Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I have never been a member of any group of any
kind. My life was too busy, as you can see, in order to be involved in
anything like that.
Mr. JENNER. Now, we covered your two Yugoslav ventures, your Ghanian
venture--the time that you had the company when you were a young man in
Europe, traveled around Europe.
We covered all your employments in the United States, from the time you
came here in May of 1938.
I think we have reached the point of your great venture which you
started to tell us about, and I had you hold off--your trip down into
Mexico and the Central American countries--tell us about that in your
own words, how it came about, and what you did.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Well, I started explaining that already, that it
is not a new idea for me. I said before that 20 years before, Roderick
MacArthur and myself set out on a limited trip of this type, when we
were both young men in Mexico.
And I have always been interested in Mexico as a very rich country
mining wise, and I thought that it would be very interesting and
useful for me to take a trip along the old trails of the mining of
the Spaniards as they went through Mexico during the days of the
Conquistadors.
You see, the Spaniards went to Mexico for the purpose of finding mines,
and the routes they made in Mexico and through Central America are
all directed toward certainly logical prospects, certain mines. And I
started collecting through the years--I started collecting information
on routes of the Spaniards in Mexico.
But I never thought I would really be able to do it, until came the
time in 1960 when my boy died, and I was in very--practically out of
my mind, because this was my only son. And I said to hell with all
that--I had some money saved up, and I said I am going to stay away
from my work and from the civilized life for 1 year, and I am going to
follow the trails of the Spanish Conquistadors, all throughout Central
America, and possibly all the way to South America.
And to do it the hardest possible way, because I believe in physical
therapy for your mental problems.
And my wife, fortunately, also, loves the outdoors, and agreed with me
that that is something we should do.
We gave up our apartment, I gave up my office, and we set out from the
ranch on the border of Mexico and the United States.
Mr. JENNER. What ranch?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. This was--that is the ranch which belongs to a
friend of ours. It is called the--it is Piedras Negras. It is on the
Mexican side of the U.S. border. On the American side you have a little
town called Eagle Pass. On the Mexican side you have Piedras Negras.
There we have some very close friends who own a big ranch. Their name
is Tito and Conchita Harper. They have--they are half Mexican, half
Americans. They live on the ranch nearby, and in Piedras Negras.
By the way, when I was visiting them, at the time I was visiting them,
a few months before, we heard about the death of my boy, right in their
house. We were sitting in their house when there was the long distance
call from Canada that my boy had died. They are very, very close
friends. They also advised me that it would be a good thing for me to
take a trip like that, knowing my interest in Mexico and my interest in
the outdoor life.
And that is what we did. We started off at the first 200
kilometers--Tito took us in a plane to cross the first range, a very
difficult range, and the rest of the trip was made on foot, all the way
to the Panama Canal.
Mr. JENNER. All the way to where?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. The Panama Canal.
Mr. JENNER. Tell me what countries you passed through.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. We passed through the whole of Mexico, in the
longest trajectory you can have. Then the whole of Guatemala, the whole
of San Salvador--El Salvador, rather, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica,
and Panama.
And on the way there we stopped occasionally in towns, received our
mail, through the American Embassy and consulates, visited some of
the friends we have out there. In other words, we led a life close to
nature for a whole year.
Mr. JENNER. Were you in Mexico City during this trip?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No; because our route kept us away from Mexico
City.
Mr. JENNER. At any time during that trip was Mikoyan in Mexico?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Oh, yes. That I have to tell this incident; that
is interesting. This is completely a different incident.
I went to Mexico City, I guess, with--a year before that, on behalf
of----
Mr. JENNER. Just a minute.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. This is another consulting job.
Mr. JENNER. When did you make your walking trip through Mexico?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That was the end of 1960 and 1961--all of 1961.
Mr. JENNER. That took about 8 months?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Almost a year.
Mr. JENNER. So you would return in the late fall of 1961?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. 1961.
Mr. JENNER. November, I believe.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; I remember that.
Mr. JENNER. Now, the occasion when Mikoyan was in Mexico was some other
occasion?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. A different occasion; yes.
Mr. JENNER. As long as we have raised it at this point, we might as
well complete it. Tell us about that.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. About this Mikoyan incident?
Mr. JENNER. Yes.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Well, I went to Mexico City on behalf of Texas
Eastern Corp., which is a gas company in Houston, which has a contract
with the Mexican Government for the purchase of gas. In other words,
this corporation is buying gas from Mexico at the border.
Mr. JENNER. We talk about gas here--we are talking about natural gas?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Natural gas; yes. And this contract was in
jeopardy--somebody else wanted to take it. And Texas Eastern, which is
the corporation, a very large powerplant corporation which has the Big
Inch from Texas to the east--through their vice president, John Jacobs,
asked me to go to Mexico, since I am familiar with the country, and
try to figure out in which way we can keep that contract. And while in
Mexico, we had to entertain all the officials of the Mexican Government.