WORLD REACTION TO THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY 25 NOV 1963 (INFORMATION AS OF 0700 EST)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00429A001400010021-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 17, 2009
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: November 25, 1963
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429AO01400010021-8
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
:AWf0rMLPL---11
WORLD REACTION TO
THE ASSASSINATION OF
PRESIDENT KENNEDY
25 Nov 1963
(Information as of 0700 EST)
State Department review
completed
TOP SECRET
Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429AO01400010021-8
 Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429AO01400010021-8
Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429AO01400010021-8
 Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429A001400010021-8
WORLD REACTION TO THE ASSASSINATION
OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY
(Information as of 0700 EST)
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.
Both Castro
and Guevara have warned publicly that Cuba can expect
new attacks.
Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429A001400010021-8
 Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429AO01400010021-8
SINO-SOVIET ORBIT
Moscow continues to refrain from taking any
action`s with 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 ften hears that Johnson will, on the whole
continue Kennedy's policy." An Izvestia correspond-
dent in the US goes even further an 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 is hinting at Dallas police-FBI
collusion in the,-slaying 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-
tentionally confused" by "certain interested US
circles." The new shots fired at Dallas, one com-
mentator asserts, throw additional light on this
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
Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429AO01400010021-8
 Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429A001400010021-8
NOW/ VqMf
news agency even more bluntly attributed the Presi-
dent's assassination to rightists and called the
arrest and elimination of Oswald a "Fascist" cover-
up. 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." Peiping 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 Johnson is
known for reactionary tendencies" and that he "does
not favor the policy of peaceful coexistence as much
as Kennedy did." The broadcast said extremists
supporting the Cold War "will now be further en-
couraged."
Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429A001400010021-8
 Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429A001400010021-8
The West European press continues to pay its tri-
butes to President Kennedy. 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 chard 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 mu at-
eral nuclear force (MLF). The Sunday Telegraph says
the assassination has damaged Ua 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 o e shooting of Oswald regretted
that "there will always be doubt" now as to his guilt.
Finnish editorials speculating on the future, ex-
press coiifi-Tc ence in the continuity of US foreign policy.
While editorial estimates of President Johnson are mixed,
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.
Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429A001400010021-8
 Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429A001400010021-8
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, ferocious, and warlike monopolistic oli-
garchy--and with the most murderous potential--that the
history of humanity has ever known," Guevara said.
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 ennedy's assassina-
tion, at least six of them blaming "reactionary fac-
tions" and "right-wing monopolies."
Reporting from Chile, the Cuban Prensa Latina cor-
respondent cited the right-of-center iTI-ca Party news-
paper as linking Cuba with the assassination. The left-
ist newspapers, according to the same correspondent,
are blaming the radical right.
Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429A001400010021-8
 Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429A001400010021-8
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 tthat-little
progress will be made in improving East-West rela-
tions during the next year. It calls on other coun-
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 policv of peace and coexistence."
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 hate black men. He queries whether
the UN should remain in the United States and asks
whether African nations should not now look elsewhere
for leadership in the cause of social justice. The US
Embassy in Lagos notes that President Azikiwe is on
tour in remote parts of Nigeria and probably has limited
access to reliable information.
In South Africa, the Rand:Daily Mail terms the
killing of Oswal ynch law, implying that lynchings
are not yet a thing of the past in the US.
Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429A001400010021-8
 Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429AO01400010021-8
A Vl /J JJ I4.LLLI i %NO
r, yP .cF.rRF.T
Approved For Release 2009/03/17: CIA-RDP79T00429AO01400010021-8