Mr. Jenner. Did you have any political discussions with any so-called true Communists when you were in Yugoslavia?
Mr. De Mohrenschildt. Political discussions?
Mr. Jenner. Arguments?
Mr. De Mohrenschildt. Arguments; yes. Discussions, occasionally. The real argument I had—I think maybe I mentioned it yesterday—was with the head of the Communist Party in Slovenia, who attacked me very strongly for being an American and for the fact that we had this Arkansas case, with Governor Faubus. He was very obnoxious, and I told him that he reminded me of an ultraconservative in the United States—they were both of the same type, very illogical and very biased in their opinions.
Mr. Jenner. Biased and rigid?
Mr. De Mohrenschildt. Yes; but I think in my stay in Yugoslavia, and without taking too much pride in it, I made more friends for the United States than anybody else, because they could—I could explain to them the opportunities given to foreign born in the United States, and how joyful the life is in the States. For instance, I used to explain to them how an independent can drill an oil well with no money. To them it was beyond comprehension. To them it was a miracle that a man like me was able to promote enough money to drill an oil well. For them, it needed endless bureaucracy and enormous amount of papers and all that, and finally the well was drilled, and at an enormous price—when it could have been done very cheaply by purely organizing a small syndicate. And since I had small production of my own, I explained to them how I did that. And it was a fascinating story for them. So I think I did a good job and made a lot of friends, who used to write to me from there.
Mr. Jenner. Did you make a trip to Europe in 1960? At that time, did you plan to leave early in March, March 11, and visit France, Yugoslavia, Italy, England, and Belgium, for a period of 3 weeks, on geological visits?
Mr. De Mohrenschildt. There might have been some projects to do that, and it did not materialize.
Mr. Jenner. Maybe this will stimulate you. You, at that time, were at the Statler Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.?
Mr. De Mohrenschildt. In 1960?