1.5 Jack Kennedy was killed before he had, as president, achieved very much. He is to be remembered as the American president whose PR men tried with most success to depict in a quasi-royal role. The chief items on his presidential balance-sheet will be reckoned his election in 1960, which showed that a Catholic could make it; his acceptance of the intelligence chiefs' disastrous plan to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs; his facing down of Khrushchev in the 1962 Cuban missiles affair, which took the world to the very brink of nuclear war, but then led to a welcome, if temporary, improvement in Soviet-American relations; his launching of a high-minded reform programme within the United States; the nuclear test-ban treaty; and his intensification of the fatal American commitment in Vietnam, which showed that the Cold War resonances of his inaugural address were not mere window- dressing. The Kennedy myth derives from the man's charm, good looks, vigour and intelligence. This Kennedy, according to true believers, would have repaired his mistakes. No-one can say whether this is true. But a legend will survive; young hope cut down by an assassin's bullets, a legend reinforced by the very similar death of Jack's younger brother Robert (the president's closest adviser) in 1968. This too must be reckoned in the balance @ 2.3 Senator Kennedy, from Massachusetts, is hot favourite for the Presidential nomination. His toughest opponent is Senator Johnson, from Texas. Johnson's mature age and experience are in his favour, but to select him, a Southern Conservative, would be almost like the Labour Party choosing Mr. Macmillan as their leader. Two other candidates in the running are Senator Symington (Missouri) and Mr. Adlai Stevenson. Their hopes rest on a deadlock between Kennedy and Johnson. Kennedy is expected to lack only about 100 to 150 of the 761 votes needed for victory on the first ballot and as the most likely winner, his candid views on Britain and the world at large are presented here. He also discusses, in this tape-recorded conversation, his relationship to his controversial father who, as the United States Ambassador to Britain, wrote to President Roosevelt in September, 1939, that England didn't have a "Chinaman's chance" against Germany and Russia but would go down fighting. BRANDON: What do you think are the basic qualities a President must have? KENNEDY: Well, I think a President certainly must have character, judgment, vigour, intellectual curiosity, a sense of history, and a strong sense of the future. Many other qualities would be advantageous but I would say these are the essentials. BRANDON: It has been said that your youth and Roman Catholic religion are against you. KENNEDY: Yes. Both of those factors were regarded as strong on the debit side; but they were not wholly debit. Youth - I've come on to the political scene at a time when the leadership is old. The President is old, his health has been affected, his leadership is not wholly successful, and therefore I think there is a desire to turn a new page and start with a newer leadership, fresher, and we hope more vigorous. My religion is a matter of great political concern and has made me a controversial figure. In that sense I was evidently born into controversy. But I don't know whether it hasn't been advantageous to be controversial in one way or another. Religion is still a key issue in American politics, but only one among many. The whole fight for religious freedom, the whole struggle of the Reformation, the whole character of the United States - all these things make the prospect of a Catholic President a matter of serious concern to a good many Americans. The majority of these Americans want certain questions answered, and when they're answered in a responsible way I think they are then prepared to move on to the other serious problems facing the United States. Some will never accept any answer. BRANDON: It is often said, about the father-son relationship, that sons either rebel against their father or are a chip off the old block. How do you see your relationship to your father? KENNEDY: I would say that the great majority of father- son relationships really don't fall into either category. In my particular case there are many disagreements on policy and have been for a great many years. My father has a wholly different view of what the role of the United States ought to be in the world from the one I've had in the fourteen years I've been in Congress. And on many domestic matters he has substantial differences of opinion. We disagree. I'm not going to attempt to convert him, and he doesn't attempt to convert me. It is therefore outside our personal relationship, which is very satisfactory. BRANDON: If you look in a broad sweep at American- Russian relations, say, for the next ten years, what do you foresee? KENNEDY: I envisage a continuing competitive struggle with periods of relative warmth and periods of bitter cold. I don't imagine there will be a sharp enough change within the Soviet Union itself, or within China, in the next decade to cause a complete reversal of present policies. The tempo may change; the goals will not. I say this with some degree of hesitation because the world has changed in so many ways in the last ten years, certainly in the last fifteen years. But I would judge that the competitive struggle will continue and will be affected in its vigour by the actions that we take. BRANDON: In your Algerian speech in July, 1957, you used a phrase: "The Western house must be swept clean of its own lingering imperialism." KENNEDY: Well, I