THE NATIONS " HOW SORROWFUL BAD " IN HALTING ENGLISH, A MOSLEM 
TELEGRAPH OPERATOR IN THE MIDDLE EAST TAPPED OUT ON THE TELEX 
: " IS IT CORRECT KENNEDY KILLED PLS ? " WHEN 
NEW YORK REPLIED, " YES, AN HOUR AGO, " THE MOSLEM 
SIGNED OFF, " HOW SORROWFUL BAD . " AS THE SHADOW 
OF THE NEWS SPREAD ACROSS THE WORLD, IT WAS RECEIVED EVERYWHERE 
WITH STUNNED DISBELIEF . THE EMPRESS OF IRAN BROKE INTO TEARS, 
AS DID THE PRESIDENT OF TANGANYIKA, AND COUNTLESS ANONYMOUS MEN AND 
WOMEN . ALONG ROME'S VIA VENETO GRIEF SOUNDED OPERATIC . " 
E MORTO ! " PEOPLE CALLED TO ONE ANOTHER, AND AT 
A COCKTAIL PARTY THE GUESTS PUT DOWN THEIR GLASSES AND BEGAN 
TO RECITE THE LORD'S PRAYER . WHEREVER MONARCHS STILL RULED IN 
THE UNITED KINGDOM, IN JORDAN FORMAL COURT MOURNING WAS PROCLAIMED . 
HARDLY A NATION IN THE WORLD FAILED TO ORDER THE RITES 
OF TOLLING BELLS AND LOWERED FLAGS . THEATERS AND SPORTS ARENAS 
CLOSED DOWN ON INDIVIDUAL IMPULSE . WITH THE NEWS OF KENNEDY'S 
DEATH, A VIENNESE ICE SHOW HALTED IN MID-PERFORMANCE ; IN BELGIUM, 
A SIX-DAY BICYCLE RACE WAS INTERRUPTED ; IN DISTANT NEPAL, THE 
CEREMONIAL OPENING OF A LEPROSARIUM WAS POSTPONED . EVERYWHERE, BARS, CAFES 
AND RESTAURANTS EMPTIED LONG BEFORE CLOSING TIME . STRANGERS SPOKE TO 
EACH OTHER IN SHORT, SIMPLE PHRASES " POOR JACKIE, " OR 
" HOW AWFUL, " OR " IT CAN'T BE TRUE . 
" THE PHONES OF AMERICANS ABROAD NEVER CEASED RINGING, AS FOREIGN 
FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES OR EVEN TOTAL STRANGERS CALLED TO OFFER SYMPATHY 
. THE STREETS IN FRONT OF U.S . EMBASSIES WERE JAMMED 
WITH MOURNERS WHO STOOD IN LINE FOR HOURS TO WRITE THEIR 
NAMES IN BOOKS OF CONDOLENCE . SOME BROUGHT FLOWERS, BUT MANY 
SEARCHED OUT AN AMERICAN DIPLOMAT MERELY TO SHAKE HIS HAND . 
MONSTROUS ACT . ONE BY ONE THE STATESMEN JOINED THE CHORUS 
OF COMMISERATION . AS BIG BEN TOLLED EVERY MINUTE FOR ONE 
HOUR (A GESTURE NORMALLY RESERVED FOR DEATHS IN THE ROYAL FAMILY), 
PRIME MINISTER SIR ALEC DOUGLAS-HOME SAID : " THERE ARE TIMES 
WHEN THE MIND AND THE HEART STAND STILL . " FROM 
SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL CAME A STATEMENT : " THIS MONSTROUS ACT 
HAS TAKEN FROM US A GREAT STATESMAN AND A WISE AND 
VALIANT MAN . " THE WORDS STILL SEEMED TO CARRY THE 
OLD, SIBILANT INDIGNATION OF THE ANCIENT LION . LIBERIA'S PRESIDENT WILLIAM 
TUBMAN CABLED : " THE URN OF GRIEF HAS BEEN OPENED 
AND IS BEING FILLED WITH THE TEARS OF FRIENDS THE WORLD 
OVER . " ISRAEL'S DAVID BEN-GURION ONLY ASKED : " WHY, 
WHY ? " ALMOST BY REFLEX, PEOPLE RUSHED TO DISCLAIM EVEN 
REMOTE COMPLICITY IN THE MURDER . " THANK GOD IT WASN'T 
A NEGRO, " SAID A NEGRO IN TORONTO . MANY OTHERS 
INSISTED ON READING INTO THE EVENT THEIR OWN POLITICAL PASSIONS . 
