Clark Clifford was one of the most influential Washington insiders of the mid-twentieth century, a polished lawyer and adviser who counseled four Democratic presidents and served as secretary of defense during the Vietnam War. Born in Fort Scott, Kansas, and raised in St. Louis, he became a successful trial lawyer before entering government service during the Second World War as a naval aide.
He rose to prominence as a trusted adviser to President Harry Truman, helping to shape major postwar policies and playing a key role in Truman's come-from-behind victory in the 1948 election. After leaving government Clifford built a lucrative Washington law practice and became the model of the powerful capital insider — a discreet, elegant fixer whose counsel was sought by the most powerful figures in the country.
He continued to advise Democratic presidents, serving as a confidant to John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. In 1968 Johnson named him secretary of defense, and in that role Clifford underwent an important change of heart: initially a supporter of the war in Vietnam, he came to believe it could not be won and worked from within the administration to move the United States toward de-escalation and negotiation.
After leaving office he returned to his law practice and remained a respected elder statesman, though his final years were clouded by his entanglement, late in life, in a major international banking scandal. He died in 1998, a symbol of an era of Washington power-brokering.