I had opened the door to the possibility of the urban myth that George De Mohrenschildt (DeM) had befriended Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) as a favor to the CIA in exchange for inside information about an oil exploration deal in Haiti. This myth is the theme of the book, Our Man in Haiti (2012) by well-known JFK Assassination researcher, Joan Mellen, the intellectual heir and research assistant for Jim Garrison.
I am not married to this myth, although for me it tended to address the absurdity that a college professor with superb social connections in Dallas (e.g. the Dallas Petroleum Club with Clint Murchison for whom he worked) would befriend a person he called, "a semi-educated hillbilly", namely, LHO.
George DeM was not a CIA officer. On this Jason and I firmly agree. Yet simply because George DeM was an active member of two right-wing organizations in Dallas really means nothing, either -- spies regularly join opposing organizations.
George DeM was not a Communist, either, although he was accused of being one by his own son-in-law (who probably could not have defined Communist if his life depended on it). George DeM was also accused of being a Nazi. George was accused of supporting the Polish and then the French -- and in my opinion, the best explanation for George DeM was that he was a money-grubber who was looking to get rich for his entire life. He would help any side of any political cause if he thought he could make money by that. That's how it appears to me.
So, George DeM was a capitalist opportunist -- and such people are widely accused of all things.
I am grateful to Jason Ward for revealing a CIA document from May, 1963, showing that the CIA did not regard George DeM as a perfect friend of the free enterprise system. Jason has consistently shown a talent for finding recent CIA and FBI releases relevant to the Walker-did-it CT -- so much so that I am pleased to join him in his Web Site, "CIA-did-not-kill-JFK."
Yet it is clear to me -- even if it wasn't clear to the CIA in 1963 -- that George DeM was never a Communist. George looked up to his older brother, Dimitri, who had become successful in the USA. He lived in Long Island, New York, and had been a member of the OSS and a founder of Radio Free Europe. There is a well-known account that when George was in his mid-20's, he went to live with Dimitri in New York, and there became a friend of the Bouvier family, including a young, Jacqueline Bouvier, the future Jackie Kennedy, who would sit on George's lap and call him "uncle George."
No, George DeM was no Communist nor was he in the CIA. Yet it continues to puzzle me how this college professor could become such a close companion to Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, from August 1962 to April 1963. I had opened the door to the possibility that Joan Mellen might be right about him -- yet I think that Jason effectively closed that door with the CIA document he shared with us yesterday.
The likelihood is stronger, then, that the attraction of George DeM to LHO was simple -- and her name was Marina Oswald.
George DeM was from Minsk. Marina Oswald was from Minsk. George DeM was a womanizer. Marina Oswald was poor, hungry, and could not speak English in the USA. The Russian Expatriates in Dallas showered charity on Marina Oswald, to the point that LHO became enraged by it, and beat Marina for the first (and only) time in their relationship. George DeM then involved himself deeper into their lives, and one might argue that both George DeM and LHO were completely ruined by their ceaseless one-upmanship.
Especially where General Walker was concerned.
Oh, and as for Haiti -- oil baron Clint Murchison was certainly a sufficient character reference for George DeM.