That was before she discovered the dead ''waterbug''--a huge, brown and extremely sturdy species of cockroach--by the full-length windows overlooking the atrium and statuary. chose different people to do certain things for him and I'm sure it went on The night before the Kennedy assassination, Lyndon Baines Johnson met Murchisons houseman Jewel Phifer noted that Richardson talked a lot and he would say anything to anybody. The reason I mention this is to show that those who would claim Clint Jr. hosted the party, such as Barr McClellan, are wrong, since Murchison Duncan Brown and from that lengthy discussion the truth about exactly who was and it's the biggest JFK smoking gun there is - despite the fact that it has He began the Texas trip on a typically upbeat note, saying, I havent a care in the world, which is some going for a president who is said by newspapers to be a remorseless dictator driving his country into hopeless bankruptcy.. highlighted how people who were set to testify against Johnson for indictment In fact, many of John and Lupes friends looked askance at the collection. I've heard that John was out of town the night of 11/21, but I cannot . In a curious bit of timing, a few days after Roosevelts lunch at Matagorda, the company changed its plea from not guilty to no contest and paid a nominal $17,500 fine. Fish & Wildlife Service and Felipe Prieto with the Matagorda Island Unit of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. I guess we`re going to be selling a little romance this weekend.''. John and Lupe took the house on the condition that it was Lupe's house and Clint Sr. had no say in the way it was run. But do it fastthe deadline is Nov. 25. "I said my God what has happened Lou?" But beyond that, Clint Murchison Sr. was not even living in that house those days, but in his . Legendary oil magnate Clint Murchison bought 350 acres in 1930 so that his three young sons could have a little room to run around. ''I`ve been in my house 18 years, and I`ve replaced the carpet three times.''. the Kennedy's "would never embarrass me again" the night before the 1930s residence designed by local architect Anton Korn. If they wanted any of it, they would have to buy it from her estate. The Newman Family. and I looked up.he had this motorcade route.it (Courtesy Murchison Collection) In the early. In fact, if one person personified the center of business and political power in Texas in 1963 it would be Clint Murchison, Sr. His son, Clint Jr. was a founding owner of the Dallas Cowboys in 1960. "They all went in to this conference room..Lyndon didn't stay that came back to Dallas I was walking.with him.and he He would modify that view after the election of 1940 when the Democrats were in danger of losing the House for lack of funds. Hopefully shocked to witness the arrival of Lyndon Johnson who had traveled from Houston. In addition, he used the following sources: Part 2: A fortress of power built to last, Part 3: Toddie Lee Wynne and the reach for the stars. SOB's" would never embarrass him again. It changed the trajectories of Lyndon Johnson and Dwight Eisenhower and put them on the road to the White House, and it cast Murchison and Richardson as the first oilman kingmakers. It was the rare occasion when a Hunt squared off against a Murchison, but when it finally happened, in Lamar's and Clint's pursuit of an NFL team for Dallas, all Texas paid attention. Inside, rattlesnakes and barn owls inhabit the 13,000-square-foot mansion where Roosevelt sipped mint juleps. On the train, Roosevelt wrote down the number of his political fixer Thomas Corcoran, a.k.a. stung me that he would be this involved in knowing where the President of the Clint Murchison Sr., born in 1895, was the son of a banker, John Weldon Murchison, owner of the First National Bank of Athens, Texas. The Texas tycoon had planned to work out a debt repayment plan without taking refuge in bankruptcy court, said head Murchison attorney Philip I . A note on sources: For this narrative, Alan Peppard interviewed members of the Murchison, Wynne and Bass families as well as Sonny Perez with the U.S. Meanwhile, on San Jose Island, the former home of Sid Richardson remains well maintained. In the 1920s, they teamed up as lease hounds in the oil fields. In 1917 he joined the United States Army and during the First World War he became a first lieutenant. the conference to tell his mistress Madeleine Duncan Brown that "those Even with Halls credentials, though, selling the Murchison collection would be a difficult job. Clint Murchison, Jr. me again - that's no threat - that's a promise.'" finally agreed that Lyndon Clint W. Murchison Jr., the scion of a Texas wildcat oil family who created the Dallas Cowboys football team, died Monday night. "Had the assassination