LBJ was behind JFK's assassination, upcoming book contends

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.

"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."

"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."

"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.'"

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."

My source was from a bullet casting book I still have somewhere. It was nice to see the link but I didn't need it for something so obvious.

Back in the 1970's, I worked for a communications company. The company security caught someone tossing copper over the fence to be retrieved later. The guilty party claimed it really wasn't copper so they couldn't possibly be arrested and fired. I was asked to cut the stolen property into slices so it could be sent to a lab for the trial.

This thread and that case have a lot in common.

Statements she made later indicate she does not believe her husband shot JFK. I saw an interview with her in the 1980s or 90s which completely contradicts earlier statements.

What about Gen. Walker? The issue at this point is the attempted assassination of General Walker, not JFK.

From The Walker Assassination Attempt:

Marina Oswald has remained utterly consistent as regards the main points of her testimony. She repeated them to the House Select Committee in the late 70s, to author Gerald Posner, and even the NBC TV account of her experiences broadcast in November 1993 (which had a strong conspiratorialist bias) repeated her account of Lee coming home late at night and telling Marina he had shot a Walker.

The question remains: If Oswald did not try to kill Gen. Walker, is Marina Oswald in on the conspiracy? Why does she insist, to this day, that Lee Harvey Oswald tried to kill him?

"... Oil stains were found on the blankets."
"...The oil on a military rifle refers to the stain. Military rifles are "oiled"..."

The FBI said the *firing pin* was 'well oiled' in response to a question from the Warren Commission asking if the firing pin was broken:

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/factoid8.htm

"...The assassination rifle has been examined and nothing was found to indicate that the firing pin had been changed.

In this connection it should be noted that the firing pin of this rifle has been used extensively as shown by wear on the nose or striking portion of the firing pin and, further, the presence of rust on the firing pin and its spring may be an indication that the firing pin had not been recently changed prior to November 22, 1963. This rust would have been disturbed had the firing pin been changed subsequent to the formation of the rust. In this regard, the firing pin and spring of this weapon are well oiled and the rust present necessarily must have been formed prior to the oiling of these parts. [Emphasis added]

No oil has been applied to the weapon by the FBI; however, it is not known whether it was oiled by any other person having this rifle in his possession. It was noted during the examination of the firing pin that numerous shots have been fired with the weapon in its present well-oiled condition as shown by the presence of residues on the interior surfaces of the bolt and on the firing pin..."

Witness accounts about the Tippett killing are confused at best and contradictory at worst. What is NOT confused is the FACT that different types of shells were found at the scene made by different companies at different times.

Two types of shells were found. Ballistic testing showed they all came from Oswald's pistol, and no other. When Oswald was caught, he had unused rounds of both types in his pocket.

Neutron activation tests were performed to compare the fragments from Gov. Connally's wrist with CE 399. The conclusion of the tests was that the fragments in the Governor's wrist came from 399, and no other bullet.

Robert J. Groden and Harrison Edward Livingstone, High Treason, Berkeley, 1990, page 69:

Not very likely. The main problem with this test was that Dr. Guinn stated afterwards that none of the fragments he tested weighed the same as any listed as evidence by the Warren Commission. That is, along with the many missing fragments, it would appear that his evidence had been switched before he got it. (Certainly, many bullets could have come from the same lot of lead.) Guinn couldn't validate the genuineness of the specimens given to him, assuming they were genuine.

EXECUTIVE ACTION (1973)

Cast:
Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, John Anderson, Will Geer

Director:
David Miller

MPAA Rating:
PG

Runtime:
1 hour, 31 minutes

SYNOPSIS

A group of men from the government, military, and industry conspire to assassinate President John F. Kennedy, out of concern that JFK might pull US forces out of Vietnam.

TIDBITS

"Executive Action" story writer Mark Lane previously produced the Emile de Antonio documentary "Rush to Judgment" (1967). Both the film and the Mark Lane book it was based on refuted the Warren Commission's report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and advanced Lane's own conspiracy theory. Lane posited that had Kennedy won the 1964 election, he would have ended all US involvement in the Vietnam conflict. Right-wing forces, fearing this, felt an assassination was necessary to protect US interests.

