Death of Hubert Clark (one of the JFK casket bearers)

[David Lifton]

I'm writing this post in order to publicize the fact that someone I consider to be an important witness --to events connected with President Kennedy's assassination -has recently died.  His name is Hubert Clark, and he was one of the pallbearers who took part in the memorial ceremonies on the weekend following the assassination, and in the burial ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery on November 25th, 1963.  Clark is readily identified in photographs of the arrival of Air Force One at Andrews: (a) He is black; (b) He was a sailor and wears his sailor cap in the photographs.  Clark is prominently mentioned in Best Evidence (see Chapter 16) because he had direct knowledge of the goings-on at Bethesda Naval Hospital, after the Navy ambulance carrying Jacqueline Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Adm. Burkley (the White House Physician, and several Secret Service Agents, arrived at the front entrance of Bethesda Naval Hospital. To get a more comprehensive picture, one must go back in time by about an hour.  Specifically, Clark's assignment began on Friday night, 11/22/63, when Air Force One landed at Andrews Air Force Base,  shortly after 6 PM EST.

When Air Force One landed at Andrews Air Force Base on the evening of November 22, 1963, Hubert Clark was a member of a group of pallbearers from the Military District of Washington ("MDW") that met the plane, and assisted in the offloading of the Dallas casket.  When the plane rolled to a halt, a mechanical lift was rolled up to the rear port door.  Inside the plane was the Dallas coffin, supposedly carrying the body of JFK.  When the plane rolled to a halt, the rear port door was opened, and the Dallas coffin was placed atop the lift. Jackie and Bobby stepped out of the plane, and onto the lift.  The lift was lowered to ground level, where a Naval ambulance had pulled into place.  Kennedy aides and Secret Service agents carried the Dallas casket from the mechanical lift which pulled up at the rear port door of AF-1--and over a few yards to the waiting Navy ambulance. Press coverage shows that Hubert Clark, of the MDW casket team, assisted in putting the Dallas coffin into the Navy ambulance.  That ambulance --containing Jackie, RFK, Adm. George Burkley, and several Secret Service agents, then drove the approximately 45 minutes to Bethesda Naval Hospital, arriving at about 7 P.M. EST  There, Jackie and Bobby --escorted by Secret Service agents --entered the Bethesda front entrance, and took the elevator up to the executive suite on the 17th floor.  Meanwhile, the Naval ambulance drove around to the rear entrance of Bethesda, and to the morgue loading dock, where the Dallas coffin was brought inside, and to the morgue, where the official autopsy was performed, the official starting time being 8 P.M. 

In Best Evidence, I highlight the account of Hubert Clark, the sailor who  who was a member of the MDW casket team, and who appears in the nationally broadcast TV coverage of the arrival of Air Force One. Clark was important because he had knowledge of events at Bethesda which indicated that a strategic deception was carried out that night, in connection with the arrival of JFK's body at Bethesda --specifically, that two Naval ambulances were involved, one being called the "decoy."  Hubert Clark's account of a "decoy ambulance" --and its implications --is described in detail in Chapter 16 of Best Evidence, titled: "Chain of Possession: The Missing Link."  

Hubert Clark is an important witness to history.  I first interviewed him in 1968, and (as already noted) a detailed account can be found in Chapter 16 of Best Evidence.

I'm writing this post because I have received apparently reliable information that Hubert Clark has recently died of lung cancer.  If anybody has further (and reliable) information about this, please do send it to me.  If I have enough reliable data --I am going to approach the New York Times and see if an obituary about his passing can be posted.  Those who follow the JFK case, and my own work, may be aware that a "letter- to- the editor" (about the coronavirus) that  I wrote the New York Times (about two months ago) was published.  So I am acquainted with one or two of the editors up there, and have been hopeful that perhaps Hubert Clark's obituary would be published by the New York Times.  I would like to see that Hubert Clark's death is properly memorialized. He is a significant witness to history, and an integral part of the case that the Dallas coffin was empty, which is a central thesis of Best Evidence.  If anyone reading this has additional information about the circumstances of his death --i.e.., when he died, where, etc.  --please send me that information; or post it right here on this thread.  FYI: my e-mail is dlifton@earthlink.net.  Thanks. DSL

Edited December 3, 2020 by David Lifton
Making a correction.

[Joseph McBride]

The footage shows that the MDW team didn't carry the casket

off the plane and catering truck as they wanted and expected to do but were stopped twice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNpq3HbTB0M

Edited December 2, 2020 by Joseph McBride

[Douglas Caddy]

2019 Photo of Oliver Stone and Hubert Clark by Peter Hymans in Dallas

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Douglas Caddy

[Michael Crane]

Edited.

