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George de Mohrenschildt

George Sergius de Mohrenschildt (Russian: Георгий Сергеевич де Мореншильд; April 17, 1911 – March 29, 1977) was an American petroleum geologist, professor, and known CIA informant.[1] De Mohrenschildt is best known for having befriended Lee Harvey Oswald in the summer of 1962. De Mohrenschildt later alleged that their friendship continued until Oswald's death two days after the assassination of U.S. president John F. Kennedy. In actuality, De Mohrenschildt never saw Oswald, or wrote to him, after April 13, 1963—three days after Oswald's alleged attempt on the life of General Edwin Walker.

George de Mohrenschildt
Born
Jerzy Sergius von Mohrenschildt

April 17, 1911
DiedMarch 29, 1977(1977-03-29) (aged 65)
Cause of deathSuicide
NationalityAmerican (naturalized)
EducationPolish Cavalry Academy
Alma materInstitute of Higher Commercial Studies
University of Liège
University of Texas at Austin
OccupationPetroleum geologist
Known forBefriending Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President John F. Kennedy
Spouse(s)
Dorothy Pierson
(m. 1942; div. 1944)

Phyllis Washington
(m. 1947; div. 1949)

Wynne Sharples
(m. 1951; div. 1956)

Jeanne LeGon
(m. 1959; div. 1973)
Children3

De Mohrenschildt's testimony before the Warren Commission investigating the assassination was one of the longest of any witness.[2][3]

Life

Early life

De Mohrenschildt was born as Jerzy Sergius von Mohrenschildt in Mozyr, in the Russian Empire, now in Belarus, on April 4 in the old-style Russian Julian calendar.[4] He had an older brother, Dimitri. His aristocratic father, Sergey Alexandrovich von Mohrenschildt, was of Baltic German, Swedish, and Russian descent. De Mohrenschildt's mother, Alexandra, was of aristocratic Polish, Russian, and Hungarian descent.[4]

Sergey von Mohrenschildt was described by his son as the Marshal of Nobility of the Minsk Governorate[5][6] from 1913-1917, and a civil rank of Actual Civil Councilor corresponding to Major General. In 1920, during the Russian Civil War, Sergey von Mohrenschildt was arrested by the Bolsheviks for anti-Soviet agitation.[7] He was sentenced to exile for life in Veliky Ustyug, a town in the north of Russia. De Mohrenschildt later testified to the Warren Commission that, while awaiting transport to Veliky Ustyug, his father became ill. Two Belarusian Jewish doctors who treated him in jail advised him to stop eating so he would appear more sickly. The doctors then told the Soviet government that Sergey was too ill to survive the trip to Veliky Ustyug and he should be allowed to recover at home. The Soviet Government agreed, under the condition that Sergey check in weekly until he was well enough to be sent to Veliky Ustyug. After his release, Sergey, his wife and the young de Mohrenschildt then fled to the Second Polish Republic in a hay wagon (de Mohrenschildt's older brother Dimitri, who was awaiting execution, was later repatriated to Poland as part of a prisoner exchange).[8][9] During their journey, de Mohrenschildt, his father and mother Alexandra contracted typhoid fever. Alexandra died of the disease shortly after the family crossed into Poland.[4]

After the death of his mother, de Mohrenschildt and his father made their way to Wilno, where the family owned a six-acre estate. De Mohrenschildt graduated from the Wilno gymnasium in 1929 and later graduated from the Polish Cavalry Academy in 1931.[10] He went on to earn a master's degree at the Institute of Higher Commercial Studies.[11] Having completed a dissertation on the economic influence of the U.S. on Latin America, he received a doctor of science degree in international commerce from the University of Liège in Belgium in 1938.[12]

George von Mohrenschildt emigrated to the United States in May 1938, after which he legally changed the nobiliary particle in his name from the Germanic "von" to the French "de".[13][14][15] According to de Mohrenschildt, he gathered information about people involved in pro-Nazi activities, such as those bidding for US oil leases on behalf of Nazi Germany before the US became involved in World War II.[16] De Mohrenschildt testified that a further purpose of his data collection was to help the French outbid the Germans.[17]

De Mohrenschildt spent the summer of 1938 with his older brother Dimitri von Mohrenschildt on Long Island, New York. Like George, Dimitri was a staunch anti-communist,[18] but was also an agent of General William J. Donovan's OSS and, during the Cold War, one of the founders of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.[19]

While in New York, de Mohrenschildt became acquainted with the Bouvier family, including the young Jacqueline Bouvier, the future First Lady of the United States. Jacqueline grew up calling de Mohrenschildt "Uncle George" and would sit on his knee.[20] He became a close friend of Jacqueline's aunt Edith Bouvier Beale.[21]

De Mohrenschildt dabbled in the insurance business from 1939 to 1941, but failed his broker's examination.[22] In 1941, he became associated with Film Facts in New York, a production company owned by his cousin, Berend Maydell, also known as Baron Maydell (or Count Maydell) who allegedly had pro-Nazi sympathies.[citation needed] (De Mohrenschildt denied any Nazi sympathies of his own and claimed to have helped raise money in America for the Polish resistance.)[citation needed] For this reason, De Mohrenschildt made a documentary film about resistance fighters in Poland.[23] According to a memo by former CIA director Richard Helms, de Mohrenschildt "was alleged to be a Nazi espionage agent."[24]

In 1942, de Mohrenschildt married an American teenager named Dorothy Pierson. They had a daughter, Alexandra (known as Alexis) and divorced in early 1944.[25] In 1945, de Mohrenschildt received a master's degree in petroleum geology from the University of Texas.[26]

Dallas, Oswald and Haiti

After the end of World War II, de Mohrenschildt moved to Venezuela, where he worked for Pantepec Oil, a company owned by the family of William F. Buckley Sr.[27] In 1947, he married Phyllis Washington, the daughter of a diplomat with the State Department. They divorced in 1949.[28] That same year, de Mohrenschildt became a naturalized U.S. citizen. In 1950, he launched an oil investment firm with his step-nephew Edward Hooker, with offices in New York City, Denver, and Abilene.[27] In 1951, de Mohrenschildt's third marriage was to the physician Wynne "Didi" Sharples. The following year, the couple settled in Dallas, Texas, where de Mohrenschildt took a job with oilman Clint Murchison as a petroleum geologist.[29] De Mohrenschildt and his third wife had two children, a son and a daughter, both of whom were born with cystic fibrosis (the couple's son died of the disease in 1960, as did their daughter in 1973).[30][31] De Mohrenschildt and Sharples were divorced in 1957.[31]

De Mohrenschildt joined the Dallas Petroleum Club,[32] was a member of the Dallas Council on World Affairs,[33][34] and taught at a local college. One of his longtime friends, offshore oil engineer George Kitchel, told the FBI that de Mohrenschildt counted among his good friends oil barons Clint Murchison, H.L. Hunt, John W. Mecom Sr., and Sid Richardson.[35] De Mohrenschildt also joined the right-wing Texas Crusade for Freedom, whose members included Earle Cabell, Everette DeGolyer, David Harold Byrd and Ted Dealey.[36]

In 1957, de Mohrenschildt went to Communist Yugoslavia to conduct a geological field survey for the U.S. State Department-sponsored International Cooperation Administration. While in Yugoslavia, he was accused by the authorities there of making drawings of military fortifications. After returning to the United States, de Mohrenschildt was debriefed by the CIA, both in Washington and in Dallas.[37]

