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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Clark M. Clifford
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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Clark M. Clifford
CLARK M. CLIFFORD
Awarded by
President Lyndon B. Johnson
January 20, 1969
Clark Clifford is a man of action, a counselor of Presidents and a servant of the people with wise and cool judgment, a forceful and brilliant leader. Detached, strong, sound, unswayed by the passions of the day, he has searched with clear vision into the urgent problems of our Nation and the community of mankind. America and the world will always be the better for his service.
Former Secretary of Defense Clifford dies at 91
Former Defense Secretary Clark M. Clifford was laid to rest in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery Tuesday. An advisor to Presidents Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter, Clifford died of respiratory failure at his home in Bethesda Oct. 9, 1968.
Clifford was born in Fort Scott, Kan., Dec. 25, 1906. He graduated in 1928 with an LL.B. degree from Washington University in St. Louis then practiced law as an associate in the law office of J.M. Lashly in St. Louis until 1950.
In 1950 he became the senior partner in the law firm of Clifford and Miller in Washington, D.C.
He volunteered for service in the U.S. Navy Reserve in 1943 and received his commission as lieutenant junior grade and went on active duty in 1944.
Clifford served as a special assistant to the commander, Western Sea Frontier and then as the assistant chief of staff for logistics.
He was appointed assistant naval aide to the president in 1945, then naval aide. In 1945 he became special counsel to the president -- a position he held for four years.
He served on active duty in the Navy until 1946, and was discharged as a captain. Clifford was awarded the American Campaign Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.
He has been credited with helping put together the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Marshall Plan after World War II, and convincing President Harry S. Truman to recognize Israel as a state.
Clifford began a study of the unification of the armed services and was one of the drafters of "The National Security Act Amendments of 1949," which changed the national military establishments into the Department of Defense. The creation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with a chairman at the head, was part of this effort.
Clifford worked for 23 years in the survey and study of the organization, management and administration of DoD before his appointment to Secretary of Defense by President Johnson in 1968.
A Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Clifford is survived by his wife, the former Margery Pepperell Kimball, and three children -- Margery Pepperell Lanagan, Joyce Carter Burland and Randall Wight.
Private headstone of Capt. Clark M. Clifford and his wife, Margery Kimball Clifford.
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Medal History
