Official report to the House of Representatives of the 58th Legislature of Texas Page: 76 of 94
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persistence as chairman of the board and in exercising
the powers of the government in inquiring into these
matters was of rank distortion and he in effect gave me
to understand that unless I would desist in that conduct
he would have no alternative but to recommend disciplinary
action.
Q. What did you then do?
A. Well, I continued to do the same thing that I had been doing.
I was convinced that I was justified in doing what I was doing
and in the right and the board's activities towards investigating
these matters continued under and at my direction always but
not with the same freedom of action of course and none with
the same conviction that we would be supported in Washington
on these actions but I was resolved that until some court said
to the contrary that those were matters within the jurisdiction
of the Connally Act, the investigation of which I felt I was just
as much--or it was just as much the board's duty as any other
violation of the Act. The ultimate result was that I received a
notice in November stating that the resignation which I had been
persuaded to file in January right after the Eisenhower Administration
took effect would be accepted. That was notice that my
services would be discontinued as of November the 30th of
that year.
Q. Were you asked to resign?
A. Yes--no, sir, I was never asked to resign in any form or sense;
right after the inauguration of President Eisenhower, I received
a letter from Mr. Hugh Stewart, who was my chief superior
officer in Washington, and he stated that it was a matter of
custom and courtesy for all board and department heads to
tender their resignation to the new administration. He assured
me that there was no disposition to act upon it in any way--that
it was simply a matter of courtesy and he asked me as a personal
favor to him to comply with it, which I did.
Q. And then you tendered your resignation as a matter of courtesy,
then you say?
A. Only as a matter of courtesy.
Q. Not believing or not having been led to believe at the time that
it would be acted upon, is that correct?
A. Believing entirely to the contrary and believing and acting on
the assurance that it would not be treated as a bona fide
resignation.
Q. Now, did you ever compile an extensive memoranda concerning
the activities that your investigations had revealed in connection
with the hot oil and slanted wells?
A. Yes, I did.-75
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Texas Legislature. House of Representatives. General Investigating Committee. Official report to the House of Representatives of the 58th Legislature of Texas, book, 1963; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5869/m1/76/?rotate=270: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .