Originator: CIA
From: CANNING, THOMAS N.
To: GOLDSMITH, MICHAEL
Document date: 11/23/1963
Document type: PAPER-TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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JFK Assassination System

Identification Form

Agency Information

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4/11/201

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LBJ

177-10002-10095

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Document Information

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FROM:

TO :

TITLE:

CIA

WORLD REACTION TO THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNECY

DATE:

11/23/1963

PAGES:

11

SUBJECTS :

INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM

DOCUMENT TYPE: PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

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MEMORANDUM: WORLD REACTION TO THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY

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TOP SECRET

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

Memorandum

CIA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM

RELEASE IN FULL 1998

CENTRAL

WORLD REACTION TO:

THE ASSASSINATION OF

PRESIDENT KENNEDY

23 Nov 1963

(Information as of 0700 EST)

THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CODE WORD MATERIAL

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SOP SECR

T DI

SC No. 06509/63

23 November 1963

WORLD REACTION TO THE ASSASSINATION

OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY

(Information as of 0700 EST)

-

SUMMARY

The governments and the peoples of the world

are

expressing, from East and West alike, their shock

and

regret

at the assassination of President John

F. Kennedy.

Some governmental reaction has reflected con-

cern over the impact the President's death may have

on international relations--with Latin Americans, for

example, wondering whether the Alliance for Progress

may lose some of its impetus. Some African leaders

noted President Kennedy's strong leadership for

racial equality. The immediate reaction of TASS

yesterday was to attribute the death to American

right-extremists.

The scheduled joint US-Japanese economic and

trade talks were perforce cancelled when the Cabinet-

level US delegation ordered its plane home a short

distance out of Honolulu.

West German Chancellor

Erhard has cancelled his scheduled visit to Washing-

He was to have left Sunday. The UN observed

a moment of silence yesterday and adjourned.

Soviet and satellite military activity is at

normal levels.

Shortly after the announcement of the

President's death, certain elements of the Cuban

armed forces were placed on a precautionary alert.

CIA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM

RELEASE IN FULL 1998

-I-

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SINO-SOVIET ORBIT SECRET DINAR

Moscow promptly reported President Kennedy's assas-

sination to its foreign as well as domestic audiences.

Soviet reaction sofar has been highlighted by broadcasts

of official condolences at the highest level. Khrushchev

and Brezhnev, the official Soviet head of state, have

sent wires to President Johnson expressing heartfelt si

sympathy to the American people for the loss suffered by

the "heinous assassination,"

Foreign Minister Gromyko

also sent a telegram to Secretary Rusk.

gesture,

Khrushchev and Madame Khrushchev wired personal

condolences to Mrs. Kennedy.

Pravda reportedly remade its frontpage of 23 Novem-

ber to carry a column and a half of biographic informa-

tion on the late President, together withna two-column

picture.

Soviet relations:

Pravda recalls his speech of last June at Ameri-

can University as marking a new, favorable phase in US-

Soviet relations. Pravda also carried a TASS report not-

ing that Dallas

commentators "are linking this crime with

the activity of

ultrarightwing organizations." President

Kennedy's steps in the direction of improving the interna-

tional situation are said

to have met with "sharp attacks

from

the American wildmen."

Western observers in Moscow can recall no previous

occasion when Soviet condolences on the death of a West-

ern figure were so expressive and given such prominence

by Russian media.

Khrushchev returned to Moscow from the Ukraine and,

accompanied by Gromyko, went to the American Embassy to

pay his personal respects to Ambassador Kohler. This

gesture appears to have no precedent.

Moscow and other bloc media have so far avoided any

public mention of Oswald. Intercepted Czechoslovak mili-

tary communications refer to the President's killer as a

"radical."

The US Embassy has reported that Oswald and family

had difficulty obtaining Soviet exit visas.

When he ap-

peared at the embassy in the summer of 1961 seeking re-

patriation, Oswald stated that he was "disillusioned"

with the USSR.

