Sarah McClendon
Encyclopedia
Sarah Newcomb McClendon (July 8, 1910 – January 8, 2003) was a long-time White House reporter who covered presidential
politics for a half-century. McClendon founded her own free-lance news service as a single mother in the post-World War II
era, and became known as a model for women in the press and as a vocal advocate of various causes, particularly those of United States military veterans. McClendon was best known, however, for her questions at United States Presidential press conferences, which often ranged from aggressive to brash or blunt.
. McClendon's childhood home, the "Bonner-Whitaker-McClendon House," is now a Texas Historical Landmark.
McClendon graduated from Tyler Junior College
in 1928, and from the University of Missouri
's School of Journalism
in 1931.
After graduation, McClendon worked for the Tyler Courier-Times, the Tyler Morning Telegraph
where she covered the New London Schoolhouse explosion and the Beaumont Enterprise
. As a reporter for the Beaumont Enterprise, McClendon wrote a series of articles criticizing the Women's Army Auxililiary Corps
-- the very branch of the service in which she would soon enlist.
, McClendon volunteered to serve in the United States Army
. After learning that she did not have the academic qualifications to join military intelligence, McClendon enlisted in the Women's Army Auxililiary Corps
, and reported for duty in September, 1942. McClendon initially served in the WAAC's public relations department, then attended Officer Candidate School
, was promoted to Lieutenant
and eventually was assigned the Army Surgeon General's office as a public relations officer.,
While in the service, McClendon met and was briefly married to John Thomas O'Brien. O'Brien, a paper salesman, abandoned McClendon before the birth of their daughter and died during World War II., McClendon later described O'Brien as an alcoholic who "had little to recommend him but my own loneliness." The couple's daughter, Sally Newcomb MacDonald, was born in June, 1944.
After insisting her full rights and privileges as a first lieutenant, McClendon was the first Army officer to give birth at a military hospital, Walter Reed Hospital. As a result of the pregnancy, McClendon was honorably discharged from the military, also in June 1944. A single mother, McClendon used her Washington, D.C., press connections to obtain a job as a Washington correspondent, starting work the same month as her daughter's birth.
. In 1946, when Timmons discharged McClendon to make room for reporters returning from service in World War II, McClendon started her own service, the McClendon News Service, which provided Washington dispatches and columns to member newspapers and personal subscribers. A single mother, McClendon often brought her young daughter to news conferences.
For the next several decades, McClendon attended White House press conferences on behalf of the McClendon News Service, becoming a Washington institution. She became known for her sharp questions.
, McClendon wrote "My woman's intuition tells me that Lee Harvey Oswald
could not and did not do that by himself. He was just a diversion. It could have been the work of the underworld, using Oswald, with his peculiar background, as a smoke screen, or it could have been a national or international plot."
McClendon was a member of Maj. Gen. Charles Willoughby's Anti-Communist Liaison - Committee of Correspondence which featured a handful of people closely associated with both the CIA or Military Intelligence and the JFK Assassination itself by multiple independent researchers: Rev. Billy James Hargis
, Alexander Rorke who died 2 months before the JFK assassination who was a constant associate of Frank Sturgis
in Miami, who has been definitively tied to the JFK plot as a result of the published deathbed confession proffered by E. Howard Hunt
, Sturgis' CIA case officer. Edward Hunter
, also on the Anti-Communist Liaison, was the author of Brainwashing which was published by Henry Regnery
Press (1952). Regnery's father William Regnery headed up the ultra pro-Fascist America First Committee
which was considered so isolationist just before World War II that they were considered to be pro-Nazi sympathizers. Hunter was a self-described fascist and an anti-Semite who is considered to be the originator of the terms Brainwashing and Mind Control
. Willoughby himself was identified as a JFK plot conspirator in The Man Who Knew Too Much
by Dick Russell, published in 1994 by Carroll and Graf publishers as well as by former FBI agent William Turner and professional researcher Mae Brussell. McClendon, a staunch proponent of the tactics of McCarthyism
and a friend of Joe McCarthy, later penetrated the Coalition on Political Assassinations as a founding member, on the premise of gathering intelligence on the status of the JFK Assassination investigation ostensibly to determine just how close investigators were getting to implicating her cohorts from McCarthyism and the Anti-Communist Liaison like Maj. Gen. Charles Willoughby, Frank Sturgis, Edward Hunter, Robert Morris, Otto Otepka, Col. Philip J. Corso, Henry Regnery and Billy James Hargis in the JFK assassination conundrum.
McClendon was often heard spreading numerous right-wing conspiracy rumors including the anti-Clinton fabrication proffered to Diane Rehm
in 1995 that she was "quite sure" that Vince Foster
was murdered. Her close friends included Lt. Col. Philip J. Corso, who once claimed that he had witnessed an alien autopsy at Roswell, New Mexico. Although McClendon's 1996 book reluctantly accepted the Air Force's explanation that "Project Mogul" was responsible for the Roswell UFO incident
, by 1997, McClendon's news service spread grossly adulterated and distorted dispatches regarding the Clinton administration's
interest in Roswell which unfortunately were widely circulated and discussed among kindred paranoid individuals, other ultra right-wing extremists and ex-McCarthyites on the internet.
