Clark Clifford
Clark Clifford | |
---|---|
9th United States Secretary of Defense | |
In office March 1, 1968 – January 20, 1969 | |
President | Lyndon B. Johnson |
Deputy | Paul Nitze |
Preceded by | Robert McNamara |
Succeeded by | Melvin Laird |
Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board | |
In office April 23, 1963 – February 29, 1968 | |
President | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson |
Preceded by | James Killian |
Succeeded by | Maxwell D. Taylor |
2nd White House Counsel | |
In office February 1, 1946 – January 31, 1950 | |
President | Harry Truman |
Preceded by | Samuel Rosenman |
Succeeded by | Charles Murphy |
Personal details | |
Born | Clark McAdams Clifford December 25, 1906 Fort Scott, Kansas, U.S. |
Died | October 10, 1998 (aged 91) Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. |
Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse |
Margery Pepperell Kimball
(m. 1931) |
Children | 3 |
Education | LLB) |
Military service | |
Branch/service | United States Navy |
Years of service | 1944–1946 |
Rank | Captain |
Clark McAdams Clifford (December 25, 1906 – October 10, 1998) was an American lawyer who served as an important political adviser to Democratic presidents Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Jimmy Carter. His official government positions were White House Counsel (1946–1950), Chairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board (1963–1968), and Secretary of Defense (1968–1969);[1] Clifford was also influential in his role as an unofficial, informal presidential adviser in various issues.[2] A successful Washington, D.C., lawyer, he was known for his elite clientele, charming manners, and impeccable suits.[2]
All four Democratic presidents of the Cold War era employed Clifford's services and relied on his counsel, marking him as one of the ultimate Washington insiders.[3] Emblematic of Clifford's influence in postwar Democratic presidential administrations was that after Jimmy Carter won the 1976 presidential election, his transition team was adamant that Clifford, as a symbol of the Washington, D.C., establishment, should not have any influence whatsoever, declaring that "if you ever see us relying on Clark Clifford, you'll know we have failed", yet Carter eventually came to rely on him nonetheless.[3]
In his later years, Clifford became involved in several controversies. He was a key figure in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal, which led to a grand jury indictment.
Background
Clifford was born on December 25, 1906, in Fort Scott, Kansas. His parents resided there at the time because his father, Frank, was a traveling auditor for Missouri Pacific Railroad.[4] He was named after his maternal uncle, Clark McAdams.[5] He attended Washington University in St. Louis.[6]
Career
Clifford built a solid reputation practicing law in St. Louis between 1928 and 1943. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946.
Presidential adviser
In 1945 he was assigned to the White House and quickly promoted to captain while serving as assistant naval aide and then naval aide to President Harry S Truman. He became a trusted personal adviser and friend of Truman.[7]
Clifford went to Washington, first to serve as assistant to the President's Naval Adviser, after the naming of a personal friend from Missouri as the President's Naval Adviser. Following his discharge from the Navy, he remained at Truman's side as White House Counsel from 1946 to 1950, as Truman came rapidly to trust and rely upon Clifford.
Clifford was a key architect of Truman's campaign in 1948, when Truman pulled off a stunning upset victory over Republican nominee
In his role as presidential adviser, one of his most significant contributions was his successful advocacy, along with
Of similar importance, with the input of senior officials in the Departments of State, War, and Justice, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Central Intelligence Group, and utilizing the expertise of
After leaving the government in 1950, Clifford practiced law in Washington, D.C., but continued to advise
Clifford was the head of the
After Johnson became president in November 1963 following
USS Liberty incident
Clifford served as the chairman of the
He delved deeper into the inconsistencies in the Israeli explanation: “That the Liberty could have been mistaken for the Egyptian supply ship El Quseir is unbelievable. El Quseir has one-fourth the displacement of the Liberty, roughly half the beam, is 180 feet shorter, and is very differently configured. The Liberty’s unusual antenna array and hull markings should have been visible to low-flying aircraft and torpedo boats. In the heat of battle the Liberty was able to identify one of the attacking torpedo boats as Israeli and to ascertain its hull number. In the same circumstances, trained Israeli naval personnel should have been able to easily see and identify the larger hull markings on the Liberty. The best interpretation of from available facts is that there were gross and inexcusable failures in the command and control of subordinate Israeli naval and air elements…The unprovoked attack on the Liberty constitutes a flagrant act of gross negligence for which the Israeli Government should be held completely responsible, and the Israeli military personnel involved should be punished.”[18]
Immediately after the attack, he had pressured the Johnson administration to hold the Israelis responsible: “My concern is that we are not tough enough. Handle as if Arabs or USSR had done it. Manner egregious. Inconceivable that it was accident. 3 strafing passes, 3 torpedo boats. Set forth facts. Punish Israelis responsible.”[19]
