Dallas 1963
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Ted Dealey resigned as chairman of the board of the Dallas Morning News in 1964 but retained his position as publisher until 1968. As a dedicated animal lover, Dealey helped raise funds for the Dallas Humane Society; he also led a campaign to revitalize the Dallas Zoo. He died in 1969 at age seventy-seven. Under the direction of Dealey’s son Joe, the News evolved toward a more moderately conservative philosophy. During the 1980s, the News became widely regarded as the best newspaper in Texas. It has received nine Pulitzer Prizes since 1986.
H. L. Hunt remained a target of conspiracy theorists. He became increasingly interested in health issues as he aged. He began the practice of “creeping”—crawling along the floor, which he told astonished visitors helped keep him young. In 1968 he became fascinated by aloe vera—then largely unknown in America—and helped develop and market the plant to consumers. One of his sons, Lamar Hunt, founded the American Football League and coined the term Super Bowl to describe the meeting between AFL and NFL teams. Two other sons, Nelson Bunker and Herbert, attempted to corner the world’s silver market in 1980. At age eighty-one, H. L. Hunt told an interviewer, “I intend to live to be 140, like the people in a certain tribe in the Himalayas.” He died in 1974 at age eighty-five.
H. Rhett James served as the leader of New Hope Baptist until 1986, and he oversaw the creation of a new million-dollar church building. He remained engaged in city, state, and national politics, serving with the Dallas War on Poverty and the Dallas Urban League. After helping open Bishop College in Dallas, a school with a predominantly African American student body, he served as an associate professor of social science there for twenty years. He earned his doctorate in urban administration from the University of Texas at Arlington, and graduated from the Institute for Management at Harvard. He taught at Austin College and the University of Texas at Dallas, and also worked as an assistant principal and administrator in the Dallas Independent School District. He traveled the world recruiting black teachers for the same Dallas public schools he helped integrate. He died in 2004. He was seventy-five. When he died, a scholarship in his name was created by the NAACP.
Lady Bird Johnson became one of America’s most notable First Ladies, leading a public campaign to restore America’s landscape. “Where flowers bloom, so does hope,” she said as she lobbied for passage of the Highway Beautification Act, nicknamed Lady Bird’s Bill. In 1977 President Gerald Ford awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In her home state, she co-founded the National Wildflower Research Center. In 2007, the city of Austin renamed its Town Lake “Lady Bird Lake.” She died in 2007 at age ninety-four.
Lyndon Johnson became the thirty-sixth president following Kennedy’s death in Dallas. Using his mastery of the legislative process, Johnson was able to pass much of Kennedy’s stalled legislation, including the Civil Rights Act. Johnson won a landslide victory over conservative Barry Goldwater in 1964—even claiming a majority of the vote in Dallas. As president, Johnson proved to be far more liberal than Kennedy, passing “Great Society” legislation designed to expand opportunities for poor and minority populations. He appointed NAACP counselor Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court, making him the first African American justice. Johnson also deepened the nation’s involvement in Vietnam, which proved to be his undoing. By the end of his term, crowds outside the White House were chanting, “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” Johnson declined to run for reelection in 1968. He died in 1973 at age sixty-four of a heart attack.
Jacqueline Kennedy gave an exclusive interview to sympathetic journalist Theodore H. White a week after her husband’s death. She compared JFK’s time in office to the Broadway musical Camelot, which became an enduring image of the Kennedy presidency. In 1968 she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, one of the world’s wealthiest men. Following her second husband’s death in 1975, she became a successful book editor at Doubleday. She died of cancer in 1994 at age sixty-four.
Stanley Marcus became more outspoken in Dallas on selected matters of free speech and civil rights. In 1966, a plot to assassinate Marcus by ultra-right extremists in Dallas was exposed by an informant. In 1974 Marcus published a memoir, Minding the Store, on the eve of his retirement from Neiman Marcus. He went on to publish several more books. In the 1980s the Dallas Morning News hired him to write a weekly opinion column, which continued for fifteen years. He contributed to many civic causes and remained an active arts patron, bringing numerous artists to Dallas and serving as an early board member for the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. He died in 2002 at age ninety-six.
