George de Mohrenschildt
Encyclopedia
George de Mohrenschildt (April 17, 1911 – March 29, 1977) was a petroleum geologist
and professor who befriended Lee Harvey Oswald
in the summer of 1962 and maintained that friendship until Oswald's death two days after the assassination of U.S. President
John F. Kennedy
. He had personal acquaintance with the Bush family, including George H. W. Bush
, with whose nephew, Edward G. Hooker, he had been roommates at Phillips Academy
at Andover, Massachusetts
. He also had personal acquaintance with the Bouvier family, including Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy
, the president's wife, when she was still a child. His testimony before the Warren Commission
investigating the assassination was one of the longest of any witness.
Russia
, near the border of Poland (his birthdate was April 4 in the old style
Russian Julian calendar
). His wealthy father, Sergius Alexander von Mohrenschildt was arrested by the Bolshevik
s shortly after the Russian Revolution
for anti-Communist activities. Sergius was sentenced to life in exile in Siberia
, but managed to escape with his family to Poland
during the 1920s. George graduated from a Polish military academy in 1931, and received the equivalent of a doctor of science in international commerce from the University of Liège
in Belgium
in 1938.
George de Mohrenschildt immigrated to the United States
in May 1938. Upon his arrival, British intelligence reportedly told the U.S. government that they suspected he was working for German intelligence. By some accounts, he was under FBI surveillance for a time. De Mohrenschildt was hired by the Shumaker company in New York City
, which also employed a man named Pierre Fraiss who had connections with French intelligence. According to de Mohrenschildt, he and Fraiss, among their other duties, gathered information about people involved in "pro-German" activities (such as those bidding for U.S. oil leases on behalf of Germany before the U.S. became involved in World War II
). De Mohrenschildt testified that the purpose of their data-collection was to help the French out-bid the Germans.
De Mohrenschildt spent the summer of 1938 with his older brother Dimitri von Mohrenschildt on Long Island
, New York. Dimitri was a staunch anti-Communist and member of the OSS
and one of the founders of the CIA's Radio Free Europe and Amcomlib (a.k.a., Radio Liberty) stations. His contacts included top officials of the CIA. (Dimitri died at the age of 100 in 2002.)
While in New York, de Mohrenschildt became acquainted with the Bouvier family, including young Jackie
, future wife of John F. Kennedy
. Jackie grew up calling de Mohrenschildt "Uncle George" and would sit on his knee. He became a close friend of Jackie's aunt Edith Bouvier Beale
.
De Mohrenschildt dabbled in the insurance business from 1939 to 1941, but failed to pass his broker's examination. In 1941, he became associated with Film Facts in New York, a production company owned by his cousin Baron Maydell who was said to have pro-Nazi sympathies. (De Mohrenschildt denied any Nazi sympathies of his own, claiming he helped raise money for the Polish resistance.) De Mohrenschildt made a documentary film about resistance fighters in Poland. However, when the United States entered World War II
, his application to join the Office of Strategic Services
(OSS) was rejected. According to a memo by former CIA director Richard Helms
, de Mohrenschildt "was alleged to be a Nazi espionage agent."
De Mohrenschildt received a master's degree
in petroleum geology
from the University of Texas
in 1945.
, de Mohrenschildt moved to Venezuela where he worked for Pantepec Oil, a company owned by the family of William F. Buckley. He became a U.S. citizen in 1949. In 1950, he launched an oil investment firm with Edward Hooker with offices in New York City, Denver and Abilene
. In 1952, de Mohrenschildt settled in Dallas, Texas
and took a job with oilman Clint Murchison
as a petroleum
geologist
.
Described as sophisticated and articulate, de Mohrenschildt became a respected member of the Russian emigre community in Dallas. He joined the Dallas Petroleum Club, was a member of the Dallas Council on World Affairs
, and taught at a local college. De Mohrenschildt also joined the right-wing Texas Crusade for Freedom whose members included Earle Cabell
, Everette DeGolyer, Harold Byrd and Ted Dealey.
