Billy Sol Estes

Billy Sol Estes was a close associate and neighbor of president Lyndon B. Johnson in Texas prior to president John F. Kennedy's election. The nature of their relationship after Johnson became president is less clear. Estes was convicted of fraud in 1962 for swindling millions of dollars from the government. Estes served time in prison for pursuing a scheme involving government cotton allotments and subsidies paid on fictitious machinery grants. The trial was covered by the press at the time.

Fraud Charges

While Estes was convicted and served jail time, his conviction was later overturned by the United States Supreme Court (Estes v. Texas, Template:Ussc). His appeal hinged upon the fact that television cameras and other media were allowed in the courtroom and that this deprived him of a fair trial. He prevailed by a narrow 5–4 vote. The Estes trial was cited by CNN when it wished to put cameras in the chambers of the Supreme Court during the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election.

Involvement with the President

Getting a case before the Supreme Court is difficult no matter how interesting the question of law. This naturally leads to speculation that Lyndon Johnson's relationship to Estes might have somehow contributed to his getting a hearing with the highest court in the land when many other cases did not. The speculation regarding their relationship doesn't end there, partly due to actions allegedly taken by Estes himself.

All sources agree that Estes never said anything about Johnson's involvement in various conspiracies while in prison. His silence was beneficial to Johnson's political career even if his later accusations had turned out to be completely fabricated. Some, therefore, characterize Estes as a patriot of sorts for not trying to bring the president down; others put a more sinister and self-serving spin on his actions.

Allegations and Conspiracy Theories

After his release from jail and Johnson's death, Estes allegedly began making allegations regarding President Johnson. According to the authors of The Men Who Killed Kennedy, he claimed to have funneled millions of dollars into Johnson's pockets from the cotton allotment scam.

Perhaps more significantly, Estes implicated Johnson as a conspirator to several murders including Johnson's own sister and president Kennedy. He claimed to be a conspirator himself to at least one of these murders, that of Henry Marshall. Marshall was found on his Texas farm in 1961, shot five times with a .22-caliber rifle. Strangely in light of the way he died, it was officially ruled a suicide. Billy Sol Estes later named Malcolm Wallace as the shooter.

Mr. Estes further reported to the FBI that Mr. Wallace had murdered not only Henry Marshall, but also several other people, including President John F. Kennedy, with the full knowledge of Lyndon B. Johnson. His story was allegedly that Marshall was the shooter from the grassy knoll. Estes agreed to provide some kind of proof to the FBI of his allegations, and the FBI proffered immunity in exchange, but ultimately Estes refused to produce whatever evidence he may have had. The FBI was ostensibly not amused.

The veracity of much of this story has not been verified, and probably never will be, but it throws considerable fuel on the fire of conspiracy theorists. This is particularly true with respect to the assassination of President Kennedy, one of the most frequent subjects of conspiracy theories.