The 1973 film preceded "JFK" in mixing black & white documentary footage with staged fictional color film, shot on location. This low-budget film was released around the tenth anniversary of the November 22, 1963 assassination.

Film was actor Robert Ryan's last project before his death.

Producer Edward Lewis later went on to help Costa-Gavras get financing for the political-conspiracy-thriller "Missing".

Scripted by Dalton Trumbo.

Trumbo joined the Communist Party in 1943 and after the war supported a strike organized by Conference of Studio Unions. However, from 1948 Trumbo's relationship with the party became more distant, mainly because he did not have time for it. Communism meant for Trumbo freedom and brotherhood, and struggle against fascism, but he did not care much about Marx. Lela Rogers, Ginger Rogers's mother, reportedly testified that she believed writers Trumbo and Clifford Odets were Communists. Ginger had refused to say a line from a Trumbo's screenplay - "Share and share alike, that's democracy."

In 1947 Trumbo was sentenced to a jail term for refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. As a scriptwriter Trumbo was highly successful and well-paid, but he was also a campaigner for union rights, the National Chairman of Writers, and member of the HICCASP (Hollywood Independent Citizens' Committee of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions). Along with others from the 'Hollywood Ten' group of writers and actors, Trumbo refused to state whether they were, or ever had been, members of the Communist Party. The Ten were charged with contempt and later convicted.

Trumbo was fired from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and imprisoned for a year in 1950. During this period he read Tolstoy's novel War and Peace.

Read the report linked to in post 484. The issues raised in the quote above are dealt with and dismissed in this section of the report, about 60% of the way down, under the heading Wholesale planting of fragments with different weights and identities?

It is so amazing. You give the clues, and no one pays any attention. LBJ didn't do it.

A certain top figure in Hollywood, angered at the loss of his 'million dollar girl', arranged JFK's, and the other Kennedy boy's early retirements. Teddy was kept around as the liberal democrat Senator that would vote/do whatever told by Organized Crime.

If even a fraction of what the Conspiracy Theorists claim was true, the assassination would have rivaled "The Truman Show".

Here's a favorite picture of lead scrapings from the windshield from the third shot. Remember when someone claimed the limo wasn't treated as a crime scene?

I don't even know which speck is the scraped material.

There is no reason to believe any evidence handled by the FBI has not been compromised by being fabricated, altered or destroyed. Dallas PD turned over 128 items to the FBI (all listed and marked by DPD) when they were returned two days later there were nearly 800 items. Added items were never in the possession of DPD and where ALL designed to boost the myth that Oswald was a violent communist. A reasonable conclusion about this is that "Items of evidence that do not have the initials of Dallas Police officers and are not listed on original Dallas Police inventory sheets were simply not found by the Dallas Police. There IS NO PROOF WHATSOEVER THAT THESE UNINITIALLED ITEMS EVER BELONGED TO OSWALD."

I read other comments from the link you posted and they indicated there was nothing straightforward about the FBI's actions wrt these tests or ANY of the evidence they handled.
In fact, the FBI resisted having these tests made for a long time and then suppressed the results after having written reports which contradicted each other.

"I agreed with the findings of the Warren Commission NOT BECAUSE I REALLY UNDERSTOOD EVERYTHING ABOUT IT, BUT BECAUSE i HAD ENOUGH TRUST THAT THEY INVESTIGATED HONESTLY AND THAT THE CONCLUSIONS THEY CAME TO WERE BASED ON THE HIGHEST FORM OF INVESTIGATION....WITH MY BLIND FAITH..."
Statement by Marina Oswald Porter to the ARRB 9/1996

"I absolutely believe that Lee Oswald was the informant on the arrest of Lawrence Miller and Donnell Whitter on November 18, 1963. After the assassination, the puzzle of Lee Oswald did not fit for me. But for Lee to be an informant makes everything logical for me. Specifically, the behavior of Lee Oswald-- all that strangeness didn't come from a crazy lunatic. That was his mission, a secretive mission." Ibid.

"I definitely think that Lee Oswald DID NOT KILL President Kennedy." Ibid.

It is just as unlikely that he shot at Walker though that action would not have been out of his political cover.

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