Following his divorce in 1957, de Mohrenschildt married his fourth wife, former dancer, model, and fellow Russian-American Jeanne LeGon, in June 1959.[38][39] LeGon (née Eugenia Fomenko) was the daughter of a director of the Chinese Far East Railway who was later killed by communists.[40][41][a] From late 1960 and into 1961, he and his wife toured Central America and the Caribbean.[44] His "walking trip" through Central America was made to recover from the grief of losing his only son in 1960 to cystic fibrosis. However, de Mohrenschildt also submitted a written report of his trip to the U.S. State Department, and a photograph taken during the trip shows him meeting the American ambassador to Costa Rica.[37]

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 testified before the Warren Commission in 1964 that he met the Oswalds through a prominent member of Fort Worth's Russian-American community, oil accountant George Bouhe. When de Mohrenschildt asked whether it was safe to help Oswald, Bouhe said that he had checked with the FBI. De Mohrenschildt also believed that he had discussed Oswald with Max Clark, whom he believed worked for the FBI, and with J. Walton Moore, whom de Mohrenschildt described as "a Government man — either FBI or Central Intelligence",[45][46] and who had debriefed de Mohrenschildt several times following his travels abroad, starting in 1957.[46][47] (According to a declassified CIA document, obtained by the House Select Committee on Assassinations, de Mohrenschildt was in fact correct and J. Walton Moore was an agent of the CIA's Domestic Contacts Division in Dallas.)[46] De Mohrenschildt asserted that, shortly after meeting Oswald, he had asked Moore and Fort Worth attorney Max E. Clark about Oswald to reassure himself that it was "safe" to assist Oswald. De Mohrenschildt testified that one of the persons with whom he had discussed Oswald told him that Oswald "seems to be OK," and that "he is a harmless lunatic." However, he was no longer sure who had told him that.[48] (When interviewed in 1978 by the House Select Committee on Assassinations, J. Walton Moore said that while he "had 'periodic' contact with de Mohrenschildt", he had no recollection of any conversation with him concerning Oswald.[49][46][50] During this period, tens of thousands of American citizens were routinely debriefed by the CIA after traveling to communist countries such as Yugoslavia, as de Mohrenschildt was.)[47] After returning home from a weekend trip to Houston, de Mohrenschildt became aware that someone had broken into his home and copied his personal papers and other documents. At the time, he also had a manuscript that Oswald had given him to read, and realized that the document might also have been photocopied in the search. His primary concern was that the CIA was behind the break-in. According to de Mohrenschildt, Moore flatly denied when confronted that the CIA was involved in any way.[51]

In October 1962, Oswald informed de Mohrenschildt that he had lost his job in nearby Fort Worth. In response, de Mohrenschildt advised Oswald that he would have a better chance of finding work in Dallas. Oswald was soon hired by the Dallas photographic firm of Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall. De Mohrenschildt's wife and daughter would later say that it had been he who had secured the job at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall for Oswald.[52]

On April 14, 1963, de Mohrenschildt and his wife Jeanne visited the Oswalds' Dallas apartment. As Marina was showing Jeanne around the apartment, they discovered Oswald's rifle leaning against the wall inside a closet. Jeanne told George that Oswald had a rifle, and George joked to Oswald, "Were you the one who took a pot-shot at General Walker?" (General Edwin Walker was an ultra-conservative politician whom de Mohrenschildt "knew that Oswald disliked.")[53] When later asked by the Warren Commission about Oswald's reaction to his joke, de Mohrenschildt said that Oswald "smiled at that".[54] In an interview with Edward Jay Epstein, de Mohrenschildt claimed to have told the CIA that he believed Oswald had attempted to murder General Walker. "I spoke to the CIA both before and afterwards. It was what ruined me."[51] The Warren Commission concluded that on April 10, 1963, Oswald had attempted to kill General Walker.[55][56]

In June 1963, de Mohrenschildt moved to Haiti. He never saw Oswald again.[citation needed]

After Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, de Mohrenschildt testified before the Warren Commission in April 1964. According to Colonel L. Fletcher Prouty, then chief Pentagon-to-CIA liaison officer, de Mohrenschildt also had several private lunches with former CIA director and Warren Commission member Allen Dulles while testifying.[57] In November 1966, de Mohrenschildt left Haiti and returned to Dallas. During 1967, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jim Garrison interviewed de Mohrenschildt and his wife as part of Garrison's prosecution of Clay Shaw. Garrison said that both of the de Mohrenschildts insisted that Oswald had been the scapegoat in the assassination. Garrison concluded from his conversation with them 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."[58]

Later life, and letter to CIA director

George and Jeanne de Mohrenschildt obtained a divorce in Dallas, Texas on April 3, 1973, after nearly 14 years of marriage.[59] It was not reported in the local newspapers, and the couple continued to present themselves as husband and wife. [b]

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."[60] On September 5, 1976, de Mohrenschildt had written a letter to the director of the CIA, George H. W. Bush, asking for his assistance. He was acquainted with the Bush family; George H.W. Bush had roomed with de Mohrenschildt's nephew, Edward G. Hooker, at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.[61] 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.[62][63]

George H. W. Bush responded:

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 Central Intelligence. [CIA Exec Reg. # 76,51571 9.28.76][c]

On November 9, 1976, Jeanne had de Mohrenschildt 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 de Mohrenschildt suffered from depression, heard voices, saw visions, and believed that the CIA and the Jewish Mafia were persecuting him. However, he was released at the end of the year.

According to the Dutch journalist Willem Oltmans, in 1967 a "serious and famous Dutch clairvoyant" named Gerard Croiset had a vision of a conspirator who had manipulated Oswald;[64] his description led Oltmans to de Mohrenschildt, and the two stayed in touch. In 1977, Oltmans went to Texas and brought de Mohrenschildt to the Netherlands.[64] Oltmans claimed that he had rescued de Mohrenschildt from a mental institution to bring him to Croiset. According to Oltmans, Croiset agreed that de Mohrenschildt was the man whom he had seen in his vision.

Oltmans says that after de Mohrenschildt arrived in the Netherlands, he invited him out with some Russian friends. They went to Brussels and had plans to go to Liège, a city in the French-speaking part of Belgium. Oltmans owned a house in the countryside not far from Liège. 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 did not come back.[65]

Death

On March 16, 1977, de Mohrenschildt returned to the United States from his trip. His daughter talked with him at length and found him to be deeply disturbed about certain matters, reporting that he had expressed a desire to kill himself. 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 and one of Moore's associates had handed him the address of Lee Harvey Oswald in nearby Fort Worth and then suggested that de Mohrenschildt might like to meet him. He suggested to Moore that he would appreciate some help from the U.S. Embassy in Haiti. "I would never have contacted Oswald in a million years if Moore had not sanctioned it", de Mohrenschildt said. "Too much was at stake."[51][66] On the same day as the Epstein interview, de Mohrenschildt received a business card from Gaeton Fonzi, an investigator for the House Select Committee on Assassinations, telling him that he would like to see him.[67] The HSCA considered him a "crucial witness".[68] That afternoon, de Mohrenschildt was found dead from a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head in a house at which he was staying in Manalapan, Florida.[69] The coroner's verdict was suicide.[70]

