Corruption and the James Commission

Historian Judith Lindsley gave a tour of what was once the Dixie Hotel on Crockett Street in Beaumont, Texas. It was once a brothel that was frequented by local politicians and businessmen. By the mid-1950s, as an outgrowth of the oil industry, Beaumont had become notorious for corruption and crime. In 1960 State Representative Tom James created a commission to combat against organized crime in Jefferson County in other parts of Eastern Texas. The Dixie Hotel was shut down in 1961 as reforms were made.

C-SPAN’s Local Content Vehicles (LCVs) made a stop in their “2012 LCV Cities Tour” in Beaumont, Texas, on January 9-13 to feature the history and literary life of the community. Working with the Time-Warner Cable local cable affiliate, they visited literary and historic sites where local historians, authors, and civic leaders were interviewed. The history segments air on American History TV (AHTV) on C-SPAN3 and the literary events/non-fiction author segments air on BookTV on C-SPAN2. close