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The Dr. Crenshaw LBJ phone call at Parkland: an imposter call?


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This is an old topic, concerning the claim published by Dr. Charles Crenshaw in which it was alleged there was a phone call from LBJ to the operating room at Parkland on Nov 24 while doctors worked on Oswald and wanted doctors to get a confession from Oswald, and (although this did not appear in print under Crenshaw's name, alleged via hearsay) that LBJ wanted the doctors to kill Oswald.

All the discussions I have seen have been a binary choice, between a minority of CT's who believe that LBJ phone call happened as claimed, and a majority of CT's and all LN's who believe the phone call from LBJ did not happen as claimed. Either it happened or Crenshaw fabricated it, one or the other.

The arguments against basically devolve to: (a) LBJ's movements and actions and phone calls and records rule out that LBJ made such a call; (b) no real-time corroboration for such an LBJ call; (c) Crenshaw was reported to have made the even more sensational and unlikely claim that LBJ was ordering Parkland doctors to kill Oswald; and (d) the lateness of the story and credibility issues of Crenshaw.

Although it is possible I missed it if it did occur, a third option occurs to me that is neither of the two binary options: that the call was real and happened as Crenshaw said but it was an imposter calling pretending to be LBJ.

Here is what to me makes this scenario or explanation credible compared to the alternative that the story of Crenshaw was a fabrication (I agree without further argument that LBJ did not make such a call).

  • Other witnesses (not just Crenshaw) at the time attest to some kind of call claiming to be from the White House.
  • Crenshaw's own claim, combined with no counter claim from anyone else, indicates Crenshaw took that call from the switchboard.
  • Switchboard operators real-time said "crank calls" happened at the time, which could be real-time allusion/corroboration of the LBJ call in other language.
  • The claim that there was no real-time documentation of the phone call may further be less of an objection than it seems in light of below.

The below is from Debra Conway to Gary Shaw, from here: https://groups.google.com/g/alt.conspiracy.jfk/c/tneKv5xKSWE/m/zWQJsk1jwjsJ. In the below, Phyllis Bartlett was a supervisor telephone operator at the switchboard who wrote the Dallas Morning News in defense of the Crenshaw story, that " ... There are still people who have not come forward yet, that could have helped Mr. Sutherland get his facts straight had he bothered to check. There very definitely was a phone call from a man with a loud voice who identified himself as Lyndon Johnson, and he was connected to the operating room phone during Oswald's surgery."

[START quote]

Debra Conway

Oct 17, 1998, 12:00:00 AM

 
 
to 

Gary,

You know yourself, because I was standing there when you spoke with her at
the JFK Lancer Student's Symposium, that Mrs. Bartlett said she
specifically DID NOT include any government calls in or out in her report.
She was the supervisor of the PBX board and was privy to all the calls
made by White House aids, FBI agents and Secret Service Agents as she was
there the entire weekend. She is entirely professional about her vocation
and has never commented on what she may have overheard. (Did you know Mrs.
Barlett has had a book written about her life and an exhibit on her at a
Texas University? She has lived a fascinating life and is an extremely
credible witness.) 

The ONLY reason she wrote the letter to the newspaper was in defense of
Dr.Crenshaw's claim. She stated the call came in from the White House and
she and the other operator sitting next to her immediately recognized
LBJ's voice. Being Texans, they were very familar with him. 

As we know LBJ's mode of operation was to use the phone extensively, why
would it be out of character for him to call any hospital in his home
state and ask to speak with the surgeon? Especially Oswald's surgeon. It
is not. What you can question is Dr. Crenshaw's interpretation of the
call.

You heard her entire speech. So, to use her report as proof of a non-call
is not being honest. 

Debra

[END quote]

Earlier in that 1998 exchange, Gary Aguilar cited this from the New York Times giving still another credible witness supporting the event of the "LBJ" Crenshaw phone call:

[START quote]

On 5/26/92, the New York Times reported: "In the (JAMA) interviews, Dr.
Charles Baxter, the emergency room chief, denied that such a call was
received by any doctor. But the denial came from a surgeon who could
not have known about the call because he was not present during
Oswald's surgery, Dr. Crenshaw said.

"Indeed, another doctor has confirmed such a call, although the details
and who made it are not clear.

"The doctor, Phillip E. Williams, now a brain surgeon in Dallas, was
an intern pumping blood into Oswald's right let. In an interview, Dr.
Williams said he had long remembered reports of two White House
telephone calls to the operating room
.

"I vividly remember someone said, and I can't say who it was, the White
House is calling and President Johnson wants to know what the status of
Oswald is, Dr. Williams said, adding, "I heard the statement in the
oparating room
, and it was not Dr. Crenshaw's book or anyone else who
revived my thoughts about this because I have said this for years." 

[END quote]

The takedown argument on the Crenshaw LBJ call apparently posted on the old McAdams page, author unidentified, basically arguing that the caller could not have been LBJ therefore Crenshaw fabricated the story, here (scroll down to "The Supposed Call from LBJ"): https://www.jfk-assassination.net/crenshaw.htm.

Also this of interest on the (contested) hearsay claim that the "LBJ" caller told Crenshaw to kill Oswald: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=48686#relPageId=19.

I cannot help but recall from college student days how some of my friends would be very good at imitating voices and expressions of certain college administrators and occasionally make prank phone calls pretending to be our aged college founder while the rest of us would be in stitches laughing. My memory of that is what came to mind reading the Crenshaw/LBJ Parkland phone call story.

The difference from my memory of college days is in this case it would not be a prank, rather it would be someone's dirty trick op with what may have been a serious objective to try to find out if Oswald had talked or said anything and/or get Oswald killed "before he talked", phishing for information. If the phone call was reported and publicized no harm done, it would be blamed on Lyndon who had nothing to do with it but would make a good patsy (in terms of this phone call).

All I can say is from what I read of this story, I conclude that LBJ did not and would not have personally made such a phone call (makes little sense), but at the same time the witness testimony suggests such a phone call did happen from either the White House on LBJ's behalf (1 of the 3 witnesses) or from LBJ himself (2 of the 3 witnesses). Therefore: an imposter phone call. In this scenario Crenshaw may be cleared of the charge of fabrication re this phone call. It then becomes a different issue, whether the call which happened was or was not from LBJ--with the reasoning being it cannot have been from LBJ, therefore it was not, even though two of the witnesses based on the representation of the caller and the sound of the voice believed it was LBJ.

Further support of the argument that the call did not actually come from LBJ or the White House is that the White House reported no record of such a call, whereas if it was a legitimate routine inquiry re whether Oswald had confessed (not a priori implausible in itself) there would be no reason not to say so, but neither the White House nor any LBJ staffer did.