De Mohrenschildt worked for various oil companies as a geologist and traveled throughout the Americas with his fourth wife, Jeanne, whom he married in 1959. One of his longtime friends, offshore oil engineer George Kitchel, told the FBI in 1964 that de Mohrenschildt counted among his good friends oil barons Clint Murchison
, H.L. Hunt, John Mecom, and Sid Richardson
Lee Harvey Oswald
and his Russian-born wife Marina Oswald were introduced to de Mohrenschildt in the summer of 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas
. De Mohrenschildt had heard of the Oswalds from one of the Russian-speaking group of émigrés in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. George and Jeanne befriended them, tried to help them as best they could, and introduced them to the Russian community in Dallas. In his Warren Commission testimony in 1964, de Mohrenschildt stated that he believed he had discussed Oswald with J. Walton Moore, who de Mohrenschildt described as "a Government man — either FBI or Central Intelligence", and who de Mohrenschildt had known since 1957. (According to a CIA classified document, obtained by House Select Committee on Assassinations, J. Walton Moore was an agent of the CIA's Domestic Contacts Division in Dallas.) De Mohrenschildt asserted that shortly after meeting Oswald, he asked Moore and Fort Worth attorney Max Clark about Oswald to reassure himself that it was "safe" for the de Mohrenschildts to assist Oswald. De Mohrenschildt testified that one of the persons he talked to about Oswald told him that Oswald "seems to be OK," and that "he is a harmless lunatic." However, de Mohrenschildt was not exactly sure who it was who told him this. (When interviewed in 1978 by the House Select Committee on Assassinations, J. Walton Moore denied that de Mohrenschildt had asked for his permission to contact Oswald.)
On April 13, 1963, three days after Oswald's alleged attempt on the life of conservative activist General Edwin Walker
at his home in Dallas (for which the police had no suspects), the de Mohrenschildts visited the Oswalds' apartment. George de Mohrenschildt, aware of Oswald's stated dislike for Walker, joked to Oswald, "Hey, Lee! How is it possible that you missed?" Lee and Marina looked at each other but said nothing. Jeanne de Mohrenschildt later saw a rifle standing against the wall in a room that served as Oswald's study. When she and George asked why Lee owned a rifle, Marina and Lee both replied that it was for target shooting.
In March 1963, de Mohrenschildt received a Haitian government contract for $285,000 to set up an industrial enterprise with other investors, which included surveying oil and geological resources on the island. In May, he met in Washington, D.C. with CIA and Army intelligence contacts to further his Haitian connections. De Mohrenschildt moved to Haiti
in June. He never saw Oswald again. After Kennedy was assassinated, de Mohrenschildt testified before the Warren Commission
in April 1964. (For this testimony in the hearing record, see http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh9/html/WC_Vol9_0087b.htm and following pages). In 1967, de Mohrenschildt left Haiti and returned to Dallas. Also in 1967, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison
interviewed George and Jeanne de Mohrenschildt as part of Garrison's prosecution of Clay Shaw
. Garrison said that both de Mohrenschildts insisted that Oswald had been the scapegoat in the assassination of President Kennedy. Garrison concluded from his conversation with the de Mohrenschildts that George de Mohrenschildt had been one of Oswald's unwitting "baby-sitters" ... "assigned to protect or otherwise see to the general welfare of [Oswald]."
On September 17, 1976, the CIA requested that the FBI locate de Mohrenschildt, because he had "attempted to get in touch with the CIA Director." On September 5, 1976, De Mohrenschildt had written a letter to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, George H. W. Bush
asking for his assistance. The letter said:
On November 9, 1976, Jeanne had him committed to a mental institution in Texas for three months, and listed in a notarized affidavit four previous suicide attempts while he was in the Dallas area. In the affidavit she stated that George suffered from depression, heard voices, saw visions, and believed that the FBI and the Jewish Mafia were persecuting him.
