George de Mohrenschildt - Dallas, Oswald and Haiti

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. 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. One of de Mohrenschildt's 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 Mecom, and Sid Richardson. De Mohrenschildt also joined the right-wing Texas Crusade for Freedom whose members included Earle Cabell, Everette DeGolyer, Harold Byrd and Ted Dealey.

In 1957, de Mohrenschildt went to 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.

De Mohrenschildt married his fourth wife, Jeanne, in 1959. From late 1960 and into 1961, he and his wife toured Central America and the Caribbean. He insisted that the trip was merely for pleasure. However, de Mohrenschildt submitted a written report of his trip to the U.S. State Department, and a photograph shows de Mohrenschildt meeting with the American ambassador to Costa Rica.

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 E. 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.)

In October 1962, de Mohrenschildt told Oswald that he would have a better chance of finding work in Dallas, after Oswald informed de Mohrenschildt that he had lost his job in nearby Fort Worth, Texas. Oswald was soon hired by the Dallas photographic firm of Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall. George de Mohrenschildt's wife and daughter would later say that it was George de Mohrenschildt who secured the job at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall for 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 Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt.) 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 ." In JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why it Matters, James Douglass opined that George de Mohrenschildt "...had been Oswald's CIA-approved shepherd in Dallas ... probably no understanding in advance of the scapegoat role that lay ahead for his young friend ."