Jack Crichton (Texas businessman)
Encyclopedia
John Alston Crichton, known as Jack Crichton (October 16, 1916–December 10, 2007), was an oil
and natural gas
industrialist from Dallas
, Texas
, who was among the first of his ranks to recognize the importance of petroleum
reserves in the Middle East
. In 1964, he carried the Republican
banner in a fruitless campaign against the reelection of Governor
John B. Connally, Jr., then a Democrat
, who in 1973 switched parties.
In 1990, Crichton wrote in an opinion piece for the Dallas Morning News, stating that he first realized the vastness of the Middle Eastern oil reserves prior to 1950. He and a coworker determined, he said, that the Burgan
field in Kuwait
, for example, held ten billion barrels of crude oil. In 1951, he helped to establish San Juan Oil Company in Dallas, where he became the vice president of operations. During the 1950s, he took a group of American businessmen to Yemen
to search for oil. During his long career, he was the president of the Yemen Development Corporation and the Dorchester Gas Corporation, Crichton was also involved in the mining of copper
, zinc
, gold
, silver
, and nickel
through his Arabian Shield Development Company.
plantation
in the former community of Crichton near Coushatta
in Red River Parish
in northwestern Louisiana
. He graduated in 1933 from C.E. Byrd High School in Shreveport
and then enrolled at Texas A&M University
in College Station
. He played tennis
, basketball
, and ran cross country
track. His classmates included future industrialist H.R. "Bum" Bright and Earle Cabell
, later a U.S. Representative and a mayor
of Dallas. At TAMU, he wrote an award-winning essay, "The Political Career of Huey P. Long". Crichton served TAMU as the president of the Lettermen's Association and chairman of the Development Foundation. He also served on the board of the Association of Former Students from 1965–1968, was the association president in 1967, and in 1983 was named a Distinguished Alumnus. He later obtained a Master of Science
degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
of Boston, where he was affiliated with Sigma Alpha Epsilon
fraternity
.
in the Army Reserve.
During World War II
, Crichton served in Europe
in the Office of Strategic Services
, the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency
. He was a field artillery officer and special agent. In 1946, Crichton was recruited by Everette DeGolyer, a former conservation director in the administration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
and later a co-founder of Texas Instruments
, to operate a group of companies which renamed frequently, presumably to make it more difficult to trace their operations. According to investigative journalist Russ Baker
, the companies "operated largely below the radar, and fronted for some of North America's biggest names, including the Bronfmans (Seagram's liquor), the Du Ponts, and the Kuhn-Loeb family of financiers."
In 1952, Crichton joined a syndicate that included DeGolyer and Clint Murchison of Dallas to use connections in the government of General Francisco Franco
to obtain drilling rights in Spain
. The operation was handled by Delta Drilling, owned by Joe Zeppa. In August 1953, Crichton joined the Empire Trust Company, of which he later became the vice president. The company maintained a network of associates similar to a "private CIA". Empire Trust was an investor of the Fort Worth
-based General Dynamics
.
In 1956, Crichton became commander of the 488th Military Intelligence Detachment, which operated under Lieutenant Colonel George Whitmeyer, the overall commander of all United States Army Reserve
units in East Texas. According to Crichton, there were about a hundred men in the unit, with nearly half of them coming from the Dallas Police Department.
under President Fulgencio Batista
. Standard Oil
of Indiana
signed an agreement with the Cuban-Venezuelan Oil Voting Trust Company (CVOVTC), a unit originally established by William F. Buckley, Sr., for access to 15 million acres (60,702.9 km²). CVOVTC was one of the four or five most traded entities on the American Stock Exchange
during the middle 1950s. Batista's communist successor, Fidel Castro
, reduced the size of claims for oil exploration to a maximum of 20000 acres (80.9 km²) and ended large-scale explorations by private companies.
The rise of Castro ruined CVOVTC, which had invested $30 million looking for oil in Cuba. The company was de-listed in December 1960 from the American Stock Exchange.
against Castro.
Critchton was appointed head of the intelligence component of Dallas Civil Defense. The conservative radio commentator Paul Harvey
wrote in September 1960: "The Communists, since 1917, have sold Communism to more people than have been told about Christ
after 2,000 years." He urged his readers to support the "counter-attack . . . mounted in Dallas."
