50 Years Ago

[sr71plt]

Do you remember where you were when you heard the news 50 years ago today--or, if you weren't alive then, do you remember being told by your parents where they were and what they were doing?

I was in biology class. It was announced over the PA system, and we just all sat, stunned, until the buses were rustled up and we were sent home, to be glued to the TV for a good 10 days, not to be glued to the TV like that again until the Watergate trials coverage. (And I was watching TV live when Oswald was shot. Perhaps the first on-screen, live death anyone had seen to that point).

But then I remember where I was when Anwar Sadat, Indira Gandhi, and Yitzah Rabin were assassinated too. (But by then I was covering those events live as a journalist.)

 

[Dual_Triode]

I was in grade school. There was a hastily called assembly and all of the kiddies were ushered to the gymnasium. I remember seeing many of the teachers crying. They announced that the President had been assassinated. Then they sent everyone home early.

When I returned home from school, I found my mother in the living room watching the T.V. in tears. We just hugged without saying anything.

 

[_Lynn_]

Fifty years ago . . . I was seven. I don't remember even having a TV then.

 

[desertslave]

I was 3 and all I remember are the canon shots and the usual cartoons not being on.

Currently, I'm about sick to death of all the virtual canonization stuff going on. I'm actually looking forward to December, just so the subject changes to something else.

Rabin and Bhuto's murders have affected me much more deeply.

 

[LadyVer]

I was in third grade in a parochial school. The announcement came over the loud speaker. To say that everyone was shocked is an understatement. I will never forget that day, or the era. I've read many books on JFK since that time. Whatever his personal faults were, I believe to this day that he really cared about all Americans, rich, poor, black, white, etc etc. If anyone wants to consider this naive, I don't care.

I know this: my world changed that day. For the assassination to have happened in my own state is still strange to me. What is also strange is that a state that was democratic, where I went to the voting booth with my mother when she voted for Kennedy, has now become Republican, where the fringe Tea Party rules. Apparently, to be considered a true patriot these days, and a Texan, you have to own a gun and mouth, "I'm a Christian." I'm a Christian. I'm also a liberal, and a feminist. Hey, Tea Party, your days are numbered, you jackasses.

 

[StrangeLife]

I was divided on the issue.

Half of me was in my moms ovaries and the other half was in my dads balls....

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

9th grade drafting class.

 

[Handley_Page]

I was on an Air Force base, learning a lot more about Radio than the world.
The news shot round word-of-mouth as we were going to lunch. The majority of reactions I recall were "Oh Sh#t; that's going to screw up a lot."
It did.

 

[PayDay]

I was divided on the issue.

Half of me was in my moms ovaries and the other half was in my dads balls....

Right? I was -18 3/4

 

[Stella_Omega]

We were turned out of school, told the news, and sent home.

Five or six years later, my parents befriended a guy who, it turned out, was the focus of one of Jim Garrison's conspiracy theories.

To us kids he was our faintly wacky, acid-burned uncle who lay on the floor with us and our jigsaw puzzles or our homework... and also the reason we sometimes heard those odd clicks and whirrs over the phone.

 

[hoo_hoo_boo]

Do you remember where you were when you heard the news 50 years ago today--or, if you weren't alive then, do you remember being told by your parents where they were and what they were doing?

I was in biology class. It was announced over the PA system, and we just all sat, stunned, until the buses were rustled up and we were sent home, to be glued to the TV for a good 10 days, not to be glued to the TV like that again until the Watergate trials coverage. (And I was watching TV live when Oswald was shot. Perhaps the first on-screen, live death anyone had seen to that point).

But then I remember where I was when Anwar Sadat, Indira Gandhi, and Yitzah Rabin were assassinated too. (But by then I was covering those events live as a journalist.)

I was in an fb Holden going from Morgan to Adelaide. As I remember there was no problem with my behaviour after- the shock was palpable.

I remember being in the car when news of Churchill's death was first announced.

What gives me the shivers most though is the memory of a count down to the execution of a man in one of OUR prisons. I was in the car again for that and had many night mares after. It was incredibly graphic for one so young, such as me, with a very skinny neck. Radios hadn't been in cars long then. I've been opposed to execution ever since. Fortunately we are sufficiently civilised to no longer execute people here. I've also opposed guns since the death of JFK. We fortunately have gun control here.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I was on a grassy knoll, then I wasn't.

 

[mikoli5763]

Don't remember

that day because I was six years old, but I do remember watching the funeral procession and Jon-Jon saluting as the carriage with the casket went by. I still get emotional when I think of that image.

 

[oggbashan]

I was in a Defence establishment. The first official reaction was to get out the War Book, as we had done for the Cuban Missile Crisis. We expected a shooting war to start.

My role was as then - to watch for the falling bombs.

 

[patientlee]

I wasn't even a twinkle in my father's eye. My parents were in junior high, but they both talk about it being the first moment that they remember where they were when...

My "moment" was the Challenger explosion. I was in junior high. When I got on the bus, a kid said, "Hey. Did you know the Challenger blew up?" I laughed because he sounded like it was a joke. "No, really. It blew up. Everybody died." Not a joke.