He expressed his desire to hold Israel accountable in an eponymous 1967 report that he had authored: “I do not know to this day at what level the attack on the Liberty was authorized and I think it is unlikely that the full truth will ever come out. Having been for so long a staunch supporter of Israel, I was particularly troubled by this incident; I could not bring myself to believe that such an action could have been authorized by Levi Eshkol. Yet somewhere inside the Israeli government, somewhere along the chain-of-command, something had gone terribly wrong – and then had been covered-up. I never felt the Israelis made adequate restitution or explanation for their actions.”[20][21]
Secretary of Defense
On January 19, 1968, Johnson announced his selection of Clifford to succeed Robert McNamara as the U.S. Secretary of Defense. Clifford estimated that, in the year just prior to his appointment, he had spent about half of his time advising the President and the other half working for his law firm.[22] Widely known and respected in Washington and knowledgeable on defense matters, Clifford was generally hailed as a worthy successor to McNamara. Many regarded the new secretary as more of a
The new Secretary did not change the management system McNamara had installed at
Clifford continued McNamara's highly publicized Cost Reduction Program, announcing that over $1.2 billion had been saved in
By the time Clifford became secretary, Defense Department work on the fiscal year 1969 budget was complete. It amounted in total obligational authority to $77.7 billion, almost $3 billion more than in FY 1968. The final FY 1970 budget, which Clifford and his staff worked on before they left office after the election of Richard Nixon to the presidency, amounted to $75.5 billion TOA (Total Obligational Authority).[25]
Vietnam
Clifford took office committed to rethinking Johnson's Vietnam policies, and Vietnam policy consumed most of his time. He had argued against escalation in 1965 in private counsel with the president, but then provided public support for the president's position once the decision was made. At his confirmation hearing, he told the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. Senate that the limited objective of the U.S. was to guarantee to the people of South Vietnam the right of self-determination. He opposed ending the U.S. bombing of North Vietnam at the time, but acknowledged that the situation could change.[26]
In fact, on March 31, 1968, just a month after Clifford arrived at the Pentagon, Johnson, in an effort to get peace talks started, ordered the cessation of bombing north of the 20th parallel, an area comprising almost 80 percent of North Vietnam's land area and 90 percent of its population. In the same address, Johnson announced that he would not be a candidate for reelection in 1968, surprising everyone, Clifford included. Soon the North Vietnamese agreed to negotiations, which began in Paris in mid-May 1968. Later, on October 31, 1968, to encourage the success of these talks, the President, with Clifford's strong support, ordered an end to all bombing in North Vietnam.
Clifford, like McNamara, had to deal with frequent requests for additional troops from military commanders in Vietnam. When he became secretary, the authorized force in Vietnam was 525,000. Soon after moving into his Pentagon office, Clifford persuaded Johnson to deny General William Westmoreland's request for an additional 206,000 American troops in Vietnam.
At the end of March 1968, however, Johnson agreed to send 24,500 more troops on an emergency basis, raising authorized strength to 549,500, a figure never reached. Even as he oversaw a continued buildup, Clifford preferred to emphasize the points Johnson had made in his March 31, 1968, address: that the South Vietnamese army could take over a greater share of the fighting, that the administration would place an absolute limit on the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam, and that it would take steps, including the bombing restrictions, to reduce the combat level.
Eventually Clifford moved very close, with Johnson's tacit support, to the views McNamara held on Vietnam just before he left office—no further increases in U.S. troop levels, support for the bombing halt and gradual disengagement from the conflict.[24] By this time Clifford clearly disagreed with Secretary of State Dean Rusk, who believed, according to The Washington Post, "that the war was being won by the allies" and that it "would be won if America had the will to win it." He later recalled how he turned against the war: "I found out that we couldn't win the war with the limitations that we had, which I thought were correct limitations, and I thought all we were going to do was just waste the lives of our men and our treasure out in the jungles of North and South Vietnam."[27]
After he left office, Clifford, in the July 1969 issue of Foreign Affairs, made his views very clear: "Nothing we might do could be so beneficial ... as to begin to withdraw our combat troops. Moreover ... we cannot realistically expect to achieve anything more through our military force, and the time has come to begin to disengage. That was my final conclusion as I left the Pentagon ...".[28]
Although the Johnson Administration ended under the cloud of the Vietnam War, Clifford concluded his short term as Secretary of Defense with his reputation actually enhanced. He got along well with the
Church Committee
On Friday, December 5, 1975, Clifford recommended to the Church Committee that the National Security Council and a Director General of Intelligence—not the Central Intelligence Agency—be the ones with the authority to decide whether or not to engage in covert action.[29]
Special presidential emissary to India
Clifford's legal practice and lobbying work made him wealthy, and he was considered one of Washington's "superlawyers" due to the reach of his influence and seemingly limitless connections. Clifford's office overlooked the White House, emphasizing his long experience in the capital.