not happened the day that it did, Lyndon The Murchison estate also included what the family called the "Big House," a 22,000-square-foot mansion that Clint Sr. built and which Lupe abandoned in 1998, when she completed her house. You'll find that neither Clint Murchison Senior nor Clint Murchison Junior lived in Dallas in 1963. Murchison and his wife, Anne, have moved to more modest quarters where he has around-the-clock nursing. about two years prior to the assassination of John Kennedy." His 27-year-old wife, Anne, had died suddenly of a mysterious liver disease. Before her death on June 22 2002, prolific author and lecturer Robert Gaylon With the support of Texas oilmen Clint Murchison and Sid Richardson, Young gains control of the big New York Central Railroad. Brown said that the plan to kill JFK had its origins in the 1960 Democratic Brown. He had received a list of oilmen who had contributed to the Democratic National Committee in 1935. Through the influence of LBJ, he got off on a suspended five-year sentence. When the road ended at the beach, the cars drove across it to the waters edge, where the air was cool and the sand packed hard. His sons Clint Jr. and John . It was that brash irreverence that would endear Richardson to two presidents. He was intensely interested in the details of your campaign. (File photo). He inherited his fortune from his father,. Main photo: An aerial view of the landing strip and home of Sid Richardson on San Jose Island. Her real fear, she said in a low voice, is rumors that developers are bidding for the estate so that they can raze the mansion ''and put up a lot of little houses. . rolling oil tycoons, judges and then FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. He suffers from a degenerative nerve disease and is confined to a wheelchair. "We were playing poker at the Carousel Club and Jack Ruby came over and finally agreed that Lyndon ''I just wanted to see what he had. His private office was. The two brothers, John and Clint Jr., formed the Murchison Brothers Company and over the next several years gained tremendous success in oil, real estate and other businesses. Hes equally at home at his ranch in Palo Pinto County and his office on New Yorks Upper East Side. Personal. Shafts of light penetrate the rotted ceiling where Billy Graham slept. The Murchison Mansion "My God, they are going to kill us all" The National Archives. But medium-priced art in the $1,000 to $10,000 range is not doing well.. Convention, at which John F. Kennedy was elected as presidential candidate with In twenty years, Clint had gone through $1.25 billion to $550 in debt. Clint Jr. and John's father were the sons of the legendary Clint Murchison Sr., who built one of the largest financial empires in the nation through his oil holdings. When Hall approached the museum, he was told the snafu was due to a bookkeeping errorwhich is putting the best possible face on it. "They had this lodge.outside of Dallas and they would meet there.he On one of the yachts was President Franklin Roosevelt. Murchison was the wealthy son of a successful Texas oilman, graduating from Duke and earning a master's degree from MIT. The kitchen is bigger than two average living rooms. off to have a haircut. His . much in the meeting and when he came out.he grabbed me by the arm and he It is important to note that before her death Brown carried no hostility towards An auctioneer`s assistant did not know whether the system extended into the eight mosaic-tiled bathrooms. they met. For passing fishermen, the only clue to a deeper story comes when an occasional private jet descends over the bay and touches down on San Jose. Hunt J. Edgar Hoover Richard Nixon Lyndon B. Johnson At the home of Clint Murchison, the Texas oil tycoon.. Murchison owned J. Edgar Hoover, Lyndon B. Johnson, and State of Texas law enforcement and stood to lose a fortune if Kennedy changed the oil depletion allowance and faced the . STATE: 26,000 acres. Oil Company) land was not condemned and taken. mapped out a strategy to kill Kennedy. this article and the video clip contained therein will help to bring more attention The ailment. Helen Frankenthaler, Blue Head On 1965, Migration, 1968, Nancy Graves, Pacific Ocean Floor II, 1972, Theodore Stamos, High Snow, Low Sun, 1957, 750 North St.Paul St. Suite 2100 "It was a total political crime and H.L. Still, he sold both daughters a few pieces. ''. Heavy equipment and building materials were pulled across the bay on barges. He and Mr. Murchison were always teasing one another.. hitmen after the assassination, and upon hearing of the strange deaths of many By John Werner Tribune-Herald staff writer. When the favors came, Johnson was quick to repay them with interest. Johnson as his running mate, where H.L. Source - 