Robert McClelland (1929–2019), surgeon tried to save JFK

Robert McClelland was a surgeon who worked to save President John F. Kennedy after he was shot on November 22, 1963. McClelland was a young general surgeon at Dallas’ Parkland Memorial Hospital at the time, having served in the U.S. Air Force for two years before his residency there. When Kennedy was rushed to the hospital after being shot while traveling through downtown Dallas in his motorcade. McClelland, who was working with surgical residents when Kennedy was brought in, was called into surgery along with lead surgeon Malcolm Perry and Charles Baxter. The surgical team did all they could, but they were unable to save the president. Two days later, McClelland was part of the surgical team that tried to save the life of Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, after he was shot by Jack Ruby. Later in McClelland’s career, he taught medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern, and he published the journal “Selected Readings in General Surgery” for about 30 years.