 

[PennLady]

My mom told me that she was in high school when the found out, and everyone was stunned. I don't think they were sent home or anything, but I'm betting not much got done the rest of the day.

 

[d_shane]

I wasn't even a twinkle in my father's eye. My parents were in junior high, but they both talk about it being the first moment that they remember where they were when...

My "moment" was the Challenger explosion. I was in junior high. When I got on the bus, a kid said, "Hey. Did you know the Challenger blew up?" I laughed because he sounded like it was a joke. "No, really. It blew up. Everybody died." Not a joke.

My first "moment" was also the Challenger explosion. Being from Houston and seeing the Challenger from time to time, it hit me pretty hard.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I was two. It was something I heard about when I was a little older. I do remember the RFK assassination. I was in first grade at the time. I heard about it the next day on the playground before school.

 

[Seanathon]

I wasn't born at the time, but I remember staying at my Great Aunt's in the early eighties and finding a chest in her attic where she had saved all of the newspapers from the day Kennedy was killed. I read them all, which made her very happy that she had saved them.

Not to compare the two events, but I do remember the day Lennon was assassinated (and when Reagan was shot).

 

[TxRad]

I was 17 and at work when I heard about it.

As a history note: No, I don't know anything about a grassy knoll. I've never been there and don't plan on being there. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[JKendallDane]

I was in second grade and sitting in one of the swings on the playground during lunch when a friend came over screaming that the President had been shot. The teachers rounded us all up and sent us to the cafeteria where they had rolled a television in.

When it was announced by Cronkite that he had died, we were given the choice of staying and watching the news unfold further together, or going home.

Never have believed that Oswald acted completely alone though. The best book I ever read about who all was really involved, was called "Appointment in Dallas" written by the head of security for Barry Goldwater during his run for the oval office. A truly chilling conspiracy theory.

 

[lovecraft68]

5 years before I was born, so no memories for me.

Been watching a lot of the specials and it made me wonder what it would be like today?

Say Obama was shot, I am curious as to how it would go over. I have this gloomy impression that most kids and teens would barely acknowledge it, they would be "Oh, wow" and go right back to texting their friends.

I'm not sure the majority of adults would be much better. Sure many would see it as the event that it is, but how many would be "Oh, too bad, now back to TMZ!"

The position of President has lost a lot of reverence or perhaps its society that has.

I'm also always struck by the thought that someone saw fit to shoot Kennedy, another took a shot at Regan(the country was doing fairly well under him) but no one has gone after the former and current farce of a leader?

My personal theory under the current regime is he was smart enough to have such an absolute dunce as a VP that no one would ever want to see him take charge. There was a rumor at one point the big O was going to have Hilary run as VP.

Good non move there, if she was VP I think someone would have him in the cross hairs.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

5 years before I was born, so no memories for me.

Been watching a lot of the specials and it made me wonder what it would be like today?

Say Obama was shot, I am curious as to how it would go over. I have this gloomy impression that most kids and teens would barely acknowledge it, they would be "Oh, wow" and go right back to texting their friends.

I'm not sure the majority of adults would be much better. Sure many would see it as the event that it is, but how many would be "Oh, too bad, now back to TMZ!"

The position of President has lost a lot of reverence or perhaps its society that has.

I'm also always struck by the thought that someone saw fit to shoot Kennedy, another took a shot at Regan(the country was doing fairly well under him) but no one has gone after the former and current farce of a leader?

My personal theory under the current regime is he was smart enough to have such an absolute dunce as a VP that no one would ever want to see him take charge. There was a rumor at one point the big O was going to have Hilary run as VP.

Good non move there, if she was VP I think someone would have him in the cross hairs.

Reagan was shot 69 days into his presidency. The economy was doing no better at that point than in the months preceding his inauguration.

Also, his shooting was not in any way politically motivated. The shooter, John Hinckley, was obsessed with Jodie Foster. He shot Reagan in an attempt to impress her.

 

[lovecraft68]

Reagan was shot 69 days into his presidency. The economy was doing no better at that point than in the months preceding his inauguration.

Also, his shooting was not in any way politically motivated. The shooter, John Hinckley, was obsessed with Jodie Foster. He shot Reagan in an attempt to impress her.

I was 12 when Regan was shot, don;t mean to be hazy on the details.

Point is no one seems interested in offing the ones that do the most harm only the ones that can do some good.

And as for Regan? he was hailed a hero before he even got in because the Iranians turned the hostages over before he got into office because they knew he was going to blow them off the face of the earth.

Now we kiss middle east ass and apologize when they kill our ambassadors

 

[annanova]

My parents were both in high school. I've heard from Mom that there was such a sense of disbelief that even after seeing Cronkite remove his glasses on the news, it still didn't seem real. She and her sister were glued to the tv that weekend and were further stunned when Oswald was shot before their eyes.

Interestingly, during one of her visits to my house, she and I were watching the episode of Mad Men that dealt with the aftermath of the assassination. She was impressed by the level of detail that went into it and by how well the younger actors were able to express the feelings.