In 1977, Dutch journalist Willem Oltmans
went to Texas and brought de Morenschildt to Holland. After de Mohrenschildt arrived in Holland, Oltmans invited him out with some Russian friends. They went to Brussels and had plans to go to Liege, a city in the French speaking part of Belgium. The Oltmans owned a house not far from Liege in the countryside. Upon returning to Brussels, de Mohrenschildt went for a short walk from which he failed to return. He had earlier agreed to meet Oltmans and his friends for lunch. Oltmans waited for him but he didn't come back.
On March 16, 1977, de Mohrenschildt returned to the United States from his trip in Belgium. His daughter talked with him at length and found him to be deeply disturbed about certain matters and had expressed a desire to commit suicide. On March 29, De Mohrenschildt gave an interview to author Edward Jay Epstein
, during which he claimed that in 1962, Dallas CIA
operative J. Walton Moore had given him the go-ahead to meet Oswald. "I would never have contacted Oswald in a million years if Moore had not sanctioned it," de Mohrenschildt said. "Too much was at stake." On the same day as the Epstein interview, de Mohrenschildt received a card from Gaeton Fonzi, an investigator for the House Select Committee on Assassinations. That afternoon, de Mohrenschildt committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth with a shotgun
. Police found the dead body of Mr. de Morhenschildt in West Palm Beach, Florida.
On the day of de Mohrenschildt's death, Edward Jay Epstein, the author who had interviewed him that day, wrote the following diary entry (29 March 1977)
House Select Committee on Assassinations investigator Gaeton Fonzi retrieved an address book from de Mohrenschildt's briefcase after his death. In the address book was an entry for "Bush, George H. W. (Poppy), 1412 W. Ohio also Zapata Petroleum, Midland." Upon hearing of De Mohrenschildt's death, Richardson Preyer, then chairman of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, said: "He was a crucial witness...."
, by his wife Marina, standing in his Dallas backyard holding two newspapers and a rifle, and with a pistol on his hip. The existence of this print, while similar to others which had been found among Oswald's effects on November 23, 1963, was previously unknown.
On the back was written To my friend George from Lee Oswald, and the date “5/IV/63” (5 April 1963). along with the words “Copyright Geo de M”' and a Russian phrase translated as “'Hunter of fascists, ha-ha-ha!” Handwriting specialists later concluded that the words “To my friend George…” and Oswald's signature were written by Lee Harvey Oswald, but could not determine whether the rest was the writing of Lee Oswald, George de Mohrenschildt or Marina Oswald. Some historians have speculated the Russian line was written by Marina, in sarcasm. (George de Mohrenschildt in his memoir translated it as "This is the hunter of fascists, ha, ha, ha!" and also assumed that Marina had written it sarcastically).
George de Mohrenschildt wrote in his manuscript (reference and pages cited above) that he had missed Oswald's photograph in packing for the move to Haiti in May, 1963, and this was why he hadn't mentioned it to the Warren Commission (though he had noted in his manuscript that Oswald had a rifle in April, 1963, and scoffed to Lee that he had missed General Walker, remembering that Lee had blanched at the joke). According to de Mohrenschildt, the photo was not found among his stored papers until his wife found it in 1967. When analyzed by the HSCA in 1977, this photo turned out to be a first generation print of the backyard photo already known to the Warren commission as CE-133A, and which had probably been taken on March 31, 1963.
in the 1991 film JFK
and by Bill Bolender
in the 1993 TV movie Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald
. He is also mentioned at length in the Stephen King
novel 11/22/63
, a time travel
novel about the assasination of John F. Kennedy
.
Petroleum geology
Petroleum geology refers to the specific set of geological disciplines that are applied to the search for hydrocarbons .-Sedimentary basin analysis:...
and professor who befriended Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
in the summer of 1962 and maintained that friendship until Oswald's death two days after the assassination of U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. He had personal acquaintance with the Bush family, including George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
, with whose nephew, Edward G. Hooker, he had been roommates at Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
at Andover, Massachusetts
Andover, Massachusetts
Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1646 and as of the 2010 census, the population was 33,201...
. He also had personal acquaintance with the Bouvier family, including Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier "Jackie" Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle...
