What were you doing when.....

[wsanto]

I was still a couple of years from conception. I don't remember much.

[L Verge]

I was 21 and a junior at Ariz St Univ and in an International Politics class. People were milling around in the hall so we shut the door and continued the class. We found out about the assassination when the class let out.

No, I am not coming back on the forum. This is a special topic.

Oh, Bill! You are such a tease...

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I was still a couple of years from conception. I don't remember much.

Ask your mom; I bet she remembers the day quite well.

[wsanto]

I was still a couple of years from conception. I don't remember much.

Ask your mom; I bet she remembers the day quite well.

Oh yes, she certainly does. She and my father were good catholic Democrats and they loved the Kennedys almost more than the Beatles back then. They were devastated.

They converted to the Republican party with Ronald Reagan.

One of my brother's earliest memories was when he was two years old. He remembers seeing the riderless black horse in the funeral with empty riding boots pointing backwards.

[Gene C]

They converted to the Republican party with Ronald Reagan.

At least they have some happy political memories

[Wesley Harris]

I was in first grade and heard about it during recess from a student in another class that had learned it from a parent but our class didn't know. I can't remember much about how I felt but living about four hours from Dallas, we often drove within sight of the School Book Depository on trips. I remember the very uneasy feeling every time I looked up at that window as we passed on the highway. I still have a very faded early-Polaroid camera photo I took around 1968 of the building when the Hertz Rent-a-Car sign was still on top.

[Eva Elisabeth]

This thread is fascinating to read. Thanks for sharing your reminiscences!

[brtmchl]

I agree with Eva, this is very fascinating. I just wanted to thank everyone for sharing their feelings on such a sad day. These memories would make a great book for someone. I also found the story of Kennedy's back brace very interesting.
I read that some have tried to ask themselves why did Kennedy's assassination have a more profound impact than how they felt about 9/11? I can't answer that question for anyone, but I remember being in the 6th grade when another horrible event occured. We opened the dividing wall between classrooms and watched in anticipation as the first Teacher, Christa McAuliffe, was about to launch into space aboard Space Shuttle Challenger. Our excitement soon turned to horror and uncontrollable sadness when that horrible plume of smoke took the lives of all seven aboard, just a little over a minute after take off.
I also did not feel the same as I did then, as when I watched that second plane strike the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Maybe this first incident took away some sort of innocense, exposing me to a harsher reality. Before witnessing The Challenger tragedy, I had never witnessed a truly tragic act. But I do not believe that was what happened, I also don't believe it was simply because I was a child when the Challenger exploded. While both scenarios are tragic and sad, the difference,( at least for me ) involved anger. When 9/11 occurred I was sadened but consumed with rage. I had just witnessed an act of war upon the United States, and more specifically, a cowardly act of war perpetrated against an innocent civillian populace.
Was this how my Grandfather's generation felt when Pearl Harbor was attacked?
Sorry for the long text, I didn't want to take away from the endearing thread; but Laurie's questioning of her own feelings made sense to me.

[L Verge]

Mike - Thanks for reminding us of the Challenger disaster. I was actually attending a Civil War conference in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, when that occurred. It also affected me deeply because Christa had been a teacher in our county before going into the space program. It was sort of like losing a neighbor.

Back to the Kennedy reminiscences: Tom Brokaw was on the news this week talking about "Where Were You..." I came in during the interview, so I'm not sure this is accurate, but he may have done a book by that title as well as a documentary for TV.

[brtmchl]

Mike - Thanks for reminding us of the Challenger disaster. I was actually attending a Civil War conference in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, when that occurred. It also affected me deeply because Christa had been a teacher in our county before going into the space program. It was sort of like losing a neighbor.

Back to the Kennedy reminiscences: Tom Brokaw was on the news this week talking about "Where Were You..." I came in during the interview, so I'm not sure this is accurate, but he may have done a book by that title as well as a documentary for TV.

Thanks Laurie, when you said said Browka I was picturing Dan Rather and thinking he would have been perfect for that book. I guess Tom Browkaw is good too.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Mike, I'm about the same age as you are, and for me, too, the Challenger tragedy was the first one that I consciously witnessed and that deeply shocked me. I'll never forget the pictures of the smiling crew and the following explosion. Space travel was so fascinating - remained always a bit surreal and science-fictional; on the other hand it seemed so unbelievable that modern technology could fail to such an extent.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Just have to think of Walt Whitman's following account on the Lincoln assassination:

At the time of the assassination Whitman was with his mother in Brooklyn. As he recalls in Specimen Days, "The day of the murder we heard the news very early in the morning. Mother prepared breakfast—and other meals afterward—as usual; but not a mouthful was eaten all day by either of us. We each drank half a cup of coffee; that was all. Little was said. We got every newspaper morning and evening, and the frequent extras of that period, and pass'd them silently to each other"

[Rsmyth]

I was in the 8th grade and we were let out after lunch. I understood what had happened but not the significance of the event. My friends and I went to the field and played football. There was no mention of it. When I got home and for the next few days that is all that was on TV.

[historybuff22]

This is NOT a JFK assassination post, BUT it is highly historical.

In 1980 I was an orthopedic technician in a 500 bed hospital. The 7th floor was the orthopedic ward. However, if a child had an orthopedic problem it went to the pediatric ward on the 3rd floor. One night I was looking over the patient list for the orthopedic ward. On the list of patients was a 4-year-old girl BUT she was in the adult orthopedic ward. Going to the nurses station I grabbed her chart and discovered that she was actually 104-years-old!!! (This was before Y2K.) She had broken her hip. She was sharp as a tack and had been living alone since her husband died 40 years ago! She started collecting Social Security in 1941!!!! Her 81-year-old son took her to doctor's appointment's shopping etc.

She was so amazing that I spent most of my down time visiting with her. She was born on the day of the Custer Massacre - June 25, 1876. One of my favorite questions to ask "older" people is who is the first president you can recall from life rather than from a history book? She answered Benjamin Harrison when she was 13. However, her most memorable president was William McKinley because she was there when McKinley was assassinated and witnessed the entire episode live!!!

Another favorite question to ask "senior citizens" is what amazed them the most in their lifetime. I suspected that her's would be witnessing the McKinley assassination. Her reply to my question really put things in perspective for me. She answered that as a child there was only 3 methods of transportation - walking, a horse, or a train. She had gone from her walking on Earth to a man walking on the Moon!!!

I truly loved spending hours visiting with her. Unfortunately, I did not record her stories to me or even make notes. Now, I wish that I had!!!

Rick Brown
HistoryBuff.com
A Nonprofit Organization

[irshgrl500]

I was still a couple of years from conception. I don't remember much.

Same, here. I was a surprise, about 15 months, into LBJ's term.

[RJNorton]

Rick, what a wonderful story! Thanks for sharing.