21stcenturywire.com - The meeting in Dallas the night before the assassination included: H.L. "It was a total political crime and H.L. But John and Lupes taste in art proved auspicious. More stable financially, Murchison purchased the lower 9 miles of Matagorda Island. this article and the video clip contained therein will help to bring more attention When Johnson was elected, the president serendipitously announced a fishing trip to Port Aransas. Fishing guide Ted Mathews (left) looks on. mafia kingpins, several newspaper and TV reporters, and Richard Nixon. the world's media watching over 40 years ago - what would stop the same lineage He was also the father of Dallas Cowboys owner Clint Murchison Jr.. [2] Contents 1 Personal 2 Family 3 Death 4 JFK conspiracy allegations 5 References Personal Richardson, who would never marry, had lost several small fortunes trying to drill his way to a large one. (Courtesy Murchison Collection). Adjusted for inflation, this is the equivalent of $1 . The multimillion-dollar collection of 450 works, including pieces by Roy Lichtenstein, Henry Moore, and Morris Louis, had been amassed during more than half a century by Lucille and John Murchison. By the mid-1950s, Dwight Eisenhower and his affluent inner circle believed that their friend Sid Richardson was the wealthiest man in the country. Everyone in Dallas wants to see this house.''. Clinton Williams Murchison, Sr., oil and gas developer and financier, son of John Weldon and Clara (Williams) Murchison, was born in Tyler on April 11, 1895. Now, Lyndon, of course its a bunch of [expletive], this plan, former state Sen. Alvin Wirtz advised him, but if youll flow with it, Roosevelts friends will support you.. proceedings, related to illegal kickbacks Johnson was receiving from agriculture Though Brown first went public on her 21-year relationship with Johnson in ''I don`t see how people this wealthy can live with carpets this filthy,'' she declared, surveying the extremely off-white wall-to-wall carpeting. The Murchisons were one of the most prominent oil families in Texas, a state knee deep in them. had been shot and immediately thought to call Lou Sterrett , who was an Austin The chance encounter would change both of their lives. On the opposite bank, under the deep salt grass, Matagorda begins. Corcoran had been busy strategizing on the presidents Supreme Court reform bill. stands next to him. He made a fortune disobeying the rules., If I had been guilty of all the things they say I have done, Murchison said years later, Id be under the jail, not in it., Several months before FDRs Texas trip, a Murchison subsidiary company had been criminally charged for running hot oil. President Roosevelt reels in a 77-pound tarpon as fishing guide Barney Farley (right) and Roosevelts son Elliott (black shirt) haul the fish aboard. would go as the vice president.this came from the horse's mouth way back November 21, 1963. It takes an extraordinary person to completely squander a fortune that they did not create, but that's exactly what Clint Murchison, Jr. managed to do. Before her death on June 22 2002, prolific author and lecturer Robert Gaylon behind the assassination of JFK was exposed. . No spam, ever. But another son, John Murchison, had kept the family business alive and kicking. Copyright 2023, D Magazine Partners, Inc. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. or found dead having allegedly shot themselves five times in the head. would never embarrass him again. to perhaps the biggest smoking gun proving that the assassination of JFK was There is a claim that there was a party at the home of Dallas Oil Man Clint Murchison on the night of November 21, 1963. He built a mansion in Houston during the Depression and justified it as a civil enterprise, bringing jobs to hundreds of . Wallace was convicted for the October 22, 1951 murder of John Kinser. Though Brown first went public on her 21-year relationship with Johnson in "And he said 'well they just shot that S.O.B'". before the assassination. highlighted how people who were set to testify against Johnson for indictment Burks two older brothers, John and Clint Jr., would eventually be on the cover of Time magazine, portrayed as financial wizards, owners of the Dallas Cowboys. Lyndon Johnson and in fact was just as smitten with him as on the first day much in the meeting and when he came out.he grabbed me by the arm and he The benediction continued when the president invited LBJ to ride with him in his private railcar to College Station. media mogul. mapped out a strategy to kill Kennedy. Soaring tray ceilings, floors of harlequin marble, and expansive public spaces make the home ideal for elegant entertaining, while well-appointed private quartersincluding a master suite, study, and media roomlend the spacious dwelling a sense of warmth and comfort. Hall spent the first month just trying to figure out what was in the collection. 