An Acre Forever American

Few Americans then living in Britain will forget how on Nov. 22, 1963, they were besieged with calls from English friends, anxious to console them for the loss of their President. Irish-descended John F. Kennedy seemed more like a scion of England to the English. It was because his father was ambassador there, his brother died defending the Channel, and his sister married an Englishman. It was partly because his wealth, aristocratic upbringing and Churchillian rhetoric seemed in the English political tradition. But mostly it was that as former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan said last week, "He seemed to embody the hopes of the New World that is struggling to emerge Phoenix-like from the ashes of the Old."

Macmillan was speaking to Jacquelin, Caroline, John Jr., Bobby and Teddy Kennedy who, with Britain's royal family, and Prime Minister Harold Wilson, were dedicating a memorial to the late President at Runnymede. "With all their hearts, my people shared his triumphs, grieved at his reverses and wept at his death," said Queen Elizabeth, as she gave to the U.S. an acre of British soil on which stood a simple, white stone monument, 10 ft. wide and 5 ft. high. Shaded by a hawthorne tree and overlooking the Thames, it bears a passage from Kennedy's inaugural address: "Let every nation know that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, or oppose any foe in order to assure the survival and success of liberty."

Britons were honoring Kennedy for more than mere kinship. Runnymede, the "birthplace of constitutional government," is where King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215. Harold Wilson eulogized Kennedy for his struggle on behalf of "human dignity and equality." Said Jackie, in a message of thanks: "My husband had the greatest affection for the British people and what you represent around the world. One day my children will realize what it means to have their father honored at Runnymede."

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