JFK: The Final Visit to Britain

Thousands of people pass it every day, unaware it even exists -

let alone what it commemorates.

For 50 years, this white stone plaque has marked the weekend

President John F Kennedy visited the Sussex village of Forest Row

for a political summit at the height of the Cold War.

The Sussex summit is almost like an Indian summer.

Here is John F Kennedy, unknown to him, of course, but his last visit

to Britain, to Europe. He's going to be assassinated a few months later.

I was the one person that had that key to the room that had

the hotline to the President in. It crossed my mind to open it

and go in and say, "Hi, there!"

I was very impressed with JFK when I got to be working with him.

Such a nice guy - he was very pleasant, would chat with you.

As far as Dallas was concerned,

there were some nasty people out there

that not only didn't like him - hated him.

REPORTER: President Jack Kennedy is an hour late arriving at Gatwick Airport.

He'd been making an unscheduled visit to

the grave of his sister Kathleen in Derbyshire.

Few things are unscheduled in this tightly packed,

heavily protected trip. Premier Harold Macmillan only has

24 hours of the President's time and a lot to talk about.

The nuclear test ban talks and the mixed NATO fleet are high on the list.

June 1963, and the world was a precarious place.

It was the height of the Cold War -

the USA and Soviet Union facing one another

in a nuclear arms race.

And it was in this tense atmosphere that President John F Kennedy

flew into Gatwick for talks at Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's

country estate, Birch Grove, just outside East Grinstead in Sussex.

Back to Birch Grove and those talks. The main achievement,

agreement to go all out for a test ban treaty with Khrushchev.

-GORDON BROWN:

-One was older, one was younger,

one in a sense enjoyed the playboy life and the other

was very demure,

but they understood that each other faced huge problems.

The big question, will agreement at Birch Grove lead to

agreement in Moscow?

President Kennedy's visit to Sussex came just a few days after

perhaps the most famous speech of his political career.

His historic address to hundreds of thousands in Berlin.

Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is...

Ich bin ein Berliner.

I think this is a major period of his life,

because he's given this speech in Berlin which many people

remember as one of the significant events of the Cold War,

defying the Soviet Union.

He goes to Ireland, which is a visit about his family heritage,

and then he comes to see his old friend Harold Macmillan.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's admiration for JFK's political legacy

resulted in him becoming a close friend of the Kennedy family.

And in doing so he was able to learn more about the special

relationship that had developed between the older and experienced

Harold Macmillan and younger and more dynamic John F Kennedy.

Macmillan, in particular, was determined to build

a friendship with Kennedy because he knew that Britain's

place in the world depended on a relationship with America,

that he had feared that - having being such a great friend of Eisenhower - he might lose.

Fast forward 50 years, and the starting point for our story

is here in Lewes, at the Sussex County Records Office.

# How many roads must a man walk down

# Before they call him a man... #

With the help of Brighton historian Paul Elgood,

we've found the original police files

detailing JFK's visit to Sussex in the summer of 1963.

Even half a century later there is still information that we're not

allowed to see. Sensitivities still run high, I suppose.

# The answer is blowin' in the wind. #

There were three jets before you even start, two American helicopters,

two Presidential cars alone,

100 members of the press.

Brighton's two largest hotels were completely booked out.

Every hotel within Sussex seemed to have been booked up.

It was absolutely enormous.

Two helicopters for the President went straight to Birch Grove

and landed within the estate.

Other helicopters were used to connect to Brighton

and they landed on the Hove lawns, the Brunswick lawns.

Birch Grove, the house, really acted like a stage for a play,

with all the comings and goings of an international summit.

So this is the map of the Birch Grove estate,

with the house marked on it,

the perimeter wall and access road, and the Red Lion public house, where the Secret Service were based.

Using the Sussex Police files as our starting point, we've decided

to track down some of the eyewitnesses

present during JFK's last visit to Britain.

This is interesting. This is the Sunday morning,

and at 8.15 it records that President Kennedy

left Birch Grove for Forest Row, which was when he went to church.

News JFK was attending Mass brought out hundreds of local onlookers.

This was an amazing moment for the visit.

It was the only opportunity the general public really had

to see Kennedy close up. He came out in his bubble-top car

and drove the two or so miles into Forest Row to go to Mass.

The vehicle they used was the same vehicle that Kennedy was

later in on November 22nd 1963 in Dallas, so they were very much seeing

the same scene that became a part of history a few months later.