Edited December 3, 2020 by Michael Crane

[David Lifton]

17 hours ago, Joseph McBride said:

The footage shows that the MDW team didn't carry the casket

off the plane and catering truck as they wanted and expected to do but were stopped twice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNpq3HbTB0M

Kennedy aides and SS agents carried the casket the few feet to the Naval ambulance. Press coverage shows Hubert Clark assisting in getting the coffin inside the Navy ambulance. The reason the casket team wasn't permitted to carry the casket was that, having participated in many funerals, they likely would have sensed that the casket was empty --which it was.  ( Remember the sequence, as laid out in Best Evidence:  At Bethesda, JFK's body arrived --in a body bag, inside a shipping casket, at 6:35 PM --some 20 minutes before the Naval ambulance arrived (at about 7 PM). Specifically, and according to the Boyajian report (discovered by the ARRB), the body arrived at the Bethesda morgue at 6:35 PM; The Naval ambulance containing the Dallas coffin (which was empty) did not arrive at the Bethesda front entrance  until about 7 PM.  As analyzed and laid out in detail in Best Evidence, the "empty coffin" constitutes definitive evidence that the President's body must have been removed from the Dallas coffin after it was placed aboard AF-1, at Love Field (in Dallas), at 2:05 PM (approx); and before the take-off, at 2;48 PM, a few minutes after Johnson was sworn in. (DSL, 12/3/20 8:15 AM PST)

[Joe Bauer]

18 hours ago, Joseph McBride said:

The footage shows that the MDW team didn't carry the casket

off the plane and catering truck as they wanted and expected to do but were stopped twice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNpq3HbTB0M

Fascinating footage.

In my viewing of this video footage I thought I saw a black, navy capped fellow giving a "very brief" one or two seconds helping hand in the move of the casket from the lift into the back of the ambulance. He is present next to the casket on the main airplane wing side for that second and then steps back behind the ambulance out of view.

 

[Joe Bauer]

1 hour ago, David Lifton said:

Kennedy aides and SS agents carried the casket the few feet to the Naval ambulance. Press coverage shows Hubert Clark assisting in getting the coffin inside the Navy ambulance. The reason the casket team wasn't permitted to carry the casket was that, having participated in many funerals, they likely would have sensed that the casket was empty --which it was.  ( Remember the sequence, as laid out in Best Evidence:  At Bethesda, JFK's body arrived --in a body bag, inside a shipping casket, at 6:35 PM --some 20 minutes before the Naval ambulance arrived (at about 7 PM). Specifically, and according to the Boyajian report (discovered by the ARRB), the body arrived at the Bethesda morgue at 6:35 PM; The Naval ambulance containing the Dallas coffin (which was empty) did not arrive at the Bethesda front entrance  until about 7 PM.  As analyzed and laid out in detail in Best Evidence, the "empty coffin" constitutes definitive evidence that the President's body must have been removed from the Dallas coffin after it was placed aboard AF-1, at Love Field (in Dallas), at 2:05 PM (approx); and before the take-off, at 2;48 PM, a few minutes after Johnson was sworn in. (DSL, 12/3/20 8:15 AM PST)

There seems to be so much credible corroborating testimony regarding Lifton's timeline for separate arrivals of the Jackie/RFK ambulance versus JFK's actual body, how is there any room for any worthy alternative view debate?

[Allen Lowe]

8 hours ago, David Lifton said:

Kennedy aides and SS agents carried the casket the few feet to the Naval ambulance. Press coverage shows Hubert Clark assisting in getting the coffin inside the Navy ambulance. The reason the casket team wasn't permitted to carry the casket was that, having participated in many funerals, they likely would have sensed that the casket was empty --which it was.  ( Remember the sequence, as laid out in Best Evidence:  At Bethesda, JFK's body arrived --in a body bag, inside a shipping casket, at 6:35 PM --some 20 minutes before the Naval ambulance arrived (at about 7 PM). Specifically, and according to the Boyajian report (discovered by the ARRB), the body arrived at the Bethesda morgue at 6:35 PM; The Naval ambulance containing the Dallas coffin (which was empty) did not arrive at the Bethesda front entrance  until about 7 PM.  As analyzed and laid out in detail in Best Evidence, the "empty coffin" constitutes definitive evidence that the President's body must have been removed from the Dallas coffin after it was placed aboard AF-1, at Love Field (in Dallas), at 2:05 PM (approx); and before the take-off, at 2;48 PM, a few minutes after Johnson was sworn in. (DSL, 12/3/20 8:15 AM PST)

watching that footage, those guys are working pretty hard to carry that casket. It is not empty. Unless you have x-ray vision.

Edited December 4, 2020 by Allen Lowe

[Joe Bauer]

1 hour ago, Allen Lowe said:

watching that footage, those guys are working pretty hard to carry that casket. It is not empty. Unless you have x-ray vision.