In the book Killing Kennedy (2012), television personality Bill O'Reilly claimed he had been knocking on de Mohrenschildt's front door when he heard a shotgun blast that marked the suicide.[71] However, this claim has since been proven false. A contemporaneous phone call recording between O'Reilly and Fonzi confirmed that O'Reilly had been investigating the Russian immigrant. However, O'Reilly learned of de Mohrenschildt's suicide from Fonzi and was not even in Florida at the time, but was in Dallas, Texas.[72][73][74]

After the Kennedy assassination

House Select Committee on Assassinations

On April 2, 1977, Willem Oltmans told the House Select Committee on Assassinations that de Mohrenschildt had implicated himself in the conspiracy to kill President Kennedy. And Pat S. Russell, who was de Mohrenschildt's attorney, said "I definitely feel there was a conspiracy and that definitely was the opinion of George."[75] Oltmans testified for three hours behind closed doors and told the committee that de Mohrenschildt had told him that he had discussed all aspects of the assassination with Oswald. "De Mohrenschildt told me that Oswald acted at his (de Mohrenschildt's) instructions and that he knew Oswald was going to kill Kennedy," Oltmans said.[76][77]

On July 6, 1978, Joseph Dryer told the HSCA that he and de Mohrenschildt were associated with a woman named Jacqueline Lancelot. Dryer's relationship with Lancelot included passing messages for her to people in the United States whom Dryer assumed were connected in some way to the CIA. Dryer said that Lancelot had told him shortly after the assassination that a "substantial" sum of money, $200,000 or $250,000, had been deposited in de Mohrenschildt's account. Dryer said that de Mohrenschildt had claimed that he had come to Haiti to scout for oil, but Dryer stated that "I could never figure out what he did." Dryer expressed the belief that de Mohrenschildt had "some intelligence connection."[78]

Congressional researcher Gaeton Fonzi noted that in late 1963 "several large deposits popped up in de Mohrenschildt's Haitian bank account including one for two hundred thousand dollars from a Bahamian bank."[79] This occurred when de Mohrenschildt and Clemard Joseph Charles, an advisor to Haitian president Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, "were 'supposedly' running a sisal plantation, a derelict operation they never went near."[79]

In a 1976 CIA internal memo regarding de Mohrenschildt, Director George H. W. Bush stated: "At one time he had/or spent plenty of money."[80]

Another backyard photo

 
Image CE-133A, one of three known "backyard photos". This is the same image sent by Oswald (as a first generation copy) to his friend George de Mohrenschildt in April 1963, dated and signed by Oswald on the back of the photo. In the image, Oswald holds a Carcano rifle in one hand, with markings which have been matched to the Carcano rifle that was found in the book depository and used in the assassination. Furthermore he holds two Marxist newspapers in the other hand: The Worker, which followed closely a Moscow party line (and up to being pro-Stalinist until the death of Stalin), and The Militant, a Trotskyist newspaper which followed an anti-Stalinist and anti-Moscow line.

On April 1, 1977, Jeanne de Mohrenschildt gave the House Select Committee on Assassinations a print of a photograph showing Lee Harvey Oswald standing in his Dallas backyard holding two newspapers and a rifle, and with a pistol on his hip – a photograph taken by Oswald's wife Marina. While similar to other prints that had been found among Oswald's effects on November 23, 1963, the existence of this particular print was previously unknown. On the back was written "To my friend George from Lee Oswald" and the date "5/IV/63" (April 5, 1963),[81] along with the words "Copyright Geo de M" and a Russian phrase translated as "'Hunter after 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 Oswald, his wife, or de Mohrenschildt.[82] De Mohrenschildt assumed that Marina had written it sarcastically.[82]

De Mohrenschildt wrote in his manuscript that he had missed Oswald's photograph in packing for the move to Haiti in May 1963, which was why he had not mentioned it to the Warren Commission (though he had noted in his manuscript that Oswald had a rifle in April 1963, and scoffed to Oswald that he had missed General Walker, remembering that Oswald had blanched at the joke). According to de Mohrenschildt, the photograph was not found among his stored papers until he and his wife found it in February 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.[83]

Memoir

Jeanne de Mohrenschildt also gave the HSCA a copy of a draft manuscript called I Am a Patsy! I Am a Patsy!, which George de Mohrenschildt had completed in the summer of 1976 about his relationship with his "dear, dead friend" Oswald. In the manuscript, he said that the Oswald he knew was rarely ever violent, and would not have been the sort of person to have killed Kennedy. In part, this judgment was based on de Mohrenschildt's estimation of Oswald's political views and Kennedy's liberal ideas. Until 2014 the memoir had never been published as a standalone book, but the entire typescript was published as an appendix in the HSCA report.[78]

The primary focus of de Mohrenschildt's text is a series of recollections about the brief time period between September 1962 and April 1963 when he and his wife were acquainted with the Oswalds. A secondary focus consists of a number of meditations on the corrosive effects the Oswalds had on the professional and personal lives of the de Mohrenschildts. "It must be acknowledged that our brief friendship with the Oswalds had strange and adverse effects on our lives." The manuscript is less concerned with Oswald's guilt or innocence and who the real criminals might be. Stating that Oswald was a "patsy not involved in any revenge", and referencing articles describing "organized murder for profit", de Mohrenschildt challenges readers to make up their own minds. De Mohrenschildt's manuscript was edited and annotated as Lee Harvey Oswald as I Knew Him by Michael A. Rinella. It was released in November 2014 by the University Press of Kansas.[84]

Depictions in popular media

De Mohrenschildt was played by Willem Oltmans, the Dutch journalist who befriended him in the late 1960s, 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 assassination, and appears in the 2016 television adaptation 11.22.63, played by Jonny Coyne. His Haitian experience is depicted in Hans Christoph Buch's novel Haïti Chérie (Suhrkamp, 1990).

De Mohrenschildt was discussed at length in the TruTV series Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura. The episode claims that de Mohrenschildt was in fact a CIA handler for Oswald.

In 1997, Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh released the film Willem Oltmans, De Eenmotorige Mug (Willem Oltmans, the single-engined mosquito). In the film, journalist Willem Oltmans makes claims about his contacts with de Mohrenschildt (and Oswald's mother, Marguerite Oswald) until de Mohrenschildt's death in 1977.[85]

Notes

  1. ^ Jeanne LeGon had a daughter named Jeanne Elinor LeGon.[42][43]
  2. ^ For example, from the death investigation report by Thomas Neighbors of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office:

    At 2315 hours, on 29 March 1977, this writer made contact with the victim's wife, MRS. JEANNE de MOHRENSCHILDT, in California ... and advised her of her husband's demise; a fact which she had already been made aware of by several newsmen who had telephoned her seeking a story. She stated that she has been married to the victim for the past twenty-one years and noted that over the past several years he has been acting in an "insane manner."

  3. ^ George H. W. Bush recalled, "I first met De Mohrenschildt in the early 1940s. He was an uncle to my Andover roommate." (The relationship would technically be "step-uncle" as the roommate, Edward G. Hooker, was actually Dimitri von Mohrenschildt's stepson).

