WORLD REACTION TO THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY
Originator: CIA
Document date: 11/25/1963
Document type: PAPER-TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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1177-10002-10093

JFK Assassination System

Identification Form

Agency Information

Date:

3/6/2018

AGENCY:

LBJ

RECORD NUMBER :

177-10002-10093

RECORD SERIES: NSF, INTELLIGENCE FILE, CODEWORD MATERIAL, VOL. 1, BOX 6

AGENCY FILE NUMBER :

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TITLE : [Restricted]

DATE: 11/25/1963

PAGES:

9

SUBJECTS :

INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM

DOCUMENT TYPE: PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

CLASSIFICATION: Top Secret

RESTRICTIONS: Consulted; Mandatory Review Material

CURRENT STATUS : Redact

DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 07/19/2008

OPENING CRITERIA:

COMMENTS : DOC. #29

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CENTRAL INTELLIGEN CE AGENCY

Menonandum

WORLD REACTION TO

THERASSASS INATTON.OF

PROS DENT KENNEDY

25 Now. 1:963

nformat torcas of 0220 EST

THIS DOCUMENT CONTAI'S CODE WORD MATERIAL

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This document contains classified information affecting the national

security of the United States within the meaning of the espionage

Jaws, US Code Title 18, Sections 793, 794, and 798. The law prohibits

its transmission or the revelation of its contents in any manner to

an unauthorized persons, as well as its use in any manner prejudicial

to the safety or interest of the United States or for the beneft of any

foreign government to the detriment of the United States.

It is to be seen only by US personnel especially indoctrinated

and authorized to receive COMMUNICATIONS INTELLIGENCE

information; its security must be maintained in accordance with

COMMUNICATIONS INTELLIGENCE REGULATIONS.

No action is to be taken on any COMMUNICATIONS INTELLI-

GENCE which may be contained herein, regardless of the advantages

to be gained, unless such action is first approved by the Director

of Central Intelligence.

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•SC No. 12420/63

25 November 1963

WORLD REACTION TO THE ASSASSINATION

OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY

(Information as of 0700 EST)

SUMMARY

Communist information media appear to be engaged

in a widespread campaign to indicate that the killing

of Lee Harvey Oswald is a cover up to seal his lips

and protect the extreme rightist circles whose tool

or agent he must have been.

In the Free World, editorials and commentators

are concerned that the

killing will make it impossible

to establish by normal process the

responsibility and

motivation for the assassination of President Kennedy.

One South African newspaper notes that "lynch law'' is

not yet a thing of the past in the US.

Regarding the future implications of the change

In the Us presidency, the principal concern appears to

be that there will be a slowing down of developments

contributing to a US-Soviet detente.

Some editorials

expect temporary disruption of Us participation in

such organs as NATO and GATT. In Tokyo, a sharp stock

market slump indicated uncertainty over the future.

Soviet, satellite and Cuban military activity re

ains at normal levels with the exception of the con

inued defensive military alert in Cuba. Both Castr

and Guevara have warned publicly that Cuba can expect

new attacks.

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SINO-SOVIET ORBIT

Moscow continues to refrain

from taking any

actions which the US and the rest of the world

could interpret as calculated to embarrass the

US in the wake of President Kennedy's assassina-

tion.

It appears that Soviet leaders have de-

cided to avoid anything which could be regarded

as unseemly pressures on Us interests at this

time. They are probably awaiting the presentation

of President Johnson's program to assess the future

course of US-Soviet relations.

Soviet commentators continue to express the

hope that President Johnson will continue Kennedy's

"realistic" foreign policy and will take further

steps toward relaxing international tension.

Pravda's Washington correspondent reports that

"one often hears

that Johnson will, on the whole

continue Kennedy's policy." An Izvestia correspond-

dent in the US goes even further and asserts that

Johnson "is not regarded as a thick-headed south-

ern Democrat.

In particular, he carried on propa-

ganda for the rather abridged program of struggle

for the rights of Negroes put forward by Kennedy."

The slaying of

Oswald yesterday was promptly

reported in bloc media.

Prior to his death, Soviet

comment seemed to reflect fear that the accused as-

sassin might in some way jeopardize US-Soviet re-

lations.

Now, Moscow ishinting at Dallas police-FBI

collusion in thecslaying of Oswald.

Moscow pointedly

notes that Oswald denied his implication in the as-

sassination "till the very end" and has been "silenced

forever."

Moscow charges that the circumstances of

the villainous murder of John Kennedy are being "in-

circles."

monstrous crime.

He goes on to predict that "sooner

or later" the American people and world public

opinion will learn the name of

the "real assassin"

of the late president.

A TASS dispatch datelined New York charged that

"the murderers of President John Kennedy are trying

to cover up their traces and suggests possible

loopholes in the case against Oswald. The East German

-2-

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news

agency even more bluntly attributed the Presi

dent's assassination to rightists and called the

arrest and elimination of Oswald a "Fascist" cover.

Pravda's New York correspondent and Communist

newspapers in Rome and Paris took the identical line

that Oswald was killed "to shut his mouth."

