George de Mohrenschildt:
Another one of those fascinating minor-but-important characters in the JFK assassination orbit, George de Mohrenschildt was a true man of mystery.
Born into an aristocratic family in czarist Russia, he was at times and sometimes simultaneously believed to be pro-Nazi, anti-communist, anti-Casto, a German operative, a French agent and a CIA agent. Whew.
See all the important sites in Dallas and take the interactive tour with the JFK in Dallas app for 99 cents for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad here.
After WWII, de Mohrenschildt traveled the world as a petroleum geologist while moving among captains of industry and politics and having frequent close contact with spies and their handlers. He settled for a time in Dallas, where he worked for oil millionaire Clint Murchison and was involved in some of the city's conservative groups including the Council on World Affairs.
And he had had some intriguing personal relationships that will make your head spin and keep you awake at night trying to make sense of it....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. He was also acquainted 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.
De Mohrenschildt met Oswald in 1962 through the Russian-speaking émigré community in Dallas and Fort Worth and reportedly hooked him up in October 1962 with his short-lived job at photographic/graphic arts firm Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall (he was fired in April 1963). Curiously, this firm was performing classified map-making services for the U.S. Army. De Mohrenschildt also reportedly introduced Oswald to a Dallas CIA agent at that time. In June 1963, de Mohrenschildt moved to Haiti after securing a Haitian government contract to set up an industrial enterprise and reportedly never saw Oswald again.
With that kind of pedigree, of course de Mohrenschildt is a key player among the conspiracy crowd. In 1967, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison interviewed him as part of Garrison's prosecution of Clay Shaw. Garrison claimed that de Mohrenschildt insisted that Oswald had been the scapegoat in the assassination of President Kennedy. Garrison concluded 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]."
And finally, a charachter so full of intrigue has to have a compelling exit from this story. On March 29, 1977, de Mohrenschildt was contacted by an investigator for the House Select Committee on Assassinations. That afternoon, he was found dead from a shotgun blast to the head in what was officially ruled a suicide.
Another one of those fascinating minor-but-important characters in the JFK assassination orbit, George de Mohrenschildt was a true man of mystery.
Born into an aristocratic family in czarist Russia, he was at times and sometimes simultaneously believed to be pro-Nazi, anti-communist, anti-Casto, a German operative, a French agent and a CIA agent. Whew.
See all the important sites in Dallas and take the interactive tour with the JFK in Dallas app for 99 cents for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad here.
After WWII, de Mohrenschildt traveled the world as a petroleum geologist while moving among captains of industry and politics and having frequent close contact with spies and their handlers. He settled for a time in Dallas, where he worked for oil millionaire Clint Murchison and was involved in some of the city's conservative groups including the Council on World Affairs.
And he had had some intriguing personal relationships that will make your head spin and keep you awake at night trying to make sense of it....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. He was also acquainted 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.
De Mohrenschildt met Oswald in 1962 through the Russian-speaking émigré community in Dallas and Fort Worth and reportedly hooked him up in October 1962 with his short-lived job at photographic/graphic arts firm Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall (he was fired in April 1963). Curiously, this firm was performing classified map-making services for the U.S. Army. De Mohrenschildt also reportedly introduced Oswald to a Dallas CIA agent at that time. In June 1963, de Mohrenschildt moved to Haiti after securing a Haitian government contract to set up an industrial enterprise and reportedly never saw Oswald again.
With that kind of pedigree, of course de Mohrenschildt is a key player among the conspiracy crowd. In 1967, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison interviewed him as part of Garrison's prosecution of Clay Shaw. Garrison claimed that de Mohrenschildt insisted that Oswald had been the scapegoat in the assassination of President Kennedy. Garrison concluded 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]."
And finally, a charachter so full of intrigue has to have a compelling exit from this story. On March 29, 1977, de Mohrenschildt was contacted by an investigator for the House Select Committee on Assassinations. That afternoon, he was found dead from a shotgun blast to the head in what was officially ruled a suicide.