References

  1. ^ "Subject: Comments on George de Mohrenschildt "Reputed Former CIA Agent"" (PDF). Archives.org. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  2. ^ Bugliosi, Vincent (2007). Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 648. ISBN 978-0-393-04525-3. De Mohrenschildt's testimony occupied 58 pages in the published transcript. Only the testimonies of Oswald's wife, mother, brother, Jack Ruby, and Ruth Paine was [sic] longer.
  3. ^ Szulc, Szulc (November 24, 1964). "Friend of Oswals (sic) Knew Mrs. Kennedy". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, p. 168, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  5. ^ Минский Губернский Статистический комитет (1916). (in Russian). Минск. Archived from the original on 2014-10-28.
  6. ^ In his testimony to the Warren Commission, de Mohrenschildt claimed that his father had been a Marshal of Nobility of the Minsk Governorate, but the directories of 1913-1917 listed him in the lower position of Marshal for a uezd (county). Beside this, he and his children never had the title of baron or count/graf, whether in Russia or in any other country.
  7. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, p. 171, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  8. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, p. 172, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  9. ^ Johnson McMillian, Patricia (2013). Marina and Lee: The Tormented Love and Fatal Obsession Behind Lee Harvey Oswald's Assassination of John F. Kennedy. Steerforth Press. pp. 262–263. ISBN 978-1-586-42217-2.
  10. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, p. 175, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  11. ^ Bugliosi 2007 p. 655
  12. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, pp. 177-178, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  13. ^ Lane, Mark (November 1977). The Mysterious Death of a Key JFK Witness (PDF). Gallery. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  14. ^ "Gallery". November 1977. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  15. ^ "Testimony of Mr. George S. de Mohrenschildt". History Matters: Warren Commission Hearings. pp. 183–4. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  16. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, p. 183, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  17. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, p. 184, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  18. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, p. 176, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  19. ^ Baker 2009 p. 72
  20. ^ Baker 2009 p. 128
  21. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, p. 179, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  22. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, p. 180, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  23. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, pp. 182-183, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  24. ^ "Oswald friend labeled CIA informant in memo" (PDF). Dallas Times Herald. July 27, 1978. pp. 1, 14.
  25. ^ Bugliosi 2007 p. 656
  26. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, pp. 190-191, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  27. ^ a b Baker 2009 p. 75
  28. ^ Bugliosi 2007 p. 657
  29. ^ Summers, Anthony (1993). Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover. New York: Putnam Adult. p. 329. ISBN 0-399-13800-5.
  30. ^ Bugliosi (2007) p. 1205
  31. ^ a b Bugliosi 2007 pp. 657-658
  32. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, p. 217, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt
  33. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, p. 267, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt
  34. ^ Baker 2009 p. 77
  35. ^ Baker 2009 p. 84
  36. ^ Baker 2009 pp. 77-78
  37. ^ a b Summers, Anthony (1998). Not in Your Lifetime. New York: Marlowe & Company. p. 154. ISBN 1-56924-739-0.
  38. ^ "Testimony of Mrs. George S. de Mohrenschildt". History Matters: Warren Commission Hearings. p. 291. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  39. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, pp. 203-4, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  40. ^ Johnson McMillian 2013 p. 269
  41. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume IX, pp. 285-7, Testimony of Mrs. George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  42. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, p. 206, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  43. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume IX, p. 291, Testimony of Mrs. George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  44. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, Testimony of Jeanne de Mohrenschildt.
  45. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, p. 235, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt
  46. ^ a b c d George de Mohrenschildt, House Select Committee on Assassinations - Appendix to Hearings, Volume 12, 4, p. 54.
  47. ^ a b Bugliosi, Vincent; Haines, Fred (1998). Final Verdict: The True Account of the Murder of John F. Kennedy (1st ed.). New York: Norton. ISBN 0393045250.
  48. ^ Warren Commission Hearings, volume 9, p. 235-236, Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.
  49. ^ "History Matters Archive - HSCA Appendix to Hearings - Volume XII, pg". History-matters.com. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  50. ^ Summers 1998, p. 156.
  51. ^ a b c Epstein, Edward Jay. The Assassination Chronicles: Inquest, Counterplot, and Legend (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1992), p. 559. ISBN 978-0-88184-909-7
  52. ^ Summers 1998 p. 158
  53. ^ Testimony of George de Mohrenschildt, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 9, p. 249.
  54. ^ Testimony of George de Mohrenschildt, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 9, pp. 249-250.
  55. ^ "Warren Commission Report p. 184-195". Archives.gov. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  56. ^ Mohrenschildt's Activities in Haiti, House Select Committee on Assassinations - Appendix to Hearings, Volume 12, pp. 56-57.
  57. ^ Russell, Dick. The Man who Knew Too Much (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2003), p. 202. ISBN 978-0786712427
  58. ^ Garrison, Jim (1998). On The Trail of the Assassins. Sheridan Square Press. pp. 55–56. ISBN 0-941781-02-X.
  59. ^ Ancestry.com. Texas Divorce Index, 1968–2002 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, 2005. Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Divorce Index, 1968–2002. Texas, US: Texas Department of State Health Services.
  60. ^ CIA Message Reference Number 915341.
  61. ^ Baker 2009 pp. 67–68, 72–73
  62. ^ CIA MFR Raymond M. Reardon SAG 9.20.76.
  63. ^ Baker (2009) p. 268
  64. ^ Fonzi, Gaeton (1993). The Last Investigation. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. p. 189. ISBN 1-56025-052-6.
  65. ^ Kroth, Jerry. Conspiracy in Camelot: A Complete History of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Assassination (New York: Algora Publishing, 2003), p. 130. ISBN 978-0875862460
  66. ^ Fonzi (1993) p. 190
  67. ^ Summers (1998) p. 369
  68. ^ Bugliosi (2007) pp. 1207-1208
  69. ^ Summers (1998) p. 368
  70. ^ O'Reilly, Bill (2012). Killing Kennedy. New York: Henry Holt and Co. p. 302. ISBN 978-0805096668.
  71. ^ Investigator's tape exposes Bill O’Reilly's JFK fib March 11, 2015, at the Wayback Machine - 2013
  72. ^ "Stelter: Audio tapes disprove O'Reilly's reporting". CNN. March 1, 2015.
  73. ^ Talbot David. The Devil's Chessboard, (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2015), p. 533. ISBN 978-0-06-227617-9
  74. ^ "Lawyer Says Texan Told Him Oswald Had Aid in '63 Plot". The New York Times. April 3, 1977.
  75. ^ "Journalist tells of JFK Plots". The Ledger. Lakeland, Florida. April 4, 1977.
  76. ^ "THE OSWALD CONNECTION". The Sun Sentinel. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  77. ^ a b "HSCA Volume XII: George de Mohrenschildt" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  78. ^ a b Fonzi, Gaeton (1993). The Last Investigation. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. pp. 312–313. ISBN 1-56025-052-6.
  79. ^ Baker, Russ (2009). Family of Secrets. New York: Bloomsbury Press. p. 267. ISBN 978-1-59691-557-2.
  80. ^ back of that print at aarclibrary.org. This date was confirmed by de Mohrenschildt in his memoir, see pp. 254-262.
  81. ^ a b Bugliosi 2007, p. 795.
  82. ^ "Assassination Archive and Research Center". Aarclibrary.org. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  83. ^ . kansaspress.ku.edu. Archived from the original on October 28, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  84. ^ "Willem Oltmans - Memoires Introductie". Papierentijger.org. Retrieved May 19, 2014.