Frank McGehee was arrested for driving under the influence in 1964. That same year, FBI agents reported that McGehee continued to send out fund-raising appeals on behalf of the National Indignation Convention even though the organization had been inactive for two years. In the 1970s, McGehee began offering investment opportunities to people in Dallas, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars. General Edwin Walker was among McGehee’s biggest investors, contributing $44,500. Walker later became suspicious of McGehee and hired a private investigator to track him. McGehee was eventually convicted of theft and sentenced to the maximum of ten years in prison. He was also ordered to pay General Walker restitution.
Robert Morris founded the University of Plano (Texas) in 1964. The school, open until 1977, offered “psychomotor patterning” to young people with mental health issues—the disputed regimen involved creeping along the floor as a way to stimulate brain power. He ran for a seat as U.S. senator from Texas in 1970, but lost in the primary to George H. W. Bush. He also lost a bid to represent New Jersey in the Senate in 1984. He authored five books, most of them attacking liberals, socialists, and communists. He also wrote “Around the World,” a newspaper column that often dwelled on international affairs. He died in 1996, in New Jersey, at the age of eighty-two.
Larrie Schmidt was interviewed by the FBI regarding his role in the WELCOME MR. KENNEDY advertisement, but he was not called to testify before the Warren Commission. In 1964 Schmidt gave an interview to Look magazine claiming that other conservatives in Dallas “just didn’t want to go as fast as I did. I was too advanced.” Schmidt later moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he worked in advertising, managed an apartment complex, and founded a chapter of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia. In 2009 he returned to his native state, Nebraska, where he lives today.
Robert Surrey was eventually identified by federal investigators as the source of the WANTED FOR TREASON pamphlet. He was called to testify before the Warren Commission, but he refused to answer questions about the pamphlet, citing his rights under the Fifth Amendment. Surrey and his wife, Mary, broke with General Walker after Walker refused to join the American Nazi Party. Surrey helped raise funds for the ANP and headed a Nazi front group, the Board of United White Christians Majority. He separated from the ANP after the 1967 assassination of its founder, George Lincoln Rockwell. The Surreys moved to Florida and settled in Pompano Beach. Surrey died in 1987 at age sixty-two.
Edwin A. Walker was among the first to suspect that Lee Harvey Oswald had been the mystery man who’d attempted to kill him, a fact confirmed by Marina Oswald and the evidence found among Oswald’s belongings. Walker testified to the Warren Commission about the attempt on his own life, but was not asked any questions about his hostile relationship with John F. Kennedy. Walker remained a committed conservative political activist but gradually faded from public view. He was arrested twice in the 1970s after fondling undercover police officers in public restrooms near his home. His personal papers were donated to the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, where they are available for researchers. Walker died of lung cancer at age eighty-two in 1993.
Bernard Weissman, who was publicly associated with the WELCOME MR. KENNEDY advertisement in the Dallas Morning News, no longer felt safe in the city after Kennedy’s death. He left Dallas the following week and never returned. He was called before the Warren Commission and testified extensive
ly about his relationship with Larrie Schmidt and the creation of the advertisement. Weissman also turned over to the commission his correspondence from Schmidt, which is included in the final report. Weissman lives in his native New York.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many wonderful people provided important assistance at all stages of this book’s creation. We are indebted to countless good-hearted men and women who repeatedly gave their time and intelligence. Forgive us for those we inadvertently fail to mention.
Tad Hershorn and his family are to be thanked for their extraordinary generosity and insights. W. Michael Smith provided superlative fact checking and insights. Nick Swartsell, Carlos Morales, Gabino Iglesias, Emily Mathis, Wendy Grossman, and Jeff Davis offered expert, painstaking research.
