28/10/2013 Inside Out South East

edition of Inside Out because this year is the

edition of Inside Out because this Kennedy. For any of you old enough

to remember, the I-know-where-I-was moments. When

news of the death corner of Sussex, here at Birch

Grove, an elderly, Thousands of us pass it every day,

presidential visit JFK made Thousands of us 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 is 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 go in and say, hi there! I was very impressed with JFK when I

worked with him. He was such a nice guy. He was very pleasant.

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

had been making an unscheduled visit to the grave of his sister,

Kathleen, in Derbyshire. Few things are unscheduled in this tightly

packed trip. Harold Macmillan has only 24 hours of the President's

time and a lot to talk about. Nuclear test ban talks and NATO 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 primers to 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. One was older, one

was younger. One, in a sense, enjoyed the playboy life. The other

was very demure. But they understood that each other faced huge problems.

The big question, with 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. This is a major period of his life

because he has given the 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, 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. 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. Fast forward 50 years and the

starting point for our story is here in Lewes, at the Sussex County

records office. With the help of Brighton historian,

Paul Elgood, we found the original police files detailing JFK's visit

to Sussex, in the summer of 1963. These are the JFK files that the

Sussex police authority have cleared for you to look at today. Thank you

very much indeed. Thank you. Even half a century later, there is still

information that we are not allowed to see, sensitivities still run high

I suppose. There were three jets before you

even start. There were two American helicopters. They were two

presidential cars. 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 and these went straight to Birch Grove and landed

within the estate. Other helicopters were used to connect to Brighton.

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. Using the files as the starting

point, we decided to strike down some of the eyewitnesses present

during JFK's last visit to Britain. This is interesting. This is the

Sunday morning and at 8:15am it records that Pres Kennedy left Birch

Grove for Forest Row which was when he went to church. News JFK was

attending Mass in a tiny Sussex village brought out hundreds of

local onlookers. This was an amazing moment for the visit. It was the

only opportunity that 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 November 22, 1963 in Dallas. They

were very much seeing the same scene that became a part of history a few

months later. Among the hundreds of local people gathered waiting to see

the president were Lilian Shawcross and Doreen Mahoney. Both still live

in Forest Row today. You can see the roofs of houses and because we

wanted to get a better view, my mother and I stood on the side of

the path and we could see right across here. So you could look

across and you saw the president arrive? Yes. With security men? Yes,

yes. And after the service when they came out, he came up to the crowd

and we still got a very good view. Did you shout? No, no, we were too

interested in just watching. I think we had a better view than a lot of

other people appear. 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. It was very

nice, very nice indeed. Exciting really because we had never had that

big around 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 had 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 just neglected, if

you like. I was on patrol in East Grinstead high Street. Ken

Hutchinson, who was the Detective Sgt, drove up along side me. Quick,

jump in! Have you got a civvie jacket? I've got one at home. He

took me home and I got one. I had no idea what it was for. He drove me

down to Birch Grove where Prime Minister Macmillan lived. All these

people, all American, all with lovely blue uniforms on with lots of

gold braid. He said, this is Detective Sgt - elevating my rack of

course - Detective Sgt Etheridge and would you believe it, they all shook

my hand. Pleased to meet you, sir. Pleased to meet you! We are off to

lunch. Here is the key to the room with the hotline in. They gave me

this key. They were gone. I was left in Prime Minister 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

wondered all around Macmillan's house really. I could hear voices in

the distance. I think that might have been in the kitchens. I cannot

remember now how I knew that it was JFK's bedroom or to be his bedroom,

but I think it must have had his name on the door. I know I went in

and sat on the bed and bounced it up and down. I looked in Macmillan's...

I didn't pry but I've got to do something with the time I was there.

I looked in Macmillan's medicine cabinet. He seemed to suffer from

much the same elements that I now suffer from! I suppose after 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 in to the

quintessential Sussex estate it was in 1963. Its new owners are Dr James

Hay and his wife. 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. I was aware of that. But

when we came and saw Birch Grove, I became really aware as to the

significance of how many incredibly important people came here. The room

we are sitting in we have completely remodelled but we've kept it in the

traditional style that Harold Macmillan tried to achieve for he

built the place in the early 1920s. Yes. When I saw the house, there is

something about it. There is a feeling, so welcoming, so homely. I

said, yeah. Dr Hay, do you sometimes wonder around and feel the hand of

history on your shoulder? You can't escape it here. You are 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

is the room they all want to be in. Having now completed their two-year

renovation of Birch Grove, the Hays are slowly collecting artefacts that

reflect its unique place in political history. 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 that date is 30 June 1963. We can see

John F Kennedy's signature here and Washington DC. Below that is Harold

Macmillan's signature. It is said they never visited it but they are

authentic signatures in the visitor book. It gives us good topic of

conversation. So the mystery could be, did John F Kennedy and Harold

Macmillan go for a pint in the 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 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 with his memoirs and tragically, JFK never had the

opportunity to write his memoirs. But now, half a century on, we have

located someone who WAS behind those closed doors at Birch Grove.