Probably it will never be known the true identity of the phone caller told by Dr. Crenshaw, Dr. Williams, and switchboard supervisor Phyllis Baxter, rumored to be, unbelievably, that it was actually LBJ personally and that LBJ was urging doctors to kill Oswald. 

But I am surprised that it was not considered--in the debates over whether it was a true LBJ call or a Crenshaw fabrication-- this third possibility, that an imposter voice pretending to be LBJ was seriously trying to find out if Oswald had said anything unusual and/or confirm he was dead and/or encourage doctors to ensure/assist in Oswald becoming dead.

I am not exactly endorsing this explanation, just setting it out as a seemingly plausible possible one for consideration for what it is worth.

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the problem is that we have literally no evidence that it was an imposter call, but we do have several witnesses id'ing the caller as LBJ (the operators who recognized his voice). So we have to accept that for which we have evidence, so yes, LBJ made the call. Given his desire to cover up the crime with the Warren Report and the FBI, it makes most sense that he was keeping close tabs on the case.

Edited by Allen Lowe
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I have tried getting into contact with JFK movie-research consultant Jane Rusconi. She couldn't recall the allegation that Crenshaw claimed to have been told to kill Oswald. I asked her a while ago if she could find any files on Crenshaw she owned. She hasn't gotten back yet.

Edited by Micah Mileto
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A majority of CTers don't believe the Crenshaw call claim?

How did one measure that equation?

Was a poll taken nationwide?

I would more believe that most anyone interested in the JFKA just never gave the story much thought ( not a lot to study ) versus taking a firm stance on it's credibility or lack thereof.

And McAdams would of course be a Crenshaw debunker and a source of misinformation.

Phyliss Bartlett didn't record any government calls in her report? 

Still, here is her quote:

"There very definitely was a phone call from a man with a loud voice who identified himself as Lyndon Johnson, and he was connected to the operating room phone during Oswald's surgery."

Someone impersonating LBJ's voice? Ha!

Ridiculous.

They would have had to know exactly what was going on at the hospital minute by minute when they made the call. That Oswald was alive and that he was having emergency surgery, etc.

Impersonating LBJ would be one thing ( the best professional to do this was David Frye ) but an amateur? And to be so good as to speak in a "booming" voice as well?

 

Again, those few detractors with standing were not even there.

And reputable brain surgeon Philip E. Williams backs Crenshaw's story as he was right there pumping blood into Oswald's leg as an intern?  Now that's credible recollection testimony imo.

And does anyone here really think LBJ didn't have the ability to make an off the record call if he wanted to? 

Or the White House call records could never have been manipulated? Please.

Of course LBJ wouldn't want a call like that to be on the record.

EVERYTHING was on the line with Oswald living or dying or perhaps saying something explosive regards his part in the JFKA.

LBJ was probably on the edge of his seat worrying about such a scenario, especially when Ruby's attempt to silence Oswald wasn't totally successful at that point.

My guess is LBJ was so concerned about Oswald's condition, he didn't want to hear about it through any middle men. He needed to know it straight from Oswald's surgery doctor.

And I could see ( because of the situations dire importance ) dispatching a man of highest secret covert ability and standing right there in the surgery room to make sure the worst possible scenario did not happen. Hence the Oliver Hardy look-alike man in surgery gown in the back of the room?

After everything we know after 60 years. The massive corruption in every area of power in our country. The massive corruption of LBJ. The anti-JFK bond between LBJ/Hoover and LBJ/Dulles. I say one is forced to doubt any debunking reporting emanating from most of the MSM which those corrupt groups mostly controlled regards true in-depth JFKA research and investigation on their part.

Crenshaw was truthful in my opinion.

 

 

 

 

Quote

 

 

Edited by Joe Bauer
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4 hours ago, Micah Mileto said:

I have tried getting into contact with JFK movie-research consultant Jane Rusconi. She couldn't recall the allegation that Crenshaw claimed to have been told to kill Oswald. I asked her a while ago if she could find any files on Crenshaw she owned. She hasn't gotten back yet.

One main issue with Dr. Crenshaw's credibility is what he claimed happened on 11/24/1963, when the accused assassin, Lee Oswald, was being treated at Parkland hospital for a gunshot wound to his abdomen. Crenshaw described taking a phone call from somebody who identified themselves as President Lyndon B. Johnson. As written in Conspiracy of Silence, the caller requested that somebody tried to obtain a deathbed confession from Oswald (Link):

 

Blood was running and squirting into the abdomen through each of the wounds, especially the spleen, aorta, and the vena cava. Drs. Shires, McClelland, Perry, and Jones were attaching clamps and applying finger pressure to the arteries, veins, and organs to stop the bleeding before they could begin repairing the damage. The scene that day was equivalent to preventing a boat from sinking when it’s taking on water, with part of the crew bailing and the others plugging holes.

 

After the major bleeding had been brought under control, I looked up and took a deep breath. When I did, I spotted a large man across the room whom I didn’t recognize. He resembled Oliver Hardy in a scrub suit with no mask. Most alarming, there was a pistol hanging from his back pocket; if it had fallen to the floor, it could have discharged and killed someone. I never knew how he got into the operating room or who gave him the scrub suit.

 

Just two days earlier, a Secret Service agent had rushed through the emergency room, waving a gun as the President of the United States lay there, dying. Incredibly, the man who had been accused of shooting President Kennedy was now lying before me, fighting for his life, while another pistol-packing intruder looked on. I didn’t know what to think, except that we had to get a cap and mask on the son of a bitch before he contaminated the entire room with bacteria.

 

I motioned for one of the other resident surgeons to relieve me. I scrubbed out and got the proper attire for the guy. I wanted to throw his ass out of the operating room, but I was afraid he would shoot me. Without saying anything, I handed him the cap and mask. He put it on without comment. As I was turning around, a nurse tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I would take a telephone call in the supervisor’s office. She had chosen me to take the call because I was the head of Surgical “B,” the team that began the operation. I agreed to answer the call and left the operating room. When I entered the office, the receiver was lying on the desk.

 

“This is Dr. Crenshaw, may I help you?”

 

“This is President Lyndon B. Johnson,” the voice thundered. “Dr. Crenshaw, how is the accused assassin?”

 

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The very first thought that I had was, how did he know when to call? “Mr. President, he’s holding his own at the moment,” I reported.

 

“Would you mind taking a message to the operating surgeon?” he asked in a manner that sounded more like an order.

 

“Dr. Shires is very busy right now, but I will convey your message.”

 

“Dr. Crenshaw, I want a deathbed confession from the accused assassin. There’s a man in the operating room who will take the statement. I will expect full cooperation in this matter,” he said firmly.