think an impressive job has been done on that. There are still areas where the Western house isn't clean, and there are people who are compelled to maintain their ties to Western Europe unwillingly. But great progress has been made in the last 15 years in freeing Africa from the remnants of Western imperialism. I don't think there's any doubt at all that Africa is going to be free in another decade. The big problem is what will happen in those free countries, whether they will be able to maintain a free society. Are they going to be able to solve the staggering problems that they face? As people hope more and more that life will be more generous to them, the great problem is how to share the benefits of life more generously. That's going to be a great problem for the African leaders and for us who have a stake in free Africa. @ 2.4 The Democrats have chosen a new young knight, Mr John F. Kennedy, Senator for Massachusetts, to fight for the White House in November; and the Vice-President Nixon as his Republican adversary - there can be no shadow of doubt about that - the United States have the most youthful presidential contest in history. The daunting thought is that the Republicans have also to go through the predestined motions of their contention at Chicago before the real election campaign can get under way. It all takes so long. Another tumultuous demonstration for Mr. Adlai Stevenson last night, a warming tribute to a great man, made no impression on the mathematical precision with which Mr. Kennedy and his managers, having combed virtually every state since the last election, had aquired their votes. One ballot in the surging convention hall was simple. Wyoming, the last state in the roll call, cast all its 15 votes for Mr. Kennedy to put him " over the top" and one or two hurried switches brought his total of 806 against the 409 votes given to his strongest opponent, Senator Lyndon Johnson (Texas) who, solidly backed by the southern states, achieved all he promised without having a ghost of a chance of encroaching sufficiently on the Kennedy strongholds to produce the elements of deadlock. Poor Mr. Stevenson polled 79.5, a few votes fewer than Senator Symington (Missouri), the only other active candidate, whoce forces jumped in quickly to move unanimous nomination and thus advance his prospects in today's balloting for Mr Kennedy's running mate. Whether unanimity was complete is doubtful. There was little opportunity from the seething floor of getting the attention of the chairman, Governor Leroy Collins, of Florida, who interpreted the rules with a draconian hand; and though there could be no question about Mr. Kennedy's triumph the whole progress of the convention seemed to give some point to Mr. Truman's objections - he was absent for the first time in nearly 30 years - that everything had been prearranged. One might ask how matters could have been otherwise in this turbulent ocean in which the chairman was always pounding for the order that he rarely obtained as the states of nominated candidates staged their traditional demonstrations with bands, emblems and little forests of placards - in some instances this time with outside professional help enlisted by the more wealthy political machines. However, some southern delegations complained that they would not have voted for Mr Kenndy in their resentment over the civil rights issue on which the party has taken the strongest position ever adopted on a Democratic platform. As usual this produced the fiercest debate of the week and some southern states are still threatening to withhold their votes in the electoral college with the unlikely intention of forcing the election into the House of Representatives. The votes of all four candidates had been predicted this time with almost the accuracy of a calculation by electronic computer and none of the pressures exerted by the Johnson men or the tide of emotion flowing for Mr. Stevenson could upset the vote which, as one of his team remarked, had long since been signed, sealed, and delivered to Mr. Kennedy. He becomes the first Roman Catholic since Al Smith in 1928 to run for the presidency, a factor which most observers expect to count in November. As the largest Roman Catholic minorities are in the heavily populated states on which an election often turns, it might not necessarily turn against him. With untold millions of other Americans he watched the roll call of the states on television and, cool and poised in his taut way, he came down to the cheering arena towards midnight to exhort the party to unite behind his onward march to the White House. @ 2.5 One of the closest elections in American history has taken Senator John Kennedy into the White House on a Democratic wave that swept back, with a few casualties, to retain control of both Houses of Congress. His victory speech today was characteristic of his pungent style. "To all Americans", he declared, "I say that the next four years are going to be difficult and challenging years for us all. The election may have been a close one, but I think that there is general agreement by all of our citizens that a supreme national effort will be needed in the years ahead to move this country safely through the 1960s. "I ask your help in this effort and I can assure you that every degree of mind and spirit that I possess will be devoted to the long-range interests of the United States and to the cause of freedom around the world." "DRAMATIC" NAMES Then he looked at his wife standing beside him and said they would now prepare for a "new Administration and a new baby". He also indicated that he had