Peiping has found it easy to switch its attacks

on President Kennedy to President Johnson.

The :

Chinese Communist press portrays the new President

as a "rich millionaire" who "represents the inter

ests of big oilmen and ranchers in the south and

big capitalists and industrialists in the north."

He is said to be "consistently against Communism

and workers."

Pelping says Johnson "has given posi

tive support to all Kennedy's reactionary policies

in whose making and projection he participated."

Reflecting Peiping's vicious anti-US attitude, one

paper printed a gruesome: cartoon on the assassina

tion of President Kennedy•

An extreme leftist clandestine radio broadcast

ing to Turkey in Turkish says President dohnson is

known for "reactionary tendencies" and that he "does

not tavor the policy of peaceful coexistence as much

as Kennedy did."

The broadcast said

extremists

supporting the Cold War'"will now be

further en-

couraged."

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WESTERN EUROPE

The West European press continues to pay its tri-

There is increasing Spec-

ulation, however, on the future course of US foreign

policy under President Johnson, and general concern

that recent improvement in East-West relations may be

stopped for the time being.

West Berlin Mayor Brandt, in his regular Sunday

broadcast to Berliners expressed his confidence in

President Johnson and

future US policy on Berlin.

West German Foreign Minister Schroeder says that

Chancellor Erhard attaches highest priority to personal

contact with President Johnson as soon as possible.

The US Embassy reports that Erhard is scheduled to visit

Johnson on 15 January, and would be available to come

to Washington either before or after that date.

Several British newspapers

express some anxiety as

to what course US policy will take, While most writers

agree there will be no alteration in American foreign

policy or in British-American relationships, there is

widespread apprehension that development toward a US

Russian rapprochement will be slowed or halted.

The Sunday Times expects a period of hesitancy in

NATO and GATT.

The mass circulation Sunday Citizen be

Lieves NATO will mark time on proposals for a multilat-

eral nuclear force (MLF).

The Sunday Telegraph says

the assassination has damaged US reputation as an or-

derly,

stable and mature society and that it is impos-

sible

for Europe or Britain to consider handing over

nuclear monopoly now to the US.

French and British television commentators follow-

ing up coverage of the

shooting of Oswald regretted

that

"there will always be doubt" now as to his guilt.

Finnish editorials speculating on the future, ex-

there is a general agreement that the former Vice Presi-

dent has gained much experience and enjoys general con-

fidence in both domestic and foreign policy.

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LATIN AMERICA

Cuban fears that the assassination of President-

Kennedy would create a new wave of anti-Cuban senti-

ment in the US were reflected in a 24 November speech

by Industries Minister Ernesto (Che) Guevara. He

blamed the assassination and the murder of Oswald

On

reactionary forces.

Guevara warned Cubans that a new,

tougher policy against Cuba would be forthcoming from

the US.

"Everything indicates that in the next months

and years world peace will be threatened by the most

unscrupulous cercis, and warlike monopolistic ol1-

garchy--and with the most murderous potevara sathat the

history of humanity has ever known,

The murder of Oswald, according to a Havana radio

broadcast of early 25 November, is further evidence of

a reactionary plot to stir up anti-Cuban emotions among

the

American people.

The broadcast cited similar views

expressed by the London Sunday Times, Pravda, and the

New York Times.

several trade unions in Argentina issued state-

ments of condolence on President Kennedy's assassina-

tion,,

"reactionary fac-

respondent eated the sit be presentin

paper as linking Cuba with the assassination.

ist newspapers, according to the same correspondent,

are blaming the radical right.

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ASIA AND: AFRICA

Little new reaction has been reported from Asia

and Africa during the past 24 hours.

Most :comment

continues to include expressions of

hope that:the

late President Kennedy's policies regarding world

peace and human rights will be continued by President

Johnson.

There has been no reported reaction to the

Oswald murder, except from the Union of South Africa.

Egyptian radio commentary expects President

Johnson to follow the late President's course, but

anticipates he may find the obstacles which obstruct

this course more difficult.

The influential Japanese news organ Asahi reit-

erates previously reported Japanese fear that little

progress will be made in improving East-West rela

tions during the next year.

tries of the world to support and cooperate with the

United states, however, and particularly requests the

USSR to "continue to place trust in the American peo=

ple who supported the late President's policies and

continue to pursue the policy of peace and coexistence."

The Tokyo stock exchange experienced heavy selling and

a sharp drop in prices when it reopened on 25 November,

and its directors reportedly expect a further drop in

prices because of uncertainty about the policies of the

Johnson administration.

President Azikiwe of Nigeria has struck almost the

only sour note yet reported, calling the assassination

of President Kennedy a setback in the struggle for

fundamental human rights which demonstrates

that some

Americans still bate black men. He queries

whether

the UN should remain in the United States and äsks

whether African nations should not now look elsewhere

Ior leadership in the cause of social justice.

The US

Embassy in Lagos notes that President Azikiwe is on

remote parts of Nigeria and probably has limited

access to reliable informatión.

In South Africa, the Rand. Daily Mail terms the

killing of Oswald "lynch law,"

implying that lynchings

are

not yet a thing of the past in the US.

a 6-

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