 

“Yes, sir,” I replied and hung up the telephone. I almost laughed in the President’s ear. If he could have seen the mess in the operating room and the condition of our patient, he wouldn’t have asked.

 

As I stood there in a state of disbelief, my mind was racing. First, “deathbed confession” implies that someone is going to die. If Oswald doesn’t die on the table, is “Oliver Hardy” or someone else going to kill him?

 

Second, anyone who knows anything about Texas politics is familiar with the 1948 U.S. Senate race when Johnson defeated Coke Stevenson, and the election improprieties that were documented in South Texas. It occurred to me that if a dead man could vote in Duvall County then, and they were documented as having done so there again in 1960 during the Presidential election, why can’t a dead man confess to a murder in Dallas County?

 

And finally, why would the President of the United States personally call the operating room at Parkland Hospital and ask for a deathbed confession? That question still puzzles me. Why wouldn’t someone with the Dallas police or the FBI make that request? Then, more questions followed, inquiries that had frightening, inconceivable answers.

 

I rushed back into the operating room and approached Dr. Shires. There was blood everywhere, and five sets of hands were working in Oswald’s belly.

 

“You won’t believe who I just talked to,” I said to Dr. Shires.

 

He looked at me with a “what’s next” expression.

 

“President Johnson would like for us to allow that man over there to get a statement from our patient.”

 

Shires glanced at “Oliver Hardy,” shook his head in disbelief, and returned his attention to the operation. I wish that I could have taken a picture of him as he stood there, covered in blood. It would have been worth an entire library of words in expressing our efforts to save Oswald.

 

Under the best circumstances, It would have been days before Oswald could have spoken lucidly to anyone. It was ironic. We had a patient on the table under oxygen anesthesia, bleeding to death from a bullet that had penetrated almost every organ in his body, and the President of the United States wanted the intruder with the gun to conduct an interview. The fact that a stranger was in the operating room during surgery, something that would have never been tolerated, best illustrates the hospital's state of confusion at that time. Only moments later, at 12:37 P.M., almost one hour into the operation, Oswald's heart began to fail. Dr. Akin's anesthesiology resident reported to the operating team that Oswald's cardiac condition was weakening, and that his pulse rate was slowing. Electrical impulses on the cardioscope confirmed the sudden development. Dr. Shires placed his hand under Oswald's diaphragm to detect heart activity. As everyone looked on in silence, Dr. Shires shook his head and told Dr. Perry that Oswald's rhythmic cardiac activity had stopped.

 

I walked over to our visitor with the gun and remarked, "There won't be any deathbed confession today." Like Clint Hill, "Oliver Hardy" disappeared, and I never saw him again. Dr. Perry grabbed a scalpel and cut open Oswald's chest by making an incision between his ribs, exposing the heart. [...]

 

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Just now, Micah Mileto said:

 