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
politics for a half-century. McClendon founded her own free-lance news service as a single mother in the post-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era, and became known as a model for women in the press and as a vocal advocate of various causes, particularly those of United States military veterans. McClendon was best known, however, for her questions at United States Presidential press conferences, which often ranged from aggressive to brash or blunt.
Early life
The youngest of nine children, McClendon was born July 8, 1910 and reared in Tyler, TexasTyler, Texas
Tyler is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, in the United States. It takes its name from President John Tyler . The city had a population of 109,000 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau...
. McClendon's childhood home, the "Bonner-Whitaker-McClendon House," is now a Texas Historical Landmark.
McClendon graduated from Tyler Junior College
Tyler Junior College
Tyler Junior College is a two-year community college in Tyler, Texas, United States. TJC is one of the largest community colleges in Texas, with an enrollment of more than 12,000 credit students each year with an additional 20,000 continuing education enrollments annually. Its West Campus includes...
in 1928, and from the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
's School of Journalism
Missouri School of Journalism
The Missouri School of Journalism at University of Missouri in Columbia, claims to be the oldest formal journalism school in the world. Founded in 1908, only the Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme de Paris established in 1899 may be older...
in 1931.
After graduation, McClendon worked for the Tyler Courier-Times, the Tyler Morning Telegraph
Tyler Morning Telegraph
The Tyler Morning Telegraph is a daily newspaper based in Tyler, Texas, U.S. It is privately owned by the T.B. Butler Publishing Company, Inc....
where she covered the New London Schoolhouse explosion and the Beaumont Enterprise
Beaumont Enterprise
The Beaumont Enterprise is a newspaper of the Hearst Corporation, headquartered in Beaumont. It has been in operation since 1880.In addition to BeaumontEnterprise.com and the daily newspaper, The Enterprise produces several weeklies—the Jasper Newsboy, the Hardin County News, the Mid County...
. As a reporter for the Beaumont Enterprise, McClendon wrote a series of articles criticizing the Women's Army Auxililiary Corps
Women's Army Corps
The Women's Army Corps was the women's branch of the US Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps on 15 May 1942 by Public Law 554, and converted to full status as the WAC in 1943...
-- the very branch of the service in which she would soon enlist.
Military career
With America's entry into World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, McClendon volunteered to serve in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. After learning that she did not have the academic qualifications to join military intelligence, McClendon enlisted in the Women's Army Auxililiary Corps
Women's Army Corps
The Women's Army Corps was the women's branch of the US Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps on 15 May 1942 by Public Law 554, and converted to full status as the WAC in 1943...
, and reported for duty in September, 1942. McClendon initially served in the WAAC's public relations department, then attended Officer Candidate School
Officer Candidate School (U.S. Army)
The United States Army's Officer Candidate School , located at Fort Benning, Georgia, provides training to become a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army...
, was promoted to Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
and eventually was assigned the Army Surgeon General's office as a public relations officer.,
While in the service, McClendon met and was briefly married to John Thomas O'Brien. O'Brien, a paper salesman, abandoned McClendon before the birth of their daughter and died during World War II., McClendon later described O'Brien as an alcoholic who "had little to recommend him but my own loneliness." The couple's daughter, Sally Newcomb MacDonald, was born in June, 1944.
After insisting her full rights and privileges as a first lieutenant, McClendon was the first Army officer to give birth at a military hospital, Walter Reed Hospital. As a result of the pregnancy, McClendon was honorably discharged from the military, also in June 1944. A single mother, McClendon used her Washington, D.C., press connections to obtain a job as a Washington correspondent, starting work the same month as her daughter's birth.
Washington career
In June 1944, after McClendon's discharge from the Women's Army Corps, famed newspaperman Bascom Timmons hired McClendon as a Washington correspondent for the Philadelphia Daily NewsPhiladelphia Daily News
The Philadelphia Daily News is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The newspaper is owned by Philadelphia Media Holdings which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Daily News began publishing on March 31, 1925, under...
. In 1946, when Timmons discharged McClendon to make room for reporters returning from service in World War II, McClendon started her own service, the McClendon News Service, which provided Washington dispatches and columns to member newspapers and personal subscribers. A single mother, McClendon often brought her young daughter to news conferences.
For the next several decades, McClendon attended White House press conferences on behalf of the McClendon News Service, becoming a Washington institution. She became known for her sharp questions.
Conspiracy theories
McClendon was a proponent of a number of conspiracy theories. For example, less than a month after the assassination of John F. KennedyAssassination of John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
, McClendon wrote "My woman's intuition tells me that Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
could not and did not do that by himself. He was just a diversion. It could have been the work of the underworld, using Oswald, with his peculiar background, as a smoke screen, or it could have been a national or international plot."