, the president's wife, when she was still a child. His testimony before the Warren Commission
Warren Commission
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established on November 27, 1963, by Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
investigating the assassination was one of the longest of any witness.
Early life
George de Mohrenschildt was born in Mozyr in TsaristTsardom of Russia
The Tsardom of Russia was the name of the centralized Russian state from Ivan IV's assumption of the title of Tsar in 1547 till Peter the Great's foundation of the Russian Empire in 1721.From 1550 to 1700, Russia grew 35,000 km2 a year...
Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, near the border of Poland (his birthdate was April 4 in the old style
Old Style and New Style dates
Old Style and New Style are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year has been adjusted to start on 1 January even though documents written at the time use a different start of year ; or to indicate that a date conforms to the Julian...
Russian Julian calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
). His wealthy father, Sergius Alexander von Mohrenschildt was arrested by the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s shortly after the Russian Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
for anti-Communist activities. Sergius was sentenced to life in exile in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, but managed to escape with his family to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
during the 1920s. George graduated from a Polish military academy in 1931, and received the equivalent of a doctor of science in international commerce from the University of Liège
University of Liège
The University of Liège , in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium, is a major public university in the French Community of Belgium. Its official language is French.-History:...
in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
in 1938.
George de Mohrenschildt immigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in May 1938. Upon his arrival, British intelligence reportedly told the U.S. government that they suspected he was working for German intelligence. By some accounts, he was under FBI surveillance for a time. De Mohrenschildt was hired by the Shumaker company in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, which also employed a man named Pierre Fraiss who had connections with French intelligence. According to de Mohrenschildt, he and Fraiss, among their other duties, gathered information about people involved in "pro-German" activities (such as those bidding for U.S. oil leases on behalf of Germany before the U.S. became involved in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
). De Mohrenschildt testified that the purpose of their data-collection was to help the French out-bid the Germans.
De Mohrenschildt spent the summer of 1938 with his older brother Dimitri von Mohrenschildt on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, New York. Dimitri was a staunch anti-Communist and member of the OSS
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
and one of the founders of the CIA's Radio Free Europe and Amcomlib (a.k.a., Radio Liberty) stations. His contacts included top officials of the CIA. (Dimitri died at the age of 100 in 2002.)
While in New York, de Mohrenschildt became acquainted with the Bouvier family, including young Jackie
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier "Jackie" Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle...
, future wife of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. Jackie grew up calling de Mohrenschildt "Uncle George" and would sit on his knee. He became a close friend of Jackie's aunt Edith Bouvier Beale
Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale
Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale , aunt of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, was an American amateur singer, known for her eccentric lifestyle, and part of the New York high society...
.
De Mohrenschildt dabbled in the insurance business from 1939 to 1941, but failed to pass his broker's examination. In 1941, he became associated with Film Facts in New York, a production company owned by his cousin Baron Maydell who was said to have pro-Nazi sympathies. (De Mohrenschildt denied any Nazi sympathies of his own, claiming he helped raise money for the Polish resistance.) De Mohrenschildt made a documentary film about resistance fighters in Poland. However, when the United States entered World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, his application to join the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
(OSS) was rejected. According to a memo by former CIA director Richard Helms
Richard Helms
Richard McGarrah Helms was the Director of Central Intelligence from 1966 to 1973. He was the only director to have been convicted of lying to the United States Congress over Central Intelligence Agency undercover activities. In 1977, he was sentenced to the maximum fine and received a suspended...
, de Mohrenschildt "was alleged to be a Nazi espionage agent."
De Mohrenschildt received a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in petroleum geology
Petroleum geology
Petroleum geology refers to the specific set of geological disciplines that are applied to the search for hydrocarbons .-Sedimentary basin analysis:...
from the University of Texas
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
in 1945.
Dallas, Oswald and Haiti
After the end of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, de Mohrenschildt moved to Venezuela where he worked for Pantepec Oil, a company owned by the family of William F. Buckley. He became a U.S. citizen in 1949. In 1950, he launched an oil investment firm with Edward Hooker with offices in New York City, Denver and Abilene
Abilene, Texas
Abilene is a city in Taylor and Jones counties in west central Texas. The population was 117,063 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Abilene Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2006 estimated population of 158,063. It is the county seat of Taylor County...