Amongst the hundreds of local people gathered waiting to see

the President were Lillian Shawcross and Doreen Mahoney.

Both still live in Forest Row today.

You see the roofs of the houses, and because we'd got to get a better view

my mother and I stood on the side of the bath

and we could see right across here.

So you could look across and you saw the President arrive with

security men?

Yes, yes, and then, after the service, when they came out

he came up to the crowd here and we still got a very good view.

Did you shout or wave, or...

No, we were too interested in just watching.

No, I think we had a better view than a lot of the people up here.

He was in quite a big car, a dark car, and there was quite a lot of security.

People were out there trying to keep people back.

Everybody was very excited,

waving and shouting, and it was very nice.

Very nice indeed.

Exciting really, because we'd never had anybody that big round Forest Row.

He was a lovely man.

He was a lovely man. I think everybody loved him, really.

Two miles away from all the hustle and bustle

of the Presidential visit...

..police constable Peter Etheridge

was patrolling East Grinstead High Street.

He'd been left out of the Sussex Police operation to protect JFK

and was quietly a bit miffed.

But his luck was about to change.

Everyone else seemed to be rushing about and doing things

and I felt neglected, if you like.

I was on patrol in East Grinstead High Street and Ken Hutchinson,

a detective sergeant, drove up alongside - "Quick, jump in.

"Have you got a civvy jacket?"

Well, I hadn't got one, I'd got one at home, so he whipped me home

and got a civvy jacket. I had no idea what it was for.

Drove me down to Birch Grove, where Prime Minister Macmillan lived, and took me in.

All these people, all American,

all with lovely blue barathea uniforms with gold braid,

and he said, "This is Detective Sergeant..."

- elevating my rank, of course -

"Detective Sergeant Etheridge."

And, would you believe it, they all shook my hand.

"Pleased to meet you, sir, pleased to meet you," and,

"We're off to lunch - here's the key to the room with the hotline in."

And gave me this key,

and they were gone and I was left in Macmillan's house all on my own.

Now retired and living in Chichester, Peter's brief stint

in charge of security remains one of his career highs.

So I wandered all round Harold Macmillan's house, really.

I could hear voices in the distance -

I think that might have been in the kitchens. I can't remember now how I knew it was JFK's bedroom,

or to be his bedroom.

I think it must have had his name on door,

but I went in and sat on the bed and bounced up and down,

looked in Macmillan's... I didn't pry

but I'd got to do something with the time I was there. Looked in Macmillan's medicine cabinet

and he seemed to suffer from much the same ailments I now suffer from.

And...I suppose - I didn't look at my watch, but I suppose -

after, well, over an hour,

I heard voices, went downstairs and my moment of glory was over.

50 years on from JFK's Presidential visit,

and Birch Grove has been transformed back into the quintessential

Sussex estate it was in 1963.

Its new owners are Dr James Hay and his wife Fitri, and they've

spared no expense returning the house to its former glory.

I did understand that Harold Macmillan had actually

owned his own family home rather than go to Chequers for many

of his diplomatic meetings, so I was aware of that, but when we came

and saw Birch Grove I became really aware as to the significance of how many -

not just John F Kennedy - but incredibly important people,

Khrushchev, De Gaulle -

a whole string of very important people had come here.

The room we're sitting in here we have completely remodelled

but we've kept it, I think, in the traditional style Harold Macmillan

tried to achieve when he built the place in the early 1920s. Is that fair?

When I see the house, really, there is something about...

There's a feeling like so welcome, so homely, and I said, "Yes."

Dr Hay, do you sometimes wander around and feel the hand of history on your shoulder?

I think you can't escape it in here, you're very aware of it.

When we have guests that come here,

one of the questions they always ask is, "Which was the room that Kennedy slept in?"

If they stay with us, that's the room they all want to be in.

Having now completed their two-year renovation of Birch Grove,

the Hays are slowly collecting artefacts

from the Sussex Summit of 1963.

This purports to be from the nearby inn, the Red Lion,

which is maybe a quarter of a mile from here. Here we can see

the date is the 30th June 1963,

and we can see John F Kennedy's signature here,

and Washington, DC.

And below that is Harold Macmillan's signature.

But it's said that they never actually visited it

so why the signatures happen to be... But they are authentic signatures

within the visitors' book, so it gives us a good topic of conversation.

So the mystery could be, did John F Kennedy and Harold Macmillan nip out for pint in their local pub?

Seemingly Harold was known to favour this particular pub

and his local brew, so maybe the two of them sneaked out.