We extend special thanks to Krishna Shenoy, Mark Davies, and Megan Bryant at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas; Pamalla Anderson, Russell Martin, and Ada Negraru at the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University; Brian Collins and Adrianne Pierce in the Texas/Dallas History and Archives Division at the Dallas Public Library; Aryn Glazier, Don Carleton, Margaret Schlankey, and Brenda Gunn at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin; Maryrose Grossman and Lynsey Sczechowicz at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library; Gerry Cristol at Temple Emanu-El in Dallas; former mayor of Dallas Wes Wise; author and educator Darwin Payne at Southern Methodist University; Sarah Cunningham and Barbara Cline at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library; Adriane Hanson at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton University; Dorissa Martinez at the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library; Nicci Hester and Tai Kreidler at the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University; Jennifer Hadley at the Olin Memorial Library at Wesleyan University; Michelle Kopfer at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library; Matthew Lutts with Associated Press Images; Jerome Sims and Ed Timms at the Dallas Morning News; Amy Delong at the National Archives and Records Administration; David P. Sobonya at the FBI Records Management Division.
We are extraordinarily fortunate to have worked with the brilliant editors Cary Goldstein, Sean Desmond, and Deb Futter. Their incredible wisdom and good cheer are unparalleled—all writers would be lucky to work with folks as smart and supportive.
We are also indebted to the many other great people at Twelve and Hachette: the creative and energetic Brian McLendon and the smart and talented Libby Burton, and the exemplary copyediting team of Laura Jorstad and Carolyn J. Kurek. Too, special appreciation and respect must be extended to the excellent editor Roland Phillip with John Murray/Hachette UK. Roland provided wonderful insights and unflagging encouragement. At John Murray, thanks as well to Lyndsey Ng.
Our literary agent, David Hale Smith with Inkwell Management, deserves recognition. We are grateful to many others from Inkwell, including Lyndsey Blessing, Kristan Palmer, Lizz Blaise.
Donald Payton, Chuck Nevitt, and Randy Eli Grothe in Dallas opened up several avenues of research. The wonderful author Stephen Harrigan provided great advice and support, as did Chad Hammett, Gary Cartwright, John Slate, Robert Flynn, Eddie Wilson, Connie Todd, Mary Margaret Farabee, Ben Guttery, Bill Wittliff, and Sam Pfiester. John Branch had good counsel from his vantage points in San Antonio and Houston. Glenn Frankel, Dennis Darling, Tracy Dahlby, and Rod Hart at the University of Texas at Austin were exceedingly supportive, as were colleagues at Texas State University–San Marcos: David Coleman, Joan Heath, Michele Miller, Carla Ellard, Katie Salzmann, Maggie DeBrecht, Lauren Goodley, Lyda Guz, and Mark Busby. Thanks to David Maraniss, Sir Harold Evans, Michele Stanush, Michael Nahrstedt, Ellen Kampinsky, Melissa Houtte, John Wilburn, Bob Compton, Joe Nick Patoski, Anne Lang, Shermakaye Bass, Mary Comparetto, Ben Shrake, Nina Howland, Becky Howland, Albert Mendiola, Twister Marquiss, Ernie Lazar, Paul Trejo, John McAdams, Ryan Sachetta, Jacob Payne, Loren Reimer, Laura Tolley, Joe Holley, Shaun Castillo Fisher, Dave Mann, Brad Tyer, Susan Smith Richardson, Forrest Wilder, and Melissa del Bosque. A bow to the entire staff of the Texas Observer.
Bill Minutaglio offers his love to Holly, Rose Angelina, Nicholas Xavier, Linda Smeltzer, Robert, Frank, and John. Tessie, Francesco Xavier, and Tom guided things from above.
Steven L. Davis extends his gratitude to his loving family, which makes each day a special joy: Georgia, Natalie, and Lucia.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
BILL MINUTAGLIO has been published in the New York Times, Esquire, Newsweek, Texas Monthly, and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. A professor at the University of Texas at Austin, he worked at the Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, and San Antonio Express-News. He has written acclaimed books about George W. Bush, Molly Ivins, Alberto Gonzales, and America’s greatest industrial disaster. He lives in Austin, Texas.
STEVEN L. DAVIS is the author of two highly praised books on Texas, and his work has appeared in several magazines and journals. Davis is a curator at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University in San Marcos, which holds the literary papers of Cormac McCarthy and many other writers. He lives in New Braunfels, Texas.
