Longoria Affair The soldier's widow tried to make arrangements with the director of the funeral home in Three Rivers to hold a wake for Longoria at the funeral home. Tom Kennedy, the funeral home director, would not allow this. He said that because the late soldier was a "Mexican," "the whites would not like it." He repeated this sentiment in phone conversations with Dr. Hector P. Garcia and reporter, George Groh, of the Corpus Christi Caller. Kennedy was willing to set up a wake at the Longoria home, in the segregated area across the railroad tracks from the white section of town, as was the customary treatment of Mexican Americans by the Three Rivers community. Longoria was to be re-interred in the Longoria Cemetery (purchased by his father in 1925), which abutted the West side of the town's all-white cemetery. This portion of the cemetery, separated by a fence at that time, was reserved by the Three Rivers community for the Mexican Americans. After an investigation into the Longoria Affair, U.S. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson offered to have Private Longoria's remains interred at Arlington National Cemetery. He wanted to end the controversy related to where the wake would be held prior to burial. When the New York Times reported on the local difficulties faced by Longoria's family in Three Rivers, the case attracted national attention and it became known as the Felix Longoria Affair. Walter Winchell on his radio program stated "The big state of Texas looks mighty small tonight". Outraged Tejanos who sought to end such discrimination, organized under the newly formed American GI Forum and its leader, Dr. Hector P. Garcia. With the incident being reported by national papers, Freshman Senator Lyndon B. Johnson intervened in the case. He gained approval for Longoria's remains to be reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery in a full military ceremony, along with the remains of eighteen other soldiers whose remains had been repatriated from foreign soil where they had served and died. Full military honors were accorded each burial. Texas House of Representatives committee investigation Under mounting national pressure, the State of Texas took action. The Texas House of Representatives appointed a five-person committee to investigate the allegations of racism. The Committee met in the Three Rivers Chamber of Commerce, next to the barber shop that served only whites. The committee conducted open hearings to take testimony, statements, and hear arguments on