But exactly what was discussed by President John F Kennedy and Harold Macmillan,

50 years ago in these rooms behind me, remains a closely guarded secret.

The personal discussions between Harold Macmillan and John F Kennedy

we know very little about.

We don't know what was discussed behind closed doors.

Harold Macmillan hinted but didn't go into depth within his memoirs

and, tragically, JFK never had the opportunity to write his memoirs.

But now, half a century on, we've located someone

who WAS behind those closed doors at Birch Grove.

I was 20.

My grandfather and I were close.

Most Sundays we'd go for long walks through the woods together,

and he would discuss politics.

So I was fully aware

and I had been through the Cuban missile crisis with my grandfather.

The Earl of Stockton, Harold Macmillan's grandson,

lived at Birch Grove and witnessed all the comings

and goings of the Sussex Summit of 1963.

When he told us that Jack was coming,

I was terribly pleased cos I'd met him three times before.

So this visit was to be both a planning session

and a celebration.

And in the run-up to it,

there was talk that they should go Chequers

and the Queen even suggested she would...

Windsor Castle and all this kind of thing.

And I think it was my grandmother who said,

"No, Harold, he's coming to our home."

You've got to remember that these times politicians didn't meet

as they do now in summits like the G8 and G20.

They had to steal this time

from other things because there were no formal summits that

they're going to be at unless they create these events themselves.

And the fact it's in the house of Harold Macmillan shows that there is a very personal dimension to this.

So, a large number of Secret Service and Department of Defense and CIA appeared

and the whole place was searched from top to bottom

and it was clear that there wasn't

the accommodation for the Presidential backup, so they requisitioned

two hotels in Brighton.

A large number of helicopters appeared

and they ran a shuttle service from the cricket ground, and I managed

to hitch a ride and went down to Brighton and back in, er, Marine One,

as it's called, which was a very noisy, bumpy old Sikorsky,

once described to me like flying on a chandelier on a...

On a chandelier in an earthquake.

1963 was a pivotal year for Soviet-American relations.

With each superpower testing their nuclear arsenal in a show

of strength and intimidation, the stakes were sky-high.

There was a degree of almost father-son relationship between the two of them.

That was reinforced by the Cuban missile crisis

because my grandfather was speaking to Jack three or four times a day.

Mr Macmillan was home from Russia and the Cold War had

undoubtedly thawed a little as a result of his enterprising visit.

Jack had had no exposure to the Soviets of any kind.

He found Khrushchev very difficult to deal with.

But the Prime Minister's dignified calm in the face of a calculated rebuff

caused Khrushchev to think again.

And my grandfather said, "You've got to stand up to him,

"but you've got to be careful not to provide him with an excuse to do something stupid."

The Earl of Stockton witnessed first-hand

some of the less formal talks held that weekend at Birch Grove.

When they were talking about "the nuclear",

as my grandfather always called it, there was a man called

Sir John Cockcroft, who was the nuclear scientist.

John was a lovely, blunt Yorkshireman.

We were having a drink before lunch and my grandfather said,

"How many H Bombs would it take, Sir John, to take out the United Kingdom?"

He said, "Five, Prime Minister, but make it seven to be on the safe side."

History is made again in an historic room of the White House.

One month after Birch Grove, the Soviet Union, United States

and Britain all agreed to the Partial Test Ban Treaty,

bringing a halt to the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere.

Wherever President Kennedy went, he was surrounded by a security bubble.

In charge of the Secret Service operation for the Sussex Summit

was this man.

Here he is with JFK the previous year in Florida.

This photo shows him with Jackie Kennedy on a trip to India.

His name is David Grant.

As well as being in Sussex in 1963, David Grant was also the agent

tasked with arranging the advance security for

President John F Kennedy's fateful visit to Dallas four months later.

But could we trace Mr Grant 50 years on?

Luck, it seems, was on our side.

You see, we've managed to find out that former Secret Service agent

David Grant is still very much alive

and living just outside Washington, DC.

One of the things I remember about him was his humility.

He was not impressed with himself, really, he was

impressed a lot by people around him. And he was a bit shy in addition to

what the general concept is.

In fact, one of the things I remember about him, vividly,

is in a motorcade in an open car he was for ever kind of fixing his hair

a little bit. He'd do it every time and you could count on it.

He was a heck of a guy. Just a real gentleman and I think he was

one of our great presidents, or would have been had he survived.

So what was your role in setting up the Sussex Summit of 1963?