Bibliography

  • Bugliosi, Vincent (2007), Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F Kennedy, WW Norton & Co, ISBN 978-0-393-07212-9
  • Bruce Campbell Adamson, Oswald's closest friend : The George de Mohrenschildt story http://ciajfk.com/jfkbooks.html (14 volumes research supported by Congressman Leon Panetta, who would become CIA director in 1992).

External links

  • - Genealogy handbook of Baltic nobility (in German)
  • I Am A Patsy! I Am a Patsy, de Mohrenschildt's draft memoir. This is a simple retyped version of roughly the first third of the manuscript appended to the HSCA report on de Mohrenschildt.
  • 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 deceased 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!

george, mohrenschildt, george, sergius, mohrenschildt, russian, Георгий, Сергеевич, де, Мореншильд, april, 1911, march, 1977, american, petroleum, geologist, professor, known, informant, mohrenschildt, best, known, having, befriended, harvey, oswald, summer, 1. George Sergius de Mohrenschildt Russian Georgij Sergeevich de Morenshild April 17 1911 March 29 1977 was an American petroleum geologist professor and known CIA informant 1 De Mohrenschildt is best known for having befriended Lee Harvey Oswald in the summer of 1962 De Mohrenschildt later alleged that their friendship continued until Oswald s death two days after the assassination of U S president John F Kennedy In actuality De Mohrenschildt never saw Oswald or wrote to him after April 13 1963 three days after Oswald s alleged attempt on the life of General Edwin Walker George de MohrenschildtBornJerzy Sergius von MohrenschildtApril 17 1911Mozyr Russian Empire now Belarus DiedMarch 29 1977 1977 03 29 aged 65 Manalapan Florida U S Cause of deathSuicideNationalityAmerican naturalized EducationPolish Cavalry AcademyAlma materInstitute of Higher Commercial StudiesUniversity of LiegeUniversity of Texas at AustinOccupationPetroleum geologistKnown forBefriending Lee Harvey Oswald the assassin of President John F KennedySpouse s Dorothy Pierson m 1942 div 1944 wbr Phyllis Washington m 1947 div 1949 wbr Wynne Sharples m 1951 div 1956 wbr Jeanne LeGon m 1959 div 1973 wbr Children3De Mohrenschildt s testimony before the Warren Commission investigating the assassination was one of the longest of any witness 2 3 Contents 1 Life 1 1 Early life 1 2 Dallas Oswald and Haiti 1 3 Later life and letter to CIA director 1 4 Death 2 After the Kennedy assassination 2 1 House Select Committee on Assassinations 2 2 Another backyard photo 3 Memoir 4 Depictions in popular media 5 Notes 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 External linksLife EditEarly life Edit De Mohrenschildt was born as Jerzy Sergius von Mohrenschildt in Mozyr in the Russian Empire now in Belarus on April 4 in the old style Russian Julian calendar 4 He had an older brother Dimitri His aristocratic father Sergey Alexandrovich von Mohrenschildt was of Baltic German Swedish and Russian descent De Mohrenschildt s mother Alexandra was of aristocratic Polish Russian and Hungarian descent 4 Sergey von Mohrenschildt was described by his son as the Marshal of Nobility of the Minsk Governorate 5 6 from 1913 1917 and a civil rank of Actual Civil Councilor corresponding to Major General In 1920 during the Russian Civil War Sergey von Mohrenschildt was arrested by the Bolsheviks for anti Soviet agitation 7 He was sentenced to exile for life in Veliky Ustyug a town in the north of Russia De Mohrenschildt later testified to the Warren Commission that while awaiting transport to Veliky Ustyug his father became ill Two Belarusian Jewish doctors who treated him in jail advised him to stop eating so he would appear more sickly The doctors then told the Soviet government that Sergey was too ill to survive the trip to Veliky Ustyug and he should be allowed to recover at home The Soviet Government agreed under the condition that Sergey check in weekly until he was well enough to be sent to Veliky Ustyug After his release Sergey his wife and the young de Mohrenschildt then fled to the Second Polish Republic in a hay wagon de Mohrenschildt s older brother Dimitri who was awaiting execution was later repatriated to Poland as part of a prisoner exchange 8 9 During their journey de Mohrenschildt his father and mother Alexandra contracted typhoid fever Alexandra died of the disease shortly after the family crossed into Poland 4 After the death of his mother de Mohrenschildt and his father made their way to Wilno where the family owned a six acre estate De Mohrenschildt graduated from the Wilno gymnasium in 1929 and later graduated from the Polish Cavalry Academy in 1931 10 He went on to earn a master s degree at the Institute of Higher Commercial Studies 11 Having completed a dissertation on the economic influence of the U S on Latin America he received a doctor of science degree in international commerce from the University of Liege in Belgium in 1938 12 George von Mohrenschildt emigrated to the United States in May 1938 after which he legally changed the nobiliary particle in his name from the Germanic von to the French de 13 14 15 According to de Mohrenschildt he gathered information about people involved in pro Nazi activities such as those bidding for US oil leases on behalf of Nazi Germany before the US became involved in World War II 16 De Mohrenschildt testified that a further purpose of his data collection was to help the French outbid the Germans 17 De Mohrenschildt spent the summer of 1938 with his older brother Dimitri von Mohrenschildt on Long Island New York Like George Dimitri was a staunch anti communist 18 but was also an agent of General William J Donovan s OSS and during the Cold War one of the founders of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty 19 While in New York de Mohrenschildt became acquainted with the Bouvier family including the young Jacqueline Bouvier the future First Lady of the United States Jacqueline grew up calling de Mohrenschildt Uncle George and would sit on his knee 20 He became a close friend of Jacqueline s aunt Edith Bouvier Beale 21 De Mohrenschildt dabbled in the insurance business from 1939 to 1941 but failed his broker s examination 22 In 1941 he became associated with Film Facts in New York a production company owned by his cousin Berend Maydell also known as Baron Maydell or Count Maydell who allegedly had pro Nazi sympathies citation needed De Mohrenschildt denied any Nazi sympathies of his own and claimed to have helped raise money in America for the Polish resistance citation needed For this reason De Mohrenschildt made a documentary film about resistance fighters in Poland 23 According to a memo by former CIA director Richard Helms de Mohrenschildt was alleged to be a Nazi espionage agent 24 In 1942 de Mohrenschildt married an American teenager named Dorothy Pierson They had a daughter Alexandra known as Alexis and divorced in early 1944 25 In 1945 de Mohrenschildt received a master s degree in petroleum geology from the University of Texas 26 Dallas Oswald and Haiti Edit After the end of World War II de Mohrenschildt moved to Venezuela where he worked for Pantepec Oil a company owned by the family of William F Buckley Sr 27 In 1947 he married Phyllis Washington the daughter of a diplomat with the State Department They divorced in 1949 28 That same year de Mohrenschildt became a naturalized U S citizen In 1950 he launched an oil investment firm with his step nephew Edward Hooker with offices in New York City Denver and Abilene 27 In 1951 de Mohrenschildt s third marriage was to the physician Wynne Didi Sharples The following year the couple settled in Dallas Texas where de Mohrenschildt took a job with oilman Clint Murchison as a petroleum geologist 29 De Mohrenschildt and his third wife had two children a son and a daughter both of whom were born with cystic fibrosis the couple s son died of the disease in 1960 as did their daughter in 1973 30 31 De Mohrenschildt and Sharples were divorced in 1957 31 De Mohrenschildt joined the Dallas Petroleum Club 32 was a member of the Dallas Council on World Affairs 33 34 and taught at a local college One of his longtime friends offshore oil engineer George Kitchel told the FBI that de