McClendon was a member of Maj. Gen. Charles Willoughby's Anti-Communist Liaison - Committee of Correspondence which featured a handful of people closely associated with both the CIA or Military Intelligence and the JFK Assassination itself by multiple independent researchers: Rev. Billy James Hargis
Billy James Hargis
Billy James Hargis was a fundamentalist Protestant Christian evangelist. At the height of his popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, his Christian Crusade ministry was broadcast on more than 500 radio stations and 250 television stations...
, Alexander Rorke who died 2 months before the JFK assassination who was a constant associate of Frank Sturgis
Frank Sturgis
Frank Anthony Sturgis , born Frank Angelo Fiorini, was one of the Watergate burglars.-Early Life and Military Service:...
in Miami, who has been definitively tied to the JFK plot as a result of the published deathbed confession proffered by E. Howard Hunt
E. Howard Hunt
Everette Howard Hunt, Jr. was an American intelligence officer and writer. Hunt served for many years as a CIA officer. Hunt, with G...
, Sturgis' CIA case officer. Edward Hunter
Edward Hunter (U.S. journalist)
Edward Hunter was an American journalist, author and intelligence agent. He is credited with popularizing the use of the term "brainwashing" in English, and collected a large number of examples of Chinese Communist propaganda targeted at the population in the immediate post-revolution...
, also on the Anti-Communist Liaison, was the author of Brainwashing which was published by Henry Regnery
Henry Regnery
-Biography:Regnery was born to a textile manufacturer on January 12, 1912 in Hinsdale, Illinois. He obtained a degree in mechanical engineering from MIT in 1934, and an M.A. from Harvard University, where he worked with Joseph Schumpeter. He also studied at Armour Institute of Technology, and from...
Press (1952). Regnery's father William Regnery headed up the ultra pro-Fascist America First Committee
America First Committee
The America First Committee was the foremost non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II. Peaking at 800,000 members, it was likely the largest anti-war organization in American history. Started in 1940, it became defunct after the attack on Pearl Harbor in...
which was considered so isolationist just before World War II that they were considered to be pro-Nazi sympathizers. Hunter was a self-described fascist and an anti-Semite who is considered to be the originator of the terms Brainwashing and Mind Control
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
. Willoughby himself was identified as a JFK plot conspirator in The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Man Who Knew Too Much may refer to:* The Man Who Knew Too Much , a film by Alfred Hitchcock starring Leslie Banks and Edna Best* The Man Who Knew Too Much , a film by Alfred Hitchcock starring James Stewart and Doris Day...
by Dick Russell, published in 1994 by Carroll and Graf publishers as well as by former FBI agent William Turner and professional researcher Mae Brussell. McClendon, a staunch proponent of the tactics of McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
and a friend of Joe McCarthy, later penetrated the Coalition on Political Assassinations as a founding member, on the premise of gathering intelligence on the status of the JFK Assassination investigation ostensibly to determine just how close investigators were getting to implicating her cohorts from McCarthyism and the Anti-Communist Liaison like Maj. Gen. Charles Willoughby, Frank Sturgis, Edward Hunter, Robert Morris, Otto Otepka, Col. Philip J. Corso, Henry Regnery and Billy James Hargis in the JFK assassination conundrum.
McClendon was often heard spreading numerous right-wing conspiracy rumors including the anti-Clinton fabrication proffered to Diane Rehm
Diane Rehm
Diane Rehm is an American public radio talk show host. Her program, The Diane Rehm Show, is distributed nationally and internationally by National Public Radio. It is produced at WAMU, which is licensed to American University in Washington, D.C....
in 1995 that she was "quite sure" that Vince Foster
Vince Foster
Vincent Walker Foster, Jr. was a Deputy White House Counsel during the first few months of President Bill Clinton's administration, and also a law partner and friend of Hillary Rodham Clinton...
was murdered. Her close friends included Lt. Col. Philip J. Corso, who once claimed that he had witnessed an alien autopsy at Roswell, New Mexico. Although McClendon's 1996 book reluctantly accepted the Air Force's explanation that "Project Mogul" was responsible for the Roswell UFO incident
Roswell UFO incident
The Roswell UFO Incident was the recovery of an object that crashed in the general vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico, in June or July 1947, allegedly an extra-terrestrial spacecraft and its alien occupants. Since the late 1970s the incident has been the subject of intense controversy and of...
, by 1997, McClendon's news service spread grossly adulterated and distorted dispatches regarding the Clinton administration's
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
interest in Roswell which unfortunately were widely circulated and discussed among kindred paranoid individuals, other ultra right-wing extremists and ex-McCarthyites on the internet.
Works
- McClendon, S; My eight presidents, Wyden Books, 1978. ISBN 0-88326-150-2.
- McClendon, S; Minton, J., Mr. President, Mr. President! : my 50 years of covering the White House, General Pub. Group, 1996. ISBN 1-57544-005-9.
External links
- USA Today Obituary
- Role Model: Sarah McClendon, by Roberta Oster Sachs, Columbia Journalism Review, May/June 2003 issue, retrieved July 31, 2006