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."

[archy]

And Pete Best had to replaced replace by...Ringo, who bears a striking resemblance to Yasser Arafart. Have you ever seen the two in the same room? No? Hmmmm...

Yassar Arafat recently died and was buried, which would seem to indicate that the REAL original Ringo is now also deceased.

[archy]

Oswald did chamber a fourth round that was found in the rifle.

The ammo was bought with the rifle. IIRC.

Nope. The ammo shipped with the rifles by Milt Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago was Italian military ball, surplus and unreliable. Even during late WWII when the Nazis were desperate for workable small arms for use by the Hitler Youth and planned resistance forces, they preferredto rechamber Italian-suppliedCarcanos to use their standard 7.92x57mm Mauserammunition rather than depending on the Italian-produced ammo,

The ammunition used by Oswald was of Winchester Repeating Arms origin, 6.5x52 Carcano manufactured under a CIA contract during the early 50's. The intended use is not clear, but varies from being supplemental production for the Italian Military, use during the Greek civil-war, anti-communist efforts in Albania, etc. These rounds found their way into the surplus market in the early 1960's, and were also astaple of the Anti-Castro Cubans planning a second invasion of Cuba in early 1964, intelligence penetrations of which were ongoing in the Southwest at the time- The Cubanswere hardly inclined to trust most of their previous CIA handlers following the Bay of Pigs betrayal, absent demonstrated proof that Kennedy would not again interfere with their plans.

The subsequent investigation into possible sources of the ammunition used by Oswald indicated that there were only two sources for it in the Dallas area, the most probable source being Dallas gunsmith and weapons consultant John Thomas Masen- though when questioned by the FBI, he denied recognizing Oswald as having been a customer. Interestingly, Masen is still in the business.

[archy]

I think I'm going to write a book about how Kennedy actually committed suicide. Do you think it will sell?

You could make a pretty good argument that letting his kid brother take on the mob after they'd delivered Illinois for him when he needed their favors was just that.

Though as good a case could be made that it was his father who got him killed. Are you aware of where the rifle Oswaldallegedly was obtained and the ownership of that firm?

[archy]

I have very little doubt that LBJ engineered the whole JFK assassination.

I doubt very much that those who were actually involved in arranging the JFK murder were foolish enough to have taken LBJ into their confidence in advance. There was no need, and they had no reason to require his efforts on their behalf in advance of the event. I expect tentative overtures were made to him asking if he were prepared to ascend to the presidency, no matter what the cost, and that he agreed.

But once the deed was done, he HAD to perform as required to squelch any independent factfinding of the events in Dallas, including the two previous attempts on JFKs life and the rewarding of the Secret Service agentswhose actions and inactions resulted in their charge's death. And if LBJ did not do as hewas bid, he could be removed too; the mechanism was in place and functioned well.

[dfwgator]

I wouldn't put anything past that SOB LBJ.

[ZULU]

No.

How did you find a posting from so long ago?? I think I wrote it tongue in cheek, but I agree with you about a possible mob hit on the Lord of Camelot.

[MHGinTN]

If you can post the provenience of the rifle, I would find that very interesting. I'm wondering if the new book coming out will connect Clark to organized crime, from whence came the actual assassin(s). Oswald making a hit must have surprised them, especially since he hit the curb at the underpass left and forward of the motorcade first.

[kallisti]

Yep, that's the one. It's hard to reconcile that wink and the circumstances.

[archy]

If you can post the provenience of the rifle, I would find that very interesting. I'm wondering if the new book coming out will connect Clark to organized crime, from whence came the actual assassin(s). Oswald making a hit must have surprised them, especially since he hit the curb at the underpass left and forward of the motorcade first.

Well, it's well detailed in the Warren Commission report that the Carcano, serial number C-2766, came from Milt Klein's sporting goods outlet in Chicago,interestingly also the place of employment of former Castro anti-Batista compadre and later anti-Castro exile Gerry Patrick Hemming, also a CIA employment applicant:

But the REAL interesting part is the financial backing and *silent partner* in the expansion of Klein's Big and Tall mens Clothing shop into a major domestic weapons retailer and importer, and for somereason, the Warren Commission left that part out.

But it's no secret who the owner of the Boston Bank was, nor how its loans were also used to finance JFK's Senate campaign. Nor that he had considerable financial interests in Chicago, including the Trade Mart in Chicago, sister organization to the New Orleans Trade Mart [2 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA, just down the street from Oswald's Free Play for Cuba office at l544 Camp Street] and the Dallas Trade Mart where JFK was en route to give his Dallas speech when he was shot to death.

Joe Kennedy had been warned before and should have known what he had coming, and using a rifle from a source he had financial ties to was a neat little message.

For more details on the Joe Kennedy-Milt Klein financial connection, see the reports of The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, from the period when Senator Thomas Dodd co-chaired the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and sat on the Judiciary Committee, chairing the Juvenile Delinquency Subcommittee.

[archy]

How did you find a posting from so long ago?? I think I wrote it tongue in cheek, but I agree with you about a possible mob hit on the Lord of Camelot. The *old post* was called to my attention.

I'm a former Chicago newspaperman who covered Outfit [Chicagoese for *mob*] and other criminal activities in the Windy City before the daily rag for which I worked was gunned down.

I think there was aconsiderable mob/outfit connection, but that *those guys* hardly actedalone, no more so than they did regarding their halfhearted attempts at wacking Fidel Castro. They do SO much better with a little governmental assistance...and the first try on JFK was to be while JFK was en route to a Chicago area football game on 01 November 1963, by a mentally questionable Marine with a rifle from an upper-story window- sound familiar?. The fate that befell Abraham Bolden, one of the Secret Service agents who forestalled that try, is a real tragedy; you'd think that the exploits of the Service's first Black agent would be proudly hailed, but nooooo....

[MHGinTN]

How do I find more about the 'other two' attempts on JFK? ... The provenance on the rifle is absolutely fascinating! And it tells me something of (at least) why Ted 'the swimmer' Kennedy never ran for President and why little brother Bobby was so feisty to run for the job!

[Xenalyte]

LBJ was behind JFK's assassination, upcoming book contends

In other news, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

[KC_Conspirator]

That was not Dan. That was Jennings. And Posner is right.

[swarthyguy]

What's your opinion of Peter Dale Scott's Deep Politics and the Death of JFK?

He goes into extensive detail about Chicago and Rubinstein.

[kempster]

I can see it now. Arlan Specter will come up with a Single Vice President theory.

[jackbill]

I didn't Oswald qualified as Marksman.

In fact I read before he was a terrible shot and basicly got booted out of the Marines.

I came to this thread late and I'm not going to read all of the replies. But, in answer to your comment, there are three levels regarding shooting in the military. The top is Expert, the second is Sharpshooter and the third is Marksman.

If Oswald "qualified" as a Marksman, he was among the worst shots in his outfit. I qualified as Expert with an M-1 in 1952. With a bolt action rifle, I have questions as to whether I could have put more than one shot in the moving target in the time expired, in Dealey Plaza.

[hinckley buzzard]

I think it was the "History" Channel that already did the LBJ thing.

[paleocon patriarch]

Watch the right side of the frame and you can see driver (William Greer) lean into the frame and fire the killing shot left handed with some sort of pistol.

Greer fired the kill shot, but there were plenty of other shooters in the ambush.

[moehoward]

It actually does like like that. Never heard that one before.

[Big Red Badger]

,