In 1961, Crichton joined with fellow Dallas conservatives to establish the program "Know Your Enemy", which aimed to combat communist influence that "was undermining the American way of life". In 1962, Crichton opened a command post underneath the patio of the Dallas Health and Science Museum with the goal of maintaining the continuity-of-government were the United States attacked.
In November 1963, Crichton was involved in the arrangements of the fatal visit of U.S. President John F. Kennedy
to Dallas. Crichton's friend, Deputy Police Chief George L. Lumpkin, a member of the 488th Military Intelligence Detachment, drove the pilot car of Kennedy's motorcade. Lieutenant Colonel George Whitmeyer, the East Texas Army Reserve commander, was also in the car. The pilot car stopped briefly in front of the Texas School Book Depository
, where Lumpkin spoke to a policeman controlling traffic at the corner of Houston and Elm. The Warren Commission
report on the Kennedy assassination states that Crichton arranged for a member of the local Russian community to translate for the Russia
n-born Marina Oswald in the wake of the Kennedy assassination. Crichton's volunteer translated for Oswald during her initial questioning by the Dallas authorities in the hours immediately after her husband, Lee Harvey Oswald
, had been arrested. Marina soon implicated her husband in the crime.
At the time of the assassination of President Kennedy and the wounding of Governor Connally, Crichton was attending the annual luncheon held that year at the Adolphus Hotel on Commerce Street in Dallas on the Friday before Thanksgiving Day to honor the TAMU and University of Texas football teams, who meet on the gridiron annually on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Crichton recalls:
"I walked over to Elm Street to see the Kennedy delegation. . . . President Kennedy and Jackie
made a handsome couple. She was resplendent in her pink dress and pink pillbox hat. The crowds on the sidewalks applauded, and waved as they drove by. . . . I entered the hotel . . . The room was almost filled, and people were seated at the individual tables. . . . We had the invocation, and many guests began to eat their lunch. Suddenly we heard sirens screaming and someone from outside ran up to the head table and excitedly said, 'The President, Vice President, and Governor Connally have all been shot.' I stood and announced the news. There was stunned silence in the room. Someone then produced a radio, and the news confirmed that the President had been shot.. . . "
named John Lindsey moved up from vice president to head the organization. He served in the post in 1967 instead. Crichton tapped a neighhbor, Hughes Brown, as his campaign manager. Brown told Crichton that the assassination in Dallas meant an "uphill battle, but you will have a chance to advance the cause of the Republican Party in Texas, and in politics anything can happen." Prior to the assassination, a poll had showed John F. Kennedy trailing in a trial heat in Texas for the 1964 general election.
As Crichton ran for governor, George H.W. Bush sought the U.S. Senate seat held by the liberal Democrat Ralph W. Yarborough of Austin
. Crichton was unopposed for his nomination, but Bush faced a primary fight from the 1962 gubernatorial nominee Jack Cox
of Houston. Crichton and Bush spoke from some of the same podiums that year. Crichton traveled 55000 miles (88,513.7 km) in the campaign, addressed audiences in 85 cities and towns, and made 275 speeches. At the 1964 Republican National Convention
in San Francisco
, California
, he was elected chairman of the Permanent Organization Committee and gave the report of that panel from the convention floor.
Crichton strongly supported the Barry M. Goldwater presidential candidacy: "In my opinion Goldwater would have made a great president. He would either have withdrawn our presence in Vietnam
or gone whole hog to win it, instead of the piecemeal strategy of the Johnson
administration that so hampered our military leaders as they in effect were not allowed to win the Vietnam conflict."
In the campaign, Crichton focused on these points: (1) his opposition to the policies of President Johnson, (2) lowering state taxes, (3) cutting oil and beef imports, (4) stronger criminal justice
measures to protect citizens from criminals, (5) increasing Texas' oil production, (6) opposition to a state civil rights
law, (7) full voting rights for U.S. military personnel, (8) state water resource development, (9) reduction of traffic problems, (10) more decentralization in college and university administration, (11) higher public school teacher pay, (12) development of a two-party system, and (13) ethics in state government.