sent a message to President Eisenhower expressing the hope of the whole nation that his long experience and service would still be available in years to come. He told reporters that he would not have anything to say about Cabinet appointments until Thanksgiving Day (November 24) or later, but he expected almost immediately to announce his arrangements for liaison with the present Administration pending his inauguration in January. Mr. Kennedy has always refused to speculate about the choice of his Secretary of State in spite of counsels within the party that his election might be advanced by naming Mr. Adlai Stevenson. It has recently seemed improbable that he will receive the portfolio and less is heard of Mr. Chester Bowles, his chief adviser on foreign policy, or Mr. David Bruce as possible candidates; Senator Fulbright (Arkansas), chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, has been in the picture but Mr. Kennedy is credited with the idea of making some "dramatic" appointments to impress world opinion. Mr. Kennedy's talk with reporters today was at his Cape Cod home. The secret service had moved in to guard the President-elect and for the first time in the campaign he appeared in public with his father, Mr. Joseph Kennedy. A MAN OF PURPOSE Mr. Kennedy, who at 43 is in the prime of his vigour and intellect, is the first Roman Catholic and the youngest aspirant to be elected to the Presidency, and there had been a look of intense purpose about an intense campaign. It had been plotted and planned for years. Vice-President Nixon, a politician of perhaps more subtle skill, will nevertheless always wonder how he lost. It was well after dawn today before Mr. Kennedy gained a sufficient lead to take California, his opponent's home state, and so surpass the requisite majority of 269 votes in the Electoral College. Political observers who had shied from the idea of a Kennedy landslide can hardly have bargained for a night of suspense like this one, which, with Mr. Kennedy stalled for hours a few votes short of the magic number, hung on close-locked contests in Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota - that is, before the Democratic tide in California began to rise. NECK AND NECK If Mr. Kennedy's electoral majority never seemed to be in real danger, the popular vote, paradoxically, was running neck and neck. In the small hours he was drawing away to a lead of nearly two million; then he began to fall back until, with most of the returns in, he was ahead by less than 400,000 in a count of more than 65 million votes. Late tonight the popular vote was: - Kennedy 33,000,259 (50.2 per cent) Nixon 32,679,260 (49.8 per cent) Mr. Nixon, showing solid strength in the north-west, the farm country, and the mountains - much of it traditional Republican territory - actually stood to win more states than Mr. Kennedy but in these sparsely populated areas the harvest in electoral votes was meagre compared with Mr. Kennedy's rich prizes in the great Democratic bastions of the eastern seaboard. His probable total of 331 electoral votes to 192 tells much of the story. MR. NIXON CONCEDES The Vice-President could read the portents. There were cries of dismay and frantic chants of "We want Nixon" heard all over the country to the tune of "Goodnight, Ladies" when, at 3.15 a.m., he emerged at his headquarters in Los Angeles to say that if the current trend continued Mr. Kennedy was the victor - and he urged the nation to close ranks behind him. The morning brought realization. Mr. Nixon formally conceded the election; and President Eisenhower, who was "not happy" with the outcome, sent his congratulations to Mr. Kennedy and called a Cabinet meeting to arrange the orderly transition of government. @ 3.2 President Kennedy refused to answer questions on Cuba, at his press conference today, but said rather bitterly that he was sure plenty of information, much of it inaccurate, would soon be available. A number of versions of American involvement in this week's unsuccessful rebel landings have indeed already been circulated: together they provide an account that subsequent disclosures will probably generally support. That there was a monumental miscalculation is clear, but President Kennedy inherited a situation in which the United States was deeply involved even to the extent of providing air cover, sea transport, and logistical support. Under the previous Administration a detailed plan had been evolved for the full support of landing some thousands of insurgents. Preparations had gone far beyond the planning stage when Mr. Kennedy took office. All the available evidence shows that from the beginning the President was opposed to active American participation. Opinions were divided not only between the State Department, the Defence Department, and the Central Intelligence Agency, but also within them. Both Mr. Dean Rusk, the Secretary of State, and Mr. Chester Bowles, the Under-Secretary, opposed the operation; Mr. Adlai Stevenson, leader of the American delegation to the United Nations, insisted that United States forces should not be used. HOPE OF SUPPORT There was no disposition to believe that the insurgents could immediately overthrow Dr. Castro's regime in Cuba or that there would be wholesale military and militia desortions. Instead, it was believed that the insurgents could attract enough popular support to capture a viable bridgehead where the revolutionary council could establish it. Recognition by some Latin- American states and later by the United States would make possible overt supply and recruitment. Advice, mounted against American support