Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. In fact, I try to help him whenever I can. I
draw maps. Just now I made for him some maps in the Dominican Republic
about this nickel mine and everything. He couldn't have it photostated.
They were too old. So I sit down and draw it any time I can, because I
really love that.
Mr. JENNER. Tell us without too much elaboration particularly about
your trip down through Mexico and Central America.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Well, I tell you, it is a trip I will never
forget, as long as we live. And I don't think we ever had a more
exciting, wonderful time, in spite that we almost died a few times, and
in spite that some days it was so difficult that we were walking almost
like in a daze, because we didn't know what will happen to us.
Of course, we could endure a trip like that because we had a tragedy
with George's little boy. So we didn't care what will happen to us--we
get killed or not killed--the only thing we worry about Nero being an
orphan if something happen to us.
But it was absolutely fantastic, because we walked through little
trails, old Camino Reales, old Spanish trails. And they planned it so
well, at the end of each day we always found water. We never carried
water, because the poor mule was already overloaded. We always took
water supply in the afternoon. And we also tried to buy his corn in the
afternoon, his dinner.
Mr. JENNER. The mule?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; it is just for him like gasoline, the corn.
Like high octane gas. And it took us about 5-1/2 months through Mexico.
Then it was Guatemala, Salvador. It really was very interesting.
Mr. JENNER. Costa Rica?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Not yet. After Salvador, we were trying to
cross by boat directly to Nicaragua, because we didn't want to make
that horrible big corner in Honduras, but we couldn't. So we had to go
through Honduras and then Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama. And then we
were planning to spend another year and go all the way to Chile. And we
would. We were so tough by then, nothing could hurt us. We were thin
like rails. And George has never been that thin in his life. He was in
good physical shape. But the torrential rains--we were almost swept
out a couple of times. And we would have to wait 6 months in Panama in
order to proceed. We couldn't take that much time from our life, from
our work. So I talked him into going to Haiti. He was going to return
to Dallas. And I didn't want to.
Mr. JENNER. Before you get to Haiti--was that purely a business trip--I
mean a pleasure trip?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. It was pleasure trip plus he collected a lot
of minerals on the way. And he sent them--he had been sending them to
be safe. And they were all lost. A tremendous amount of minerals. We
found mercury, such perfection of samples that you never could see such
perfect crystallization. And they are all gone, all lost.
But we do have the names and addresses of people and villages where
we have it, and then we discovered some pyramids which, when we have
time to take off, we are going, of course, to fly there and work on it,
because it is fascinating. We couldn't take much time for anything,
because we only had 6 months' visa through Mexico.
Mr. JENNER. Your visa in Mexico permitted you to stay there 6 months?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. A tourist visa, 6 months. We were up on the
border--that means we have to fly to Mexico City to extend it, it would
be too much trouble. We were sort of in a hurry.
But in Guatemala we were rewarded for the whole trip. There was a
volcano erupting. Hakaia, and it was absolutely fantastic. Can you
imagine what is an erupting volcano? I was dreaming about that since
I was this big, that I want to see a volcano, I want to look in the
crater. So we climbed every volcano. And this one was erupting. The
lava was gushing down. We have photographs and movies. I am from the
red lava a yard away, just burning. And poor little Nero--my hair is
standing on my head from the heat. It was a fascinating sight. Then we
walked in lava, and it was all smoking like that.
Mr. JENNER. Now, was there any consideration other than you have
indicated, any purpose--I will put it that way--of your trip other than
you have indicated?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No.
Mr. JENNER. Did it have any connection with any government, any agency,
or any government?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Not at all.
Mr. JENNER. Or have any political aspects whatsoever?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I know you have to ask these questions, but
there was none at all, absolutely none.
Mr. JENNER. Now, while you were making your trip down through Mexico
and the Central American countries, the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred,
did it not?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes. But we learned about it much later.
Mr. JENNER. Excuse me. Were you aware of the Bay of Pigs invasion in
advance?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Advance? We were not even aware at the time of
it.
Mr. JENNER. You were not?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No. But we noticed something very funny. We
noticed some young people running around with little tiny hats. They
looked like American boys. And then when we--we had----
Mr. JENNER. Where was that?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. In Guatemala City. We have all our mail always
sent to the American Embassy, in each country, and then as we arrived,
asked them to hold it. They have been wonderful about it. So the minute
we arrived to the city--we leave our mule and go right away to the
Embassy to pick up our mail. And it was very funny. There was such a
commotion, such confusion in the American Embassy, we just remarked
about it. They were running around, busy, busy. I forgot the name of
the American consul. He was on the phone all the time, such a confusion
was going on.
So we noticed that. And we noticed those funny looking boys running
around. I thought they were Canadian boys. And later on we learned that
there was an invasion.
So maybe that was the people that were involved in it.
Mr. JENNER. That is all you know about the Bay of Pigs invasion?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That is all we know about it.
Mr. JENNER. Have you ever been in Cuba?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No.
Mr. JENNER. There was an occasion, was there not, when your husband and
you were in Mexico that there was a Russian mission?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Mikoyan?
Mr. JENNER. When was that?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That was exactly the time when Alexandra eloped.