When Dr. Crenshaw spoke to the FBI in 1992, he told the same basic story, indicating that he thought he could recognize LBJ’s voice from having the chance to meet him years prior (FBI file # 89A-DL-60165-99). In the Dallas Morning News, 4/9/1992, Dr. Shires refused to confirm or deny what Crenshaw said about the LBJ phone call (Fair Play magazine, Issue 13, November-December 1996, Jama Distortions: Playing Fast and Loose with the Medical Evidence by Dr. Charles Crenshaw, Press Kit Handout [link 2]; JFK: From Parkland to Bethesda by Vincent Palamara, 2015). Shires was named in the opening dedication of Conspiracy of Silence - To the residents and attending medical staff of that era at Parkland, and to Dr. G. Tom Shires, the "Chief."(Link). Phyllis Bartlett, telephone operator at Parkland hospital, would come out and give a similar story about a phone call from somebody with a deep voice who identified themselves as President Johnson. The voice, Bartlett said, demanded to speak to somebody involved with treating Oswald (Bartlett, letter to the Dallas Morning News, 7/15/1992 [link] [link 2]; JFK: Breaking The Silence by Bill Sloan, 1993 [link]; The Men Who Killed Kennedy, episode 9, The Guilty Men, 2003 [link 2]). As Bartett wrote in a 7/15/1992 letter to the Dallas Morning News, “...he was connected to the operating room phone during Oswald's surgery(Link [link 2]). It was noted in the report on Crenshaw’s interviews with the FBI “Recently, Doctor CRENSHAW has received a statement from a Mrs. PHYLLIS BARTLETT (phonetic) who indicated that she was the operator who transferred the call from the person identifying himself as President JOHNSON to the Operating Room. In the statement provided to Doctor CRENSHAW, Mrs. BARTLETT stated that she never made note of the call because she believed it may have been a prank, and that she did not think it was anything unusual. BARTLETT indicated that after initially transferring the call to the operating room, shyears e then directed it to a specially designated section of the hospital setup for handling incoming calls regarding the assassination(FBI file # 89A-DL-60165-99). Bartlett was interviewed for Bill Sloan’s 1993 book JFK: Breaking The Silence, and so was a witness named Hugh Huggins, AKA Hugh Howell, AKA Jim Huggins. Huggins claimed to be a former U.S. Marine sergeant and CIA officer, who on the day of the assassination was personally instructed by Robert F. Kennedy to investigate the case. Huggins reported being present to see JFK’s body at both Parkland and Bethesda hospitals. Huggins made many claims – he said that he saw a wound in Kennedy’s left temple, a blow-out in the rear of Kennedy’s head, a shipping casket in the Bethesda morgue, extra bullets recovered, and he recalled included personally interacting with numerous figures in the case, such as Lee Oswald, George de Mohrenschildt, Guy Bannister, David Ferrie, Clay Shaw, as well as the real men who shot Kennedy, including one on the grassy knoll. Huggins was also quoted as saying that he spoke to Phyllis Bartlett and heard about the alleged LBJ phone call -I talked again to some of the doctors and nurses at Parkland”, “and I talked to Phyllis Bartlett, the chief telephone operator at the hospital, about a call she had allegedly received from Lyndon Johnson while Oswald was in surgery after being shot by Ruby. Bobby suspected that both Johnson and [FBI Director J. Edgar] Hoover were involved in the assassination in some way, and he was very interested in that phone call. Bartlett confirmed that she'd spoken to a man with a loud voice who identified himself as Johnson”. Bartlett was quoted as saying “My little office was overflowing with as many as fifty people at once back then”, “but I do remember talking to a short man with a crewcut who identified himself in that capacity [CIA], and I do believe he said he name was Howell(JFK: Breaking The Silence by Bill Sloan, 1993, p. 185, 9. The Assassin's Tale). Bartlett was also referenced in one source published under Crenshaw’s name - “…Thinking that this was indeed the new President, therefore a call important enough to connect, she immediately rang the operating room and requested one of the surgeons take the call. Until Dr. Crenshaw's story surfaced she had never known which doctor had taken the call. Her reason for never having spoken of the incident was twofold. One, she had not considered the call unusual under the circumstances, and, secondly, because she felt that there was a possibility that the call might be a prank, she had remained on the line for a short period after connecting the call-an act which was against hospital policy. Ms. Bartlett also explains why the line went dead as Dr. Crenshaw describes. She had disconnected the call in an attempt to transfer the call to a newly set-up public relations [office], feeling upon reflection that that office might be in a better position to handle such a call(Fair Play magazine, Issue 13, November-December 1996, Jama Distortions: Playing Fast and Loose with the Medical Evidence by Dr. Charles Crenshaw, Press Kit Handout [link 2]). Bartlett was shown explaining, on an episode of The Men Who Killed Kennedy, aired 2003, “The call came in and said 'Hold the line for the President.' And for a second, I couldn't- you know, I was still thinking Kennedy, and I didn't- I was kind of taken back for a minute, and then in a few seconds, it was just a matter of a second, and he came on in a loud voice. He said 'This is Lyndon Johnson, connect me to the accused assassin's doctor.' It sounded the same as it had been on newscasts when I would hear him speak”, “I knew I had put a call to the operating room. So I contacted Dr. Crenshaw, and I told him I said that I knew that he did get the call, and that I was sorry that the people had in the newspaper and on the TV had tried to discredit him, and that was when I spoke out(The Men Who Killed Kennedy, episode 9, The Guilty Men, 2003 [link 2]). Bartlett also testified to this as a witness in a court case involving Crenshaw (WHO IS THE REAL “GARY MACK?by Harrison Livingstone [link] [link 2]). Bartlett did, however, author a hospital report dated 11/27/1963, which does not mention receiving such a phone call. The report does, however, talk about interactions with various Parkland staff members, reporters, and people in the Presidential entourage (WC Vol. 21, pp. 254-267, Price Ex 2-35). David Perry made the following argument on Bartlett - “Crenshaw admitted that he was surprised when he heard Lyndon Johnson on the other end of the line. For this to be true Bartlett would have to have failed to inform the nurse that the President of the United States was on the phone! Remember when Crenshaw entered the office "the receiver was lying on the desk." This contradicts Bartlett's claim that "I knew I had put a call to the operating room." The following further damages Bartlett's credibility: C. Jack Price asked for and obtained written reports from employees and department heads. I happen to have a copy of the report submitted by Phyllis Bartlett for the period November 22 to 24, 1963. She lists herself as a P.B.X. Supervisor. In the entire four-page report no mention is made of either her on any of her subordinates receiving a call from the new President”. This other report from Bartlett, not published anywhere else, was quoted by David Perry as reading “Sunday, Nov. 24, 1963 Another woman calling wanted (long distance) to talk to surgery nurse, administrators office or Oswald's Dr.s., we cannot connect her so she wants to talk to the operator, so we finally listen just to get her off the line - she wants to suggest that we put Oswald under hypnosis and get the truth out of him, then let him die ------”. Perry Continued: “In her log Bartlett enters detailed notes and refuses to transfer a call from an unknown woman who wants Oswald hypnotized. Twenty nine years later she remembers she did transfer a call she considered a "prank." She transfers the call directly to the very operating room where Crenshaw is located and then to "a specially designated section of the hospital setup for handling incoming calls regarding the assassination." Her statements do not match Dr. Crenshaw's recollections(David Perry, 4/9/2004 online post [link]). Parkland doctor Phillip Williams, who like Crenshaw waited almost thirty years to go public with a detailed story, said in 1992 that he remembered hearing a rumor long before, about a phone call from the White House (New York Times, 5/26/1992, THE DOCTOR'S WORLD; 28 Years After Dallas, A Doctor Tells His Story Amid Troubling Doubts by Lawrence K. Alman, M.D. [link 2] [link 3]; Killing The Truth by Harrison Livingstone, 1993). Harrison Livingstone wrote in his 1993 book Killing The Truth: I, also, discovered doctors who corroborated the call from Johnson to Parkland. They were near the phone when Crenshaw, quite through happenstance, picked up the receiver”, and also, citing a 4/29/1992 interview with Dr. Robert McClelland and a 5/10/1992 interview of Dr. Phillip Williams, it reads that they both “volunteered to me that they knew that Johnson had called and spoken with Crenshaw(Killing The Truth by Harrison Livingstone, 1993, p. 103, Chapter 3. The Journal of the American Medical Association). Dr. Williams was quoted in