Mohrenschildt counted among his good friends oil barons Clint Murchison H L Hunt John W Mecom Sr and Sid Richardson 35 De Mohrenschildt also joined the right wing Texas Crusade for Freedom whose members included Earle Cabell Everette DeGolyer David Harold Byrd and Ted Dealey 36 In 1957 de Mohrenschildt went to Communist Yugoslavia to conduct a geological field survey for the U S State Department sponsored International Cooperation Administration While in Yugoslavia he was accused by the authorities there of making drawings of military fortifications After returning to the United States de Mohrenschildt was debriefed by the CIA both in Washington and in Dallas 37 Following his divorce in 1957 de Mohrenschildt married his fourth wife former dancer model and fellow Russian American Jeanne LeGon in June 1959 38 39 LeGon nee Eugenia Fomenko was the daughter of a director of the Chinese Far East Railway who was later killed by communists 40 41 a From late 1960 and into 1961 he and his wife toured Central America and the Caribbean 44 His walking trip through Central America was made to recover from the grief of losing his only son in 1960 to cystic fibrosis However de Mohrenschildt also submitted a written report of his trip to the U S State Department and a photograph taken during the trip shows him meeting the American ambassador to Costa Rica 37 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 testified before the Warren Commission in 1964 that he met the Oswalds through a prominent member of Fort Worth s Russian American community oil accountant George Bouhe When de Mohrenschildt asked whether it was safe to help Oswald Bouhe said that he had checked with the FBI De Mohrenschildt also believed that he had discussed Oswald with Max Clark whom he believed worked for the FBI and with J Walton Moore whom de Mohrenschildt described as a Government man either FBI or Central Intelligence 45 46 and who had debriefed de Mohrenschildt several times following his travels abroad starting in 1957 46 47 According to a declassified CIA document obtained by the House Select Committee on Assassinations de Mohrenschildt was in fact correct and J Walton Moore was an agent of the CIA s Domestic Contacts Division in Dallas 46 De Mohrenschildt asserted that shortly after meeting Oswald he had asked Moore and Fort Worth attorney Max E Clark about Oswald to reassure himself that it was safe to assist Oswald De Mohrenschildt testified that one of the persons with whom he had discussed Oswald told him that Oswald seems to be OK and that he is a harmless lunatic However he was no longer sure who had told him that 48 When interviewed in 1978 by the House Select Committee on Assassinations J Walton Moore said that while he had periodic contact with de Mohrenschildt he had no recollection of any conversation with him concerning Oswald 49 46 50 During this period tens of thousands of American citizens were routinely debriefed by the CIA after traveling to communist countries such as Yugoslavia as de Mohrenschildt was 47 After returning home from a weekend trip to Houston de Mohrenschildt became aware that someone had broken into his home and copied his personal papers and other documents At the time he also had a manuscript that Oswald had given him to read and realized that the document might also have been photocopied in the search His primary concern was that the CIA was behind the break in According to de Mohrenschildt Moore flatly denied when confronted that the CIA was involved in any way 51 In October 1962 Oswald informed de Mohrenschildt that he had lost his job in nearby Fort Worth In response de Mohrenschildt advised Oswald that he would have a better chance of finding work in Dallas Oswald was soon hired by the Dallas photographic firm of Jaggars Chiles Stovall De Mohrenschildt s wife and daughter would later say that it had been he who had secured the job at Jaggars Chiles Stovall for Oswald 52 On April 14 1963 de Mohrenschildt and his wife Jeanne visited the Oswalds Dallas apartment As Marina was showing Jeanne around the apartment they discovered Oswald s rifle leaning against the wall inside a closet Jeanne told George that Oswald had a rifle and George joked to Oswald Were you the one who took a pot shot at General Walker General Edwin Walker was an ultra conservative politician whom de Mohrenschildt knew that Oswald disliked 53 When later asked by the Warren Commission about Oswald s reaction to his joke de Mohrenschildt said that Oswald smiled at that 54 In an interview with Edward Jay Epstein de Mohrenschildt claimed to have told the CIA that he believed Oswald had attempted to murder General Walker I spoke to the CIA both before and afterwards It was what ruined me 51 The Warren Commission concluded that on April 10 1963 Oswald had attempted to kill General Walker 55 56 In June 1963 de Mohrenschildt moved to Haiti He never saw Oswald again citation needed After Kennedy was assassinated on November 22 1963 de Mohrenschildt testified before the Warren Commission in April 1964 According to Colonel L Fletcher Prouty then chief Pentagon to CIA liaison officer de Mohrenschildt also had several private lunches with former CIA director and Warren Commission member Allen Dulles while testifying 57 In November 1966 de Mohrenschildt left Haiti and returned to Dallas During 1967 Orleans Parish District Attorney Jim Garrison interviewed de Mohrenschildt and his wife as part of Garrison s prosecution of Clay Shaw Garrison said that both of the de Mohrenschildts insisted that Oswald had been the scapegoat in the assassination Garrison concluded from his conversation with them 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 58 Later life and letter to CIA director Edit George and Jeanne de Mohrenschildt obtained a divorce in Dallas Texas on April 3 1973 after nearly 14 years of marriage 59 It was not reported in the local newspapers and the couple continued to present themselves as husband and wife b 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 60 On September 5 1976 de Mohrenschildt had written a letter to the director of the CIA George H W Bush asking for his assistance He was acquainted with the Bush family George H W Bush had roomed with de Mohrenschildt s nephew Edward G Hooker at Phillips Academy in Andover Massachusetts 61 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 62 63 George H W Bush responded 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 Central Intelligence CIA Exec Reg 76 51571 9 28 76 c On November 9 1976 Jeanne had de Mohrenschildt 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 de Mohrenschildt suffered from depression heard voices saw visions and believed that the CIA and the Jewish Mafia were persecuting him However he was released at the end of the year According to the Dutch journalist Willem Oltmans in 1967 a serious and famous Dutch clairvoyant named Gerard Croiset had a vision of a conspirator who had manipulated Oswald 64 his description led Oltmans to de Mohrenschildt and the two stayed in touch In 1977 Oltmans went to Texas and brought de Mohrenschildt to the Netherlands 64 Oltmans claimed that he had rescued de Mohrenschildt from a mental institution to bring him to Croiset According to Oltmans Croiset agreed that de Mohrenschildt was the man whom he had seen in his vision Oltmans says that after de Mohrenschildt arrived in the Netherlands he 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 Oltmans owned a house in the countryside not far from Liege 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 did not come back 65 Death Edit On March 16 1977 de Mohrenschildt returned to the United States from his trip His daughter talked with him at length and found him to be deeply disturbed about certain matters reporting that he had expressed a desire to kill himself 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 and one of Moore s associates had handed him the address of Lee Harvey Oswald in nearby Fort Worth and then suggested that de Mohrenschildt might like to meet him He suggested to Moore that he would appreciate some help from the U S Embassy in Haiti I would never have contacted Oswald in a million years if Moore had not sanctioned it de Mohrenschildt said Too