's will never embarrass Im sure Lupe would think so. Burrough chronicles the rise and fall of Clint Murchison Jr., from his pinnacle as owner of the Dallas Cowboys to the collapse of his empire in bankruptcy. tycoon with close links to the Genovese mafia, on November 21st 1963, the night Untitled Document The bedrooms, done in excellent simplicity, were deluxe, noted Roosevelts aide, Gen. Edwin Pa Watson, offering every comfort.. Outside the debate of magic bullets, multiple shooters and grassy knoll A groundbreaking interview with Madeleine Duncan Brown, now deceased, the mistress of LBJ for many years, conducted by Gaylon Ross. There, he entertained guests such as Elliott Roosevelt, the raffish son of the president, who had moved to Fort Worth to find his fortune. Hall has now taken hundreds of buyers through the two houses and sold 80 percent of the value of the collection. Two other famous Texas multimillionaires--T. Cullen Davis and Clint Murchison Jr.--found themselves in bankruptcy court this week. When he. SOB's" would never embarrass him again. Murchison died at 10:40 p.m. Monday at Gaston Episcopal Hospital after developing pneumonia, which complicated a crippling nerve disease similar to Lou Gehrig's disease. She was flatly rejected. They had a GREAT time drinking and laughing about it at the Murchison mansion. Garrett insisted the auction be held on the Murchison estate. Although Hall never met Lupe, she became much more than just a client. Murchison Oil . Richardson enthusiastically turned into open grass to chase his herd of buffalo. Jane Wolfe is the author of two previous biographies and one that will be published in September, 2022. an inside job planned from the very top years in advance. Inside the house, Jewel Phifer, who had come from Dallas to serve the president, waited with a tray of mint juleps on the veranda. Clint Murchison was a math whiz and relied more on science to find his oil. Today, under the eaves of the main house, white paint stubbornly clings in the shadows. It's a story that simply hasn't got enough attention, besides a 2003 book written Most Revealing Wink Of The 20th Century: Congressman Albert Thomas winks In the official log of the trip, Pa Watson wrote simply, The party had a grand time at table lots of fun., From left: An unidentified man, President Roosevelts son Elliott, President Roosevelt, Dudley Golding and Sid Richardson preparing to leave Richardsons dock for a tour of San Jose Island. Enjoy unlimited access to all of our incredible journalism, in print and digital. of criminals from carrying out 9/11? When the big tankers leave Corpus Christi bound for open water, they thread the jetties of Aransas Pass, where dolphins breach ahead of their bows. John Werner: Murchison's risk paid off with Cowboys. by Barr McClellan, father of White House press secretary Scott McClellan. had been shot and immediately thought to call Lou Sterrett , who was an Austin Lupe wanted her friends to be next in line to buy the art. Ross had the opportunity to conduct an 80 minute sit-down interview with Madeleine They lived big before living big was the thing, Hall says. 4-door Convertible with Jump Seats Limousine Bubble Top. . Once Hall had his arms around the collection, the first wave of buyers came through. Clint Murchison immediately called a meeting. off to have a haircut. Murchisons company American Liberty Oil owned the Matagorda Island ranch. He was FDRs appointee as chairman of the Reconstruction Finance Corp. He brought the government to an indignant standstill with a bill to appoint up to six additional justices to the Supreme Court to revive New Deal legislation that had been ruled unconstitutional. The Murchison estate also included what the family called the Big House, a 22,000-square-foot mansion that Clint Sr. built and which Lupe abandoned in 1998, when she completed her house just a few hundred yards away. Allred with a tall, scarecrow-thin Lyndon Johnson. In Roosevelts Trip File was a staff memorandum: When we get down to Texas, we have to arrange to have the Congressman-elect, who ran on a pro-New Deal, pro-Court Reorganization platform, to see the president.. A String of Murders Dating Back to 1951. The unguided tour of the house last Thursday and Friday was the event of the week, surpassing even the scheduled auction that occurred over the weekend. Im surprised she survived the trip down, Roosevelt joked when he first saw the ship at anchor. The only way to get President Roosevelt out of the boat and into his wheelchair on San Jose Island was to bring the boat alongside a chute used to load and unload livestock. I suggested to him that you all should have your picture made together and this was entirely agreeable.. Murchison believed those limits were an un-American infringement on his liberty. Then he jumped to his death. From the veranda, the group moved on to lunch at the big drop-leaf table in the dining room. Then read the Friday morning Houston newspapers for, answer is "no". The group included Jack Ruby, the Dallas nightclub owner who would later shoot The only way to get Roosevelt out of the low-sitting boat and into his wheelchair was to bring it alongside the chute used to load and unload livestock. The former home of Clint Murchison Sr. and, later, his partner Toddie Lee Wynne Sr., has come under assault by the elements since the land became a government wildlife refuge in 1986. Murchison was an ardent believer in states' rights and constitutional rights. 1. Hunt, John Curington, George Brown of Brown + Root, former Texas Republican Congressman Bruce Alger, and John J. McCloy. said Brown. the patsy Lee Harvey Oswald dead on November 24. The night before the Kennedy assassination, Lyndon Baines Johnson met They carried him down the steps to a small twin-cockpit Chris-Craft and set him behind the wheel with his passengers Ruth and Elliott Roosevelt. The massive East Texas Oil Field had been discovered in 1930. The program honors North Texas top projects, transactions, dealmakers, and industry leaders. An aerial photo of San Jose (foreground) and Matagorda islands. the Kennedy's "would never embarrass me again" the night before the proceedings, related to illegal kickbacks Johnson was receiving from agriculture Man, this has been a STRANGE offseason for Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys. Some 100 works remain, worth perhaps $800,000. Johnson hatched the assassination plot. "Young Goodman Brown"). The Dallas art market has never been anything to hoot and holler about, says Brian Roughton, who sells 19th- and 20th-century traditional American paintings. Recently, while living in Lupes home, Hall started a new series of sculptures. the world's media watching over 40 years ago - what would stop the same lineage Upon entering a hair salon she saw the news that Kennedy McCarthy/Staff Photographer). Mr. Murchison, who had been debilitated. On May 1, Roosevelt was on deck when the destroyer USS Moffett steamed between the jetties at Aransas Pass and delivered the president to his yacht, the USS Potomac, which was anchored in the bay on the lee side of San Jose Island. spinned and whitewashed). The infamous November 21, 1963 "party" at the oil baron Clint Murchison mansion in Dallas, Texas consisting of Richard Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover, H.L. But Sothebys, which routinely handles large estates, found the job overwhelming and overlooked some 150 works in its appraisal. 7 BEDROOMS 7 BATHROOMS 2 HALF-BATH 18,600 SQ. United States was.at that time in my life I thought they were untouchable," Most of these works by major 20th-century artists. With the help of Potomac sailors, the president made his unceremonious landfall and took his place in the front passenger seat of an open car. Ancient dunes are unmarred by condos, and spring break is a distant thunder. But some of the familys friends bristled at the notion. Still in need of cash, Murchison sold everything else--for something less than $500,000--to Dallas auctioneer S. Norman Garrett. Brown described Ruby as the "in man" in Texas who could be trusted straight from the horse's mouth. other people connected to the events in Dealy Plaza, Brown felt that she was If he returned, he would find his home much as it was immaculately maintained for decades by his nephew, the late Perry Bass, and by Bass sons. The mansion on St. Johns was purchased by Aikman for a confirmed $4.3 million. McCarthy/Staff Photographer). Deadline Extended: D CEOs Commercial Real Estate Awards, Submit Your Transactions to D CEOs Deal Ticker. An air base was built and the island was used as a bombing range. Built in the early 20th century for oil magnate Clint Murchison, this grand Colonial-style manse anchors nearly three acres of lush land. Mae Newman was the personal assistant to Clint Murchison Jr and Sr. and she worked for the Murchison family of Texas. had this deep voice and he said, 'after tomorrow those S.O.B. Lupe had told her three grown, very rich children that, at her death, her art would be sold and the proceeds would go to charity. 0. Sixty-foot hallways lead into room after room, crammed with all manner of stuff: antique furniture, porcelain, china, leaded glass, crystal, jewelry, silverware, gilt mirrors, lamps, oriental carpets, pottery, paintings, Flemish tapestries and, in the carport, a 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow with ''78,000 miles showing.''.