the New York Times as saying “I vividly remember someone said, and I can't say who it was, the White House is calling and President Johnson wants to know what the status of Oswald is”, “I heard the statement in the operating room, and it was not Dr. Crenshaw's book or anyone else who revived my thoughts about this because I have said this for years”. Williams added that he didn't know whether it was supposedly Johnson or an aide on the phone, and that he didn't hear the part about Johnson wanting a confession (New York Times, 5/26/1992, THE DOCTOR'S WORLD; 28 Years After Dallas, A Doctor Tells His Story Amid Troubling Doubts by Lawrence K. Alman, M.D. [link 2] [link 3]). During a 9/24/2013 interview with both Parkland Drs. Robert McClelland and Ronald Jones for the Sixth Floor Museum, Jones acknowledged Dr. Phillip Williams as being in the audience, and later when the host asked about Crenshaw’s story of the phone call, McClelland saidThe doctor sitting right there in front of me, I think, has some knowledge of that, don't you? Yeah. So I think that phone call which came from the White House apparently did come through”... “All I know is circumstantial, I know nothing directly about what I was told, and what I was told, and again, by my good friend sitting here in front of me, who was sitting there in the nurse's station listening to the phone, that someone called from the White House as Lee Harvey Oswald was on the table wanting to find out what condition he was in. That's all just hearsay really from me, but I think that probably did occur(Link, 31:51 [link 2]). On 4/14/1993, Parkland administrator Charles Jack Price was interviewed by researcher David Perry, as reported: “Price felt: "Crenshaw did not have as great a role in events" as the book portrays. He also believed the Lyndon Johnson phone call did not take place and told Crenshaw so when they discussed it in February of 1992. Price was, in essence, an operations director. The switchboard staff reported to him. He felt there is no way a switchboard operator would get a call from the President of the United States and not tell everyone about it. Also, Price thought it inconceivable that a call would be forwarded to a "junior resident" (Crenshaw) without somebody finding out about it. Price couldn't figure out how the call got switched to the office near the operating room. Price believed that everyone would be called before some investigative body at some point in the future. He asked for and obtained written reports from employees and department heads. Price was aware that Dr. Shires (Shires was standing beside Crenshaw and working on Oswald.) would not verify the call. He thinks the reason for lack of conformation is because the event never happened(David Perry, 4/9/2004 [link]). There is an allegation that Dr. Crenshaw told a version of the story where “LBJ” requested for Oswald to be killed or allowed to die on the operating table (Killing the Truth by Harrison Livingstone, 1993, pp. 413, 506-507; The Fourth Decade, Vol. 2, Issue 2, Jan. 1995, pp. 32-34, Killing the Truth: A Review by Gary Mack; Letters from J. Gary Shaw, Gary Mack, The Fourth Decade, Vol. 2, Issue 3, Mar. 1995, pp. 19-20, Letters to the Editor; Gus Russo, 8/25/2003 email to John McAdams [link]; The Radical Right and the Murder of John F. Kennedy by Harrison Livingstone, 2004; John McAdams, The Long Suppressed Truth? Or a Bunch of Fibs?; Reclaiming History by Vincent Bugliosi, 2007, Book One: Matters of Fact: What Happened, Kennedy's Autopsy and the Gunshot Wounds to Kennedy and Connally). If Crenshaw was being partially or completely dishonest in his “deathbed confession” part of the story, that might he was breaking the law when he told the same thing the FBI (FBI reports on 7/22/1992 and 8/13/1992 interviews with Dr. Crenshaw). In Livingstone’s book Killing the Truth, there is the passing reference “...Prouty's story is false. Stone had to know that. We can put this in a class with Paul Groody's severed Oswald head, LBJ's order to Crenshaw to kill Oswald when they had him at Parkland after Ruby shot him, and the phony canister contents and fake CIA cables in the Roscoe White story…” (Livingstone, Killing the Truth, 1993, p. 413, Chapter 13. Treason and the Smoke Screen). Another part reads “...Viking also had Gary Shaw and Jens Hansen tone down their book with Dr. Charles Crenshaw, which had Johnson ordering the Parkland emergency room team to kill Oswald”. The citation corresponding to that sentence readsVarious discussions with Dr. Charles Crenshaw(Livingstone, Killing the Truth, 1993, p. 506, Chapter 16. Dallas). Yet, oddly enough, Livingstone seems to defend Crenshaw’s credibility in other parts of his writings (High Treason 2, 1992 [link 2]; Killing the Truth, 1993; Killing Kennedy, 1995; The Radical Right and the Murder of John F. Kennedy, 2004 [link 2]). Some parts of Killing The Truth even seem to defend the LBJ phone call story. Gary Mack, curator of The Sixth Floor Museum, credited researcher Gus Russo for telling him that Crenshaw originally claimed to have been told to kill Oswald, and that a crew member from the 1991 movie JFK, Jane Rusconi also heard something similar from fellow crew member Larry N. Howard, who passed away in 1993. Rusconi also reportedly “later heard a similar quote from either Shaw or Crenshaw during a meeting in the Stoneleigh bar that included Shaw, Crenshaw, Jens Hansen and Oliver Stone”. Gary Mack added that Rusconi “says she made notes of the incident at the time and they still exist”. The wereabouts of Rusconi’s notes are still unknown. Gary Mack wrote, in a book review of Killing the Truth in The Fourth Decade newsletter, January 1995, Is there anything worthwhile in Killing The Truth? The answer is a very qualified "yes." There's an interesting quote on page 506 that "Viking also had Gary Shaw and Jens Hansen tone down their book with Dr. Charles Crenshaw, which had Johnson ordering the Parkland emergency team to kill Oswald." Livingstone's source, he admits in a footnote, was none other than Crenshaw, thereby implying that Shaw and Hansen were responsible for the LBJ death-order story. But in 1991, during the filming of JFK, technical advisor Gus Russo met with Crenshaw and Shaw at a restaurant across from the Stoneleigh Hotel, Oliver Stone's base of operations in Dallas. While discussing his upcoming book, still nearly a year from publication, they told Russo the order Crenshaw heard was "Make sure the son-of-a-bitch dies. You can drown him in his own blood." Russo repeated the quote to researcher Dave Perry and myself later that afternoon. Subsequent to that conversation, we learned that an employee of Crenshaw's publisher also knew about the original quote, as did a reviewer who was asked about it. Crenshaw's Conspiracy of Silence publisher was actually signet, not Viking, a division of Penguin Books USA. As published in April 1992, Crenshaw's story had, in fact, been toned down, on page 187, to "Why would the President of the United States personally call the operating room at Parkland Hospital and ask for a deathbed confession?" But if the original version was true, why change it? If it was fabricated, why believe anything in Crenshaw's book? Livingstone didn't ask those questions(The Fourth Decade, Vol. 2, Issue 2, Jan. 1995, pp. 32-34, Killing the Truth: A Review by Gary Mack). J. Gary Shaw responded with a letter to the editor in The Fourth Decade, March 1995:The allegations concerning Dr. Crenshaw and our book, JFK: Conspiracy of Silence as contained in Gary Mack's "review" of Harrison Livingstone's Killing The Truth (The Fourth Decade, January 1995), are totally false. In his "review," Mack says that he and Dave Perry were informed by Gus Russo that Dr. Crenshaw and I had told him (Russo) that the order Crenshaw heard from President Johnson was "Make sure the son-of-a-bitch [Oswald] dies. You can drown him in his own blood." What a bunch of hogwash! Neither Dr. Crenshaw nor I have ever made such a statement...to Russo, or anyone. When I related Mack's charges to Jens Hansen, one of the three co-authors of the Crenshaw book (and penman for the very first manuscript), Hansen replied, "Someone is lying. Doc [Crenshaw] never, in any of our many interviews, made such a statement. Nothing like that was ever in any of the manuscripts. And that stuff about the publisher having had us 'tone down' the part about the LBJ phone call just flat never happened...it didn't need to." Mack's JAMA-type style (he contacted none of the book's three co- authors regarding the allegations) is unworthy of this journal. All that can be truly said about those responsible for this piece of wishful and willful fabrication is that they appear to possess highly developed and fanciful imaginations. Or, perhaps, an agenda!”