. In 1952, de Mohrenschildt settled in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
and took a job with oilman Clint Murchison
Clint Murchison, Sr.
Clinton Williams Murchison, Sr. , was a noted Texas-based oil magnate and political operative. He was also the father of Dallas Cowboys owner Clint Murchison, Jr..-Personal:...
as a petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
.
Described as sophisticated and articulate, de Mohrenschildt became a respected member of the Russian emigre community in Dallas. He joined the Dallas Petroleum Club, was a member of the Dallas Council on World Affairs
World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth
The mission of the nonprofit, nonpartisan World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is to promote international awareness, understanding and connections through its multifaceted programs...
, and taught at a local college. De Mohrenschildt also joined the right-wing Texas Crusade for Freedom whose members included Earle Cabell
Earle Cabell
Earle Cabell , was a Texas politician who served as mayor of Dallas, Texas. Cabell was mayor at the time of the assassination of John F. Kennedy and was later a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was son of Dallas mayor Ben E. Cabell and grandson of Dallas mayor William L. Cabell...
, Everette DeGolyer, Harold Byrd and Ted Dealey.
De Mohrenschildt worked for various oil companies as a geologist and traveled throughout the Americas with his fourth wife, Jeanne, whom he married in 1959. One of his longtime friends, offshore oil engineer George Kitchel, told the FBI in 1964 that de Mohrenschildt counted among his good friends oil barons Clint Murchison
Clint Murchison, Sr.
Clinton Williams Murchison, Sr. , was a noted Texas-based oil magnate and political operative. He was also the father of Dallas Cowboys owner Clint Murchison, Jr..-Personal:...
, H.L. Hunt, John Mecom, and Sid Richardson
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
and his Russian-born wife Marina Oswald were introduced to de Mohrenschildt in the summer of 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
. De Mohrenschildt had heard of the Oswalds from one of the Russian-speaking group of émigrés in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. George and Jeanne befriended them, tried to help them as best they could, and introduced them to the Russian community in Dallas. In his Warren Commission testimony in 1964, de Mohrenschildt stated that he believed he had discussed Oswald with J. Walton Moore, who de Mohrenschildt described as "a Government man — either FBI or Central Intelligence", and who de Mohrenschildt had known since 1957. (According to a CIA classified document, obtained by House Select Committee on Assassinations, J. Walton Moore was an agent of the CIA's Domestic Contacts Division in Dallas.) De Mohrenschildt asserted that shortly after meeting Oswald, he asked Moore and Fort Worth attorney Max Clark about Oswald to reassure himself that it was "safe" for the de Mohrenschildts to assist Oswald. De Mohrenschildt testified that one of the persons he talked to about Oswald told him that Oswald "seems to be OK," and that "he is a harmless lunatic." However, de Mohrenschildt was not exactly sure who it was who told him this. (When interviewed in 1978 by the House Select Committee on Assassinations, J. Walton Moore denied that de Mohrenschildt had asked for his permission to contact Oswald.)
On April 13, 1963, three days after Oswald's alleged attempt on the life of conservative activist General Edwin Walker
Edwin Walker
Major General Edwin Anderson Walker was a United States Army officer known for his conservative political views and for being an attempted assassination target of Lee Harvey Oswald.-Early life and military career:...
at his home in Dallas (for which the police had no suspects), the de Mohrenschildts visited the Oswalds' apartment. George de Mohrenschildt, aware of Oswald's stated dislike for Walker, joked to Oswald, "Hey, Lee! How is it possible that you missed?" Lee and Marina looked at each other but said nothing. Jeanne de Mohrenschildt later saw a rifle standing against the wall in a room that served as Oswald's study. When she and George asked why Lee owned a rifle, Marina and Lee both replied that it was for target shooting.