Crichton traveled to Junction
, Texas, during the campaign to meet with former Democratic Governor Coke Stevenson, the official loser by eighty-seven votes in the 1948 runoff primary for the U.S. Senate against Lyndon Johnson. Stevenson had supported John Tower in the 1960 senatorial general election against Johnson and was backing Goldwater in 1964 as well in the presidential contest. Stevenson told Crichton that the election "is an important part of American history, for it got Lyndon to the Senate, which he later controlled, and was a stepping stone to his becoming President. As for me, I was depressed for quite a while, but in retrospect it has allowed me to enjoy my ranch and my young daughter. With that, we had another bourbon and branch water, and I thanked him and departed."
Though Crichton and Bush were both defeated, the latter ran a stronger race against Yarborough than Crichton managed against Connally. Yarborough and Connally were sharp intra-party rivals at the time. Final results showed Connally with 1,877,793 votes (73.8 percent) to Crichton's 661,675 (26 percent). Crichton did, however, outpoll the tally amassed by the following Republican candidate against Connally in 1966, Thomas Everton Kennerly, Sr. (1903–2000), of Houston, by more than 300,000 votes in a lower-turnout election. Kennerly ran unsuccessfully in 1964 for a seat on the Texas Supreme Court
.
Crichton wrote the book The Republican-Democrat Political Campaigns in Texas in 1964, which among other topics discusses the split at the 1964 convention between the partisans of Barry M. Goldwater and Nelson A. Rockefeller and the last-minute attempt by William Warren Scranton of Pennsylvania
to bridge the differences. Crichton and Bush supported the eventual nominee, Goldwater, the U.S. senator from Arizona
who lost Texas by a wide margin to native son Lyndon B. Johnson
. Crichton went to a summer meeting in Hershey
, Pennsylvania
, having flown on the private jet of Winthrop Rockefeller
, then the Republican gubernatorial nominee against Orval E. Faubus in Arkansas
.
In Amarillo
, Crichton was accompanied in a campaign appearanced by actor
Clint Walker
, former star of the ABC
television series Cheyenne
, who had once lived in Brownwood
, Texas. Though he addressed some large audiences during the campaign, in Muleshoe
in Bailey County
in West Texas Crichton spoke from the back of a wagon to only five people plus a stray dog.
Crichton noted that in 1964 he had spent $65,000 on his race, the majority for five hundred billboards to promote his name identification. He also depended heavily on local television and newspaper coverage in the cities that he visited. About half of Crichton's spending was from his personal funds. Crichton's expenditures averaged ten cents for each vote received, whereas the losing 2002 gubernatorial candidate, Democrat Tony Sanchez of Laredo
, spent $10 per vote, having disbursed $20 million in his campaign.
for having organized the 488th Military Intelligence Detachment.
Crichton was president of Nafco Oil and Gas and owned Dorchester Gas Producing Company. Barr McClellan, the author and first husband of former Texas Comptroller Carole Strayhorn, writes in Blood, Money & Power that "Big Oil would be during the fifties and into the sixties what the OPEC
oil cartel was to the United States in the seventies and beyond". The oil interests were particularly interested in preservation of the depletion allowance
. President Kennedy, however, wanted the allowance removed, having considered it an unfair advantage to the companies.
Crichton was the president of the Dallas Petroleum Engineers Club and a director of Florida Gas Company, Clark Oil and Refining, Whitehall Corporation, Transco Energy, and the Consolidated Development Corporation. In 1965, he wrote the book The Dynamic Natural Gas Industry, published by the University of Oklahoma Press
in Norman
, Oklahoma
.
Crichton died in Dallas of complications from cancer
at the age of ninety-one. Crichton and his wife, the former Marilyn Berry (born ca. 1927), had two daughters, Catherine C. Morris and husband Craig Morris and Anne C. Crews (born 1953) and husband Kyle W. Crews (born 1955). Anne was formerly an assistant press secretary in the first administration of Governor Bill Clements
. Crichton also had a surviving sister, Frances "Dinks" Atkinson, and two grandchildren.