. On the same page, Gary Mack replied with Mr. Shaw is apparently trying to shoot the messenger for delivering bad news. My review related information told to me, Dave Perry and others by Gus Russo in 1991, a full year before the release of Conspiracy of Silence. Russo, who has not been contacted by Shaw about this matter, insists the quotation I used was completely accurate and adds that there was also a discussion of how much blood it would take to make sure Oswald died. In addition, Gus says the quote was told to him directly by Shaw in the lobby of the Stoneleigh Hotel and Dr. Crenshaw was not yet present. Among the movie crew who also heard about an LBJ order to kill Oswald was Jane Rusconi, Oliver Stone's research coordinator. She and I discussed the quote four years ago and she stands by her recollection today; in fact, Jane first learned of it from Larry Howard, the late co-founder, with Shaw, of the JFK Assassination Information Center. That version was "Make sure the bastard's dead," or worlds to that effect. She later heard a similar quote from either Shaw or Crenshaw during a meeting in the Stoneleigh bar that included Shaw, Crenshaw, Jens Hansen and Oliver Stone. Jane says she made notes of the incident at the time and they still exist(The Fourth Decade, Vol. 2, Issue 3, Mar. 1995, pp. 19-20). Harrison Livingstone would appear to later deny being personally told by Crenshaw that “LBJ” wanted Oswald to be killed – in an article by Livingstone in The Fourth Decade, September 1995, it reads “...Crenshaw's book was sabotaged in the process with a statement attributed to the new president, Lyndon Johnson, who called the Emergency Room when Oswald was dying after Ruby shot him, and taken out before publication. The statement was, Make sure the son-of-a-bitch dies. You can drown him in his own blood. Crenshaw hotly denies ever writing or knowing about it, but it was documented as having been slipped in the ms by someone, apparently one of his co-authors. Such a statement would catastrophically discredit the book and make a target out of Crenshaw. Even if not printed but seen and talked about by enough people prior to publication, nobody in the media would take Crenshaw seriously - although the statement was not public knowledge. The jungle telegraph would do the rest. I find the clandestine insertion of this statement a good example of the pattern of embellishing stories and testimony of witnesses so common in Dallas, having the intent of discrediting whatever was being offered. Dallas is the one place that has got to cover everything up at all costs(The Fourth Decade, Vol. 2, Issue 6, Sep. 1995, pp. 15-23, Mind Control And The JFK Case by Harrison Livingstone [link 2]). In an unpublished manuscript by Livingstone titled WHO IS THE REAL “GARY MACK?”, of which the known copy seems to be missing pages, it readsDr. Charles Crenshaw told me on Feb 8, 1995 that "Gary Mack" extensively helped out the defendant Dallas Morning News and Hugh Aynesworth against Crenshaw and his suit for defamation of character and slander with malice. Crenshaw won a favorable settlement of the suit. Why would "Mack," who professes to be a critic of the Warren Report, help those who tried to deny that Crenshaw was present and assisted when Kennedy died? The lesson in this is to demonstrate the real nature of "Mack's" mission in this case--a spoiler of legitimate testimony, witnesses, evidence, research and researchers. Dr. Crenshaw also told me that the hearsay statement "Mack" repeats (imputed to Gus Russo) in his very vicious Fourth Decade article that Crenshaw heard Lyndon Johnson tell Crenshaw "Make sure the son-of-a-bitch dies. You can drown him in his own blood," about Oswald after he had been shot, is an outright lie. Crenshaw insists that he heard no such statement, nor did he write it. In fact, the Parkland chief telephone operator overheard the entire conversation with Johnson (as she testified in Crenshaw's suit) and said it never happened. Yet, "Mack" goes on with his lie: "We learned that an employee of Crenshaw's publisher also knew about the original quote, as did a reviewer who was asked about it." The editor, whom I interviewed, knew about it because it was apparently in the manuscript at the publishers, which "Mack" had seen but Crenshaw had not seen at the last moment. Crenshaw denies that any such statement was in the last version of the manuscript that he last saw. He insists that Johnson only told him to get a deathbed confession from Oswald and that there was a man in the room at that moment who was to take the confession. They saw a man with a badge and a gun in the emergency room and he was the one they thought was to take the confession. I think it is amazing that in the January Fourth Decade "Mack" can inconsistently claim that his hearsay reporting of something he claims Gus Russo heard from Gary Shaw and Dr. Crenshaw at a restaurant in 1991, the statement that LBJ got Crenshaw on the line and said "Make sure the son-of-a-bitch dies. You can drown him in his own blood" and then attack me for publishing in Killing the Truth that this was taken out at the request of the publisher. I also wrote that Crenshaw never knew about the statement and never said it, and I now report that Gus, who lives near me, never told this to Gary "Mack." "Mack" says that if the statement was true, "why change it?" The statement wasn't true, and someone tried to slip it in the book. "Mack's" inconsistent writing now tells us in the March issue that Crenshaw complained to the New York Times that his co-authors had taken "poetic license" with the writing and the facts. "Mack" writes, "furthermore, Crenshaw told "Mack"...” (Link [link 2]). Gus Russo wrote, in a 8/25/2003 email to self-styled debunker John McAdams,One night at the Stoneleigh [Hotel], Stone was having a slew of top secret meetings in his suite with people like Ricky White, whom Stone paid $80,000 for his fraudulent story, and the positively goofy Beverly Oliver. That night, Stone ushered Gary Shaw, [Robert] Groden and Crenshaw into his room; I was not invited, but I pressed Shaw (Crenshaw's and Oliver's advisor) for info in the lobby. He was the first to tell me that LBJ ordered Oswald killed. Later, Crenshaw came down, and we happened to be in the Stoneleigh men's room at the same time, standing at adjacent urinals. It was there that he told me that Johnson had ordered the Parkland staff to "kill the son-of-a-bitch." It was decided to "drown Oswald in his own blood," i.e. transfuse him until his lungs collapsed(McAdams, The Long Suppressed Truth? Or a Bunch of Fibs?). Could there be an argument for a hoax caller? There was the alleged caller’s reference to an authority figure being in the same room as Oswald, but that might be possible for anybody to guess. Could there still be any reason to suspect that President Johnson himself tried to call Parkland hospital? The event described could have only taken place between the time Oswald was brought into the emergency room, 11:32 AM (12:32 PM EST), when he went to the operating room, 11:42 AM (12:42 PM EST), and when he died, 1:07 PM (2:07 PM EST). According to Crenshaw’s book, the LBJ phone call came some time after he was relieved from participating in Oswald’s surgery, which began at 11:44 AM, and 12:37 PM was moments after he informed Dr. Shires of the phone call, “almost one hour into the operation (Conspiracy of Silence by Dr. Charles Crenshaw, Jens Hansen and J. Gary Shaw, 1992). Official White House records (Harold Weisberg Archive, jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/C Disk/Crenshaw Charles A Dr/Item 01 [link 2]), as pointed out by David Perry, show no mention of a phone call to Parkland Hospital (5/24/1993 interview with David Perry by Gerald Posner, Case Closed, 1993, Chapter 16. “I Am Jack Ruby. You All Know Me”; David Perry, 4/9/2004 [link]; 1/8/2006 letter from David Perry to Vincent Bugliosi, 2/19/2006 interview of David Perry by Bugliosi, Reclaiming History, 2007, Book One: Matters of Fact: What Happened, Kennedy's Autopsy and the Gunshot Wounds to Kennedy and Connally). The White House Detail reads “12:26 p.m. After having coffee with members of the [St. Mark's Church] congregation, the President, accompanied by Mrs. Johnson, departed church”, “12:35 p.m. Arrived at North Portico of the White House”, “12:45 President Johnson called Secy. [of State Dean] Rusk, probably to have him join Pres. after ceremonies at the Capitol since Secy. Rusk did join Pres. at EOB [Executive Office Building] at 2:40 p.m.”; “1:08 p.m. The President, accompanied by Mrs. Kennedy, Mrs. Johnson, The Attorney General, Caroline & John Jr. Kennedy and Colonel Jackson departed the White House in the Funeral Procession”, “1:46 p.m. Arrived at Steps of the Capitol”, “2:19 p.m. The President, accompanied by Colonel Jackson, departed the Capitol(Reclaiming History by Vincent Bugliosi, 2007, Book One: Matters of Fact: What Happened, Kennedy's Autopsy and the Gunshot Wounds to Kennedy and Connally). As explained in William Manchester’s 1967 book The Death of a President, at 11:55 AM (12:55 PM EST) 11/24/1963, the Kennedys and Johnsons were meeting at the Blue Room of the White House, and afterwards they participated in the ceremonies of moving JFK’s casket from the White House to the Capitol building. Gary Mack posted a comment on the Usenet Newsgroup alt.assassination.jfk, dated 10/9/1998, which read,...It has always been known that there was a call from Washington, but apparently not from LBJ as Crenshaw's book claims. My own research, conducted at the request of KXAS-TV, the NBC affiliate in Dallas, found that LBJ was in his limo at the very moment Crenshaw's book indicates the call came in. There is no record of any such radiotelephone call which, according to the procedures in