He claimed that he had never applied

for Soviet citizenship.

Moscow and satellite radios have apparently dropped

scheduled programming and featured solemn music inter-

spersed with news.

Several East European leaders, includ-

ing Tito and

Ulbricht, sent official condolences

to Presi-

dent Johnson.

The news of Kennedy's death came too late for

Peiping's morning papers, but Peiping radio has carried

news reports of the assassination.

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CONFIDENFIAL

WESTERN EUROPE

Expressions of dismay and sympathy came from

virtually every government and political leader in

Western Europe.

Everywhere periods of mourning

and memorial services

have been announced, and

flags will be flown at half staff.

Communist party

leaders joined in the lament over the President's

passing.

The British royal court will go into mourning

for a week, and a national commemoration service

will be held. Queen Elizabeth sent messages to

Mrs. Kennedy

and to President Johnson, and Prime

Minister Douglas-Home cabled Johnson his assurances

of friendship and support. Sir Winston Churchill

said that the act had

"taken from us a great states-

man and

a wise and valiant man... Those who come

after Mr. Kennedy must strive the more to achieve

the ideals of world peace and human happiness and

dignity to which his presidency was dédicated."

The London Times said the event was "a shock-

great enough to shake the structure of the world."

And it added, "Our hope in this moment must be

that the Vice President will quickly be able to lay

his hands on

a helm that cannot be left unheld even

for a moment."

Canadian Prime Minister Pearson told the Com-

mons that "the world can ill afford at this time

to lose a man of his courage."

Opposition leader

Diefenbaker echoed this sentiment.

In France, President De Gaulle, said, "presi-

dent Kennedy has died like a soldier under fire,

doing his duty in the service of his country. In

the name of the

French people, as always a friend

of the American people, I salute this great ex-

ample and this great memory."

West German Chancellor Erhard, whose trip to

the US is cancelled, will hold a special meeting

ofithe Cabinet on Sunday in commemoration of the

President.

Erhard cabled Mrs. Kennedy that "Only our

heirs will be able to realize fully what tragic

loss your country and the whole of humanity have

suffered."

More than 60,000 West Berliners stood

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CONFIENTIAT

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CONELDENTIAL

silently in the rain before the city hall as the

Freedom Bell tolled.

Mayor Brandt observed, "America

has lost its President and a tortured mankind has

lost a man of whom so many people believed that

he would show the road toward a just peace and a

better life in the world." He added that Berlin

now put its confidence in President Johnson, who

came to Berlin a few days after the

wall was

built.

Adenauer observed that Kennedy "gave his life

for freedom and peace.

I know that all Germans

Share these

sentiments."

Italian Christian Democratic leader Moro ex-

pressed his grief at the death

"of the main archi-

tect of the courageous and renewing policy carried

out by the US the last few years."

Pope Paul today gaid

a mass for the repose of

the President's soul, and in a special broadcast,

voiced the hope that

the death "may not do harm to

the American people, that it may strengthen their

moral and civil sense by reinforcing their senti-

ments of nobility and concord."

Dutch Premier Marijnen said the murder was a

disaster for international politics and would have

far-reaching consequences.

The conservative Svenska Dagbladet in Stockholm

wrote that "The mourning for Kennedy is so great

because he was in many respects ahead of his time."

The Washington correspondent of the Swedish radio

reported that the style,

tactics, and political

climate in Washington will undergo a change, and

wondered how it woüld effect the interplay between

East and West.

On the radio, Norwegian Premier Gerbardsen re-

marked that "In a

strange way we felt secure with

President Kennedy in the high and important post he

held.

We trusted him, and we believed in his de-

sire

for justice and

peace, as well as in his ability

to smooth

international disputes."

The Portuguese radio said that President Kennedy

had recently taken a special interest in Portuguese

affairs, discussing the problem of African colonies

with Foreign Minister Nogueira and praising the role

of the Azores in Operation Big Lift.