In his short memoir, Crichton describes his political legacy:
"Although I lost to a popular governor with his arm in a sling from the Kennedy tragedy, I think I was successful in helping to establish the Republican Party . . . to make Texas a two-party state. I met and made friends with some wonderful people who shared my views. An example; twenty years after the election I was in an airport in Baltimore, and an elderly lady came up to me and said, 'I was your precinct chairman in Brownsville
, and I'll always be grateful for your effort in the 1964 election.' Such an appreciation made my efforts in 1964 worthwhile."
Crichton recalled how 1964 brought two new names to national poltiical prominence, Ronald W. Reagan, who gave the celebrated television speech for Goldwater on October 27, 1964, and George H.W. Bush, though defeated in the first of two Senate bids later became Reagan's vice president
and presidential successor. Crichton continued: "The election also established the foundation of the Republican Party in Texas under [state chairman] Peter O'Donnell's leadership, and the voters were shown qualified candidates who stood for conservative principles. The influx into Texas by Republicans from other states who shared thse principles finally led to the Republican Party controlling both the [state] House and Senate in 2003."
Crichton's papers are deposited at the George Bush Presidential Library
in College Station. He had first been invited to turn over his files to Baylor University
in Waco
but decided Texas A&M would be the more appropriate venue, considering his past ties to the university and to George H.W. Bush.
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
and natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
industrialist from Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, who was among the first of his ranks to recognize the importance of petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
reserves in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. In 1964, he carried the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
banner in a fruitless campaign against the reelection of Governor
Governor of Texas
The governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...
John B. Connally, Jr., then a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, who in 1973 switched parties.
In 1990, Crichton wrote in an opinion piece for the Dallas Morning News, stating that he first realized the vastness of the Middle Eastern oil reserves prior to 1950. He and a coworker determined, he said, that the Burgan
Burgan
Burgan may refer to:* Burgan Field, an oil field in Kuwait* Burgan Bank, a Kuwait-based bank* Kunzea ericoides, a plant also known as Burgan...
field in Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, for example, held ten billion barrels of crude oil. In 1951, he helped to establish San Juan Oil Company in Dallas, where he became the vice president of operations. During the 1950s, he took a group of American businessmen to Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
to search for oil. During his long career, he was the president of the Yemen Development Corporation and the Dorchester Gas Corporation, Crichton was also involved in the mining of copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, zinc
Zinc
Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
, gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
, and nickel
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...
through his Arabian Shield Development Company.
Early years and education
Crichton was born on a cottonCotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
in the former community of Crichton near Coushatta
Coushatta, Louisiana
Coushatta is a town in and the parish seat of rural Red River Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is situated on the east bank of the Red River. The community is approximately forty-five miles south of Shreveport on U.S. Highway 71...
in Red River Parish
Red River Parish, Louisiana
Red River Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its seat is Coushatta. It was one of the newer parishes created in 1871 by the state legislature under Reconstruction...
in northwestern Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. He graduated in 1933 from C.E. Byrd High School in Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
and then enrolled at Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
in College Station
College Station, Texas
College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley. The city is located within the most populated region of Texas, near three of the 10 largest cities in the United States - Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio...
. He played tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, and ran cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
track. His classmates included future industrialist H.R. "Bum" Bright and Earle Cabell
Earle Cabell
Earle Cabell , was a Texas politician who served as mayor of Dallas, Texas. Cabell was mayor at the time of the assassination of John F. Kennedy and was later a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was son of Dallas mayor Ben E. Cabell and grandson of Dallas mayor William L. Cabell...
, later a U.S. Representative and a mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Dallas. At TAMU, he wrote an award-winning essay, "The Political Career of Huey P. Long". Crichton served TAMU as the president of the Lettermen's Association and chairman of the Development Foundation. He also served on the board of the Association of Former Students from 1965–1968, was the association president in 1967, and in 1983 was named a Distinguished Alumnus. He later obtained a Master of Science
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
of Boston, where he was affiliated with Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the only one founded in the Antebellum South...
fraternity
Fraternity
A fraternity is a brotherhood, though the term usually connotes a distinct or formal organization. An organization referred to as a fraternity may be a:*Secret society*Chivalric order*Benefit society*Friendly society*Social club*Trade union...
.
