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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums59 years ago today on Oct. 22, 1962, President John Kennedy
Last edited Fri Oct 22, 2021, 04:54 AM - Edit history (1)
delivered a nationwide televised address notifying Americans of what would become known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,895 posts)I was a sophomore in high school, and i recall the fear and terror of the Cuban missile crisis.
murielm99
(30,761 posts)My parents were trying hard to keep my two brothers and me from being terrified. In my case, it did not work.
I kept looking at the crawlspace off our basement. I was trying to figure out if we could survive a nuclear war down there.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,895 posts)It was a terrifying time.
Walleye
(31,050 posts)I was always interested in current events, news and politics.We lived about 5 miles from a major East Coast airbase. 90 miles from Washington DC. I was sure we would be a target. It has a occurred to me that the most influential thing on the baby boom generation happened to before we were born, that being Hiroshima and Nagasaki
dflprincess
(28,082 posts)I was 9, old enough to be scared but not quite old enough to understand it all.
Our TV broke that day, the repairman was taking it "to the shop" when we were getting home from school. Not too much later he came back with a loaner. That had never happened before and when I heard him tell Mom he thought they should be able to watch, not just listen to the president I figured out that something bad was going on.
We were near Buffalo, NY and there was a fear the steel plants would be targets.
Irish_Dem
(47,395 posts)I remember JFK talking to Americans on the TV.
My mother was quiet and somber.
But she tried to downplay it when I asked her what was happening.
Backseat Driver
(4,394 posts)Bring in the Ninja auditors...
electric_blue68
(14,933 posts)Oh, yeah. "Good times!"
I didn't watch the address as I wasn't watching TV evening news yet.
But I knew what was happening by the next day. We got the NY Times in our advanced class. Then after that day I saw some of the stuff on the evening news.
Plus we had air raid drills every month where the whole city was practically engulfed in the sirens. Also having been watching the nuclear testing "atomic monster" movies... I knew we could go "poof".
And we didn't know about Nuclear Winter, yet, either!
The movie "Thirteen Days" is good.
That was a damn rough time!
Karma13612
(4,554 posts)59 years??
I was 8 and didnt pay much attention to current events at that point.
But I wont forget 1963.
🥲
elleng
(131,107 posts)on Oct. 22, 1962,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis
my college freshman year.
MoonchildCA
(1,301 posts)
I happen to know it was not 55 years ago.
Edit: Seems you corrected it as I was typing.
LeftInTX
(25,555 posts)Well, we did, but it was in Japanese and it was only turned on for cartoons. My parents must have listened to the Armed Forces Radio for news.