Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. More money, yes, he had some funds to help them.
Mr. JENNER. Now, the next paragraph of this letter reads: "Some time
last fall we heard that Oswald had beaten his wife cruelly, so we drove
to their miserable place and forcibly took Marina and the child away
from the character." You have told us about that incident, have you?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Then it reads: "Then he threatened me and my wife, but I
did not take him seriously." You have told us about that?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. "Marina stayed with the family of some childless Russian
refugees for awhile, keeping her baby, but finally decided to return to
her husband." Is that correct?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. You recall that?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Was that the Mellers?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That was the Mellers, and she went back within a
week or two instead of as she promised to be apart for 2 or 3 months.
We were really furious. We wasted the whole day, so much aggravation,
go through all that trying to do something for them and then she
dropped the whole thing. So why bother, you know? So from then on we
were really disgusted. After all, you can waste so much time, and if
we don't see anything, response, you know we are just tired of it. Let
them live their own rights. Let them battle their own battles.
Mr. JENNER. Did the occasion arise then shortly thereafter in which
Marina left Lee and went with some others?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I don't even remember that.
Mr. JENNER. You don't?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No.
Mr. JENNER. You do recall a time when she was with Mrs. Ford?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I don't recall it. I think she lived with them,
too. I think so, but I don't know exactly when and how, because we
hardly ever saw them from then on. Just occasionally all of a sudden
I'd get sorry and I'd go and buy a cake, you know, a cheesecake or
something and we'd just drive by and drop it and just talk with them a
few minutes and leave. That is about the only things we had, the only
connection we had.
Mr. JENNER. The next paragraph: "It is really a shame that such crimes
occur in our times and in our country. But there is so much jealousy
for success and the late President was successful in so many domains
and there is so much desire for publicity on the part of all shady
characters that assassinations are bound to occur." Did your husband
discuss that sentence with you?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No, we didn't discuss any sentences of this
letter.
Mr. JENNER. But you read the letter before it was mailed?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I read the letter.
The only thing I can say what he meant by it is that it seems to be
that everything went wrong for Lee, starting with his childhood, you
know, and no matter what he did it was always a failure. So anything
that seems to be President Kennedy touched was turning into gold, he
was so successful in his marriage. You know he was such a wonderful
President and he had health and public office, everything, you know, so
it could be that in the bottom of Lee's heart was some antagonism, you
know.
Mr. JENNER. Did you have that impression of the man?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No, never at all.
Mr. JENNER. Did you have any impression that he was envious at any time?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No, and in fact that is what doesn't make
any sense, because I don't think he ever said anything against, and
whatever the President was doing, Kennedy was doing, Lee was completely
exactly with the same ideas, exactly. If he would shoot Walker that
would be understandable, even if he would be shooting at Connally that
is understandable, too. We learned that Connally refused him honorable
discharge, so he had a grudge against Connally, but President Kennedy,
no.
Mr. JENNER. Please, did you know anything about the discharge incident?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No. We read it in the papers after.
Mr. JENNER. I want to keep separated here what you learned about
afterwards.
Governor Connally was never mentioned at any time?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Never.
Mr. JENNER. That you had any contact with the Oswalds?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No.
Mr. JENNER. Was his discharge from the Marines, was that subject ever
mentioned?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No.
Mr. JENNER. Was his boyhood ever mentioned?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. His boyhood?
Mr. JENNER. Boyhood.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No. Never, never.
Mr. JENNER. Did he say anything that he had lived in poverty or hadn't
lived in poverty, that he had difficulty all his life?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No, no; we never discussed that. I don't
remember discussing that.
Mr. JENNER. Was there any mention of his Marine record, his record in
the service, and what he had done?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No. I don't recall any conversation.
Mr. JENNER. So this paragraph that I have read, that is about it being
a shame that crimes occur and there is so much jealousy for success,
that was rationalization afterwards?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Absolutely.
Mr. JENNER. Then your husband says in this letter: "Better precautions
should have been taken."
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Right. I agree.
Mr. JENNER. Did you discuss that with your husband?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I agree. I didn't discuss that with him, but
better precautions should be taken, especially when we learned later on
that Adlai Stevenson was treated very poorly in Dallas, so they should
have known that there were antagonism towards the Democrats, and they
had no right really to permit the President to ride like that without
that bubble after such demonstrations against Stevenson.
Mr. JENNER. So this remark in the letter is based on that?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. On that, exactly.
Mr. JENNER. That is as far as you are concerned?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. As far as we are concerned, yes.
Mr. JENNER. Your husband may have had something else in mind?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I don't know. I don't think so, but he may. Did
he mention to you that we have this Birch Society in Texas, the right
wing, extreme right wing?
Mr. JENNER. You go ahead if you have anything to say about that.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I don't know if he mentioned it. He probably
did. That there is a Democrat Party split, you know. The Republicans
are one but the Democrats are two. A lot of Democrats didn't like
what Kennedy was doing, especially they didn't like this approach to
segregation, you know, and many other things. They thought he was too
forward, too fast. Lots of people thought he was too young, you know.
And so there was a lot of----
Mr. JENNER. Animosity?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Disturbances. Not exactly animosity, but they
didn't exactly appreciate what Kennedy was doing and they were still
Democrats. That is really terrible. That Birch Society is a horrible
thing. It is almost like Ku Klux Klan.
Mr. JENNER. He also says on the second page of his letter: "I do hope
that Marina and her children (I understand she has two now) will not
suffer too badly throughout their lives and that the stigma will not
affect the innocent children. Somehow, I still have a lingering doubt,
notwithstanding all the evidence, of Oswald's guilt." Now, that last
sentence, did your husband discuss that with you?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes. We talk about it very often.
Mr. JENNER. Did you talk about it at the time he wrote this letter?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No. He wrote the letter, I wasn't there. In
fact, I saw the letter accidentally because I just stopped by his
office for something and he said, "I just finished a letter. Please
mail it for me," or something like that, you know. Otherwise, maybe I
wouldn't even see the letter.
Mr. JENNER. In any event, he did not discuss it with you before he
prepared the letter?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No; not at all. In fact I did never know he was
going to write the letter. I don't think he told me anything. He just
wrote the letter.
Mr. JENNER. Did you take Marina to the dental clinic or laboratory more
than once?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I think I took her twice there, I believe.
They couldn't do it all at once. It was too much. One thing impressed
me while we were in the clinic. You know she sort of perked up. It
gave her a feeling that she was like back. She liked the uniform, you
know. She said how it would be wonderful if she could work, also, be
a pharmacist again and do something. That is when I told her learn
English and you can do anything. The sky is the limit.
Did my husband mention to you about a strange thing about the
Voshinins? It could be something or could be nothing, you see. It could
be excused or maybe something they knew about Oswald. They refused to
meet him. They refused to meet them, and it came to a point, you know I
am pretty persistent when I want something and I was after her, I said,
"For God sakes, you are always carrying on with every little Russian
and this and that." I am not interested, but she is. "How come you
still didn't meet the Oswalds?"