which would have made large-scale landings possible, and earlier this month it was decided that it would not be given. Meanwhile the insurgent forces had moved out of Florida to Caribbean marshalling areas and complete American control was at least compromised. Reports of the arrival of jet aircraft from Czechoslovakia and destroyers or frigates from the Soviet Union, and the critical condition of guerrillas operating in Cuba, persuaded the insurgent command - and presumably their unofficial American backers - that an immediate attempt had to be made before the Castro regime was equipped to stop it. According to the New York Times, President Kennedy, anxious for insurgent morale, agreed to make available ships and other support for small-scale landings. BOMBING SIGNAL As previously reported, the intention was only to supply groups that had already been landed. Only a few hundred men were involved in the first landings, though it would appear that they were reinforced. Probably about 1,000 men were put ashore in two or three days. According to one insurgent leader, the signal for the landings was the bombing of Cuban air bases over the weekend. This was arranged before President Kennedy took office. No evidence is available that he ordered the attack or that he was a party to it. The situation got out of hand not only on the beaches but elsewhere. The American press promoted the idea that a full-scale invasion was about to take place. They must have put both Mr. Khrushchev and Dr. Castro on the alert. Their enthusiasm ran ahead of the Administration and in ignoring it President Kennedy was half-way to making his miscalculation. @ 3.3 President Kennedy, in a nation-wide televised speech on the Mississippi segregation crisis, said tonight that no man, no matter how prominent or powerful, could defy the law of the land. The court orders for desegregation of Mississippi State University were beginning to be carried out. "Mr. James Meredith is now in residence on the campus of the University of Mississippi," he said. He said this had been accomplished so far without the use of troops, adding that he hoped the faculty and students at the university could now return to their regular pursuits with respect for the laws of the United States. Before Mr. Kennedy went on the air, Governor Ross Barnett had virtually admitted defeat in his struggle to prevent Meredith from enrolling in the university. Shortly before Mr. Kennedy started speaking students were reported to be rioting on the campus at Oxford. Marshals retaliated with tear gas. Mr. Kennedy said the American nation was founded on the principle that observance of the law safeguards liberty and defiance is the road to tyranny. He said the law includes court rulings as well as legislative enactments. Americans are free to disagree with the law but not to disobey it. OTHER METHODS TRIED The President traced the history of Meredith's attempts to get into the university, through a series of court efforts. He told of the decision of the Court of Appeals, naming the justices, all of them from the South, and said they made clear that enforcement of this order is necessary. "My obligation as President was inescapable", he said. "I accepted." Mr. Kennedy said the object is to achieve the registration of Meredith without violence. "I deeply regret the steps that were taken, but all other methods, including conciliation, had been tried", he said. OVERNIGHT ORDERS During the evening, President Kennedy requested a two-and-a-half hour postponement of his planned address. Soon after this, federal marshals were admitted to the university campus and surrounded the administration building. The campus was itself surrounded by state patrol men who refused entry to all those not holding authorizing passes and there was no immediate explanation for the admittance of the marshals. There were rumours of compromise but no official confirmation could be had The university's director of development, Mr. Clegg, told your Correspondent he could not explain the admission of federal marshals to the university campus. At the University of Mississippi - "Ole Miss" - the faculty has been sorely tried by the crisis. Most of its teaching staff would like to let the world know that they favour Mr. Meredith's admission, but loyalty to Mr. John Williams, the Chancellor, who has urged strict neutrality upon them, has so far prevented any action. However, the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors has asked the Chancellor to meet it tomorrow afternoon to explain his position. @ 3.4 President Kennedy's eight-hour stay in Berlin was expected from the start to be the emotional climax of his German visit, but no one had expected the frenzy of jubilation which gripped the city today. It was a triumphal progress, the like of which Berlin had not seen since the days of Hitler, a local correspondent remarked. Half the population was on the streets to greet the President and went almost mad with joy when he appeared. At the end of this unforgettable day, one's ears are still ringing with the endless roar of cheering, and one's eyes filled with the sight of smiling, laughing, waving masses. Relations between Germany and the United States can never be quite the same after it. President Kennedy rose to the occasion. He seemed completely confident and relaxed, displaying his outstanding gifts as a popular tribune in a way he has not done since he arrived. His words, packed with unusual punch, whipped up the crowd to new heights of enthusiasm. "BURDENS APPRECIATED" The significant part of the whole German visit, however, and in particular