I think I have read that the casket, with or without a body inside, was super heavy. Hundreds of pounds. I believe it would require a strenuous effort to lift and carry it either way.

Bethesda Dr. Humes himself did not describe lifting JFK's body out of such a huge, ornate bronze casket. JFK was delivered to the autopsy exam room in a plain casket. 3 or more eyewitnesses to his room arrival and body lifting testified to this.

 

[David Lifton]

13 hours ago, Allen Lowe said:

watching that footage, those guys are working pretty hard to carry that casket. It is not empty. Unless you have x-ray vision.

Sorry, but you cannot tell whether or the coffin was (or was not) empty by simply observing that "Those guys are working pretty hard to carry that casket.”  That is totally subjective, and cannot be used as a valid criterion to determine whether the coffin was empty at that point in time. The proper (and logical) way to proceed is to develop an accurate timeline as to just when the body was removed from the Dallas casket. That's the path I followed, as described in Best Evidence, and that provides the answer as to what actually happened -- i.e., when the body was removed from the casket.  Jumping to the answer: it (this subterfuge) occurred in Dallas, when AF-1 was still on the ground and when LBJ delayed the take-off by insisting that he be sworn in before takeoff.  Inside the aircraft, everyone was asked to move towards the front of the plane, and it was during this period that the body was removed from the Dallas coffin (at the rear), removed from the plane via the rear starboard door, and placed in the forward luggage area.  A fork lift truck was involved in this maneuver.  Also, there is "blood trail" evidence that supports this statement (as will be spelled out in Final Charade). Finally, the explanation for the shenanigans at Love Field was (the usual): "security measures" (or "national security"). Stay tuned for more details in Final Charade.  (DSL, 12/04/20)

Edited December 4, 2020 by David Lifton
Clarity.

[David Lifton]

On 12/4/2020 at 5:16 AM, David Lifton said:

Sorry, but you cannot tell whether or the coffin was (or was not) empty by simply observing that "Those guys are working pretty hard to carry that casket.”  That is totally subjective, and cannot be used as a valid criterion to determine whether the coffin was empty at that point in time. The proper (and logical) way to proceed is to develop an accurate timeline as to just when the body was removed from the Dallas casket. That's the path I followed, as described in Best Evidence, and that provides the answer as to what actually happened -- i.e., when the body was removed from the casket.  Jumping to the answer: it (this subterfuge) occurred in Dallas, when AF-1 was still on the ground and when LBJ delayed the take-off by insisting that he be sworn in before takeoff.  Inside the aircraft, everyone was asked to move towards the front of the plane, and it was during this period that the body was removed from the Dallas coffin (at the rear), removed from the plane via the rear starboard door, and placed in the forward luggage area.  A fork lift truck was involved in this maneuver.  Also, there is "blood trail" evidence that supports this statement (as will be spelled out in Final Charade). Finally, the explanation for the shenanigans at Love Field was (the usual): "security measures" (or "national security"). Stay tuned for more details in Final Charade.  (DSL, 12/04/20)

Text below added today, 12/09/20 - 11:45 PM PST

To clarify a bit, here are certain other insights:

1.  It was never planned, in advance, that President Kennedy would be shot and that his body would then be flown 1500 miles away (and to Bethesda Naval Hospital) for autopsy.  In other words (and IMHO) there was a serious divergence between the assassination “as it actually happened” and the assassination “as it was planned.”  Think of it this way: there was a script,  but then events went "off script."

2.  One key to understanding the difference between “what actually happened” versus “what was supposed to happen [but did not]” is to recognize (and identify) the unexpected event, the event which interfered with the execution of the event ‘as planned.’

3. IMHO: The unexpected event was the shooting of Governor Connally.

3A: IMHO: the unexpected shooting of Gov. Connally meant that --when the limousine reached Parkland --there were "two victims"  (and not one).

3B: IMHO: the plot (as designed) was structured around the idea that, upon reaching Parkland Hospital, there would be one victim.  Period. 

3C; That may sound odd; and yes, I would concede that it doesn't speak very well to either the intelligence (or the foresight) of those who planned this affair.  But that (presently) is my opinion.  If, someday (and even at this late date), someone comes forward --or evidence is found --that sheds further light on this situation, then so be it. 

3D:  There are a number of other "what ifs" that --if fully known --might shed important additional information.  For example:  Originally, Jackie was not going to go on the Dallas trip; that changed in early September when she told JFK she wished to go.  But had she not been there, the 'seating arrangement' in the car might have been considerably different.  For example, and this is just  a possibility; JFK might have been completely alone, in the back seat. 

