The Suite F8 Group

The Suite 8F Group, also referred to as the 8F Crowd, was a network of politically active businessman in Texas from the 1930s into the 1960s. Members of this conservative Texas group were responsible for the political success of several Democratic members of Congress. They were particularly successful with the entire political career of Lyndon B. Johnson. It is believed that some of the members may have even played a part in the plot to assassinate President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963

Here are the major core members of the Suite 8F Group.

.
The Brown brothers Herman, and George, used their suite in the Lamar Hotel as a social, business, and political gathering spot. They would plan and discuss events as such as hunting, racing, pipelines, steel plants, philanthropy and of course the political future of different candidates that would benefit the groups varied memebers.

Gus Wortham, another member of the group, lived in the room next door to Herman Brown in Suite 7F.

His commercial building activities in Houston included mid-rise and skyscraper office buildings, hotels and apartments, and movie theaters. He constructed the Foster Building, home to the Houston Chronicle, in exchange for a fifty percent share in the newspaper, which he acquired control of in 1926. He was responsible for building the Port of Houston and the Houston Ship Channel. Jones built the Lamar and Rice Hotel. He also founded the Texas National Bank that became Texas Commerce Bank, which is now called Chase Bank.
Jesse H. Jones, the developer and owner of the Lamar Hotel, lived on its top floor and was known as the “the godfather” of the group.

James A. Elkins, a Houston lawyer and banker often referred to as Judge Elkins, exercised great influence and gained a name as a deal maker for the group. For example, one friend credited Elkins for easing the sale of a local radio station to Oveta Culp the wife of Texas Governor William P. Hobby.
Sometimes the group formed an agreement around certain political candidates, and then supported them as a group. For example, the group backed Oscar Holcombe, Sam Rayburn and the first two campaigns of Franklin D, Roosevelt for President of the United States and all the ebture political history of Lyndon B. Johnson.

The 8F Group gained “unequaled influence in state and national government” after the end World War II when George R. Brown, Gus Wortham and Charles Francis of Vinson & Elkins founded Texas Eastern Pipeline. The group was reported to have taken over Big Oil by owning the “Big Inch and Little Inch pipeline. The 8F Group had connections to various media outlets including the Houston Chronicle, the Houston Post, and television station KPRC and radio stations KPRC and KTRK TV.
Other members also included:

Smith served as chairman of the board for the Houston Sports Association and strongly supported the two bond issues totaling $31 million for the construction of the Harris County Domed Stadium (the Astrodome).

By 1964, Smith owned some 11,000 acres of land in Harris County, including a 4.5 mile-wide tract in southwest Houston and parcels in north Houston, all amounting to about two percent of the entire undeveloped acreage in Houston.

When Johnson assumed the vice presidency in 1961, he convinced President John F. Kennedy to appoint Connally to the position of United States Secretary of the Navy. Connally left the Kennedy Administration in December 1961 to run for Governor of Texas, and he held that position from 1963 to 1969. Connally was seriously wounded in November 1963 during the assassination of JFK. It was John Connally who convinced JFK to travel to Texas and Dallas in November 1963.

Davis was appointed as president of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (1952-53). He retired in 1963 but continued to work as a petroleum geology consultant in Houston. Davis was also president of the Geological Society of America (1969-1970).

Houston real estate developer and banker helped fund the political campaigns of Barbara Jordan, John Connally, and Lloyd Bentsen. He became a national figure in 1980 when he raised more money for Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign—$3.2 million—than anyone in the country thus helping to deliver traditionally Democratic Texas to the GOP.

Sam Rayburn was an American politician who served as the 43rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He represented Texas’s 4th congressional district as a Democrat from 1913 to 1961. He holds the record for the longest tenure as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving for over 17 years (between three separate stints).

Rayburn’s third and final tenure as Speaker (1955–61) was one of the greatest moments of his career. His protégé Senator Lyndon B. Johnson became Majority Leader mostly thanks to Rayburn maneuvering the Senate leadership and making deals to make sure Johnson became Senate Democratic Leader

Rayburn was a close friend and mentor of Lyndon B. Johnson and knew Johnson’s father, Sam, from their days in the Texas Legislature. Rayburn was instrumental to Lyndon Johnson’s ascent to power, particularly his rapid rise to the position of Minority Leader. Johnson had been in the Senate for a mere four years when he assumed the role. Johnson also owed his successive elevation to Majority Leader to Rayburn

Albert R. Thomas was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representative from Texas for 29 years and was responsible for bringing the Johnson Space Center to Houston.