of today in Berlin, was not so much the speeches as the fact that the President obviously got a feeling for the Germans which he had not had before. Herr Brandt, the chief burgomaster, summed it up in a phrase when he told the crowd before Schoneberg Rathaus at noon: "I have a wish to express to you, the wish that in town you may feel the heart of the German people beat also for you." The crowd roared assent. At Tegel airfield, in the French sector, this evening, when he took farewell of Dr. Adenauer and Herr Brandt, who had ridden through 30 miles of streets with him and shared in his triumph, he said that the American people were sometimes doubtful whether the tremendous burdens they had shouldered for the free world in 18 years were really appreciated. After this visit to Germany and the tremendous welcome he had been given he was sure they were. PROUDEST BOAST The broad square before Schoneberg Rathaus has witnessed many sad and joyful events, but it has never seen anything like today's demonstration for President Kennedy. It was packed with 120,000 very emotional yet disciplined Berliners long before the President was due to speak. When he appeared on the tall podium, an ovation of several minutes greeted him. "Two thousand years ago", he declared, "the proudest boast in the world was 'civis Romanus sum'. To-day, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is 'Ich bin ein Berliner'." Many times he was interrupted in the middle of a phrase by crescendo cheers and rhythmic shouts of "Kennedy, Kennedy". His tribute to General Clay, who was at his side, "and will come again if ever needed", was enthusiastically endorsed. Even the Chancellor, who has never really been a popular figure here, got a warm hand and shouts of "Konni, Konni", in the general euphoria. "There are many people in the world who really do not understand what is the great issue between the free world and communism. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere that we can work with the communists. Let them come to Berlin. VITALITY AND HOPE "Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect; but we never had to put up a wall to keep our people in. I know of no town, no city which has been besieged for 18 years and still lives with the vitality and the force and the hope and determination of this city of west Berlin. While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstrations of the failures of the communist system, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is an offence not only against history but against humanity." What was true of Berlin was true of Germany. The President continued:-- "Real lasting peace in Europe can never be assured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, and that is to make a free choice. In 18 years of peace and good faith this generation of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their family and nation in lasting peace with the goodwill of all people. "When the day finally comes when this city will be joined as one in this great continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful gathering, the people of west Berlin can take great satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front line for almost two decades. "All free men, wherever they may live are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a freeman. I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner'." President Kennedy had reserved for his speech to the students of the Free University this afternoon a more detailed exposition of his views on coexistence. General Marshall, in his famous speech at Harvard, made a proposal which extended to "all of Europe". His offer of help and friendship, President Kennedy emphasized, had been rejected. But it was not too early to think once again in terms of all of Europe. WINDS OF CHANGE "For the winds of change are blowing across the iron curtain as well as in the rest of the world. The people of eastern Europe, even after 18 years of oppression, are not immune to change. The truth never dies. "The desire for liberty can never be fully suppressed. The people of the Soviet Union...feel the force of historical evolution. The harsh precepts of Stalinism are officially recognized as bankrupt. So history itself runs against Marxist dogma not towards it. In short, these dogmatic police states are an anachronism. "The new Europe of the west, dynamic, diverse and democratic must exert an ever increasing attraction on the peoples to the east. And when the possibilities of reconciliation appear, we in the west will make it clear that we are not hostile to any people or system. "There will be wounds to be healed and suspicions to be eased on both sides. Fair and effective agreements to end the arms race must be reached. These changes may not come tomorrow but our efforts must continue undiminished." @ 4.1 Senator Robert (Bobby) Kennedy, brother of President Kennedy who was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, died yesterday in Los Angeles after being shot by a gunman of Jordanian origin. He was 42. His brother was cut down before he was able to show in office whether he was the leader, in the line of the "great presidents" who could guide the country into a new era; Robert Kennedy, who clearly intended to carry on and complete, if possible, his brother's aims and promise, was destroyed even before he had the chance to win the presidency, an ambition which according to those who knew him most intimately he developed immediately after his brother's death. He was, at the time of his death, the recognized head of the Kennedy family, a position which now