In March 1963, de Mohrenschildt received a Haitian government contract for $285,000 to set up an industrial enterprise with other investors, which included surveying oil and geological resources on the island. In May, he met in Washington, D.C. with CIA and Army intelligence contacts to further his Haitian connections. De Mohrenschildt moved to Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
in June. He never saw Oswald again. After Kennedy was assassinated, de Mohrenschildt testified before the Warren Commission
Warren Commission
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established on November 27, 1963, by Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
in April 1964. (For this testimony in the hearing record, see http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh9/html/WC_Vol9_0087b.htm and following pages). In 1967, de Mohrenschildt left Haiti and returned to Dallas. Also in 1967, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison
Jim Garrison
Earling Carothers "Jim" Garrison — who changed his first name to Jim in the early 1960s — was the District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana from 1962 to 1973. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best known for his investigations into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy...
interviewed George and Jeanne de Mohrenschildt as part of Garrison's prosecution of Clay Shaw
Trial of Clay Shaw
On March 1, 1967, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison arrested and charged New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw with conspiring to assassinate President Kennedy, with the help of Lee Harvey Oswald, David Ferrie, and others. On January 29, 1969, Shaw was brought to trial in Orleans Parish...
. Garrison said that both de Mohrenschildts insisted that Oswald had been the scapegoat in the assassination of President Kennedy. Garrison concluded from his conversation with the de Mohrenschildts that George de Mohrenschildt had been one of Oswald's unwitting "baby-sitters" ... "assigned to protect or otherwise see to the general welfare of [Oswald]."
Later life and death
For reasons unknown, George and Jeanne de Mohrenschildt obtained a divorce in Dallas, Texas on April 3, 1973, after nearly fourteen years of marriage. It was not reported in the local newspapers, and the couple continued to present themselves as husband and wife.On September 17, 1976, the CIA requested that the FBI locate de Mohrenschildt, because he had "attempted to get in touch with the CIA Director." On September 5, 1976, De Mohrenschildt had written a letter to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
asking for his assistance. The letter said:
You will excuse this hand-written letter. Maybe you will be able to bring a solution to the hopeless situation I find myself in. My wife and I find ourselves surrounded by some vigilantes; our phone bugged; and we are being followed everywhere. Either FBI is involved in this or they do not want to accept my complaints. We are driven to insanity by the situation. I have been behaving like a damn fool ever since my daughter Nadya died from [cystic fibrosis] over three years ago. I tried to write, stupidly and unsuccessfully, about Lee H Oswald and must have angered a lot of people — I do not know. But to punish an elderly man like myself and my highly nervous and sick wife is really too much. Could you do something to remove the net around us? This will be my last request for help and I will not annoy you any more. Good luck in your important job. Thank you so much.George Bush wrote back:
Let me say first that I know it must have been difficult for you to seek my help in the situation outlined in your letter. I believe I can appreciate your state of mind in view of your daughter's tragic death a few years ago, and the current poor state of your wife's health. I was extremely sorry to hear of these circumstances. In your situation I can well imagine how the attentions you described in your letter affect both you and your wife. However, my staff has been unable to find any indication of interest in your activities on the part of Federal authorities in recent years. The flurry of interest that attended your testimony before the Warren Commission has long subsided. I can only speculate that you may have become "newsworthy" again in view of the renewed interest in the Kennedy assassination, and thus may be attracting the attention of people in the media. I hope this letter had been of some comfort to you, George, although I realize I am unable to answer your question completely. George Bush, Director of the Central Intelligence AgencyDirector of the Central Intelligence AgencyDirector of the Central Intelligence Agency serves as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, which is part of the United States Intelligence Community. The Director reports to the Director of National Intelligence . The Director is assisted by the Deputy Director of the Central...
. [CIA Exec Reg. # 76,51571 9.28.76]
On November 9, 1976, Jeanne had him committed to a mental institution in Texas for three months, and listed in a notarized affidavit four previous suicide attempts while he was in the Dallas area. In the affidavit she stated that George suffered from depression, heard voices, saw visions, and believed that the FBI and the Jewish Mafia were persecuting him.