He was a typical Southern Democrat who through seniority rose to be the Chairman of the House Appropriations committee on defense. In that capacity, he was able to steer projects to Texas including supporting Johnson’s proposal to build the Corpus Christie Naval Air Station.

Thomas also served on the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy and was instrumental in securing the location of the United States National Aeromautics & Space Adminitration’s Manned Spacecraft (later named after Lyndon Johnson) in Houston in 1961. Since its inception, Johnson Space Center has served as mission control for every U.S. manned space flight including Apollo 11, the first lunar landing. “Houston” became the first word addressed to earth from the moon, in reference to the Johnson Space Center mission control.

Thomas’s college roommate at Rice University was George R. Brown of Brown & Root.

It was Thomas who also accompanied the Presidential party as it traveled to Dallas, where the next day President Kennedy was assassinated. He then witnessed the swearing in of President Lyndon Baines Johnson on Air Force One.

William Vinson joined forces with James Elkins to form the new law firm of Vinson and Elkins. They then became very involved in the oil and gas industry in Texas. This included taking shares in oil speculations instead of fees.
Eventually Vinson and Elkins became the largest law firm in Houston. Vinson was also a director of the Great Southern Life Insurance Company.

Suite 8F helped to coordinate the political activities of other right-wing politicians and businessmen based in the South; these included

Robert B. Anderson during the 1960s carried out diplomatic missions on behalf of President Lyndon B. Johnson.. Including many trips to Cairo to confer with the Egyptian President Gamal Abel Nasser in the wake of the 1967 Six-Day War.

In the U.S. Senate, Robert Kerr’s involvement on natural gas regulation quickly won him a standing for being a passionate defender of his region and its special interests, including his own petroleum company. Kerr’s colleagues widely considered him a brilliant debater who overwhelmed his opponents with his passion and his mastery of policy detail.

He built alliances with the powerful southern and western Democrats who dominated the U.S. Senate, including Richard Russell of Georgia and LBJ of Texas. Kerr relied on these friends and on careful committee preparation to pursue regional economic development. His legislative shrewdness combined with changes in congressional leadership to make his allegiance pivotal to President JFK’s programs on Capitol Hill. On issues of common interest, such as space and taxes, Kerr cooperated with Kennedy to guarantee mutual success. On areas of disagreement, including Medicare, Kerr stymied the president. In January 1963, the Wall Street Journal summarized the relationship with only some exaggeration: “Mr. Kennedy asked; Mr. Kerr decided.”

Billie Sol Estes was an American businessman and financier best known for his involvement in a business fraud scandal that complicated his ties to friend and future U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson.

In 1962, after information came to light that Estes had paid off four Agriculture officials for grain storage contracts, President JFK ordered the Justice Department and FBI to open investigations into Estes’ activities and determine if Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman had also been “compromised” (Freeman was cleared). Congress conducted hearings on Estes’ business dealings, including some that led to Vice President Johnson, a long-time associate of Estes.

Estes also alleged in the 1980s that he had inside knowledge that Johnson was involved in the assassination of Kennedy. In 1984, he provided a voluntary statement to a grand jury in Texas alleging that the homicide of a key investigator in the Department of Agriculture case was perpetrated by Malcolm Wallace, an aide to Johnson, upon orders from the then-Vice President. Estes claimed that Johnson was involved in the fraud schemes and had the official killed in order to prevent him from exposing Johnson’s role. Two former Johnson associates responded to the allegations stating Estes was a “pathological liar”. When the Department of Justice asked for more information, Estes responded that he would provide information on eight other murders ordered by Johnson, including the assassination of Kennedy, in exchange for immunity from prosecution and a pardon. According to Estes, Johnson set up the assassination in order to become president.

Glenn McCarthy was an American oil tycoon. The media often referred to him as “Diamond Glenn” and “The King of the Wildcatters”. McCarthy was an oil prospector and entrepreneur who owned many businesses in various sectors of the economy.

McCarthy founded the Shamrock Hotel in Houston, which garnered him national fame and inspired the fictional character Jett Rink in Edna Farber’s 1952 novel Giant which, in 1956, became a film, which starred James Dean in the role.

“Diamond Glenn” drew much attention from the national media due to his charismatic personality and his rags-to-riches story. Both loved and scorned by the media, his image formed the cultural myth of the Texas oil millionaire: a charming, lucky, unabashed businessman. In 1949 McCarthy built the luxurious Shamrock Hotel in Houston, spending $21,000,000 for its construction. He then held what has been cited as “Houston’s biggest party” for the hotel’s grand opening. Dozens of Hollywood celebrities, many of who were flown into Houston on a Boeing 307 Stratoliner airplane which he had recently acquired from Howard Hughes

Earl E.T. Smith was a U.S. diplomat, ambassador to Cuba (1957–1959), mayor of Palm Beach (1971–1977), and husband of model Florence Pritchett Smith (1920–1965).
In 1960, Smith testified to the Senate Committee on the subject of the “Communist threat to the United States through the Caribbean.” During the hearings, Smith said, “Until Castro, the U.S. was so overwhelmingly influential in Cuba that the American ambassador was the second most important man, sometimes even more important than the Cuban president.

Even though Ambassador Smith and JFK were good friends, Kennedy through out the rest of his life was sleeping with Smith’s wife Flo behind his back.

Various sources cite reasons for Secretary Korth’s departure. He was president of the Continental National Bank of Fort Worth, Texas. Continental National Bank was one of a number of banks which participated in a line of credit for the TFX fighter which later emerged as the more well-known F-111 Aardvark.
Following the end of his first marriage in 1964, he began a romantic relationship with heiress and socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post daughter of breakfast-cereal magnate C.W. Post twenty years his senior. He was a co-executor of Post’s will. Her estate including her mansion on Palm Beach Island, Mar a Largo purchased from the estate in 1980 by Donald Trump.
Korth died in September 1998 in El Paso, Texas and is buried under a three century old Texas Live Oak tree on his ranch. His stepdaughter, Melissa Williams O’Rourke, is the mother of former U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke.

At the age of 21, Sterling launched his own merchandising business. In 1911, his brother Frank Sterling, other oilmen, and he formed the Humble Oil Company, a predecessor of present-day Exxon-Mobil.

After his death, Richardson (Middle) named John B. Connally (Left), the future Texas governor as co-executor of the estate, a designation, which provided Connally with a large steady income for years thereafter. Through his friendship with J Edgar Hoover, Richardson learned firsthand information on political friends like LBJ (Right) and foes alike.

Murchison frequently corresponded with LBJ beginning in 1945. Murchison used his influence to help Johnson win East Texas during the 1948 election and was supportive of Johnson’s run for president in 1960.

Known throughout his life as H. L. Hunt, he was a Texas oil tycoon and conservative Republican political activist. By trading poker winnings for oil rights, he ultimately secured title to much of the East Texas Oil field, one of the world’s largest oil deposits. From it and his other acquisitions, he accrued a fortune that was among the worlds largest; at the time of his death, he was reputed to have the highest net worth of any individual in the world.

In November 1963, Byrd (Left) traveled from Texas to go on a two-month safari in Africa with General Jimmy Doolittle (Right). While he was away President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Lee Harvey Oswald, who was accused of being the lone-gunman, worked in Byrd’s Texas Book Depository.
Soon after his return, President Lyndon Johnson, granted a large defense contract to LTV to build fighter planes that were paid for out of the 1965 budget, which had not yet been approved by Congress.
Byrd was a member of the Dallas Petroleum Club. It has been argued that it was here that he met George de Mohrenschildt, David Atlee Phillips and George H. W. Bush. Byrd owned planes, automobiles that David Ferrie used.

A man of immense wealth-he had made his millions in oil-during World War II. Pawley had gained fame setting up the Flying Tigers with General Claire Chennault. Pawley had also owned major sugar interests in Cuba, as well as Havana’s bus, trolley and gas systems and he was close to both pre-Castro Cuban rulers, President Carlos Prio and General Fulgencio Batista. (Pawley was one of the dispossessed American investors in Cuba who early tried to convince Eisenhower that Castro was a Communist and urged him to arm the exiles in Miami.)
Pawley was nonetheless a member of the Old Boys network and was especially close to CIA Director Allen Dulles. He transformed his Flying Tigers into one of the first CIA proprietary airlines, Civil Air Transport, and had set up for the Agency a front called the Pacific Corporation as an offshoot of the Tigers. He had been involved in the CIA’s overthrow of the Arbenz government in Guatemala and he had backed more than one Castro assassination attempt. Pawley once told a Miami reporter: “Find me one man, just one man who can go it alone and get Castro, I’ll pay anything, almost anything.” But Pawley was not just a backer of exile groups, he was a participant.

