Warren Commission (09 of 26): Hearings Vol. IX (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (09 of 26): Hearings Vol. IX (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No political implications. I am not interested
at all in politics. Naturally, when I was going there I could not help
seeing what was going on. The dictatorship in Honduras, the civil war
in Panama, the guerilla fights. But it is all recorded in my book.
But I had nothing to do with it.
Mr. JENNER. You went from Panama to where?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. We just arrived from the border of Texas to
Panama. We performed one big chunk of--we covered a big chunk of
territory which is about 5,000 miles, on foot. And, believe me, not
many people can do it, you know.
Mr. JENNER. When you completed that trip----
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. When we completed this trip, we were very tired,
and we decided to go and take a rest in Haiti.
Mr. JENNER. Why did you select Haiti?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Well, as I said before, I had been there many
times as a tourist. I have a very close friend of my father's who lived
in Haiti. I speak French. And I like the country. I said we are going
to visit this old man, a friend of my father's.
Mr. JENNER. What is his name?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Mr. Breitman; Michael Breitman. He used to
be a very wealthy man in Russia--also involved in the oil industry
in Russia, and in Czarist Russia--a friend of my father's. And I
discovered that he lived in Haiti sometime in 1946 and 1947 when I went
as a tourist there. And we became very close. He considered me almost
like his son.
We went to visit him--I was worried that he might die, and he died
very soon after our trip. And we stayed there for 2 months, relaxing,
taking it easy. And I started preparing my contract with the Haitian
Government at the same time.
Mr. JENNER. Now----
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Already then.
Mr. JENNER. Then you already had in mind the venture you are now--in
which you are now engaged?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes. I already started then, you see. I made the
first step. I received a letter--I still have it--the letter from the
Minister of Finance--that they are interested in my project, which the
project is to review all the mining resources of Haiti. They don't have
anybody to do that. And we kept on working on it, working and working
and working, corresponding back and forth, until finally there was the
contract in March 1963. In other words, it took me 2 years to get that
contract.
Mr. JENNER. Here, again, this is all business?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Purely business.
Mr. JENNER. No political or like considerations?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No.
Mr. JENNER. You have never been a member of any subversive group?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No; never have.
Mr. JENNER. Of what groups have you been a member? And of what groups
are you a member?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I am not a member of any group. Maybe that is
something against me, because I am not a member of any group. I am not
a member--I am not interested. I am too busy.
Mr. JENNER. You are a member of the Petroleum Club in Dallas?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. If you call that a group; yes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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