devolves upon Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy. His career has been snapped off just at the moment when he would regard it as having reached its supremely critical moment, though it was a moment which he had not expected to arrive until the presidential elections in 1972. He must now be mainly judged by his work for his brother, and his term of office as Federal Attorney General: his hopes are sufficiently attested by his consistent manoeuvres between 1964, when he resigned office, and his declaration of his candidacy for the nomination on March 16, 1968, to place himself in a position to bring the Kennedy magnetism and popular following irresistibly into play when the electorate tired of party hacks and machine politics, and was ready to accept again his brother's cry at his inauguration in 1961 "the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans - born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage." This open and perhaps arrogant assumption that he was the heir apparent to his brother produced bitter hostility in many sections of American life, so much so that many people feared for his life long before the shots rang out in Los Angeles, though nobody could have foreseen what particular set of motives would inspire the killer. But against those who feared the almost royal, or perhaps tarquinian, presumptions of the Kennedy family, were ranged the millions who saw in Robert Kennedy's leadership, whether it came in the late sixties or early seventies, the only hope of resolving the frightening racial and social tensions which are straining the fabric of the republic. For them the "Kennedy dream" had been temporarily usurped by the assassination; they could argue that President Johnson could never have entered the White House unless the Kennedys had opened the way for him; and they traced the true line of the Democratic evolution through Robert Kennedy - as was well shown in the joyful flocking fo the former White House aides to his banner when he finally unfurled it. His enemies dilated upon his ruthlessness and his visible craving for political power, but these very qualities were to his supporters not merely the positively lovable hallmarks of the Kennedy clan, which had to succeed in everything to which it set its hand, but also the lineaments of the man of action to whose brilliant future they confided their loyalties. To them, his naked ambition was controlled by principles of thought, patriotism and compassion which more than favourably contrasted with the motives of opponents who accused him of pure opportunism. SYMBOL FOR YOUTH After his brother's death he indeed became a symbol and even spokesman for the revolt of the younger generation against the establishment, and even of the less militant Negro radicals against the white power structure; he was able to claim wryly when he entered the campaign in the primaries that he was a candidate equally detested by large scale business and organized labour. Of his capacity to offend there can be no question: but few politicians could have worried less about it. "Somebody", he remarked to a critic during the presidential campaign in 1960, "has got to be able to say No." But in sedulously building up the image of his brother - whose speeches he frequently quoted in his campaign this year - as the "good king" whose short reign was a foretaste of good times coming, he opened himself to the accusation that he was "another and a very different brand" of Kennedy. His world was largely confined to politics, and indeed he once said that the political life with all its nerveracking torments and genuine physical risk, was the only one worth living. But he lived it for a purpose, and he learned as he lived it. There may be something equivocal in his statement when he won his Senate seat in New York "we started something in 1960, and the vote today is an overwhelming mandate to continue", but in fact the way in which he placed himself at the head of youth, and developed his championship for the underprivileged and the oppressed minorities, Negro, Puerto Rican, Mexican, was the result of genuine personal conviction, reinforced by sharp observation on his visit to Asia, and not part of a scheme for winning the presidency. This continuing experience defined what he never articulated, his vision of the America he felt destined to bring into being in accordance with the country's true character and dedication. Catholic theology and Bostonian puritanism fused in that vision. His creed was that of the gospel of work, learned in the hard Kennedy family Victorian regimen of competitiveness and self-help - work hard, play hard, rise early, drive oneself to the limit of capability and endurance, accept any new challenge. He had not the natural feeling for culture which graced the Kennedy White House era in the person and style of his sister- in-law, Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy, but he set himself to educate his sensibilities with the same doggedness that he brought to a political task. It is in a pilgrimage of self-discovery by a simple but not insensitive - and socially indeed very shy - man that his career is best interpreted. Its influence on American politics may seem limited. He held, with distinction, an important Cabinet office at a critical time, and history has yet to appraise fully the impact of his interventions in foreign and defence policy between 1961 and 1964, but few will deny that he was in or out of office a channel for change, a barometer of the political temperature. He may link his brother's achievement with Kennedy interventions to