the yellowcake revelations emanating from truthout.

Another all-purpose handyman is Gerald Posner.

His 1993 Case Closed based on American Bar Association evidence was followed by his appearance on Mike Wallace's 60 Minutes smear of Christopher Ruddy and his The Strange Death of Vincent Foster.

Then Ruddy crowed over the finding of death by natural causes in the case of Carlos Ghigliotti the FLIR expert hired by the Davidians. Ghigliotti was found dissolved in his office, having proved 200 shots by FBI/Delta at Davidians fleeing the fire.

Dan Moldea appeared to refute the culpability of Thane Eugene Cesar in the shooting of RFK which forensic expert Thomas Noguchi said was caused by four .22 cal. shots from behind, to the right, from below, and point-blank: leaving residue--yet Sirhan was never in position, only Cesar the security guard who carried a back-up .22 that night, and whose clip-on tie RFK grabbed as he went down.

Moldea claimed he cleared Cesar with two polygraph exams.

Moldea was part of Terry Lenzner's IGI, responsible for dirty tricks for the Clinton operation.

[Junior_G]

The Men on the Sixth Floor is an excellent book supporting the theory that LBJ was behind the assassination, working primarily through his murderous associate, Malcolm Wallace. Wallace had been performing dirty deeds (primarily murder) for LBJ since Johnson's days in congress.

[First Conservative]

It has been interesting, as a long time student of the murder of JFK, to read all the comments. Over the years I have accumulated quite a few of the books written about the event. >

Anyone that still believes the Warren cover-up or that Oswald even fired a weapon that day should wear a tin foil hat, because even the U.S. Congress had to finally admit there had been more than one shooter.>

A question, though. Why do you suppose that Gov Connally would not allow the bullet fragments in his leg to be removed? He and his wife always testified the bullet that hit him was NOT the bullet that first hit JFK! The bullet fragments would destroy Arlen Specter's "magic bullet" theory.)

Most of the known facts have been posted. Howard Hunt of later Watergate fame was apparently involved. The actual shooters (not Oswald, the "patsy," by his own admission when he was alive and realized what was happening to him) will probably never be known, but I also believe they tri-angulated with the fatal head shot coming from the "grassy knoll.">

Who benefitted the most from JFK's death? Obviously, it was LBJ and his subsequent actions as Pres reveal his motives. LBJ was capable of orchestrating the entire event - especially the cover-up as Pres - but I doubt we will ever know. Lincoln's assassination is still a controversial subject!>

Incidentally, although I was 35 in '63, I am one who does not remember where I heard the news. (Probably because I was conservative and did not like JFK!)>

[Diddle E. Squat]

Umm, can you give us the Cliff Notes version of the video's theory? That red on black text can quickly induce a headache...

[Mo1]

There are those duped by the warren report, and, all the rest of us.

My mother was one of them .. then a couple years ago there was a documentary I made her watch .. that made her change he opinion real fast.

[montag813]

JFK was so insignificant a President outside of the Cuban Missile Crisis (which Truman, Reagan or Nixon would have handled with ease). Only his assasination places him in the top 3 in every survey.

[breakem]

Interesting reply. You are the first person that has told me he didn't know where he was. Conservative or not, when the pres get's shot, it's not a slow news day. best wishes.

[Kaslin]

It was Johnson ... Ladybird Johnson.

That is what my husband always said

[j.frank.dobie]

Mr. McClellan was well known mostly for his fondness of drink. I have heard it said that the only reason that he was able to keep his law license was his connection to the esteemed UT Law School Dean Mr. Page Keeton (father-in-law via current Texas State Comptroller Ms. Carole Keeton McClellan Rylander Strayhorn). Sounds to me like he may not yet be a friend of Bill W.

Ambassador Clark (Australia) led a long and distinguished legal career, living (and practicing law) well into his 90's.

As much fun as all of this is -- consider the source -- and go take a shower to get rid of the slime.

[PhilDragoo]

Harold Weisberg, Case Open, Carroll & Graf, 1994, pages 123-124:

Ignoring the flummery of all these reconstructions and the obvious errors, the Commission itself proved that the unhurried assassin would have required a minute and 14 seconds. And the policeman at a "kind of trot" rather than a fast run would have required only a mnute and 15 seconds less than the time-span of the shots, or at least four seconds less time. If things happened as the Report alleges, Baker would have been at the lunchroom before Oswald. And with baker's gun in his belly, Oswald, having just killed the President, was "calm and collected".

[breakem]

thanx

[PhilDragoo]

Harold Weisberg died recently, it may have been this January.

Some years ago I sent for a box of all of his books and received a nice note penned by his wife Lillian.

He is a very thorough researcher as his books show, and there is nothing at all spectacular or sensational about his work.

Again, the devil is in the details.

[tpaine]

"I recall Fred25, the omnipresent expert, the fly on the wall, -- "


Yes, freddy was a foremost authority, having been everwhere and done it all. Whatta guy.
-- I hear he's over at some AFholer site, entertaining Mojo & the boyos.. Maybe if we call again, ---

[txdoda]

bttt......