The Murchisons: The Rise and Fall of a Texas Dynasty

They were the ultimate Texas oil so rich that their multi-million dollar deals were sealed with a handshake, so self-indulgent that their football fancy resulted in the formation of the Dallas Cowboys, so powerful that royalty and presidents -- from Franklin Roosevelt to Nixon -- were never more than a phone call away.Yet beneath this dazzling facade lay sexual obsession, drugs, and, ultimately, financial troubles which would reverse the family's fortunes. The Murchisons, an intimate portrait of the real-life Ewings of "Dallas," is the tragic and true story of their ambition and genius, the greed, power and pride.

Wolfe tells a riveting tale of the rising fortunes and ultimate downfall of the Murchison family, quintessential high rollers. Clint Murchison Sr. erupted from East Texas during the rough-and-tumble years of oil drilling in the 1930s, and spent his life "doing deals." Wolfe gives a colorful description of a quiet, unpretentious man whose financial acumen and brilliant use of leverage helped him build a multimillion-dollar conglomerate. His sons Clint Jr. and John shared their father's wizardry, adding to their investment firmament the Vail, Colo., ski resort and the Dallas Cowboys. However, the family's style of loose management and easy credit based on a handshake was ill-suited to the late 1970s, when oil prices toppled and interest rates soared. In her first book, Wolfe, former society editor of the Dallas Morning News , gives a superb glimpse of the personal lives and family dynamics of these millionaires whose bankruptcy in 1985 stunned both the state of Texas and the nation's financial community. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

How different are the very rich from you and me? Wolfe answers that question in this history of the rise and fall of Texas's Murchison family. Clint Murchison Sr. began building the family fortune selling animal skins for pennies; later with interests in oil, real estate, and publishing, he was one of the first conglomerate makers. His elder son, John, won Wall Street's biggest proxy fight, developed the Vail, Colorada ski resort, and was a noted jet-setter. Clint Jr., probably best known as the builder and first owner of the Dallas Cowboys, was also a philanderer and deal-maker. Eventually, skyrocketing interest rates and plummeting oil and real estate prices led him to one of the largest personal bankruptcies in history. While his "financing by finagling" precipitated the crash, the family's downfall also resulted from bitter lawsuits in the third generation. In the long run, the Cowboys may be the family's biggest memorial. For public libraries interested in the history of the oil business or Texas, or in the exploits of the wealthy.
- Sue Kamm, Los Angeles P.L.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.