place, would have to have been routed to Dallas through the White House switchboard where all calls were logged. Nor is there an account from any of the people in the car that LBJ said "Excuse me, I have to call the hospital." And there would certainly be no need to keep such an event, IF it happened, secret(Link). The Death Of A President recounted Johnson’s reaction to the shooting of Oswald as follows: “...He had heard from the Secretary of State what the entire country was learning—that Oswald had just been shot “on television.” In the Blue Room Jean Smith whispered to Lady Bird that she had overheard a servant say the assassin was dying. Johnson greeted the Attorney General, who knew nothing of this, with “You’ve got to do something, we’ve got to do something. We’ve got to get involved. It’s giving the United States a bad name around the world. Lots of information suggests there were official efforts to get a statement from Oswald after he was shot. As explained in a 11/24/1963 FBI memo uncovered by researcher Paul Hoch, Bureau Director J. Edgar Hoover ordered Assistant Director Alex Rosen to have a man at Parkland get a statement from the accused assassin, and Rosen stated that he contacted Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Forrest Sorrels, who said that an agent was already there for that purpose (Fair Play magazine, Issue 13, November-December 1996, Jama Distortions: Playing Fast and Loose with the Medical Evidence by Dr. Charles Crenshaw, Press Kit Handout [link 2]). A 12/22/1963 article in the Dallas Times Herald, titled ‘Doctor’ Waited In Vain by Jim Lehrer, reported on the moments when Oswald was dying: “An FBI agent, wearing the robe and face mask of a doctor, waited in vain of a doctor, waited in vain at Lee Harvey Oswald's bedside for a deathbed confession that never came, the Times Herald learned Saturday”, “The agent was on hand at Parkland Hospital on Nov. 24 during the one hour and 35 minutes doctors worked to save the life of the 24-year-old avowed Marxist who was felled by a pistol shot by Jack Ruby in the basement of City Hall. Sources said the agent never left the side of the accused assassin while doctors worked on Oswald in the emergency room and later performed emergency surgery (Link). An FBI memo was made in response to the article - as reported by Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Division J. Gordon Shanklin: “The following is submitted for the information of the Bureau in the event any inquiries are received. Immediately following the report that Oswald had been shot at the Police Station, I directed Agents to proceed to Parkland Hospital and establish liaison in order to insure that if OSWALD regained consciousness and desired to give a deathbed confession, that we would be in a position to take the same. SA CHARLES T. BROWN, JR. and SA WALLACE R. HEITMAN made arrangements with Dr. MOURY SOLTES and through him with Dr. TOM SHIRES, Professor of Medicine a Southwest Medical School and chief of surgery, to be available in the event OSWALD regained consciousness. In order to save time and be immediately available, these Agents did don operating clothing and took positions outside the operating room. OSWALD, however, died before regaining consciousness(FBI 105-82555-1107, Oswald HQ File, Section 50). Homicide detective L. C. Graves testified to the Warren Commission that, after Oswald was shot in his presence, he went to Parkland Hospital, changed into scrubs, and stood outside the second floor operating room along with an FBI agent (WC Vol. 13, pp. 1-12, 3/24/1964 testimony [text]). When Dr. Paul Peters appeared on The Men Who Killed Kennedy in 1991, he said “There were Secret Service men intermingled with the operating room personnel, as there were dozens of people in the operating suite at that time, and some were dressed in green clothes as the surgeons so as to be indistinguishable from operating room personnel”, “...and since it was known by those in the operating room that he was under little or no anesthesia, two or three people shouted in his ear 'did you do it? did you do it?', which led me as a layman to speculate that perhaps a full-fledged confession might not yet have been obtained from Mr. Oswald (The Men Who Killed Kennedy, episode 4, The Patsy, 1991, [video, 26:00] [link 2]). Dr. Peters told the same thing to researchers Russel McLean and Brian Edwards on 11/2/1996, and also spoke of bringing a camera to Oswald’s operation, taking photographs, and then having the camera confiscated by an authority figure: “...Secret Service men, dressed in green surgical gowns to mix with the surgeons, were shouting in his ear, "Did you do it, did you do it?" hoping to get him to nod his head or something”... “I suppose they could have been FBI agents, I wasn't sure who they were I must have taken 15 or 20 pictures of Tom operating on Lee Harvey Oswald and a guy came up and identified himself and said, "I'll take the camera." I told him the camera was not mine, that it belonged to the Radiology Department. He said he was going to take it and he said he would give it back”. Question: “Have you ever seen those pictures that you took?”, answer: “No, I have not. I never got the camera back, or the film”, question: “Does that surprise you?”, answer: “No. Dr. Dockery, a radiologist who was here at Parkland at that time, who then went out to West Texas to practice, was the owner of the camera. I talked to him several years later, and he told me that he got the camera back, but the film was kept(JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 2, Jan. 1997, pp. 24-29, Exclusive: A NEW INTERVIEW WITH DR. PAUL PETERS by Russell McLean and Brian K. Edwards [link 2]). There are some surviving photographs, credited to being in the possession of J. Gary Shaw in 2004, that purportedly show Oswald being operated on by people in scrubs, which were published in Robert Groden’s 2013 book JFK Absolute Proof. Russel McLean made a post on alt.assassination.jfk, dated 9/10/1998, reading “...In an interview Brian Edwards and I conducted in the fall of 1996(full text available in the JFK Deep Politics Quarterly), Dr. Paul Peters confirmed that not only had the phone call been real, but there had been federal agents in the OR attempting to obtain a "deathbed confession" from Oswald. Peters qualifies these statements by explaining that he was returning home from Parkland that day when he saw Dr. George Shires whiz by him on his way to the hospital. He followed and observed the operation. He also stated that he was taking photographs with a borrowed camera from the radiology department, and that his camera was seized and never returned. Why? What would have been revealed by some pictures of an operation of the half-dead Oswald?…” (Link). McLean and Edwars’ article in JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly did not quote Dr. Peters on the alleged phone call (Link [link 2]). In the 1996 book Assignment: Oswald, written by Dallas FBI agent James P. Hosty and his son Thomas Hosty, there is the passage “One of our agents, Charlie Brown, said that when he heard over the radio that Oswald had been shot and was being transported to Parkland Hospital, he had turned his car around and dashed over there. When he arrived, emergency room personnel had wheeled Oswald into the operating room where the doctors were preparing to perform emergency surgery on the single gunshot wound to his chest. As Brown watched various doctors and nurses scrubbing up and gathering outside the operating room, he approached one of the younger doctors. He identified himself and told the doctor he needed to get in that room and stay next to Oswald in case he wanted to make a confession. No way, you can't go in there, the doctor replied. Brown persisted, telling the doctor that Oswald was charged with killing the president and that he had to stay near him in case he confessed. Finally the doctor agreed, but told Brown he would have to scrub up and put on a gown and mask. Brown quickly scrubbed and dressed, then went into the operating room. Oswald was unconscious, and the doctors were working frantically to stop the bleeding. At 1:07 P.M. a doctor pronounced it was over. Oswald had died…” (Link). Dr. Robert McClelland recalled that shortly after Oswald’s pronouncement of death, Dallas Police detective James Leavelle told him that just a moment after Oswald was shot, he said to Oswald that he was hurt very bad, and asked if he had anything to say - only for Oswald to remain silent and shake his head - and detective Leavelle said that he suspected Oswald was thinking of saying something but decided not to (Dr. McClelland’s 7/16/2001 oral history for the Sixth Floor Museum [video]; McClelland’s 2/10/2011 oral history, Sixth Floor Museum [video]; Undated talk, uploaded to Archive.org 2/15/2012, 25:50; TCSS conference, 2012 [video, part 4, 4:48]; 2/21/2013 talk at the 15th annual Gathering of Eagles conference in Dallas, TX [video, part 2, 5:19]; Interview by Rod J. Rohrich, M.D., Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Nov. 2013 [link 2]; 2013 interview for Televisa [video, 31:33]; McClelland, 2014 Clinical Meeting [video, 34:38] [link 2]; 2014 talk at UT Southwestern [video, 27:01]; Undated talk, uploaded to YouTube 5/17/2021 [video, 21:23]).

