Dr. Robert McClelland Oral History
Object number2011.001.0011
Date02/10/2011
ClassificationsOral Histories
Oral history interview subject
Robert N. McClelland
Oral history interviewer
Stephen Fagin
ObjectOral history
Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumBorn digital (.m2ts file)
DimensionsDuration: 125 Minutes
Terms
- Oral histories
- Trauma Room One
- Doctors
- Emergency care
- Emergency room
- Medical team
- Kennedy, John F.
- Connally, John
- Oswald, Lee Harvey
- McClelland, Robert
- Perry, Malcolm O.
- Jones, Ronald C.
- Carrico, Charles J. "Jim"
- Parkland Hospital
- Southwestern Medical School
- Dallas
- Parkland Memorial Hospital (OHC)
- Lee Harvey Oswald (OHC)
- Authors, Filmmakers, and Researchers (OHC)
Collections
DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Dr. Robert McClelland. An instructor in surgery at Parkland Memorial Hospital in 1963, McClelland participated in the treatment of President Kennedy in Trauma Room One. He also assisted in the surgery of Governor John Connally and, less than two days later, the treatment of Lee Harvey Oswald. McClelland maintained a research interest in the assassination over the years and was frequently interviewed for book and documentary projects.
Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on February 10, 2011 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is two hours and five minutes long.
Curatorial CommentaryDr. Robert McClelland's blood-stained shirt was put on public display for the first time as part of the Museum's "Two Days in Texas" exhibit (2023-2024). It may be found here in the collections database: https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/73346.
Dr. McClelland's handwritten statement of activities, part of the Museum's Parkland Hospital Collection, may be found here: https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/5133. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
In addition to this lengthy 2011 recording, Dr. McClelland also participated in a Museum oral history ten years earlier in 2001 (https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/21284). He returned to the Museum for a memorable public program alongside his Parkland Hospital colleague Dr. Ronald C. Jones in 2013. That discussion may be viewed in full on the Museum's YouTube channel: Parkland Trauma Room One Reunion - YouTube. Dr. McClelland passed away on September 10, 2019. In 2022, the McClelland family donated the blood-stained shirt that Dr. McClelland was wearing in Trauma Room One on November 22, 1963. Dr. McClelland references the shirt during this oral history. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator
