Suite 8-F Group

[Steve Thomas]

This is actually for John Simkin.

I know a while back, you were inquiring about something called a Suite 8-F Group. I don't know if the group you had in mind was national in scope or not. (I tried doing a search of the posts, but because one of the words was less than four characters, the software just returned an error.)

Anyway, I've been reading a book called Red Scare, by Don Carleton, Texas Monthly Press, 1985. It's about right-wing hysteria in Houston, TX in the 1950's.

On page 70 of Carleton's book he talks about the power brokers of Houston regularly meeting in Suite 8-F of Jesse Jone's Lamar Hotel. They were called "The 8-F Crowd." Carleton wrote, "One writer has referred to the meeting place as "one of the secret capitals of Texas.""

Footnotes Carleton includes on the "8-F Crowd" include:

Conway, The Texans, pp. 101-103.

Hurt, The Most Powerful Texans, p. 73

Green, The Establishment in Texas Politics, p. 17

Hope this helps.

Steve Thomas