In 1977, Dutch journalist Willem Oltmans
Willem Oltmans
Willem Leonard Oltmans was a Dutch investigative journalist and author who did not hesitate to pro-actively intervene in international politics....
went to Texas and brought de Morenschildt to Holland. After de Mohrenschildt arrived in Holland, Oltmans invited him out with some Russian friends. They went to Brussels and had plans to go to Liege, a city in the French speaking part of Belgium. The Oltmans owned a house not far from Liege in the countryside. Upon returning to Brussels, de Mohrenschildt went for a short walk from which he failed to return. He had earlier agreed to meet Oltmans and his friends for lunch. Oltmans waited for him but he didn't come back.
On March 16, 1977, de Mohrenschildt returned to the United States from his trip in Belgium. His daughter talked with him at length and found him to be deeply disturbed about certain matters and had expressed a desire to commit suicide. On March 29, De Mohrenschildt gave an interview to author Edward Jay Epstein
Edward Jay Epstein
Edward Jay Epstein is an American investigative journalist. While a graduate student at Cornell University in 1966, he published the book Inquest, an influential criticism of the Warren Commission probe into the John F. Kennedy assassination...
, during which he claimed that in 1962, Dallas CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
operative J. Walton Moore had given him the go-ahead to meet Oswald. "I would never have contacted Oswald in a million years if Moore had not sanctioned it," de Mohrenschildt said. "Too much was at stake." On the same day as the Epstein interview, de Mohrenschildt received a card from Gaeton Fonzi, an investigator for the House Select Committee on Assassinations. That afternoon, de Mohrenschildt committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth with a shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
. Police found the dead body of Mr. de Morhenschildt in West Palm Beach, Florida.
On the day of de Mohrenschildt's death, Edward Jay Epstein, the author who had interviewed him that day, wrote the following diary entry (29 March 1977)
David Bludworth, The State's Attorney, was a folksy, charming and savvy interrogator. He began by telling me that de Mohrenschildt had put a shotgun in his mouth and killed himself at 3:45 p.m. There were no witnesses — and no one home at the time of the shooting. The precise time of his death was established by a tape-recorder, left running that afternoon to record the soap operas for the absent Mrs. Tilton, and which recorded a single set of footfalls in the room and the blast of the shotgun, which was found on the Persian carpet next to him. No suicide note or other clue was found. He said I was probably the last person to talk to him. Then, he asked whether I had in my possession De Mohrenschildt's black address book. I replied "No." He politely rephrased the question, and asked me again — about a half-dozen times, whether I had the black book.
House Select Committee on Assassinations investigator Gaeton Fonzi retrieved an address book from de Mohrenschildt's briefcase after his death. In the address book was an entry for "Bush, George H. W. (Poppy), 1412 W. Ohio also Zapata Petroleum, Midland." Upon hearing of De Mohrenschildt's death, Richardson Preyer, then chairman of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, said: "He was a crucial witness...."
Another backyard photo
On April 1, 1977, Jeanne de Mohrenschildt gave the House Select Committee on Assassinations a photograph taken of Lee Harvey OswaldLee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
, by his wife Marina, standing in his Dallas backyard holding two newspapers and a rifle, and with a pistol on his hip. The existence of this print, while similar to others which had been found among Oswald's effects on November 23, 1963, was previously unknown.
On the back was written To my friend George from Lee Oswald, and the date “5/IV/63” (5 April 1963). along with the words “Copyright Geo de M”' and a Russian phrase translated as “'Hunter of fascists, ha-ha-ha!” Handwriting specialists later concluded that the words “To my friend George…” and Oswald's signature were written by Lee Harvey Oswald, but could not determine whether the rest was the writing of Lee Oswald, George de Mohrenschildt or Marina Oswald. Some historians have speculated the Russian line was written by Marina, in sarcasm. (George de Mohrenschildt in his memoir translated it as "This is the hunter of fascists, ha, ha, ha!" and also assumed that Marina had written it sarcastically).
