IZVESTIYA Editorial
Moscow TASS International Service in English 1740 GMT 25 November 1963--L
(Excerpts) Moscow--In an editorial headlined "America's Hours of Sorrow" the 25 November IZVESTIYA writes:
Twenty-five November is the day of national mourning in
the United States of America. American people are paying their last homage to
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Tributes to the memory of the outstanding
American statesman whose life ended so tragically are also being paid by the
peoples and governments of many countries of the world who sent their highly
placed representatives to Washington. First Deputy Chairman of the Council of
Ministers of the USSR A.T. Mikoyan will represent our country at John Kennedy's
funeral.
Kennedy's sober approach to the situation in the contemporary
world and the first mild attempts to blunt the acuteness of the most complicated
U.S. domestic problem, the racial problem, made the rabid American reactionaries
hate President Kennedy. The lunatics prepared to hazard the fate of the American
people. The madmen, the profascist racists, rose up in arms against Kennedy. Is
it not possible that they made the bullet to be fired at the President's head?
Is it not possible that they are now covering up the traces of the revolting
crime?
President Kennedy's death has undoubtedly aggravated the
situation in the United States. The struggle between the sober-minded Americans
and the forces of rabid reactionaries who will not miss the chance of using the
situation for their own ends will be very tense. It will determine the course of
the election campaign, too.
Concerning the peace-loving public beyond the boundaries of
the United States, it would like to believe that President Kennedy's departure
from life in the prime of his powers will impel his political heirs to follow
his finest traditions for the sake of peace and for the sake of all mankind. The
new President of the United States solemnly pledged himself to continue carrying
out the cause of his predecessor. The Soviet people and their government will
always positively respond to anything that helps to ease international tension.
Common efforts for the benefit of this cause would be the finest monument to
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy who died in tragic circumstances.