One of the most tragically sudden outside broadcasts for which Richard had the minimum time to prepare was the state funeral of President Kennedy on 25 November 1963. That night he introduced Panorama via Telstar from Washington with simple and moving words as he described the sorrowing scenes:
The two children join their mother, little Caroline and little John, such poignant figures. And everybody about them in black, and they in their best coats of another colour….
President Lyndon Johnson has just arrived there. On his right-hand side is the Head of the American Secret Service, and above them the tall and splendid figure, in his robes and his mitre, of Cardinal Cushing. With him, Archbishop O’Boyle, and other members of the Roman Catholic Church here, to receive, with an arm about her shoulders, Mrs Kennedy, and give his hand to the two little children….
All the time Mrs Kennedy preserves this quiet silent dignity. Many people ask how much longer she can continue. And the family follow behind. The President, his face lined with sorrow and indeed with strain which he has shown in the three days since he took office, follows slowly behind into his place….
Those invited to attend the Mass are waiting in this, like all the Roman Catholic churches, highly decorated in a multitude of marbles and colours. President de Gaulle follows up the steep steps, Queen Frederika, King Baudouin, the Chancellor of Austria, the President and the Chancellor of West Germany – two by two – they enter from the brilliant sunshine, through the West door of the Cathedral, and inside to where the Low Pontifical Requiem begins, the choir chanting as they come in….
And thus, here in the United States, the official events of a sad and bitter day have come to an end. They leave behind, burning like the eternal flame that lit his graveside an hour ago, a thousand memories of the man lost to this nation and to the world….
If there is one thing of which every American citizen is quite certain, it is that he will never forget this day.