Military
Crichton served in the Army as a field artillery officer and special agent. He won the Air Medal, five Battle Stars, and the Bronze Star. He retired as a colonelColonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
in the Army Reserve.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Crichton served in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
, the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
. He was a field artillery officer and special agent. In 1946, Crichton was recruited by Everette DeGolyer, a former conservation director in the administration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
and later a co-founder of Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
, to operate a group of companies which renamed frequently, presumably to make it more difficult to trace their operations. According to investigative journalist Russ Baker
Russ Baker
Russ Baker is a US investigative journalist and founder of the nonprofit website . His recurring themes are politics, secrecy, and abuses of power. His recent writings have focused on elites in finance, resource extraction, military and intelligence operations, and their quiet influence over...
, the companies "operated largely below the radar, and fronted for some of North America's biggest names, including the Bronfmans (Seagram's liquor), the Du Ponts, and the Kuhn-Loeb family of financiers."
In 1952, Crichton joined a syndicate that included DeGolyer and Clint Murchison of Dallas to use connections in the government of General Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
to obtain drilling rights in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The operation was handled by Delta Drilling, owned by Joe Zeppa. In August 1953, Crichton joined the Empire Trust Company, of which he later became the vice president. The company maintained a network of associates similar to a "private CIA". Empire Trust was an investor of the Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
-based General Dynamics
General Dynamics
General Dynamics Corporation is a U.S. defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest defense contractor in the world. Its headquarters are in West Falls Church , unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Falls Church area.The company has...
.
In 1956, Crichton became commander of the 488th Military Intelligence Detachment, which operated under Lieutenant Colonel George Whitmeyer, the overall commander of all United States Army Reserve
United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....
units in East Texas. According to Crichton, there were about a hundred men in the unit, with nearly half of them coming from the Dallas Police Department.
Cuban-Venezuelan Oil Voting Trust Company
Crichton was also involved with several other oilmen who negotiated drilling rights in CubaCuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
under President Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....
. Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
of Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
signed an agreement with the Cuban-Venezuelan Oil Voting Trust Company (CVOVTC), a unit originally established by William F. Buckley, Sr., for access to 15 million acres (60,702.9 km²). CVOVTC was one of the four or five most traded entities on the American Stock Exchange
American Stock Exchange
NYSE Amex Equities, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange is an American stock exchange situated in New York. AMEX was a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known as the New York Curb Exchange. On January 17, 2008, NYSE Euronext announced it would acquire the...
during the middle 1950s. Batista's communist successor, Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, reduced the size of claims for oil exploration to a maximum of 20000 acres (80.9 km²) and ended large-scale explorations by private companies.
The rise of Castro ruined CVOVTC, which had invested $30 million looking for oil in Cuba. The company was de-listed in December 1960 from the American Stock Exchange.
Intelligence matters
Prior to his 1964 political campaign, Crichton had developed a close association with the future President George Herbert Walker Bush. In 1959, the two raised funds for the CIA's "Operation 40", which organized sabotageSabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
against Castro.
Critchton was appointed head of the intelligence component of Dallas Civil Defense. The conservative radio commentator Paul Harvey
Paul Harvey
Paul Harvey Aurandt , better known as Paul Harvey, was an American radio broadcaster for the ABC Radio Networks. He broadcast News and Comment on weekday mornings and mid-days, and at noon on Saturdays, as well as his famous The Rest of the Story segments. His listening audience was estimated, at...
wrote in September 1960: "The Communists, since 1917, have sold Communism to more people than have been told about Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
after 2,000 years." He urged his readers to support the "counter-attack . . . mounted in Dallas."
In 1961, Crichton joined with fellow Dallas conservatives to establish the program "Know Your Enemy", which aimed to combat communist influence that "was undermining the American way of life". In 1962, Crichton opened a command post underneath the patio of the Dallas Health and Science Museum with the goal of maintaining the continuity-of-government were the United States attacked.
In November 1963, Crichton was involved in the arrangements of the fatal visit of U.S. President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
to Dallas. Crichton's friend, Deputy Police Chief George L. Lumpkin, a member of the 488th Military Intelligence Detachment, drove the pilot car of Kennedy's motorcade. Lieutenant Colonel George Whitmeyer, the East Texas Army Reserve commander, was also in the car. The pilot car stopped briefly in front of the Texas School Book Depository
Texas School Book Depository
The Texas School Book Depository is the former name of a seven-floor building facing Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas . Located on the northwest corner of Elm and North Houston Streets, at the western end of downtown Dallas, its address is 411 Elm Street. The building is notable for its connection to...
