Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Having asked previously either myself or my
wife--having asked Mrs. Ford would she mind having the Oswalds, because
they seemed to be bored to death, especially Marina seemed to be bored
to death. And she said yes.
Mr. JENNER. And after a while you folks left, around midnight?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. And did you take the Oswalds with you?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I think we did. And this is the reason
why--because I think they left the child in our house while they came
to the party, and we asked another friend of ours, an elderly lady,
Mrs. Frangipanni, to take care of the baby while they were gone, which
she did.
Mr. JENNER. Did Oswald drink at that party?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That I do not recall. I know I drank quite a few
glasses.
Mr. JENNER. What impression did you have as to how the people at the
party reacted to Marina and to Oswald--take them separately.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I did not pay any attention. I left them to their
own devices. I spoke to various people. I thought I had done my duty by
bringing them along. What really impressed me that particular night was
an extraordinary interest which developed between this Japanese girl,
Yaeko--I don't remember her last name--but I already had given that
impression of mine at the American Embassy so they could check on that.
She was a Japanese girl, very good looking, who worked, I think, at
Neiman-Marcus in Dallas, and was brought into Dallas from Japan by some
people in the cotton business to take care of their babies.
Now, this girl is a much superior girl as to be just a baby caretaker.
She eventually left that couple--that is all hearsay, you see, and
became sort of a girl friend of a Russian musician who lives in Dallas
by the name of Lev Aronson. And I do not recall whether he was at the
party or not. But Yaeko was, and they developed an immediate interest
in each other--Oswald and Yaeko. They just went on sight and started
talking and talking and talking. I thought that was understandable
because Oswald had been in Japan, you see. But the interest was so
overwhelming that Marina objected, and became very jealous. She told
us, either that night or later, that Oswald got her telephone number,
she noticed that Oswald got this girl's telephone number. And once or
twice later on she told us that she has the impression that Oswald
is carrying on something with this girl. Now, this is hearsay again.
But----
Mr. JENNER. Well, it is not hearsay that Marina told you.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; but hearsay that they are carrying something
on. That is what she told us. But nothing definite.
Mr. JENNER. Did you notice any incidents in which--at that party--in
which people----
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. My wife will tell you more about this Yaeko
incident, because she knows a little bit better.
Mr. JENNER. I will make a note of that so I can talk to her about it.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. And she is more on the gossipy side. I'm always
happy if a girl likes a boy and a boy likes a girl--it does not matter
who they are.
Mr. JENNER. Were there any incidents that you recall in which members
at that party were talking with Marina and Oswald interrupted?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No; I do not recall, because I did not speak to
them. I just left them alone, hoping that they would find some people
to talk to.
Mr. JENNER. And the contacts you had with Marina and Lee, was there
ever any discussion on the subject of whether people in Russia when
they were there were chary about talking with Lee because they were
afraid he might be an agent of some kind?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. It is a question I have to try to think a little
bit about.
I have a vague recollection that either Lee or Marina did tell me the
people were afraid of him, and I think that was probably Oswald that
told me, that the people were afraid of him, like many foreigners. So I
thought that was very understandable, because you know the Communists
are scared--not the Communists, but the people in Russia are scared to
talk to foreigners.
We had an incident ourselves when we went to Mexico, to a Russian
exhibit, to a Russian Fair, and tried to speak to an architect there
in charge of the architectural exhibit. This was a lady architect,
a charming woman. We spoke to her for about 5 minutes, and then she
disappeared, and you could not find her any more. She ran away from us.
She was scared of us. That is the usual thing.
So I did not pay particular attention to that fact. If people were
scared of talking to Oswald, it was understandable.
Mr. JENNER. Did that ever arise, discussions as to why--possibly
affecting his desire to return to the United States?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I do not recall that. The most important answer I
think I got from Oswald--and that was one of the reasons we liked him
and thought that he was rather intelligent in his estimation of Soviet
Russia--is the fact that we asked him, both my wife and I, "Why did you
leave Soviet Russia", and he said very sincerely, "Because I did not
not find what I was looking for."
Mr. JENNER. And did you ask him what he was looking for?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. A Utopia. I knew what he was looking for--Utopia.
And that does not exist any place.
Mr. JENNER. This man could not find what he was looking for anywhere in
this world.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. He could not find it in the States, he could not
find it any place.
Mr. JENNER. He could find it only in him.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Exactly. He could find it in himself, in a false
image of grandeur that he built in himself. But at the time that we
knew him that was not so obvious. Now you can see that, as a possible
murderer of the President of the United States, he must have been
unbelievably egotistical, an unbelievably egotistical person.
Mr. JENNER. Do you know what paranoia is?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.