STATESMEN IN AFRICA, ASIA AND ELSEWHERE INSISTED THAT THE DEED MUST 
HAVE BEEN DONE BY A RACIST, AND THAT KENNEDY WAS A 
MARTYR LIKE LINCOLN OR GANDHI . AND NEHRU COULD NOT RESIST 
REMARKING THAT THE MURDER GAVE EVIDENCE OF " DARK CORNERS IN 
THE U.S., AND THIS GREAT TRAGEDY IS A SLAP FOR THE 
CONCEPT OF DEMOCRACY . " GOLDEN BOY . THE MOURNING VOICES 
FIRST OF ALL WERE FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 
REGARDLESS OF HIS NAME OR IDENTITY . FOR IN A SENSE 
FAR BEYOND DAILY FOREIGN POLICY SQUABBLES, HE IS TO MUCH OF 
THE WORLD THE PROTECTOR OF THE WEAK, THE BENEFACTOR OF THE 
POOR . BECAUSE OF THE CHANGES IN THE COLD WAR CLIMATE 
THAT OCCURRED DURING HIS ADMINISTRATION, MILLIONS, EVEN ON THE ENEMY SIDE, 
MOURNED JOHN KENNEDY AS A MAN OF PEACE . BUT ABOVE 
ALL THEY MOURNED HIM FOR HIS PERSON . PERHAPS EVEN MORE 
THAN HIS OWN COUNTRYMEN, OTHER PEOPLES SAW IN HIM THE EMBODIMENT 
OF AMERICAN VIRTUES YOUTH, STRENGTH, INFORMALITY, GOOD LOOKS, THE IDEALISTIC BELIEF 
THAT ALL PROBLEMS CAN EVENTUALLY BE SOLVED . A SOUTHERN RHODESIAN 
PAPER CALLED HIM " THE GOLDEN BOY, " AND COMMON MARKET 
PRESIDENT WALTER HALLSTEIN SAID THAT KENNEDY " PERSONIFIED THE MOST BEAUTIFUL 
QUALITIES OF HIS PEOPLE . " POSSIBLY MORE THAN ANY OTHER 
PRESIDENT IN U.S . HISTORY, HE HAD SET OUT TO CHARM 
THE WORLD, AND HE HAD SUCCEEDED IN CONVINCING MANY A NATION 
THAT IT WAS HIS SPECIAL FAVORITE . IT WAS THE SAME 
IN ASIA . IN THAILAND, AUTHORITIES SENT SOUND TRUCKS INTO THE 
VILLAGES TO SPREAD THE MOURNFUL NEWS THAT PRATHANATHIBODI (PRESIDENT) KENNEDY WAS 
DEAD . IN SAIGON, PEOPLE WERE MORE SHOCKED BY KENNEDY'S DEATH 
THAN THEY HAD BEEN BY THAT OF PRESIDENT DIEM ; AND 
BUDDHISTS HELD SPECIAL MEMORIAL SERVICES AND PRAYERS . IN JAPAN, TECHNICIANS 
WERE UP BEFORE DAWN TO RECEIVE THE HISTORIC FIRST TRANS-PACIFIC TV 
BROADCAST FROM THE U.S., WHICH WAS TO HAVE INCLUDED A PERSONAL 
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT . INSTEAD, THE VOICE OF A JAPANESE 
NEWSMAN IN MANHATTAN REPORTED THE NEWS OF KENNEDY'S DEATH . IN 
ALL OF ASIA, RED CHINA WAS ALMOST ALONE IN ITS DETERMINED 
LACK OF SYMPATHY . PEKING RADIO CARRIED THE KENNEDY STORY WITHOUT 
COMMENT . THE HONG KONG COMMUNIST NEW EVENING POST SNEERED THAT 
KENNEDY HAD " USED A TWO-FACED POLICY TO PROMOTE AN IMPERIALIST 