, where Lumpkin spoke to a policeman controlling traffic at the corner of Houston and Elm. The Warren Commission
Warren Commission
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established on November 27, 1963, by Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
report on the Kennedy assassination states that Crichton arranged for a member of the local Russian community to translate for the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n-born Marina Oswald in the wake of the Kennedy assassination. Crichton's volunteer translated for Oswald during her initial questioning by the Dallas authorities in the hours immediately after her husband, Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
, had been arrested. Marina soon implicated her husband in the crime.
At the time of the assassination of President Kennedy and the wounding of Governor Connally, Crichton was attending the annual luncheon held that year at the Adolphus Hotel on Commerce Street in Dallas on the Friday before Thanksgiving Day to honor the TAMU and University of Texas football teams, who meet on the gridiron annually on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Crichton recalls:
"I walked over to Elm Street to see the Kennedy delegation. . . . President Kennedy and Jackie
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier "Jackie" Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle...
made a handsome couple. She was resplendent in her pink dress and pink pillbox hat. The crowds on the sidewalks applauded, and waved as they drove by. . . . I entered the hotel . . . The room was almost filled, and people were seated at the individual tables. . . . We had the invocation, and many guests began to eat their lunch. Suddenly we heard sirens screaming and someone from outside ran up to the head table and excitedly said, 'The President, Vice President, and Governor Connally have all been shot.' I stood and announced the news. There was stunned silence in the room. Someone then produced a radio, and the news confirmed that the President had been shot.. . . "
Gubernatorial race
In making his race for governor, Crichton had to resign as president of the Association of Former Students of Texas A&M, a position to which he had just been elected. A classmate from HoustonHouston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
named John Lindsey moved up from vice president to head the organization. He served in the post in 1967 instead. Crichton tapped a neighhbor, Hughes Brown, as his campaign manager. Brown told Crichton that the assassination in Dallas meant an "uphill battle, but you will have a chance to advance the cause of the Republican Party in Texas, and in politics anything can happen." Prior to the assassination, a poll had showed John F. Kennedy trailing in a trial heat in Texas for the 1964 general election.
As Crichton ran for governor, George H.W. Bush sought the U.S. Senate seat held by the liberal Democrat Ralph W. Yarborough of Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. Crichton was unopposed for his nomination, but Bush faced a primary fight from the 1962 gubernatorial nominee Jack Cox
Jack Cox (Texas)
Jack M. Cox was an oil equipment executive from Houston and the 1962 Republican gubernatorial nominee in the state of Texas.-Early years:...
of Houston. Crichton and Bush spoke from some of the same podiums that year. Crichton traveled 55000 miles (88,513.7 km) in the campaign, addressed audiences in 85 cities and towns, and made 275 speeches. At the 1964 Republican National Convention
1964 Republican National Convention
The 1964 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States took place in the Cow Palace, San Francisco, California, on July 13 to July 16, 1964. Before 1964, there had only been one national Republican convention on the West Coast...
in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, he was elected chairman of the Permanent Organization Committee and gave the report of that panel from the convention floor.
Crichton strongly supported the Barry M. Goldwater presidential candidacy: "In my opinion Goldwater would have made a great president. He would either have withdrawn our presence in Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
or gone whole hog to win it, instead of the piecemeal strategy of the Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
administration that so hampered our military leaders as they in effect were not allowed to win the Vietnam conflict."
In the campaign, Crichton focused on these points: (1) his opposition to the policies of President Johnson, (2) lowering state taxes, (3) cutting oil and beef imports, (4) stronger criminal justice
Criminal justice
Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...
measures to protect citizens from criminals, (5) increasing Texas' oil production, (6) opposition to a state civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
law, (7) full voting rights for U.S. military personnel, (8) state water resource development, (9) reduction of traffic problems, (10) more decentralization in college and university administration, (11) higher public school teacher pay, (12) development of a two-party system, and (13) ethics in state government.