I was assigned to go there and represent the Secret Service

and the President and the White House, the United States,

to do preliminary advance work for the President's visit

to Birch Grove House and a meeting with Prime Minister Macmillan.

I remember Brighton, of course,

where we stayed, and I remember Birch Grove. Very good memories.

Very good memories.

I was particularly fond of the Prime Minister's wife, Lady Dorothy Macmillan,

who was very gracious and kind to me and helped me in every way she could.

I remember one of my dear friends saying, middle of the night,

and he was working, this little beautiful grey-haired lady

popped in with a big tray of food, sandwiches, and it was her.

Was it a success?

My impression that it was quite successful - they were very happy on British side

and I know they were happy on the American side.

EARL OF STOCKTON: He shook hands with us, and he said,

"I guess I'll be seeing you all in Washington soon."

You know...

And I think almost his last words to Harold were,

"We must do this again, and soon."

Um...

And he got into the helicopter and it dipped slightly

as it flew down the Wealden valley.

But, unknown to both men,

the Sussex Summit was to be the last time they would meet.

Two or three months later, Macmillan is leaving office.

After that, Kennedy is assassinated.

It is Kennedy's last visit to Europe and his last visit to Britain.

At 12.30pm on November 22nd 1963,

three gunshots ring out

from a sixth-floor window of a school book depository

overlooking the Presidential motorcade.

First reports are confusing.

A message came over the portable radio equipment that I had

that he had been hit - not shot, hit.

Within seconds, the Presidential limousine is accelerating

away to the nearest hospital.

As he was waving back, he was... The shot rang out

and he slumped down in his seat and his wife reached up toward him...

President Kennedy and Governor John Connally of Texas were shot today

from an ambush as President Kennedy's motorcade left the centre of Dallas...

I went to the Dallas hospital,

and Mrs Kennedy obviously was very upset.

But, yeah, that's when I first found out he had been mortally wounded.

I think, even though I was only 12 at the time,

I can remember, vividly, being in a room with my mother -

my father was out, my brothers were out -

and then the television broadcast

the news of the shooting

and then appeared to go back to normal programmes.

And then the news came of the death, and you were so aware -

and I remember thinking at the time this was a blow against democracy -

it was a shooting that would actually change the way people saw the world.

Did you mourn?

Yes. Not only because it was him,

but, remember, my grandfather retired by then from ill health.

But this consciousness that it was the end of an era

and what might have been.

Just as he had been in charge of the advance security

for the Sussex Summit, Secret Service agent David Grant

was the one who had also conducted the advance recce for Dallas.

On that fateful morning in Dallas in November '63,

why didn't you have the bubble top on the car?

Exposure. The President's staff wanted it off for exposure.

Er...

You can't argue with them unless you got a good argument.

After he had passed away...

..there was a problem with the Dallas people

who wanted to do an autopsy there.

Said by Texas law it had to be done there and we said,

"No, you are not going to touch him here."

So we pushed the Dallas people aside

and put the President in a hearse

that we had obtained and said that

any autopsies that are going to be done

are going to be done at the Naval Hospital in Bethesda.

Events unfolded swiftly.

While David can be seen here loading the President's body onto

a flight to Washington, across town his killer, Lee Harvey Oswald,

had fled the book depository, taking refuge in a cinema.

Recognised by a local police officer, Oswald shot him dead,

tried to escape, but was overpowered and arrested.

David caught up with Lee Harvey Oswald

at Dallas Police Headquarters.

Arrogant, sneer on his face.

As far as whether he admitted anything,

said anything, in my presence, he was asked...

Well, one, he was asked, "Why did you shoot the President?"

-Point blank, and he just shook his head.

-Said nothing?

-Said nothing.

And I mean they had him, you know,

Dallas had him for murder of the police officer.

He was going to go to the electric chair because of that but he admitted...

To my knowledge, he admitted nothing about killing the President.

It should never have had happened. A beautiful personality,

a man who was becoming... a great president, I do believe.

Anyone that was there has got a degree of guilt that they feel

but I don't feel responsible for him being assassinated.

I regret deeply him being assassinated

and wish that it had never happened,

and wish I could have done something to prevent it but I couldn't.

Back in Sussex at Birch Grove, when told of Kennedy's death,

Harold Macmillan, who had just resigned due to ill health,

made this entry in his diary.

"Alas, I was never to see my friend again.

"Before those leaves had turned and fallen, he was snatched by an assassin's bullet."

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