We were two weeks in Mexico City. George was on business. And there was
also a Russian exhibit which we missed in New York.
Mr. JENNER. What was the time?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Do you have a date when she eloped--sometime in
November.
Mr. JENNER. What year?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I am trying to get to the year now. 1959 must
be. I think it was 1959.
Mr. JENNER. Wait a minute.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I believe it was November 1959, to my best
belief. I cannot be sure.
Chronologically, it must be around there.
Mr. JENNER. You tell me about the incident and I will find the date.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. It was very simple. We had dinner with the
presidential pilot and some other friends.
Mr. JENNER. That is the pilot of the President of Mexico?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes. Captain Gordunio Nounio. I can't spell the
name. Can we just say presidential pilot?
Mr. JENNER. Whenever you say anything, it gets on the record. Now,
you have to tell us how to spell it. Spell it phonetically, as you
understand it.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. G-o-r-d-u-n-i-o N-o-u-n-i-o.
They were giving him--the Mexicans were giving him a big farewell
reception sort of party at the airport. And, of course, it was guarded,
and nobody could get in there. He said, would you like to see Mikoyan?
I said, of course I would.
Mr. JENNER. Who said that?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. The pilot.
I said, of course, we would like to see him. It would be a lot of fun
to see somebody from real Russia, not just the immigrants. So then
George wanted to go, too, to start with. And I said, "You better don't
go, because it will be misinterpreted, it can be misinterpreted. If I
go, they know very well I cannot do any harm, but if you go it may hurt
you businesswise." People in Texas are very narrow-minded.
So I went in the morning. He picked me up at the hotel. We went to that
reception. I did it out of sheer curiosity. I wanted to see the crowd,
I wanted to see the people, I was looking at women. It was, of course,
pathetic. Women don't even look like women.
Mr. JENNER. Who are you talking about?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. The Russian women, at the reception. The
Russians are supposed to be good-looking people. They were not even
good looking. There was only one man that was good looking. He was in
some kind of uniform. I don't know what his rank or what it is, because
I don't know the uniforms. There was only one handsome man in the whole
tremendous crowd. And then we went all the way to the plane. I was
with the captain, and he was very close--very good friend of Mikoyan.
We came over. I didn't say one word in Russian all the time, I was
speaking English. And then we came over to the plane.
Mr. JENNER. You went out to the airport?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. To the airport, when he was already leaving,
after making all the speeches and everything. We went with the captain
to say goodbye to Mikoyan, at the plane. They had the Russian plane
standing there, the cameras, TV's. And he introduced me to Mikoyan,
this is my friend Señora De Mohrenschildt. And I take his hand and
said----
Mr. JENNER. You spoke in Russian?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes, I told him in Russian, how are you,
Tovarish Mikoyan. And he was so shocked, because I didn't look like a
Russian, I looked like a fashion plate, and spoke English all the time.
And all of a sudden, I deliberately--it was sort of a prank. He almost
fainted. It was fantastic. I didn't make any secrets. I told about it
in Dallas to everybody.
Mr. JENNER. Well, that was purely an adventure?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Oh, sure. It was just a prank, just for fun.
Mr. JENNER. I see. You had no prior association with Mr. Mikoyan, or
any member of the Russian mission when you went to Mexico--you had not
anticipated the presence of the Russian mission?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. We didn't know that they were there, absolutely.
George went on his business. It just happened to be that they had this
exhibit there, and it happens to be that Mikoyan was there--I think
they were offering a lot of money to the Mexican Government, and the
Mexican Government refused it. They didn't take it. But they have been
on friendly terms, they didn't quarrel about it--they just didn't
accept it, they didn't accept his proposal.
And we happened to know about it because we had this friend, the
presidential pilot.
Mr. JENNER. I see. All right. We have obtained, either from you or from
your husband, the marriage date of Alexandra.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That must be November 1959.
Mr. JENNER. All right.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That happened within those 2 weeks we were in
Mexico City.
Mr. JENNER. You went from Panama to Haiti?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes. We were trying to go by boat. We went to
Colon, to get the boat. There was no boat. So we had to fly.
Mr. JENNER. You flew to Haiti?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. What was the purpose of that visit to Haiti?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. The main purpose was to rest, and another
purpose was to see a very, very old friend of my husband's father,
75-year-old man that according to his letters to George, he loved him
like a son, and he had the same feelings to me. So I told George, if we
don't go now, we might never see him.
Mr. JENNER. What was his name?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Michael Breitman. And he died within the next
year.
Mr. JENNER. But that was--that visit to Haiti at that time was to visit
this gentleman?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. And to rest.
Mr. JENNER. From your long, arduous trip through Central America?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. You then returned to the United States?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. By boat?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. By boat, by Lykes Line.
Mr. JENNER. And your harbor was what--St. Charles, or Lake Charles?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I think it is Lake Charles. They changed in the
last month. They never know which port. We were met by friends over
there, the Savages.
Mr. JENNER. And the Mitchells?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes. And we crossed straight to their house,
stayed with them a few days. Then a friend of ours loaned us a car and
we drove to Dallas. And then he came over and picked up the car.