In 1980, President Carter appointed him as special presidential emissary to India.[citation needed]
Clifford made waves by threatening the newly established
He also referred to President Ronald Reagan as an "amiable dunce" at a Washington dinner party.[30]
Bank of Credit and Commerce International: the BCCI Scandal
External videos | |
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Booknotes interview with Clifford on Counsel to the President: A Memoir, July 28, 1991, C-SPAN |
The
From 1982 to 1991, Clifford served as chairman of First American Bankshares, which grew to become the largest bank in Washington, D.C. The bank was nominally owned by a group of Arab investors, but in order to assuage fears from the
An audit by
Clifford's predicament worsened when it was disclosed he had made about $6 million in
Clifford insisted that he had no knowledge of illegal activity at First American, and insisted that he himself had been deceived about the extent of BCCI's involvement.[30] Using the support of Kamal Adham, both former president Robert A. Altman and former chairman Clifford were indicted on largely circumstantial evidence.[33]
A "Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate", prepared by U.S. Senators John Kerry and Hank Brown, noted that a key strategy of "BCCI's successful secret acquisitions of U.S. banks in the face of regulatory suspicion was its aggressive use of a series of prominent Americans", Clifford among them.[34] Clifford, who prided himself on decades of meticulously ethical conduct, summed his predicament up when he sadly told a reporter from The New York Times, "I have a choice of either seeming stupid or venal."[30]
While Clifford maintained his innocence, he did face criminal charges of fraud, conspiracy, and taking bribes. These charges were dropped in 1993 because of Clifford’s ill health. In 1998, the year of his death, he and Altman reached a $5 million settlement with the Federal Reserve and settled the last of several civil lawsuits against them.[35]
Personal life and death
On October 3, 1931, Clifford married Margery Pepperell "Marny" Kimball (April 20, 1908 – April 14, 2000). They had three daughters: Margery Clifford (nickname: Gery), Joyce Clifford Burland and Randall Clifford Wight.[36]
Clifford was a self-proclaimed
Not long after a final, frail appearance in the 1997 PBS television documentary Truman, Clifford died on October 10, 1998, at the age of 91. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington County, Virginia.[30]
Awards
- 1969: Presidential Medal of Freedom, with Distinction, from President Johnson on the President's last day in office, January 20, 1969[38][39]
- 1978: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member and trial lawyer Louis Nizer[40]
Legacy
Clark Clifford emerged as a national figure almost overnight, moving from a low-level naval aide in the White House to President Truman's top adviser and strategist. His success came from hard work, a good mind, poker skills to match those of his boss, the ability to stroke the press, the knack to immediately seize on serendipitous opportunities, and the ability to identify, reshape and promote good ideas first proposed by others, such as George Kennan. He thus gained fame for papers that he presented forcefully, but did not actually write, including his 1947 proposal on Truman's reelection strategy and the Clifford-Elsey papers on Cold War strategy. He became a trusted advisor to presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in 1960, assuring his access by indicating he wanted no public office. His reputation – and his law practice – continued to soar until finally Lyndon Johnson appointed him Defense Secretary to lead the nation out of the Vietnam trap.
In 1995,
Works
In 1991, Clifford's memoirs Counsel to the President (co-authored with
References
- ^ a b "Clark M. Gifford - Lyndon Johnson Administration". Office of the Secretary of Defense - Historical Office. Archived from the original on February 13, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
- ^ a b John Acacia, Clark Clifford: The Wise Man of Washington
- ^ a b Edwin M. Yoder Jr., "Government tasks will test Trump's skill" Archived September 22, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Friedman, Saul (September 3, 1969). "Clark Clifford, Never Elected, Helps 'Govern' the Nation". Des Moines Tribune. p. 24. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
- The Kansas City Times. p. 26. Archivedfrom the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
- ^ "Clark Clifford, Robert Altman / Biographies at a glance". The Desert Sun. Gannett News Service. September 12, 1991. p. 25. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
- ^ John Acacia, Clark Clifford: The Wise Man of Washington (2009), pp 1-16.
- ^ Acacia, Clark Clifford (2009), ch 1-5.