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SECRET DINAR

LATIN AMERICA

Most Latin American governments have declared

one or more days of mourning in homage to President

Kennedy, reflecting in part the widespread public

and

official sympathy--and concern--throughout the

rea arising from his death.

The leaders in vari-

us countries have emphasized Kennedy's special in

terest in Latin America and his effort to promote

the Alliance for Progress.

Venezuelan President Betancourt declared that

"Latin America loses the

who has made the greatest efforts toward solution

of its economic and social problems," a comment which

are test ofter st teard solute which

was reiterated in similar form by other political

leaders in

this country. The Chilean Foreign Minis-

ter pointed out that Kennedy had shown

"special con-

cern for the situation of the people of Latin America"

and had attempted to promote "the improvement of their

social and economic conditions." In addition to not-

ing Kennedy's "vision of a better future for Latin

America" through the Alliance for Progress, the Pana-

manian Foreign Minister specifically commented on the

President's

"clear understanding of Panama's problems."

President Oswaldo Lopez of Honduras, with whom

the United States suspended diplomatic relations fol-

lowing the recent military coup in that country, was

among the chiefs of state who declared days of offi-

cial mourning and expressed sympathy for the "irrepara-

ble loss." No reaction is yet available from the de

facto military-civilian regime in the Dominican Repub-

lic, with which the United States also suspended rela-

tions recently.

The Cuban radio has treated the development in t

factual terms

and no officials of the Castro regime

have thus far made comments. According to an inter-

cepted-Cuban-message of 22 November, the Eastern

NavalDistrict-recalled allunits-"due-to the death

of President Kennedy.

Communist elements in the hemisphere have not yet

reacted to the death of President Kennedy. Senator Sal-

vador Allende, extreme leftist leader of

the Socialist

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Party of Chile, who is pro-Communist and pro-Castro,

expressed his

sympathy and recognized Kennedy's

"stand against threat of war and in behalf of

peace...."

Allende was the runner-up presidential

candidate of the Communist-Socialist Popular Action

Front in 1958 and will probably be its candidate in

the elections scheduled for 1964.

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GONFIDENTIAL

ASIA AND AFRICA

Aside from expressions of shock and sorrow, the

despatch of condolences, and the institution of

ous forms of mourning,

vari-

there has as yet been little

significant comment from the capitals of Asia and

Africa.

In the Near East, the Turkish President and

Premier both emphasized President Kennedy's fight for

peace, and they stressed US-Turkish solidarity.

Premier of Israel called the President a "firm friend of

President Nasser of Egypt described the late

President as struggling for his people, for peace, and

for humanity.

The

Shah of Iran ordered all flags

in

the country to be flown at half staff.

In India, both President Radhakrishnan and Prime

Minister Nehru were

"deeply shocked."

The Pakistani

Foreign Minister called Mr. Kennedy

"a courageous and

dedicated leader who cherished the ideals of progres-

sive thought with unwavering conviction."

In Southeast Asia, Cambodia declared a period of

national mourning.

Indonesian President Sukarno said

President Kennedy had been striving for the growth of

the American state. Philippine President Macapagal,

who will attend the President's funeral, said the Presi-

dent had "put new firmness in the struggle against com-

munism and the advancement of freedom and equality as

a way of life

for all mankind."

In Japan, the Foreign Ministry held an emergency

conference to study measures to be taken by that coun

Cry•. Prime Minister Ikeda, in a message to President

Johnson, commented on the late President's success in

implementing "vigorous policies." Commentary from

South Korea stressed Mr. Kennedy's efforts on behalf

of world peace and the solidarity of the Free World in

the struggle against communism, and condemned political

terrorism as "the enemy of democracy."

In Africa, the Presidents of Algeria and Senegal

both

suggested

that the assassination was the result

of President Kennedy's efforts in the field of deseg-

regation.

The President of Senegal stated "We Afri-

can Negroes will mourn for him because he worked for

our dignity."

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