3E: There's more information that will be published in Final Charade  --information that, I believe, will address (and satisfactorily answer) any remaining objections to the thesis that Dallas-- in terms of its conception (i.e., and by design)-- was a "plot with a built-in coverup." Bottom line: the plot to murder  JFK was more than just a murder; but  a crime in which it was "planned in advance" to falsify the autopsy.  Of course, events did not unfold "as planned."

4.  The shooting of Connally was not part of any sane (or rational) plan; and led to serious confusion, because —once it occurred —events did not unfold “as planned”; instead, there was a lot of improvisation, and that makes proper interpretation rather difficult (but not impossible).

5.  To repeat:  The original plan (IMHO) called for a simple shooting —a shooting of only President Kennedy; followed, a short while later, by a pronouncement of death, and then a Dallas autopsy.  Most importantly: : the Dallas shooting "as planned"  (IMHO), was to result in one victim, not two.

6.  It was never intended that there would be a “second victim”; along with the many complications that then resulted.

7.  In Final Charade, I will spell out —with specifics, and certain “new evidence” —what was intended.  Armed with that information, most readers -- I believe --  will then agree (or at east understand)  that the shooting of Connally was an unexpected event, one that led to a lot of "real time confusion," along with a public record that is somewhat difficult (but not impossible) to properly interpret and decipher.

Stay tuned.  DSL (12/5/20, 12:05 AM PST); 12/09/20, 11:45 PM PST)

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by David Lifton
Additional insights

[David Lifton]

No text. Sorry. This is superfluous.

[Joseph McBride]

Why would the plotters have wanted a Dallas autopsy,

since it would have been performed by Dr. Earl Rose,

who did the exemplary autopsies on Tippit and Oswald?

Dr. Rose could not be controlled. He would have recorded evidence of

wounds caused by shots from different directions.

[Andrej Stancak]

Could it be that the problem was Lee Oswald living after the shooting? In David's scenario, if I understand it correctly, the perpetrators did not mind the public (and Dr. Rose) recognising shots fired from multiple directions provided that Lee Oswald was dead and his leftist, pro-Castro leanings could be disclosed to the public. It would then be a Cuba-instigated crime in which, unfortunately, only one assassin was captured and that assassin was dead. It may have even been the intention to show to the public that it was a wider plot than one involving single assassin with no motives.

I am not sure how would Connally's wounds so decisively change this scenario because his wounds only support a multiple-site shooting which could be the desired outcome of the plot. What must have caused panic was Lee Oswald living and talking - if he lived longer, just a couple days longer to be able to meet a couple of trustworthy attorneys (such as Mark Lane), the plot would drift away from Oswald very quickly (and please mind that enigmatic person standing at the western wall in the Darnell film). Lee Oswald had to die before he reached the Dallas county jail.

Edited December 5, 2020 by Andrej Stancak

[Joe Bauer]

John Jay McCloy:

Following his service in Germany, he served as chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank from 1953 to 1960 (but there was no "Chase Manhattan Bank" before 1955) , and as chairman of the Ford Foundation from 1958–65; he was also a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation from 1946 to 1949, and then again from 1953 to 1958, before he took up the position at Ford.

Following the 1953 death of Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, President Eisenhower considered appointing McCloy in his place, but he was viewed as too favourable to big business.^[28]

From 1954 to 1970, he was chairman of the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations in New York, to be succeeded by David Rockefeller, who had worked closely with him at the Chase Bank. McCloy had a long association with the Rockefeller family, going back to his early Harvard days when he taught the young Rockefeller brothers how to sail. He was also a member of the Draper Committee, formed in 1958 by Eisenhower.

 

 

John McCloy discusses his views in the Cabinet Room.

From 1966 to 1968, he was Honorary Chairman of the Paris-based Atlantic Institute.^[29]

In late 1967 McCloy was considered by US President Lyndon Johnson for the position of US Ambassador to the United Nations and was approached by Secretary of State Dean Rusk on this matter, however McCloy turned down the offer.^[30]

 

John McCloy (far left) and the Warren Commission present their report to President Johnson.

Warren Commission[edit]

McCloy was selected by President Lyndon Johnson to serve on the Warren Commission in late November 1963. Notably, he was initially skeptical of the lone gunman theory, but a trip to Dallas with CIA veteran Allen Dulles, an old friend also serving on the Commission, convinced him of the case against Oswald. To avoid a minority dissenting report, McCloy brokered the final consensus and the crucial wording of the primary conclusion of the final report. He stated that any possible evidence of a conspiracy was "beyond the reach" of all of America's investigatory agencies, principally the FBI and the CIA as well as the Commission itself.^[31] In a 1975 interview with Eric Sevareid of CBS, McCloy stated, "I never saw a case that I thought was more completely proven than... the assassination."^[32]

He described writings that propagated assassination conspiracies theories as "just nonsense."^[32]

Edited December 5, 2020 by Joe Bauer