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Summary: Overdue information from a Johnson insider
Review: This is a superbly written and researched secret history by a Johnson Administration insider who had the courage to take the risk of violating attorney client priveledge to give us the truth about Johnson. Take note, where Caro and Dallek fail, McClellan has the real inside information on quite a number of issues.
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Summary: I always knew Johnson did it!!
Review: This is a fast paced and very readable book. Although a lot of the evidence must be taken with a grain of salt, and the conclusions are speclative, this is one of the few books where the author was on the inside of the Johnson gang.Much of this book also deals with how Johnson moved up through the ranks, and what the texas party 'machine' was capable of.
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Summary: Wow, an excellent book conecting the dots.
Review: The book brings together the loose ends behind the JFK tragedy.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating - yes; factual - dunno
Review: This book was a page-turner and very hard to put down. A good half or more was really an LBJ biography that offered new information not found in similar works I have read. This bio provided some very unflattering data on LBJ that - unfortunately - I really feel is more-or-less accurate. As far as the assertions that LBJ and Edward Clark had JFK assassinated, well that evidence is inconclusive. The assertions that LBJ (and Clark) committed some despicable acts are very arguable, but to advance beyond the other garden-variety conspiracy theories of Kennedy's assassination, the author needs to formulate a better case. The author readily admitted to the use of "faction" in this last chapter or so, but I feel he used that technique well before then. He includes almost 100 pages of photocopied evidence in the book's appendix, but while it may legitimately show LBJ as a dishonest, power-hungry, and pathological man, it falls far short of implicating him in JFK's assassination. For McClellan to have presented this book as an unflattering LBJ bio and suggested possible involvement in the assassination is one thing, but for him to offer this as definitive proof, "Blood..." fails. For a look at the seamier side of LBJ, and the indictment of legal abuse of the state judicial system, it's a good read.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing, tough read
Review: Bought this book hoping to read something compelling and conclusive regarding Johnson's involvement or lack therof, in JFK's murder. The author weaves a tiresome and convoluted tale, based mainly on hearsay, speculation and a few cryptic papers.
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Summary: LBJ, BILLIE SOL ESTES, BOBBY BAKER, & JFK
Review: THE BOOK TIES TOGETHER NUMBEROUS LOOSE ENDS, THE BILLIE SOL ESTES SWINDEL, "THE ENRON OF THE 1960"s", HIS PARTNER WAS LBJ.
EVERY ACCOUNTANT STUDIED THIS CASE IN COLLEGE IN THE LATE 60'S AND 70'S, BILLIE SOL ESTES WENT TO PRISON AND LBJ BECAME PRESIDENT. THIS BOOK EXPLAINS IT CLEARLY. BILLIE SOL ESTES LBJ'S BUSINESS PARTNER,HE NOW LIVES IN FRANCE,IS TELLING THE SAME STORY. THE MARSHALL MURDER TRYING TO STOP THE BILLIE SOL ESTES INVESTAGATION IN TEXAS,A FEDERAL AGENT, OF WHICH IN 1987
LBJ IS NOW CHARGED WITH THE KILLING. A MUST READ BOOK.
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Summary: Republican propaganda?
Review: Barr McClellan, a lawyer for Texas oil companies and the father of George W. Bush's White House press secretary, strips the JFK assassination of any political motive and reduces it to the personal motives of one Democrat. LBJ, says McClellan, killed JFK because he was greedy for power and was afraid of having his corruption exposed. Period. There is no mention of JFK's decision to bring the troops home from Vietnam, "shatter the CIA into a thousand pieces," get rid of the oil depletion tax credit, or end segregation--all the reasons for which the far right wing despised him. That far right wing is now in power and openly asserts its hatred for "liberal senators from Massachusetts." I do believe Johnson played a role in the cover-up (though not necessarily in the assassination itself), but for political, not personal, motives. This book talks a lot about Texas oil men, yet never once mentions George H. W. Bush--how is that possible? Finally, McClellan says Oswald was one of the shooters, which any reputable assassination researcher knows is not true. Oswald could not have fired a rifle that day because he had no gunpower residue on his cheek when he was tested for it.
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Summary: Enough evidence to convict any ordinary citizen
Review: The only thing that would have made this book better in my opinion is if it had been limited to events surrounding the assasination that the author knew for sure happened, rather than the addition of speculation, or in the author's words, "faction". However, this would have made the book a small portion of its total length. Read it as a brief work on modern Texas political history rather than a facts-only review of the assasination and it will be a five-star book. With that said, the book points out undeniable and easily documented facts that can point to no other person at the top of the assasination plot except Lyndon Johnson. The facts, with photos, provided in this book that would make me vote guilty as a juror:
1) A fingerprint in the sniper's nest of the book depository was matched to Mac Wallace. He was there.
2) Mac Wallace killed a boyfriend of Johnson's sister, Josefa Johnson, on October 22, 1951. McClellan says it was to silence the man from revealing a scandal about Josefa. The evidence was overwhelming and 11 of 12 jurors recommended the death penalty. Wallace's attorney, however, was employed by the Clark law firm. McClellan points out that Ed Clark was so powerful and intimidating in Texas legal circles that all he had to do was pick up the phone and call a judge. The judge in Wallace's case overruled the jury's recommendation for the death penalty and sentenced Wallace to five years' prison with a suspended sentence. Wallace was freed after being found guilty of first-degree murder.
3) McClellan was one of four principal members in the law firm that handled all of Johnson's legal matters, coming into it in the years following the assasination. Two of the other principal members of the firm told him in private, at different times, that the firm had orchestrated the assasination of Kennedy on behalf of Johnson.
4) This author is absolutely credible. He is a high-profile, intelligent attorney, and the father of the current White House press secretary, Scott McClellan.
In short, if Mac Wallace was at an important event, it involved Lyndon Johnson and the Clark law firm, and he was there. A 14-point matching fingerprint would convict you or me wouldn't it? Is it so far-fetched that the "heir to the throne" will murder the king? It has happened many times throughout history. When people dismiss the idea as preposterous that a former president would be guilty of murdering another president, I'm reminded of Winston Churchill's famous quote: "Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most times he will pick himself up and carry on." Great book. Distill it down to the facts and you will have no hesitation in answering the question, "Who was our WORST president?"
Rating:
Summary: Interesting ,yes, believable?
Review: This story is plausible, if you read Robert Caro's excellent bio LBJ was capable of doing it. But there's not much proof, lots of circumstantial evidence. What makes me suspicious is that Barr's son Scott is Dubya's press secretary. I wonder what he has to say about all this? What ulterior motives does Mr McClellan have?
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