George de Mohrenschildt wrote in his manuscript (reference and pages cited above) that he had missed Oswald's photograph in packing for the move to Haiti in May, 1963, and this was why he hadn't mentioned it to the Warren Commission (though he had noted in his manuscript that Oswald had a rifle in April, 1963, and scoffed to Lee that he had missed General Walker, remembering that Lee had blanched at the joke). According to de Mohrenschildt, the photo was not found among his stored papers until his wife found it in 1967. When analyzed by the HSCA in 1977, this photo turned out to be a first generation print of the backyard photo already known to the Warren commission as CE-133A, and which had probably been taken on March 31, 1963.
Memoir
Jeanne de Mohrenschildt also gave the HSCA committee a copy of a manuscript called I Am a Patsy! I Am a Patsy! which George de Mohrenschildt had recently written about his relationship with his "dear, dead friend" Oswald, wherein he said that the Lee Oswald he knew, while capable of violence and petty meanness, would not have been the sort of person to have killed John F. Kennedy. In part this judgment was based on de Mohrenschildt's estimation of Oswald's political views and Kennedy's liberal ideas. The memoir has never been published as a trade book but has been available online since the entire typescript was published as an appendix in the HSCA report http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol12/pdf/HSCA_Vol12_deMohren.pdf. (For a partial re-type see http://scribblguy.50megs.com/patsy1.htm). De Mohrenschildt's testimony to the Warren Commission in early 1964, however, paints a quite different view of Oswald — a man de Mohrenschildt said he considered a "kid" and not a friend. Due to the inconsistency in de Mohrenschildt's various accounts of Oswald, his later views were regarded by Time magazine with scepticism.Depictions in the popular media
De Mohrenschildt was played by Willem OltmansWillem Oltmans
Willem Leonard Oltmans was a Dutch investigative journalist and author who did not hesitate to pro-actively intervene in international politics....
in the 1991 film JFK
JFK (film)
JFK is a 1991 American film directed by Oliver Stone. It examines the events leading to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and alleged subsequent cover-up, through the eyes of former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison .Garrison filed charges against New Orleans businessman Clay...
and by Bill Bolender
Bill Bolender
Bill Bolender is an American actor and artist.He has appeared in many popular films including RoboCop 2, JFK, Reality Bites, The Shawshank Redemption, Nixon and Dante's Peak....
in the 1993 TV movie Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald
Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald
Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald is a 1993 television film directed by Robert Dornhelm and starring Helena Bonham Carter and Frank Whaley .-Plot:...
. He is also mentioned at length in the Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
novel 11/22/63
11/22/63
11/22/63 is a novel by Stephen King about a time traveler who attempts to prevent the John F. Kennedy assassination which occurred on November 22, 1963 . The novel was officially announced on the author's official site on March 2, 2011. A short excerpt was released online on June 1, 2011...
, a time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
novel about the assasination of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
.
External links
Genealogisches Handbuch der baltischen Ritterschaften: Estland - Genealogy handbook of Baltic nobilityBaltic nobility
The Baltic nobility was the privileged social class in the territories of today's Estonia and Latvia. It existed continuously since the medieval foundation of Terra Mariana...
- I Am A Patsy! I Am a Patsy, de Mohrenschildt’s memoir. This is only part of the manuscript (see the HSCA report on him below HSCA Vol.12 deMohrenschildt for the full and complete typescript manuscript).
- Testimony of George S. DeMohrenshildt, Warren Commission Hearings Vol.IX p.166ff. HTML De Mohrenschildt's 118-page Warren Commission testimony, taken over two days, provides a great deal of biographical information on him, starting from earliest memories and aided in specifics and dates by many public documents available to the commission. (Also downloadable in PDF at WH9 Contents.)
- HSCA Vol.12 deMohrenschildt The HSCA staff report on the (by then late) de Mohrenschildt. This includes analysis of his politics and useful insight into his government contacts. Appended is a photocopy of the full typescript of I Am a Patsy! I Am a Patsy!. De Mohrenschildt's analysis of his Oswald photo is pp. 254–262 (citations to page in the HCSA analysis of the manuscript on this point appear incorrect).