ALSO BY BILL MINUTAGLIO AND STEVEN L. DAVIS
City on Fire: The Forgotten Disaster That Devastated a Town and Ignited a Landmark Legal Battle
by Bill Minutaglio
First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty
by Bill Minutaglio
The President’s Counselor: The Rise to Power of Alberto Gonzales
by Bill Minutaglio
In Search of the Blues: A Journey to the Soul of Black Texas
by Bill Minutaglio
Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life by Bill Minutaglio and W. Michael Smith
J. Frank Dobie: A Liberated Mind
by Steven L. Davis
Texas Literary Outlaws: Six Writers in the Sixties and Beyond
by Steven L. Davis
NOTES
Prelude
1. Carlson, Peter. K Blows Top: A Cold War Comic Interlude, Starring Nikita Khrushchev, America’s Most Unlikely Tourist (PublicAffairs, 2009), 210.
2. New York Times, September 20, 1959.
3. “The Strategy of Peace.” John F. Kennedy Personal Papers, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Digital Identifier: JFKPP-036-004.
4. New York Times, June 2, 1963.
5. Los Angeles Times, April 1, 1961.
6. Walker to Welch, May 26, 1959. Edwin Walker Papers, Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin. Accession 96-030, Box 2.
January 1960
1. Dallas Times Herald, February 22, 1956; Dallas Morning News, February 22, 1956; Freeman, Curtis W. “ ‘Never Had I Been So Blind’: W. A. Criswell’s ‘Change’ on Racial Segregation.” Journal of Southern Religion X, 2007.
2. Clipping, vertical files on Criswell, Texas/Dallas History and Archives Division, Dallas Public Library.
3. Ibid.
4. Dallas Morning News, February 11, 1961.
5. Dallas Morning News, January 22, 1960.
6. Dallas Morning News, January 23, 1960.
7. Banitch, George. “The Ultraconservative Congressman from Dallas: The Rise and Fall of Bruce Alger, 1954–1964” (master’s thesis, University of Texas at Arlington, 2001), 54.
8. Dallas Morning News, July 3, 1958.
9. Bruce Alger Papers, Texas/Dallas History and Archives Division, Dallas Public Library. Box 4, folder 2.
10. Dallas Morning News, December 30, 1959.
11. Time, April 7, 1961.
12. Williams, Juan. Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary (Broadway, 2000), 104.
13. Dallas Morning News, January 1, 1960.
14. Overseas Weekly, April 15, 1961.
15. American Mercury, January 1960.
16. Dallas Morning News, February 22, 1956.
17. Carraro, Francine. Jerry Bywaters: A Life in Art (University of Texas Press, 1994), 188–90.
18. American Mercury, January 1960.
19. Tolbert, Frank X. Neiman Marcus, Texas (Holt, 1953), 35.
February 1960
/> 1. Clipping, H. L. Hunt vertical files, Texas/Dallas History and Archives Division, Dallas Public Library.
2. Sherrill, Robert. “H.L. Hunt: Portrait of a Super-Patriot.” Nation, February 24, 1964.
3. Hunt, H. L. Alpaca (HLH Press, 1960), 183.
4. Bainbridge, John. The Super-Americans (Doubleday, 1961), 303.
5. Hurt, Harry III. Texas Rich: The Hunt Dynasty from the Early Oil Days Through the Silver Crash (W. W. Norton, 1981), 158.
6. Life Line transcript, program 95-62, April 5, 1962. Melvin Munn Papers, Southwest Collection, Texas Tech University.
7. Life Line transcripts, program 83-61, March 24, 1961, and program 93-61, April 3, 1961. Melvin Munn Papers.
8. Tuccille, Jerome. Kingdom: The Story of the Hunt Family of Texas (PaperJacks, 1987), 231.
9. Hurt, 255.
10. New York Times, August 13, 1990.
11. H. Rhett James Papers, Anacostia Community Museum.
12. Irons, Peter. Jim Crow’s Children: The Broken Promises of the Brown Decision (Viking/Penguin, 2002). Texas State Historical Association, Handbook of Texas Online, “Mansfield School Desegregation Incident.”
March 1960
1. Juanita Craft Papers, Texas/Dallas History and Archives Division, Dallas Public Library.
2. Dallas Morning News, March 8, 1960.
3. Ibid.