H. L. Hunt

• Born: February 17, 1889
• Birthplace: Ramsey, Illinois
• Died: November 29, 1974
• Place of death: Dallas, Texas

American oil magnate

Hunt, an oil tycoon, was the richest man in America in 1948. Using some of his wealth, he promoted his ultraconservative political opinions through newspaper columns, books, pamphlets, the radio program Life Line, and the right-wing radio and television programs produced by his Facts Forum foundation.

Source of wealth: Oil

Bequeathal of wealth: Spouses; children

Early Life

Haroldson Lafayette Hunt, Jr. (HAR-uhld-suhn LAH-fee-eht huhnt), was the last of eight children born to Haroldson Lafayette Hunt, Sr., a farmer, and Ella Rose Myers Hunt, a teacher. Young Hunt received his schooling at home. At fifteen, he began traveling through Colorado, California, Arkansas, and Texas. To support himself, he worked as gambler, dishwasher, herder, farmer, and lumberjack. After his father’s death in 1911 brought him an inheritance of $6,000, Hunt opened a gambling parlor and bought an Arkansas cotton plantation. In 1914, he married Lyda Bunker; the couple eventually had six children.

First Ventures

When the end of World War I caused a collapse in the cotton market, Hunt’s assets plunged. He began new business ventures, developing an Arkansas oil well and working as an oil lease broker and real estate agent. By 1925, he was worth $600,000. Around the same time, he had an affair with Frania Tye, whom he may or may not have married and with whom he had four children.

By 1930, Hunt was nearly bankrupt as the result of business misfortunes, including a scarcity of oil strikes. However, he continued his oil speculation ventures, incorporating the Hunt Oil Company in 1936 and leasing and purchasing wells.

By 1942, his financial situation had improved. He owned nine hundred wells in eastern Texas, and he expanded his petroleum business into other parts of the state and country, eventually becoming the largest independent oil producer in the United States. His net worth was $20 million. The demand for oil during World War II enabled Hunt to open additional gasoline stations and to purchase a cattle ranch. Fortune magazine declared Hunt the richest man in America in 1948.

Mature Wealth

In the 1950’s, Hunt, an adamant anticommunist and a right-wing conservative, used some of his assets to espouse his politics. He advocated assigning votes in American elections according to the amount of taxes one paid, denounced big government, and encouraged Senator Joseph McCarthy’s search for Communists. From 1951 until 1956, he financed his own foundation, Facts Forum, which produced radio and television programs proclaiming his views. His self-published book Alpaca (1960) further expressed his political views, and Hunt personally sent copies of the book to world leaders. Another book, Alpaca Revisited (1967), and his Life Line radio programs also reiterated his positions.

In 1957, Hunt wed Ruth Ray, who claimed that her two children born before the marriage were Hunt’s, and the couple subsequently had another two children. In the 1960’s, Hunt began another business venture, HLH Products, which, among other things, manufactured foods and cosmetics.

In 1960, Hunt backed Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidential campaign because of Johnson’s support of the oil depletion allowance. However, when John F. Kennedy was nominated as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Hunt used his Life Line programs and his newspaper column, “Hunt for the Truth,” to criticize Kennedy, to warn against Catholicism and Communists, and to urge support of the Republican presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater.

After President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) questioned Hunt and some of his family about the murder. These investigations were triggered by Hunt’s verbal attacks on Kennedy and the fact that Hunt’s name was listed in the address book of Jack Ruby, the man who had killed Kennedy’s alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. The allegations that the Hunts were involved in the assassination were never proven, but the family continued to receive death threats from those who disagreed with their political views and who believed they had participated in Kennedy’s murder.

Toward the end of Hunt’s life, this former gambler became a Baptist and encouraged others to set priorities and work to achieve them. He died on November 29, 1974.

Legacy

At his death, Hunt left an estate valued at $2 billion. His surviving two wives and numerous children and grandchildren spent years arguing about the distribution of his estate. Hunt’s businesses continued after his death. He also left a political and social legacy, using his wealth to advocate conservative positions that would later gain greater acceptance and become an important element in American politics.

Bibliography

Burrough, Bryan. The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes. New York: Penguin Group, 2009.

Hurt, Harry, III. Texas Rich: The Hunt Dynasty from the Early Oil Days Through the Silver Crash. San Diego, Calif.: Baker and Taylor/Replica Books, 2001.

Tuccille, Jerome. Kingdom: The Story of the Hunt Family of Texas. Hopkins, Minn.: Beard Books, 2004.