The following assessment examines political infrastructure and key personalities in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, with particular attention to factors relevant to upcoming executive travel. This analysis is prepared for internal distribution to interested parties and does not represent official Agency position.
The American republic has always been divided. Not by accident — by design. Hamilton's bankers versus Jefferson's farmers. The mercantile coasts versus the agrarian interior. Two visions of empire, perpetually at odds.
In the twentieth century, this fissure takes a particular form: the Eastern establishment — old money, Ivy League, internationalist, intelligence-adjacent — versus the Southwestern new money — oil, cattle, defense contracts, John Birch suspicion of anything that smells like State Department.
These factions normally compete. Wall Street versus Main Street. The Council on Foreign Relations versus the Dallas Petroleum Club. Georgetown versus River Oaks. Each claims to represent the "real" America. Each regards the other with barely concealed contempt.
But sometimes — rarely — they find common ground. A common threat. A common target.
Hamilton would have recognized the Georgetown men. Jefferson would have recognized the Texas oilmen. But neither would have imagined them working together. It takes a particular kind of apostate to unite hereditary enemies. — CDJ
HUNT, Haroldson Lafayette
NET WORTH:
Estimated $2-3 billion (possibly richest American)
PRIMARY ASSETS:
Hunt Oil Company; Placid Oil; Penrod Drilling
POLITICAL ACTIVITY:
Bankrolls LIFE LINE radio program (conservative commentary, 400+ stations); Facts Forum television
FAMILY:
Sons Nelson Bunker, William Herbert, Lamar — all politically active in far-right causes
STATED VIEWS:
Democracy is "mob rule"; favors weighted voting by wealth; views current administration as communist-adjacent
Hunt operates as de facto propaganda ministry for Dallas far-right. Financial exposure to administration policy: severe. Depletion allowance alone worth hundreds of millions annually to Hunt interests.
MURCHISON, Clinton Williams Sr.
NET WORTH:
$500+ million
PRIMARY ASSETS:
Oil, construction, insurance, publishing, Dallas Cowboys
POLITICAL CONNECTIONS:
Close relationship with Director Hoover; longtime associate of LBJ; hosts gatherings where Texas and Washington interests overlap
NOTED:
Del Mar racetrack (Hoover a regular guest); Del Charro Hotel
Murchison represents the interface between Texas money and federal power. Where Hunt is ideological, Murchison is transactional. Both arrive at the same conclusions regarding current administration.
WALKER, Edwin Anderson (Major General, USA, Ret.)
STATUS:
Resigned/forced out April 1961
CAUSE:
Indoctrinating 24th Infantry Division troops with John Birch Society materials; investigated by Special Senate Subcommittee
CURRENT ACTIVITY:
Dallas-based; prominent speaker for Birch Society, Young Americans for Freedom; organizer of Ole Miss segregation protests (arrested October 1962)
RECENT INCIDENT:
Assassination attempt, 10 April 1963 (see Section IV)
Walker serves as military legitimacy for civilian far-right. His forced resignation by the Kennedy administration has made him a martyr figure. Rhetorically positions current president as enemy of the republic.
Different suits. Same conclusion. The oil man in his tower, the general in his exile, the publisher in his radio booth — all looking at the same target. They didn't need to coordinate. They just needed to agree. — CDJ
JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY — DALLAS CHAPTER
Largest and most active chapter in the nation. Estimated local membership 5,000+. Founded by Robert Welch, who has publicly called President Eisenhower a "conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy." Current administration viewed as continuation/acceleration of this treason. Weekly meetings throughout Metroplex. Literature distribution extensive.
LIFE LINE FOUNDATION
Hunt-funded radio program. Daily 15-minute broadcasts on 400+ stations. Content: anti-communist, anti-administration, pro-business. Recent programs have discussed Kennedy foreign policy as "treasonous," domestic policy as "socialist preparation." Reach estimated at several million listeners daily.
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
Principal newspaper. Publisher Ted Dealey personally confronted President Kennedy at White House luncheon (October 1961), telling him "we need a man on horseback" and accusing him of "riding Caroline's tricycle." Editorial stance consistently hostile. Will likely publish critical content during any presidential visit.