WAR COURSE . " VANISHING BAITERS . EVEN CUBA PROVED LESS 
SURLY THAN RED CHINA . FIDEL CASTRO DEPLORED THE MURDER, SAID 
HE HAD NO REASON TO WISH FOR KENNEDY'S DEATH, BUT CONCEDED 
THAT " PERHAPS " CUBA MIGHT HAVE HAD MOTIVES " TO 
FEEL LIKE IT " AND VAGUELY SUGGESTED THAT " REACTIONARIES " 
WERE REALLY TO BLAME . ELSEWHERE IN LATIN AMERICA, ALL THE 
YANKEE BAITING SEEMED TO DISAPPEAR FOR THE MOMENT . A SENSE 
OF PESSIMISM ABOUT THE FUTURE GRIPPED BRAZIL, AND THE DOWNTOWN STREETS 
OF RIO DE JANEIRO WERE FILLED WITH PEOPLE WHOSE TIGHT FACES, 
GLAZED EYES AND UNACCUSTOMED SILENCE REVEALED THEIR FEELINGS . IN THE 
FAVELAS (SHANTYTOWNS) ON RIO'S OUTSKIRTS, SAMBA BANDS CALLED OFF THEIR REHEARSALS 
FOR THE CARNIVAL, AND PRESIDENT JOAO GOULART SAID ABOUT KENNEDY : 
" I KNEEL BEFORE HIS MEMORY . " THE MOST ELOQUENT 
LATIN AMERICAN VOICES WERE THOSE HEARD IN THE STREET . A 
JANITOR IN QUITO, WHO HAD BEEN LISTENING TO THE NEWS ON 
RADIO, REFUSED TO READ HIS NEWSPAPER BECAUSE " IT'S TOO PAINFUL 
TO GO OVER SUCH A SAD STORY AGAIN . " DESPITE 
LATER REVELATIONS ABOUT THE CRIME, MOST LATIN AMERICANS PERSISTED IN BELIEVING 
THAT KENNEDY HAD BEEN SLAIN BECAUSE OF HIS SUPPORT FOR NEGRO 
RIGHTS . IN BUENOS AIRES, WOMEN CRIED, " QUE BARBARIDAD ! 
" , AND OLD MEN MADE SAD, FUTILE GESTURES WITH THEIR 
HANDS . SAID ONE GRIEVING COLOMBIAN : " IT SEEMS AS 
THOUGH ALL THE PRESIDENTS IN ALL THE LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES HAVE 
DIED . " TO THE NORTH, THROUGHOUT CANADA, THEATERS AND ARENAS 
CLOSED THEIR DOORS, AND LARGE CITIES BECAME HUSHED WITH A CURIOUS 
QUIET . PRIME MINISTER LESTER PEARSON WAS JUST ABOUT TO OPEN 
A SESSION OF PARLIAMENT WHEN HE WAS HANDED A NOTE . 
HE THREW IT ON THE TOP OF HIS DESK, SLUMPED BACK 
IN HIS SEAT AND SEEMED AT A LOSS FOR WORDS . 
HIS VOICE BROKE AS HE SAID : " THE WORLD CAN 
ILL AFFORD AT THIS TIME IN OUR HISTORY TO LOSE A 
MAN OF HIS COURAGE . " HISTORY'S MORE PRECISE APPRAISALS WOULD 
COME LATER, AS WOULD THE RESUMPTION OF ALL THE WORLD'S USUAL 
ENMITIES . BUT FOR A BRIEF TIME AT LEAST, THE U.N 
. GENERAL ASSEMBLY, STANDING IN SILENCE, WAS IN A MOOD TO 
AGREE WITH U.S . AMBASSADOR ADLAI STEVENSON, WHO SAID : " 
ALL OF US WHO KNEW HIM WILL BEAR THE GRIEF OF 
HIS DEATH TO THE DAY OF OURS . / 