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Was Dr. Shires alive when Crenshaw's book came out?

If so, did he make public statements firmly denying Crenshaw ever said to him what Crenshaw said he said to him?

I would like to see or hear a first hand account of him doing so. 

Crenshaw's book came out in 1992.

Dr. Shires passed away in 2007.

 

Edited by Joe Bauer
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Having Trauma Room one and having read a good bit about LBJ, e.g. A Texan Looks at Lyndon for starters I'd go with the Dr's word.  At least one of them had sworn a Hippocratic oath.  LBJ was not called Lying Lyndon for nothing in college.

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10 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

Having Trauma Room one and having read a good bit about LBJ, e.g. A Texan Looks at Lyndon for starters I'd go with the Dr's word.  At least one of them had sworn a Hippocratic oath.  LBJ was not called Lying Lyndon for nothing in college.

No contest in that department.

Here is what we know about the call:

It did come in.

Telephone operator supervisor Phyllis Bartlett unequivocally verified this.

It came in while Dr. Shires, Crenshaw and other trauma doctors were working on Oswald.

Someone was notified about the call.

What happened after that point?

We know what Crenshaw claimed.

Much of Crenshaw's book account was verified by Bartlett and even intern and future brain surgeon Phil Williams.

We know there was at least one FBI agent positioned "outside" of the OR. 

Reportedly inside as well.

So, other men besides medical personnel were there.

Two doctors took photos of Oswald while he was being operated on.

Paul Peters for one. Both had their camera's taken by agents in the room. The cameras were returned, however the films were not.

Discreditors cite that Crenshaw was only an assisting first or second year resident.

His role minimal. 

They say Dr. Shires ( the main surgeon ) stated Crenshaw never told him about the call.

Gary Mack cited the lack of White House records of any outside call by LBJ at the time and gave a general overview of LBJ's movements during the call time.

The possibility of LBJ making any call during that time was impossible due to the official records according to Mack and McAdams and others.

The voice on the call was an impersonator of LBJ.

The call was a prank.

The caller's knowledge and mention of a non-medical person in the OR was just some lucky guess?

Has there ever been any revelation of Crenshaw, Bartlett, brain surgeon Phil Williams exhibiting any behavior in their lives that showed them to be tellers of tall tales?

Dallas FBI head Gordon Shanklin himself stated he sent agents to Parkland and the OR while Oswald was being operated on there.

He wanted to be sure at least one of his men were around to hear Oswald say anything regards his role in the JFKA.

During a 9/24/2013 interview with both Parkland Drs. Robert McClelland and Ronald Jones for the Sixth Floor Museum, Jones acknowledged Dr. Phillip Williams as being in the audience, and later when the host asked about Crenshaw’s story of the phone call, McClelland said The doctor sitting right there in front of me, I think, has some knowledge of that, don't you? Yeah. So I think that phone call which came from the White House apparently did come through”... “All I know is circumstantial, I know nothing directly about what I was told, and what I was told, and again, by my good friend sitting here in front of me, who was sitting there in the nurse's station listening to the phone, that someone called from the White House as Lee Harvey Oswald was on the table wanting to find out what condition he was in. That's all just hearsay really from me, but I think that probably did occur 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I think it's great that LBJ had a voice impersonator whenever he wanted at his disposal.

Now that I think about it...I'm surprised that the FBI didn't fabricate a story saying that Oswald admitted it (maybe he was unconscious the whole time?)

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