Video: Jeanne de Mohrenschildt Interview, 1978

[Duncan MacRae]

Jeanne de Mohrenschildt Interview, 1978

[Benjamin Cole]

DM: Thanks for posting.

More than a few JFKA witnesses said they were browbeaten, or even threatened by FBI investigators, and Jeanne de M. is one of those. Others said the FBI appeared uninterested in information they volunteered.

My take is the FBI was committed to the LNT, under the advice and consent of President LBJ.

This does not exonerate LHO, but it is what it is.

Interesting that Jeanne de M. mentioned simple financial inducements to motivate LHO.

George de Mohrenschildt's death was curious as well.

[Lance Payette]

Again we see, those who knew Oswald best have difficulty connecting the Oswald they knew to the Oswald of the JFKA. There is an undeniable disconnect. What she suggests is along the lines of what John Orr suggests (unconvincingly to me) - i.e., Marcello actually recruited Oswald and made some sort of offer he couldn't refuse.

This massive biography of DeMohrenschildt is excellent and extremely detailed. He comes across far more as "eccentric" than full of the dark intrigue often associated with him. It's not at all difficult for me to understand why he would have found Oswald an interesting guy.

The author participated for a short time at the Ed Forum, as I recall. (Edit: I just looked. Her participation was extremely short. I don't know what happened to her, but she was a serious researcher and had done extensive work on the Paines. I don't know whether she is/was a CTer, but I got nothing along those lines from this biography.)

https://www.amazon.com/Faux-Baron-Mohrenschildt-Aristocrats-Assassination/dp/1501021494

Here she is on a podcast, which I don't have time to watch:

[Benjamin Cole]

LP-

Tom Graves has posted info that points to de Mohrenschildt at one point being a suspected KGB or Iron Curtain asset.

De M. also claimed to be a de facto CIA asset.

It is interesting that the De M.'s just happened to visit the Oswald's the day after (or soon-enough after that it was the topic de jour) the Walker shooting.

[Lance Payette]

LP-

Tom Graves has posted info that points to de Mohrenschildt at one point being a suspected KGB or Iron Curtain asset.

De M. also claimed to be a de facto CIA asset.

It is interesting that the De M.'s just happened to visit the Oswald's the day after (or soon-enough after that it was the topic de jour) the Walker shooting.

Indeed, an epistemological crossroads: Who we gonna believe, the Resident Loony who thiinks the Gerber Baby and Phyllis Diller were KGB assets or the author of an intensely researched micro-study of de Mohrenschildt's life? While I've always thought the Gerber Baby had a Marxist gleam in her little eye, I'm going with the author.

I also love how we morph from "CIA agent" to "CIA asset" to "de facto CIA asset." What is a de facto CIA asset? These are the kind of obscure phrases and supposed connections from which too much CT lore is woven. As I've said, I could weave a pretty darn suspicious "Lance narrative" from five or so undeniable facts of my own life and family history that were, in fact, of absolutely zero consequence.

De Mohrenschildt's relationship with the CIA was basically the same as Clay Shaw's: https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/104-10103-10149.pdf. In later years, when his story about Oswald changed, he was a deeply troubled man. (Much as I hate to cite Wikipoodia, this is accurate: "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.")