Smathers befriends JFK speaking on behalf of Kennedy at his wedding dinner rehearsal and reception. During the 1960 presidential campaign, Smathers was a favorite son candidate for the Democratic nomination. He later managed Kennedy’s campaign in the Southeast.
Journalist Rodger Mudde recalls being the network representative in the press pool boat that tried to follow the presidential yacht with Smathers aboard in the early 1960s. “Smathers was probably John Kennedy’s best friend in the U.S. Senate. Together or singly, they were wolves on the prowl, always able to find or attract gorgeous prey…. It was a joke, our pretending to be covering the president, bobbing around in the ocean, squinting through binoculars to find out who was coming and going but always having our view blocked by a Secret Service boat just as another long-legged Palm Beach beauty climbed aboard.”
It was leaked to the press that an emerging scandal involving the corrupt activities of Vice President LBJ’s aide Bobby Baker prompted Kennedy to give a private offer to Smathers of the second spot on the 1964 presidential ticket and a plan to drop Johnson as his running mate

Russell was a founder and leader of the conservative side that dominated Congress from 1937 to 1963,

During his long tenure in the Senate, Russell served as chairman of several committees, and was the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services for most of the period between 1951 and 1969

When LBJ arrived in the Senate, he sought guidance from knowledgeable senate aide Bobby Baker, who advised that all senators were “equal” but Russell was the most “equal”—meaning the most powerful. Johnson constantly cultivated Russell through all of their joint Senate years and beyond. Russell’s support for first-term senator Lyndon Johnson paved the way for Johnson to become Senate Majority Leader. Russell often dined at Johnson’s house during their Senate days.

From 1963 to 1964, Russell was one of the members of the Warren Commission which was charged to investigate the assassination of JFK. Russell’s personal papers indicated that he was troubled by the Commission’s single bullet theory, the Soviet Union’s failure to provide greater detail regarding Lee Harvey Oswald’s time in Russia, and the lack of information regarding his Cuba-related activities.

James Eastland was an American politician from Mississippi who served in the U.S Senate as a Democrat from Mississippi.

Eastland was also the most senior member of the Senate at the time of his retirement in 1978. He was a supporter of the Conservative Coalition and was best known nationally as a fierce proponent of and a symbol of Southern support for racial segregation.

In September 1960, Eastland and Thomas Dodd said officials in the State Department cleared the way for the regime of Fidel Castro to reign in Cuba and that lower-ranking officials had misinformed Americans about the political climate of Cuba with assistance from the media.

In September 1963, Eastland, Stennis, and Georgia Senator Richard Russell jointly announced their opposition to the ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty. The opposition was viewed as denting hopes of the Kennedy administration to be met with minimal disagreement during the treaty’s appearance before the Senate

Eastland was a staunch supporter of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and shared intelligence with the FBI, including leaks from the State Department. Hoover received intelligence that Eastland was among members of congress who had received money and favors from Rafael Trujillo, dictator of the Domenican Republic. Eastland had regularly defended him from the Senate floor and Hoover declined to pursue Eastland on corruption charges.

In the 1950s Baker (Left)  and Black (Right) became business associates and political advisers to Lyndon B. Johnson. Black was also a close friend of Mafia boss, Johnny Roselli.

In 1962 Black established the Serve U Corporation with his friend, Bobby Baker, for companies working on federally granted programs. This included North American Aviation. The machines were manufactured by a company secretly owned by Sam Giancana and other mobsters based in Chicago. Grant Stockdale and George Smathers were also involved with Black and Baker in Serve-U-Corporation. Baker’s connection to the Serve-U-Corporation is what caused his life to come tumbling down in October of 1963 when he was forced to resign his senate post after a vending machine contractor named Baker in a civil suit as the person who strong-armed them out of defense contractors’ plant when they refused to kick back enough money.

By 1963, the Kennedys were fed up with LBJ, and there was serious talk of dumping him from the ticket the following year “For health reasons.” supposedly. But had Kennedy not been assassinated, Johnson was looking at possible prosecution for his fraudulent business dealing while working for the government.
But, it never happened.
What did happen, was that one day in Chicago, in April 1963, Jimmy Hoffa was playing cards in his hotel room with Joey Glimco and their lawyers, when Hoffa asked what would happen if something were to happen to Bobby, or “Boo-bee” as he called him, Kennedy. The group responded that John Kennedy would “be so pissed off he would probably replace him with somebody who is a bigger son of bitch then Bobby is.”

After a short silence, Hoffa asked, “But what would happen if something happened to John Kennedy?” and the answer was, “Lyndon Johnson would become President and replace ‘Boo-bee’ as his first act.” and becomes a major motive for LBJ’s involvement in the JFK assassination.

.

.