come. His brother stuck the Kennedy note when he said that he had to take up where his brother Joe, killed in the war, left off-"and if anything happens to me, Bobby will take over, and if anything happens to him, it will be Teddy". He publicly predicted that a Negro could become president of the United States in 30 years - a daring thing to say then-and he resigned from Washington's exclusive Metropolitan club when it refused to admit a Negro, Mr. George Weaver, when he became assistant Secretary of State. His brother's assassination seemed for a time to have deprived him of purpose in politics, besides shattering his emotional world. He is remembered for his fine bearing at his brother's state funeral and his tenderness at that time to his bereaved sister-in-law. @ 4.2 "Everyone liked Ike" so it was said. Eisenhower was, in fact, a curious combination, seemingly all warmth and outgoingness, yet cold, and often shockingly ungenerous. He owed his rise to General Marshall, who picked Eisenhower as he picked so many others he had spotted over the previous decade. In November 1942 Eisenhower was a general commanding the Anglo- American forces invading North Africa. In late 1943 he was appointed to command the Allied Forces invading western Europe; in this role he defeated the German armies in the west. He was the obvious choice for supreme commander of the North Atlantic Treaty forces in Europe in 1951 when the Americans decided to back the treaty with a major military commitment to the defence of Europe. This in turn swept him into the presidency in 1952. In 1956 he was re-elected by a landslide. In domestic politics he aimed at the conservative dream: low taxes and minimal federal government intervention. In international politics he kept the United States ahead of the Soviet Union by the development of the nuclear deterrent, and much low level intervention, often by clandestine means. In his farewell speech in 1961 he denounced the 'military- industrial complex', which he said was slipping out of control. His organisation presidency is now seen as among the most successful in this century, but he had little to say to the young, and his conservative ideals did not long survive him @ 4.3 LBJ will be remembered for his initials and for the sorrows that befell the United States during his presidency. This harsh but unavoidable verdict results from the greatest American political tragedy since the fall of Woodrow Wilson. Johnson came to the highest office trailing a record of brilliant success as Congressman, Senator and campaigner and deputy to JF Kennedy. He became president when Kennedy was shot in 1963. At first it seemed that as president, Johnson would eclipse his earlier achievements: he pushed through a vast reforming legislative programme, including aid for the elderly with food and medical care. But foreign affairs (which he never properly understood) proved his bane. He got bogged down inextricably in the foolish, hated Vietnamese War and, against his election pledges, intensified it. The political and economic costs of the war stopped him tackling the problems of poverty and racism, with which he was otherwise superbly equipped to deal. Riot became endemic in America. Johnson was forced to renounce all hope of re-election, and saw his chosen successor repudiated by the people in favour of Richard Nixon. The monument to his great talents is inscribed with the names of the dead in the war abroad and the insurrections at home @ 4.4 John Edgar Hoover was even more closely identified with America's Federal Bureau of Investigation than was Franklin D Roosevelt with the New Deal. In 1921 Hoover became assistant director and in 1924 director of the FBI, itself only founded 16 years earlier. The FBI, which he reformed on assuming control, grew with him for nearly 50 years. Its jurisdiction was limited to Federal crimes, but this was greatly extended to include such offences as bank robbery, kidnapping, espionage and sabotage. It established a national finger-print system, improved the collection ofcrime statistics, and encouraged higher standards of police investigation. In a report on communism which he wrote in 1919, Hoover struck, perhaps for the first time, the most significant keynote of his life: "These doctrines threaten the happiness of the community, the safety of every individual, and the continuance of every home and fireside. They would destroy the peace of the country and thrust it into a condition of anarchy and lawlessness and immorality that passes imagination." In 1958 he wrote: "My conclusions of 1919 remain the same. Communism is the major menace of our time." @ 5.3 Lee Harvey Oswald, the 24-year-old former Marine accused of the assassination of President Kennedy, was shot yesterday as he was about to be transferred from the police headquarters at Dallas, Texas, to the county gaol. A man identified as Jack Ruby, owner of a Dallas strip-tease club, was taken into custody. Oswald died in the Parkland Hospital - the hospital to which Mr. Kennedy was taken on Friday - and Ruby was formally charged with murder. Astonished Americans saw the shooting on television. It occurred while, in Washington, representatives of countries all over the world were assembling for today's state funeral service for Mr. Kennedy at St. Matthew's Cathedral. Mr. Kennedy is to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, where the American unknown warriors lie. SINGLE BULLET FIRED FROM PISTOL Television watchers today saw Oswald being brought through the basement of the Dallas police headquarters towards an armoured car which was to take him to