much was at stake 51 66 On the same day as the Epstein interview de Mohrenschildt received a business card from Gaeton Fonzi an investigator for the House Select Committee on Assassinations telling him that he would like to see him 67 The HSCA considered him a crucial witness 68 That afternoon de Mohrenschildt was found dead from a self inflicted shotgun wound to the head in a house at which he was staying in Manalapan Florida 69 The coroner s verdict was suicide 70 In the book Killing Kennedy 2012 television personality Bill O Reilly claimed he had been knocking on de Mohrenschildt s front door when he heard a shotgun blast that marked the suicide 71 However this claim has since been proven false A contemporaneous phone call recording between O Reilly and Fonzi confirmed that O Reilly had been investigating the Russian immigrant However O Reilly learned of de Mohrenschildt s suicide from Fonzi and was not even in Florida at the time but was in Dallas Texas 72 73 74 After the Kennedy assassination EditHouse Select Committee on Assassinations Edit On April 2 1977 Willem Oltmans told the House Select Committee on Assassinations that de Mohrenschildt had implicated himself in the conspiracy to kill President Kennedy And Pat S Russell who was de Mohrenschildt s attorney said I definitely feel there was a conspiracy and that definitely was the opinion of George 75 Oltmans testified for three hours behind closed doors and told the committee that de Mohrenschildt had told him that he had discussed all aspects of the assassination with Oswald De Mohrenschildt told me that Oswald acted at his de Mohrenschildt s instructions and that he knew Oswald was going to kill Kennedy Oltmans said 76 77 On July 6 1978 Joseph Dryer told the HSCA that he and de Mohrenschildt were associated with a woman named Jacqueline Lancelot Dryer s relationship with Lancelot included passing messages for her to people in the United States whom Dryer assumed were connected in some way to the CIA Dryer said that Lancelot had told him shortly after the assassination that a substantial sum of money 200 000 or 250 000 had been deposited in de Mohrenschildt s account Dryer said that de Mohrenschildt had claimed that he had come to Haiti to scout for oil but Dryer stated that I could never figure out what he did Dryer expressed the belief that de Mohrenschildt had some intelligence connection 78 Congressional researcher Gaeton Fonzi noted that in late 1963 several large deposits popped up in de Mohrenschildt s Haitian bank account including one for two hundred thousand dollars from a Bahamian bank 79 This occurred when de Mohrenschildt and Clemard Joseph Charles an advisor to Haitian president Francois Papa Doc Duvalier were supposedly running a sisal plantation a derelict operation they never went near 79 In a 1976 CIA internal memo regarding de Mohrenschildt Director George H W Bush stated At one time he had or spent plenty of money 80 Another backyard photo Edit Image CE 133A one of three known backyard photos This is the same image sent by Oswald as a first generation copy to his friend George de Mohrenschildt in April 1963 dated and signed by Oswald on the back of the photo In the image Oswald holds a Carcano rifle in one hand with markings which have been matched to the Carcano rifle that was found in the book depository and used in the assassination Furthermore he holds two Marxist newspapers in the other hand The Worker which followed closely a Moscow party line and up to being pro Stalinist until the death of Stalin and The Militant a Trotskyist newspaper which followed an anti Stalinist and anti Moscow line On April 1 1977 Jeanne de Mohrenschildt gave the House Select Committee on Assassinations a print of a photograph showing Lee Harvey Oswald standing in his Dallas backyard holding two newspapers and a rifle and with a pistol on his hip a photograph taken by Oswald s wife Marina While similar to other prints that had been found among Oswald s effects on November 23 1963 the existence of this particular print was previously unknown On the back was written To my friend George from Lee Oswald and the date 5 IV 63 April 5 1963 81 along with the words Copyright Geo de M and a Russian phrase translated as Hunter after 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 Oswald his wife or de Mohrenschildt 82 De Mohrenschildt assumed that Marina had written it sarcastically 82 De Mohrenschildt wrote in his manuscript that he had missed Oswald s photograph in packing for the move to Haiti in May 1963 which was why he had not mentioned it to the Warren Commission though he had noted in his manuscript that Oswald had a rifle in April 1963 and scoffed to Oswald that he had missed General Walker remembering that Oswald had blanched at the joke According to de Mohrenschildt the photograph was not found among his stored papers until he and his wife found it in February 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 83 Memoir EditJeanne de Mohrenschildt also gave the HSCA a copy of a draft manuscript called I Am a Patsy I Am a Patsy which George de Mohrenschildt had completed in the summer of 1976 about his relationship with his dear dead friend Oswald In the manuscript he said that the Oswald he knew was rarely ever violent and would not have been the sort of person to have killed Kennedy In part this judgment was based on de Mohrenschildt s estimation of Oswald s political views and Kennedy s liberal ideas Until 2014 the memoir had never been published as a standalone book but the entire typescript was published as an appendix in the HSCA report 78 The primary focus of de Mohrenschildt s text is a series of recollections about the brief time period between September 1962 and April 1963 when he and his wife were acquainted with the Oswalds A secondary focus consists of a number of meditations on the corrosive effects the Oswalds had on the professional and personal lives of the de Mohrenschildts It must be acknowledged that our brief friendship with the Oswalds had strange and adverse effects on our lives The manuscript is less concerned with Oswald s guilt or innocence and who the real criminals might be Stating that Oswald was a patsy not involved in any revenge and referencing articles describing organized murder for profit de Mohrenschildt challenges readers to make up their own minds De Mohrenschildt s manuscript was edited and annotated as Lee Harvey Oswald as I Knew Him by Michael A Rinella It was released in November 2014 by the University Press of Kansas 84 Depictions in popular media EditDe Mohrenschildt was played by Willem Oltmans the Dutch journalist who befriended him in the late 1960s 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 assassination and appears in the 2016 television adaptation 11 22 63 played by Jonny Coyne His Haitian experience is depicted in Hans Christoph Buch s novel Haiti Cherie Suhrkamp 1990 De Mohrenschildt was discussed at length in the TruTV series Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura The episode claims that de Mohrenschildt was in fact a CIA handler for Oswald In 1997 Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh released the film Willem Oltmans De Eenmotorige Mug Willem Oltmans the single engined mosquito In the film journalist Willem Oltmans makes claims about his contacts with de Mohrenschildt and Oswald s mother Marguerite Oswald until de Mohrenschildt s death in 1977 85 Notes Edit Jeanne LeGon had a daughter named Jeanne Elinor LeGon 42 43 For example from the death investigation report by Thomas Neighbors of the Palm Beach County Sheriff s Office At 2315 hours on 29 March 1977 this writer made contact with the victim s wife MRS JEANNE de MOHRENSCHILDT in California and advised her of her husband s demise a fact which she had already been made aware of by several newsmen who had telephoned her seeking a story She stated that she has been married to the victim for the past twenty one years and noted that over the past several years he has been acting in an insane manner George H W Bush recalled I first met De Mohrenschildt in the early 1940s He was an uncle to my Andover roommate The relationship would technically be step uncle as the roommate Edward G Hooker was actually