- ^ McCullough, David G. (1992) Truman
- ^ Truman Adviser Recalls May 14, 1948 Decision to Recognize Israel Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Richard H. Curtiss, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May, June 1991
- ^ Weizmann Thanks Clark Clifford for His “Magnificent” Help In Getting Truman to Support Partition and Recognize Israel Archived May 9, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. shapell.org
- ISBN 9780394569956. Archivedfrom the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
- ^ Arthur Krock, Memoirs: Sixty Years on the Firing Line (1968)
- ^ Acacia, Clark Clifford pp 207-22.
- ^ Rosenbaum, David E. (December 9, 1980). "Reagan Transition Costs Will Exceed $2 Million". The Times Argus. Times News Service. Retrieved February 4, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "4 presidents heard advice of Fort Scott man". Archived from the original on August 20, 2010. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
- ISBN 9781416554820.
- ^ https://test.history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d373 [bare URL]
- ^ "State Department Documents from the 1967 War (June 1967)".
- ^ "Clark Clifford on USS Liberty".
- ^ "Experts on the USS Liberty".
- ^ "Historical Office." Clark M. Clifford > Historical Office > Article View. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2017.
- ^ Roger R. Trask (1985). The Secretaries of Defense: A Brief History, 1947-1985. Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense. p. 34.
- ^ On The Media. WNYC Studios. Accessed June 25, 2023.
- ^ National Defense Budget Estimates for FY 2013. Department of Defense. March 2012. p. 1
- ^ Acacia, Clark Clifford pp 236-328.
- ^ “Interview with Clark M. Clifford, 1981.” Archived January 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine May 18, 1981. WGBH Media Library & Archives. Retrieved November 23, 2010.
- ^ Clark M. Clifford, "A Viet Nam Reappraisal: The Personal History of One Man's View and How It Evolved." Foreign Affairs 47.4 (1969): 601-622.
- ^ U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Intelligence and the Rights of Americans of the Select Committee on Intelligence (Church Committee) (December 1975). Covert Action: Church Committee Hearings, Vol. 7.
- ^ a b c d e "Clark McAdams Clifford". Arlington National Cemetery. Archived from the original on October 14, 2008. Retrieved November 4, 2008.
- ISBN 9781557755032.
- ^ ISBN 0-395-62339-1.
- ^ Baquet, Dean (July 30, 1992). "After Plea Bargain by Sheik, Question Is What He Knows". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
- ^ The BCCI Affair Archived December 27, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, by Senator John Kerry and Senator Hank Brown. December 1992. 102d Congress 2d Session Senate Print 102–140
- ^ Berger, Marilyn (October 11, 1998). "Clark Clifford, a Major Adviser to Four Presidents, is Dead at 91". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- ^ Who's Who in American Politics, 1965-66
- ^ [1] Archived February 10, 2015, at the Wayback Machine The Origins of the U.S.-Israeli Relationship: Truman and the Jewish State, Cole Bunzel, May 5, 2010
- ^ "These Are the Known Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom With Distinction". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
- ^ Berger, Marilyn (October 11, 1998). "Clark Clifford, a Major Adviser To Four Presidents, Is Dead at 91". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- American Academy of Achievement. Archivedfrom the original on December 15, 2016. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
- ^ John Acacia, Clark Clifford: The Wise Man of Washington (2009), passim and p. 122.
- ^ Walter Isaacson, American Sketches: Great Leaders, Creative Thinkers, and Heroes of a Hurricane (2009) pp 66-67
Further reading
- Acacia, John. Clark Clifford: The Wise Man of Washington (2009) online Archived December 17, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
- Clifford, Clark M.; ISBN 9780394569956. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
- Coates, Benjamin A. "Strategists and Rhetoricians: Truman's Foreign Policy Advisers." in Daniel S. Margolies, ed., A Companion to Harry S. Truman (2012): 159-187.
- Frantz, Douglas, and David McKean. Friends in high places: The rise and fall of Clark Clifford (St. Martin's Press, 1995).
- Janoff, Bruce L. "Clifford, Clark" American National Biography (2006)
- Trask, Roger R. (1985). The Secretaries of Defense: A Brief History, 1947-1985. Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense. pp. 34-36.
External links
- Oral History Interviews with Clark M. Clifford, Truman Presidential Library
- Oral History Interviews with Clark Clifford, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
- Interview about the Berlin Blockade for the WGBH series, *War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
- Article arguing for de-escalation of American involvement in Vietnam in Lifemagazine, May 22, 1970
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Collection of Letters
- Clark M. Clifford (Radio Reports partially in German) from the archive of the Österreichische Mediathek
- Clifford Memorandum of November 19, 1947, outlining presidential strategy for winning the 1948 election
- Clark M. Clifford Papers @ Library of Congress
- Clark M. Clifford Papers @ Truman Library