the Dallas county gaol. They saw a man step forward from the crowd in the basement, raise a pistol, and fire a single shot at Oswald, who was walking through lines of policemen and sheriffs, Oswald fell to the floor, grasping his stomach, and a confused scuffle broke out. The police at once covered him with a cloth. Viewers then saw him being wheeled along on a stretcher and lifted into an ambulance. At Parkland Hospital he was put into a room only 10 feet from the one in which Mr. Kennedy died. His condition was described as very serious. Then, a few minutes later, his heart stopped beating. It had been kept going until then by massage and an electronic pace-maker. A dozen doctors worked on him. He was stated to have died from severe injury to the internal organs and loss of blood. HEAVY GUARD The doctors said there had never been much hope of saving his life. "I suppose he was conscious for a few minutes after he was shot", one of them said. No explanation was given by the police of how Ruby - otherwise known as Rubinstein - gained access to the police headquarters. One officer said there were 40 police officers guarding the building. Several telephone calls threatening Oswald's life had been received during the night and the precautions taken had been intensified. The police said that Ruby came to Dallas 10 years ago from Chicago. At the time that the shot was fired Oswald was surrounded by policemen, secret service agents, reporters, and television cameras. Three lawyers are said to have offered to defend Ruby. One of them said: "Ruby is a very fine man, a great admirer of President Kennedy and police officers." Meanwhile a dispute appeared to be arising today between the Texan and Federal authorities as to whether the case of the assassination of Mr. Kennedy could now be closed. The Dallas police claimed to have built a cast-iron case against Oswald and they announced that, with his death, the case was closed; but the Department of Justice has sent the head of its criminal division to Dallas to study the situation there. HELD IN CUSTODY Ruby was formally charged with murder today before Mr. Pierce McBride, a justice of the peace, and was held in custody without bail. The police have alleged that Ruby admitted shooting Oswald because of a deep sense of feeling for Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy. They said he declared that he wanted to spare her the ordeal of the trial of the man accused of killing her husband. They said that Ruby told them: "I didn't want to be a hero - I did it for Jacqueline Kennedy". Eyewitnesses said that Ruby got out of a car at police headquarters, quietly slipped into the crowd, and then jumped over a three-foot railing separating reporters from Oswald and the police, and ran about six feet before firing. He was immediately subdued by the large number of police in the area. CHEERING CROWD A crowd of about 200 cheered as Oswald clutched his stomach when shot at point-blank range and fell sprawling to the ground. "Somebody got Oswald. Hooray", one bystander shouted. Other people, told about the shooting as they waited for Oswald's arrival at the county goal, shouted: "They ought to give the guy a medal". Mr. J. Price, chief administrator at the Parkland Hospital, said attendants had been warned of the possibility of an attempt on Oswald's life. Mr. Steven Ladregan, his assistant, said the hospital was on "full alert" for this reason when the wounded Oswald was brought in. Special precautions had been taken ever since President Kennedy's death, he said. @ 5.4 About 90,000 pages on the assassination of John F Kennedy are to be released by the Clinton administration today. By doing so it hopes to put paid to the many conspiracy theories surrounding the death of the former president. The documents are not likely to produce a "smoking gun" since previous investigating commissions all had access to them. Because of the sheer scale of the information involved however, the documents may contain some previously undiscovered information about whether Lee Harvey Oswald, Kennedy's killer, has links to CIA agents. In addition to the CIA files, the National Archives will release several thousand other documents, including those from the Warren Commission, which concluded in 1964 that Oswald acted alone. A new investigative book on Kennedy's assassination is also being published this week, which supports the Warren Commission's view. The investigation, one of the most comprehensive private enquiries launched on this issue, makes use of advanced computer techniques, such as computer simulation of an amateur film that showed the assassination. Gerald Posner, the author, claims to be able to prove that three bullets, rather than four were fired at the president, and that they all came from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Posner's book, "Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK", also supports the single-bullet theory, which holds that Kennedy and John Connally, the former Texas governor, were hit by one bullet. Posner claims to provide "incontrovertible medical, ballistic and scientific evidence" that Oswald's second shot was a single bullet. The author who has previously investigated the whereabouts of Josef Mengele, the Nazi concentration camp doctor, also attempts to disprove the notion that Oswald had links with the American government, or that he was a KGB agent. Marina Oswald Porter, 52, Oswald's widow appealed to those attending a conference on the assassination in Sudbury, Ontario, on Saturday to keep questioning the case. She said she did not believe Oswald was the assassin.