Crichton traveled to Junction
Junction, Texas
Junction is a city in and the county seat of Kimble County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,618 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
, Texas, during the campaign to meet with former Democratic Governor Coke Stevenson, the official loser by eighty-seven votes in the 1948 runoff primary for the U.S. Senate against Lyndon Johnson. Stevenson had supported John Tower in the 1960 senatorial general election against Johnson and was backing Goldwater in 1964 as well in the presidential contest. Stevenson told Crichton that the election "is an important part of American history, for it got Lyndon to the Senate, which he later controlled, and was a stepping stone to his becoming President. As for me, I was depressed for quite a while, but in retrospect it has allowed me to enjoy my ranch and my young daughter. With that, we had another bourbon and branch water, and I thanked him and departed."
Though Crichton and Bush were both defeated, the latter ran a stronger race against Yarborough than Crichton managed against Connally. Yarborough and Connally were sharp intra-party rivals at the time. Final results showed Connally with 1,877,793 votes (73.8 percent) to Crichton's 661,675 (26 percent). Crichton did, however, outpoll the tally amassed by the following Republican candidate against Connally in 1966, Thomas Everton Kennerly, Sr. (1903–2000), of Houston, by more than 300,000 votes in a lower-turnout election. Kennerly ran unsuccessfully in 1964 for a seat on the Texas Supreme Court
Texas Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Texas is the court of last resort for non-criminal matters in the state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, is the court of last resort for criminal matters.The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices...
.
Crichton wrote the book The Republican-Democrat Political Campaigns in Texas in 1964, which among other topics discusses the split at the 1964 convention between the partisans of Barry M. Goldwater and Nelson A. Rockefeller and the last-minute attempt by William Warren Scranton of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
to bridge the differences. Crichton and Bush supported the eventual nominee, Goldwater, the U.S. senator from Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
who lost Texas by a wide margin to native son Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
. Crichton went to a summer meeting in Hershey
Hershey, Pennsylvania
Hershey is a census-designated place in Derry Township, Dauphin County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The community is located 14 miles east of Harrisburg and is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. Hershey has no legal status as an incorporated municipality...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, having flown on the private jet of Winthrop Rockefeller
Winthrop Rockefeller
Winthrop Rockefeller was a politician and philanthropist who served as the first Republican Governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. He was a third-generation member of the Rockefeller family.-Early life:...
, then the Republican gubernatorial nominee against Orval E. Faubus in Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
.
In Amarillo
Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...
, Crichton was accompanied in a campaign appearanced by actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
Clint Walker
Clint Walker
Norman Eugene Walker, known as Clint Walker , is an American actor best known for his cowboy role as "Cheyenne Bodie" in the TV Western series, Cheyenne.-Life and career:...
, former star of the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television series Cheyenne
Cheyenne (TV series)
Cheyenne is a western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long western, and in fact the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season...
, who had once lived in Brownwood
Brownwood, Texas
Brownwood is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, Texas, United States. The population was 18,813 at the 2000 census.-History:The original site of the Brown County seat of Brownwood was on the east of Pecan Bayou. A dispute arose over land and water rights, and the settlers were forced...
, Texas. Though he addressed some large audiences during the campaign, in Muleshoe
Muleshoe, Texas
Muleshoe is a small city in Bailey County, Texas, United States. The town of Muleshoe was founded in 1913 when the Pecos and Northern Texas Railway built an line from Farwell, Texas to Lubbock through northern Bailey County. In 1926, Muleshoe was incorporated. The population was 5,158 at the 2010...
in Bailey County
Bailey County, Texas
Bailey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2010, the population is 7,165. Its county seat is Muleshoe. Bailey is named for Peter James Bailey, a defender of the Alamo...
in West Texas Crichton spoke from the back of a wagon to only five people plus a stray dog.
Crichton noted that in 1964 he had spent $65,000 on his race, the majority for five hundred billboards to promote his name identification. He also depended heavily on local television and newspaper coverage in the cities that he visited. About half of Crichton's spending was from his personal funds. Crichton's expenditures averaged ten cents for each vote received, whereas the losing 2002 gubernatorial candidate, Democrat Tony Sanchez of Laredo
Laredo, Texas
Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...