I was 20. My grandfather and I were close.

Most Sundays, we would go for a long walk 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 coming and goings of the Sussex Summit of

1963. When he told us that Jack was

coming, I was terribly pleased, because I had 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 to Chequers and the Queen even suggested that

they could use Windsor Castle and all this kind of thing.

But I think it was my grandmother who said, "No, Harold, he is coming

to our home." You have got to remember that, in

these times, politicians did not meet, as they do now, in summits

like the G8 and G20. They have to steal this time from

other things, because there are no formal summits that they are going

to be at, unless they create these events themselves.

And the fact that it is in the house of Harold Macmillan shows there is a

very personal dimension to this. A large number of Secret Service,

Department of Defence and CIA appeared and the whole place was

searched from top to bottom. It was clear there was not the

accommodation for the presidential back-up, 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. I went down to Brighton and back in

Marine One, as it is called. It was a very loud and bumpy old Sikorsky.

It was once described to me as "flying on a chandelier in an

earthquake". 1963 was a pivotal year for United

States-Soviet 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 a

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.

NEWSREADER: Mr McMillan 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 really difficult to deal with.

NEWSREADER: But the Prime Minister's dignified calm, in the face of a

calculated rebuff, caused Khrushchev to think again.

My grandfather said, "You have got to stand up to him, but you have got

to be careful not to provide him with an excuse not to do something

stupid." Wherever President Kennedy went, he was surrounded by a

security bubble. In charge of the security operation

for the Sussex Summit was this man. Here he is the previous year, with

JFK, in Chicago. This photograph shows him on with

Jackie Kennedy on a trip to India. His name is David Grant.

Glen, if you could talk to David Grant and capture this for history,

it would be so important. He is one of the last remaining

eyewitness accounts to what actually took place here that weekend.

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

tasked with arranging the advanced security for 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 have 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,

rather than the general concept of him.

One of the things I remember vividly about him, in a motorcade in an open

car, he was forever, kind of, fixing his hair a little bit.

He would do it every time. You could count on it.

He was a heck of a guy. Just a real gentleman.

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 of the

United States, to do preliminary advanced work for the President's

visit to Birch Grove and the meeting with Prime Minister Macmillan.

I remember Brighton, of course, where we stayed. And I remember

Birch Grove House. 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, he was working in the middle of the

night and this beautiful grey-haired lady popped in with a full tray of

sandwiches. It was her. Was it a success?

My impression was that it was quite successful. They were very happy on

the British side and I know they were happy on the American side.

He shook hands with us. And he said, "I guess I'll be seeing you all in

Washington soon." And I think almost his last words to Harold where, "We

must do this again, and soon." And he got into the helicopter and it

dipped slightly as it flew away down the valley.

But unknown to both men, the Sussex Summit would 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 22, 1963, three gunshots ring out from the

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. TEARFUL BYSTANDER: As he was waving

back, the shot rang out and he slumped down in the seat and his

wife reached up towards him... NEWSREADER: ..was shot today from an

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

I went to the Dallas hospital. Mrs Kennedy, obviously, was very

upset. But, yeah, that was the first time I

found out that 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 and 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 his death and you were so aware, I remember

thinking at the time, "This is so 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. Remember, my grandfather had retired

by then, through ill health, but this consciousness that this was the

end of an era - and what might have been?

Just as he had been in charge of the advanced security for the Sussex

Summit, Secret Service agent David Grant was also the one who had also

conducted the advance recce for Dallas.

On that fateful morning in Dallas in November 1963, why did you not have

the bubble top on the car? Exposure. The president and his

staff wanted it off for exposure. You cannot argue with him, unless

you have got a good argument. After he had passed away, there was

a problem with the Dallas people, who wanted to do an autopsy there.

They said, by Texas law, it had to be done there, but 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 we said, any autopsy that is going to be done, they are going to

do it at the naval hospital? Events unfolded swiftly. David can

be seen here helping load the President's body onto a flight for

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. A sneer on his face. As far as whether he admitted

anything, or said anything, in my presence, he was asked, "Why did you

shoot the President?" And he just shook his head.

Said nothing? Said nothing. I mean, they had him.

Dallas had him for the murder of the police officer.

He was going to go to the electric chair for that. But to my knowledge,

he admitted nothing about killing the President.

This should never have happened. A beautiful personality, a man who was

becoming a great president, I do believe.

Anyone that was there has a degree of guilt that they feel, but I do

not feel responsible for him being assassinated.

I regret deeply him being assassinated.

I wish it had never happened and I wish I could have done something to

prevent it, but I couldn't. BUGLER PLAYS "LAST

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." Glen Campbell, with that special report.

If you want any more information about tonight's show, you can visit

our Kent or Sussex website and you can of course, watch the programme

again on the BBC iPlayer. And this is the last programme in

the current series. We are back in January. Thanks for watching and see

you in the New