Oliver Barr McClellan (born 1939) is an American entrepreneur, counsel and author who became widely known by his 2003 book ''Blood, Money & Power'' on the Kennedy assassination. He has also written on globalization.
Life
Barr McClellan lived in
Maracaibo
Maracaibo ( , ; ) is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the largest city in Venezuela and is List of cities in Venezuela by population ...
,
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
, in 1944–1951. He spent time in the oilfield swamps and learned soccer. He also survived an airline crash in Mexico City in 1946. He graduated from Jefferson High School in
San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
in 1957 (class president, graduation speaker), then enrolled at the University of Texas in Austin where he won the O. Henry and William Jennings Bryan literary awards. He graduated with honors, BA, with special honors in international studies, 1961, JD, 1964.
In 1966, McClellan joined a legal firm in
Austin, Texas
Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...
. At that time, the firm was run by a number of partners, including
Edward A. Clark.
In 1972, McClellan became a full partner in the firm. After one year as University Attorney, McClellan established his own law firm in 1977. Some of McClellan's cases included litigation for exploding
Ford Pinto
The Ford Pinto is a subcompact car that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company in North America from 1970 until 1980. The Pinto was the first subcompact vehicle produced by Ford in North America.
The Pinto was marketed in three bo ...
s,
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
-caused expenses on the health care system and the licensing and regulation of
cell phones
A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive Telephone call, calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones (landline phone ...
."
McClellan was reported to be a "staunch
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
".
He was a lobbyist for the
Southern Union Gas Company.
McClellan's first wife was former
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is an executive branch position created by the Texas Constitution. The comptroller is popularly elected every four years, and is primarily tasked with collecting all state tax revenue and estimating the a ...
Carole Keeton Strayhorn
Carole Stewart Keeton (September 13, 1939 – March 26, 2025), formerly known as Carole Keeton McClellan, Carole Keeton Rylander and Carole Keeton Strayhorn, was an American politician who served as Texas's Comptroller of Public Accounts from ...
. He is the father of
Scott McClellan
Scott McClellan (born February 14, 1968) is the former White House Press Secretary (2003–06) for President of the United States, President George W. Bush, he was the 24th person to hold this post. He was also the author of a controversial No. 1 ...
, former
White House press secretary
The White House press secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the executive branch of the United States federal government, especially with regard to the president, senior aides and ...
, and
Mark McClellan, former
Food and Drug Administration
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...
commissioner and former director of
Medicare for the
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
administration. Two other sons, Dudley McClellan and Bradley McClellan, are attorneys in Austin, Texas. McClellan is also related to Union General
George McClellan
George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey and as Commanding General of the United States Army from November 1861 to March 186 ...
, the Democrats' presidential candidate in 1864, and to
George B. McClellan
George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey and as Commanding General of the United States Army from November 1861 to March 186 ...
, New York City Mayor, 1903–07.
McClellan and his wife live in
Gulfport, Mississippi
Gulfport ( ) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States, and its co-county seat. It had a population of 72,926 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Mississippi, second-most populous ...
.
''Blood, Money & Power: How LBJ Killed JFK''
In 2003, McClellan's book ''Blood, Money & Power: How LBJ Killed JFK'' was published by
Hanover House.
The book presents the theory that McClellan's former employer,
Edward A. Clark, and President Johnson
conspired to have President Kennedy assassinated.
According to L. D. Meagher's review for
CNN
Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
: "
cClellanfabricates scenarios he never witnessed and invents conversations he was not party to in order to weave his yarn. Anything resembling evidence is relegated to sometimes-incomprehensible footnotes, and a jumble of photos and documents included as an appendix. And what evidence there is would be laughed out of any court in the world."
Meagher added: "''Blood, Money & Power'' is just the kind of book Warren Commission defenders point to when they issue blanket denunciations of all conspiracy theories."
''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' wrote that McClellan's "evidence is meager and murky, even by the standards of Kennedy conspiracy scholarship", and that "
e book offers many detailed accounts of conspiratorial meetings that turn out to be not fact but... conjecture designed to distract readers from the lack of evidence."
Their review concluded: "His confusingly structured, evasively argued, often nonsensical theories attest to the crime's continuing potency as a symbol of America's mythic heart of darkness."
Vincent Bugliosi
Vincent T. Bugliosi Jr. (; August 18, 1934 – June 6, 2015) was an American prosecutor and author who served as Deputy District Attorney for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office between 1964 and 1972. He became best known for suc ...
has called McClellan's account "blasphemous and completely false".
After McClellan repeated his allegations against Johnson in an episode of the documentary ''
The Men Who Killed Kennedy
''The Men Who Killed Kennedy'' is a video documentary series by British television network ITV (TV network), ITV that depicts the assassination of John F. Kennedy, assassination of President of the United States, U.S. President John F. Kennedy on ...
'' titled "The Guilty Men", broadcast on
The History Channel
History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the General Entertainment Content division of The Wa ...
on November 18, 2003,
[Turner, Nigel. ''The Men Who Killed Kennedy'', Part 9, "The Guilty Men", 2003] former presidents
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...
and
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
protested, and former LBJ staffers
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers; June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Council ...
and
Jack Valenti
Jack Joseph Valenti (September 5, 1921 – April 26, 2007) was an American political advisor and lobbyist who served as a Special Assistant to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. He was also the longtime president of the Motion Picture Association ...
asked The History Channel to investigate the charges. On April 2, 2004, after having three historians examine the charges, The History Channel issued a press release stating that the claim of LBJ's complicity "is entirely unfounded and does not hold up to scrutiny....
he show
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads
* He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English
* He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana)
* Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...
fell short of the high standards that the network use to set for itself. The History Channel apologizes to its viewers and to Mrs.
Johnson">ady BirdJohnson and her family for airing the show."
Books
* ''Blood, Money & Power'', Hannover House, 2003,
* ''Made in the USA: Global Greed, Bad Tax Laws and The Exportation of America's Future'', Hannover House, 2010,
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McClellan, Barr
1939 births
Living people
American conspiracy theorists
American non-fiction writers
John F. Kennedy conspiracy theorists
People from Cuero, Texas
People from Gulfport, Mississippi
People from Maracaibo
Researchers of the assassination of John F. Kennedy
Texas lawyers
University of Texas at Austin alumni
Writers from Austin, Texas