, spent $10 per vote, having disbursed $20 million in his campaign.
Death and legacy
Crichton retired in December 1967 from the Army Reserve after thirty years of service. He received the Legion of MeritLegion of Merit
The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements...
for having organized the 488th Military Intelligence Detachment.
Crichton was president of Nafco Oil and Gas and owned Dorchester Gas Producing Company. Barr McClellan, the author and first husband of former Texas Comptroller Carole Strayhorn, writes in Blood, Money & Power that "Big Oil would be during the fifties and into the sixties what the OPEC
OPEC
OPEC is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular meetings...
oil cartel was to the United States in the seventies and beyond". The oil interests were particularly interested in preservation of the depletion allowance
Oil depletion
Oil depletion occurs in the second half of the production curve of an oil well, oil field, or the average of total world oil production. The Hubbert peak theory makes predictions of production rates based on prior discovery rates and anticipated production rates. Hubbert curves predict that the...
. President Kennedy, however, wanted the allowance removed, having considered it an unfair advantage to the companies.
Crichton was the president of the Dallas Petroleum Engineers Club and a director of Florida Gas Company, Clark Oil and Refining, Whitehall Corporation, Transco Energy, and the Consolidated Development Corporation. In 1965, he wrote the book The Dynamic Natural Gas Industry, published by the University of Oklahoma Press
University of Oklahoma Press
The University of Oklahoma Press is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. It has been in operation for over seventy-five years, and was the first university press established in the American Southwest. It was founded by William Bennett Bizzell, the fifth president of the University of...
in Norman
Norman, Oklahoma
Norman is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is located south of downtown Oklahoma City. It is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, Norman was to have 110,925 full-time residents, making it the third-largest city in Oklahoma and the...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
.
Crichton died in Dallas of complications from cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
at the age of ninety-one. Crichton and his wife, the former Marilyn Berry (born ca. 1927), had two daughters, Catherine C. Morris and husband Craig Morris and Anne C. Crews (born 1953) and husband Kyle W. Crews (born 1955). Anne was formerly an assistant press secretary in the first administration of Governor Bill Clements
Bill Clements
William Perry "Bill" Clements, Jr. was the 42nd and 44th Governor of Texas, serving from 1979 to 1983 and 1987 to 1991. Clements was the first Republican to have served as governor of the U.S. state of Texas since Reconstruction...
. Crichton also had a surviving sister, Frances "Dinks" Atkinson, and two grandchildren.
In his short memoir, Crichton describes his political legacy:
"Although I lost to a popular governor with his arm in a sling from the Kennedy tragedy, I think I was successful in helping to establish the Republican Party . . . to make Texas a two-party state. I met and made friends with some wonderful people who shared my views. An example; twenty years after the election I was in an airport in Baltimore, and an elderly lady came up to me and said, 'I was your precinct chairman in Brownsville
Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville is a city in the southernmost tip of the state of Texas, in the United States. It is located on the northern bank of the Rio Grande, directly north and across the border from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Brownsville is the 16th largest city in the state of Texas with a population of...
, and I'll always be grateful for your effort in the 1964 election.' Such an appreciation made my efforts in 1964 worthwhile."
Crichton recalled how 1964 brought two new names to national poltiical prominence, Ronald W. Reagan, who gave the celebrated television speech for Goldwater on October 27, 1964, and George H.W. Bush, though defeated in the first of two Senate bids later became Reagan's vice president
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
and presidential successor. Crichton continued: "The election also established the foundation of the Republican Party in Texas under [state chairman] Peter O'Donnell's leadership, and the voters were shown qualified candidates who stood for conservative principles. The influx into Texas by Republicans from other states who shared thse principles finally led to the Republican Party controlling both the [state] House and Senate in 2003."
Crichton's papers are deposited at the George Bush Presidential Library
George Bush Presidential Library
The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library of George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States. It was dedicated on Nov. 6, 1997 and opened to the public shortly thereafter...
in College Station. He had first been invited to turn over his files to Baylor University
Baylor University
Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...
in Waco
Waco, Texas
Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....
but decided Texas A&M would be the more appropriate venue, considering his past ties to the university and to George H.W. Bush.