Dimitri von Mohrenschildt s stepson References Edit Subject Comments on George de Mohrenschildt Reputed Former CIA Agent PDF Archives org Retrieved 27 July 2022 Bugliosi Vincent 2007 Reclaiming History The Assassination of President John F Kennedy New York W W Norton amp Company p 648 ISBN 978 0 393 04525 3 De Mohrenschildt s testimony occupied 58 pages in the published transcript Only the testimonies of Oswald s wife mother brother Jack Ruby and Ruth Paine was sic longer Szulc Szulc November 24 1964 Friend of Oswals sic Knew Mrs Kennedy The New York Times p 1 Retrieved May 20 2017 a b c Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 p 168 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt Minskij Gubernskij Statisticheskij komitet 1916 Pamyatnaya knizhka Minskoj gubernii na 1917 god in Russian Minsk Archived from the original on 2014 10 28 In his testimony to the Warren Commission de Mohrenschildt claimed that his father had been a Marshal of Nobility of the Minsk Governorate but the directories of 1913 1917 listed him in the lower position of Marshal for a uezd county Beside this he and his children never had the title of baron or count graf whether in Russia or in any other country Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 p 171 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 p 172 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt Johnson McMillian Patricia 2013 Marina and Lee The Tormented Love and Fatal Obsession Behind Lee Harvey Oswald s Assassination of John F Kennedy Steerforth Press pp 262 263 ISBN 978 1 586 42217 2 Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 p 175 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt Bugliosi 2007 p 655 Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 pp 177 178 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt Lane Mark November 1977 The Mysterious Death of a Key JFK Witness PDF Gallery Retrieved November 21 2019 Gallery November 1977 Retrieved November 21 2019 Testimony of Mr George S de Mohrenschildt History Matters Warren Commission Hearings pp 183 4 Retrieved November 21 2019 Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 p 183 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 p 184 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 p 176 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt Baker 2009 p 72 Baker 2009 p 128 Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 p 179 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 p 180 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 pp 182 183 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt Oswald friend labeled CIA informant in memo PDF Dallas Times Herald July 27 1978 pp 1 14 Bugliosi 2007 p 656 Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 pp 190 191 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt a b Baker 2009 p 75 Bugliosi 2007 p 657 Summers Anthony 1993 Official and Confidential The Secret Life of J Edgar Hoover New York Putnam Adult p 329 ISBN 0 399 13800 5 Bugliosi 2007 p 1205 a b Bugliosi 2007 pp 657 658 Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 p 217 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 p 267 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt Baker 2009 p 77 Baker 2009 p 84 Baker 2009 pp 77 78 a b Summers Anthony 1998 Not in Your Lifetime New York Marlowe amp Company p 154 ISBN 1 56924 739 0 Testimony of Mrs George S de Mohrenschildt History Matters Warren Commission Hearings p 291 Retrieved May 11 2018 Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 pp 203 4 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt Johnson McMillian 2013 p 269 Warren Commission Hearings volume IX pp 285 7 Testimony of Mrs George S de Mohrenschildt Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 p 206 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt Warren Commission Hearings volume IX p 291 Testimony of Mrs George S de Mohrenschildt Warren Commission Hearings Testimony of Jeanne de Mohrenschildt Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 p 235 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt a b c d George de Mohrenschildt House Select Committee on Assassinations Appendix to Hearings Volume 12 4 p 54 a b Bugliosi Vincent Haines Fred 1998 Final Verdict The True Account of the Murder of John F Kennedy 1st ed New York Norton ISBN 0393045250 Warren Commission Hearings volume 9 p 235 236 Testimony of George S de Mohrenschildt History Matters Archive HSCA Appendix to Hearings Volume XII pg History matters com Retrieved 27 July 2022 Summers 1998 p 156 a b c Epstein Edward Jay The Assassination Chronicles Inquest Counterplot and Legend New York Carroll amp Graf 1992 p 559 ISBN 978 0 88184 909 7 Summers 1998 p 158 Testimony of George de Mohrenschildt Warren Commission Hearings vol 9 p 249 Testimony of George de Mohrenschildt Warren Commission Hearings vol 9 pp 249 250 Warren Commission Report p 184 195 Archives gov Retrieved 2009 02 27 Mohrenschildt s Activities in Haiti House Select Committee on Assassinations Appendix to Hearings Volume 12 pp 56 57 Russell Dick The Man who Knew Too Much New York Carroll amp Graf 2003 p 202 ISBN 978 0786712427 Garrison Jim 1998 On The Trail of the Assassins Sheridan Square Press pp 55 56 ISBN 0 941781 02 X Ancestry com Texas Divorce Index 1968 2002 database online Provo UT USA The Generations Network 2005 Original data Texas Department of State Health Services Texas Divorce Index 1968 2002 Texas US Texas Department of State Health Services CIA Message Reference Number 915341 Baker 2009 pp 67 68 72 73 CIA MFR Raymond M Reardon SAG 9 20 76 Baker 2009 p 268 a b Gallery April 1977 Fonzi Gaeton 1993 The Last Investigation New York Thunder s Mouth Press p 189 ISBN 1 56025 052 6 Kroth Jerry Conspiracy in Camelot A Complete History of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Assassination New York Algora Publishing 2003 p 130 ISBN 978 0875862460 Fonzi 1993 p 190 Summers 1998 p 369 Bugliosi 2007 pp 1207 1208 Summers 1998 p 368 O Reilly Bill 2012 Killing Kennedy New York Henry Holt and Co p 302 ISBN 978 0805096668 Investigator s tape exposes Bill O Reilly s JFK fib Archived March 11 2015 at the Wayback Machine 2013 Stelter Audio tapes disprove O Reilly s reporting CNN March 1 2015 Talbot David The Devil s Chessboard New York HarperCollins Publishers 2015 p 533 ISBN 978 0 06 227617 9 Lawyer Says Texan Told Him Oswald Had Aid in 63 Plot The New York Times April 3 1977 Journalist tells of JFK Plots The Ledger Lakeland Florida April 4 1977 THE OSWALD CONNECTION The Sun Sentinel Retrieved 11 May 2021 a b HSCA Volume XII George de Mohrenschildt PDF Retrieved 2014 05 19 a b Fonzi Gaeton 1993 The Last Investigation New York Thunder s Mouth Press pp 312 313 ISBN 1 56025 052 6 Baker Russ 2009 Family of Secrets New York Bloomsbury Press p 267 ISBN 978 1 59691 557 2 back of that print at aarclibrary org This date was confirmed by de Mohrenschildt in his memoir see pp 254 262 a b Bugliosi 2007 p 795 Assassination Archive and Research Center Aarclibrary org Retrieved 27 July 2022 Lee Harvey Oswald as I Knew Him kansaspress ku edu Archived from the original on October 28 2014 Retrieved October 28 2014 Willem Oltmans Memoires Introductie Papierentijger org Retrieved May 19 2014 Bibliography EditBugliosi Vincent 2007 Reclaiming History The Assassination of President John F Kennedy WW Norton amp Co ISBN 978 0 393 07212 9 Bruce Campbell Adamson Oswald s closest friend The George de Mohrenschildt story http ciajfk com jfkbooks html 14 volumes research supported by Congressman Leon Panetta who would become CIA director in 1992 External links EditGenealogisches Handbuch der baltischen Ritterschaften Estland Genealogy handbook of Baltic nobility in German I Am A Patsy I Am a Patsy de Mohrenschildt s draft memoir This is a simple retyped version of roughly the first third of the manuscript appended to the HSCA report on de Mohrenschildt 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 deceased 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 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title George de Mohrenschildt amp oldid 1133089775, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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