NATIONAL INDIGNATION CONVENTION
Dallas-based organization. Recent activities include harassment of UN Ambassador Stevenson during October 1963 visit — subject was spat upon, struck with picket sign. Incident received national coverage. Demonstrates climate of confrontation.
ASSESSMENT: Dallas represents the most concentrated infrastructure for organized anti-administration activity in the nation. This is not fringe sentiment — it is institutional, well-funded, and mainstreamed through legitimate civic channels.
The economic interests at stake must be understood to assess intensity of opposition. The oil depletion allowance — currently 27.5% — permits petroleum producers to deduct that percentage of gross income as "depletion" of natural resources. This provision, unique to the extractive industries, effectively exempts more than a quarter of oil income from taxation.
| ENTITY |
EST. ANNUAL BENEFIT |
EXPOSURE IF REDUCED |
| Hunt Oil interests |
$50-100 million |
SEVERE |
| Murchison interests |
$20-40 million |
SEVERE |
| Richardson interests |
$30-50 million |
SEVERE |
| Texas independents (aggregate) |
$500+ million |
CATASTROPHIC |
The current administration has signaled intent to review the depletion allowance. Treasury Department studies are underway. Any reduction would represent an existential threat to the Texas independent oil industry and the political infrastructure it finances.
Twenty-seven and a half percent. That's what a president was worth. Not ideology, not patriotism — a number. A tax provision. They killed for less in the boardroom. — CDJ
TARGET: Major General Edwin Walker (Ret.)
LOCATION: 4011 Turtle Creek Blvd., Dallas, Texas
WEAPON: 6.5mm Mannlicher-Carcano rifle
OUTCOME: Missed. Bullet deflected by window frame.
SUSPECT: None identified at time. Later attributed to Lee Harvey Oswald based on post-11/22 investigation.
The attribution is notable. Subject OSWALD is characterized as left-wing, pro-Castro, Marxist sympathizer. General Walker is the preeminent figure of the anti-communist right — the man the administration itself forced out for excessive ideology.
The question: Why would the far-right employ, tolerate, or subsequently utilize a man who attempted to assassinate their most prominent martyr?
They used a man who shot at their hero. Think about what that means. Either Oswald wasn't what he appeared to be, or the Walker shooting wasn't what it appeared to be. Or both. The thread that doesn't fit is the thread that matters. — CDJ
This analysis would be incomplete without acknowledging the unusual alignment currently observable between Eastern and Southwestern power centers.
Historically, these factions compete. The Texas independents resent Wall Street. The Georgetown establishment views Texas as provincial, vulgar, dangerously uncontrolled. They fight over policy, over patronage, over the direction of American empire.
Yet regarding the current administration, a remarkable convergence has occurred:
SOUTHWESTERN INTERESTS
- Depletion allowance threatened
- Walker forced out
- "Soft" on Cuba
- Catholic / Eastern / elite
- Civil rights posture
- Federal overreach
EASTERN ESTABLISHMENT
- Bay of Pigs humiliation
- DCI Dulles dismissed
- Back-channel to Moscow
- Threatens Agency autonomy
- "Splinter into a thousand pieces"
- Class traitor
DIFFERENT GRIEVANCES. SAME TARGET.
DIFFERENT METHODS. SAME CONCLUSION.
The significance cannot be overstated. When factions that normally check each other instead align, the institutional safeguards of the republic fail. The target stands exposed from all directions.
• • •
This assessment is provided for informational purposes. No operational recommendations are implied or intended. The political climate in Dallas is noted as a factor relevant to travel security decisions, which remain outside this office's purview.
END ASSESSMENT
DISTRIBUTION: Georgetown liaison / File
DESTROY AFTER READING
They didn't need to meet. They didn't need to coordinate. They didn't need a conspiracy in the traditional sense — men in a room, shaking hands, drawing up plans.
They just needed to not interfere with each other. The Cowboys provided the geography. The Yankees provided the expertise. Each side could tell itself the other was responsible. Each side could deny knowledge of the other's role.
The permission was structural. The convergence was historical. And Dallas was the crosshairs where two centuries of American faction finally intersected.
In November they would send him there, to the heart of enemy territory, in an open car. — CDJ