41 Years Ago Today -Where were you?

[Rose Siding]

...we just turned around, and he was gone.

November 22, 1963
If you lived through it, where were you?

[XNASA]

1. 1st Grade in Catholic Grade School

We were on a bathroom break. The bathrooms were in the basement.

When we were finished we had to line up to go back to class, and while we were in line the nuns informed us and had us say a prayer.

[Dark Secret]

30. 9th Grade Gym Class

Coach stopped basketball practice to make the announcement. We then went back to our home rooms and the principal had the radio piped over the loud speaker.

We sat in stunned silence until dismissed.

I went home, and went to the freezer for some black raspberry ice cream. I took one or two bites and threw it away. Have never touched that ice cream since.

Five years later I spent the summer working for Ted Kennedy and Bobby was shot and killed.

[KarenS]

37. sheesh,,,,,

9th grade gym class too!! but we were way out in track field so we didn't find out what was going on til the next hour,,,, by then the announcement came that he had passed,,,,

[Skidmore]

2. I was in my fourth grade class passing out my birthday treats

for the class (do they still do this in schools?), and the principal came in and whispered something to the teacher. She immediately burst into tears--something teachers never did. She turned around and told the class that the President had been shot. I don't think we knew exactly what that meant in terms of the greater world then, but we knew it meant a lot us as a nation.

[Rose Siding]

8. I was in my fouth grade class, too

I don't think he was dead yet when they sent us home. I remember the walk. My mother met me half way there.

[Ganja Ninja]

3. I was sitting in my 5th grade class. n/t

Suddenly one of the Nuns (Catholic School) came in and announced the president was dead. The room went silent and the teacher left for awhile then came back. We finished the day doing basically nothing.

[KurtNYC]

4. A sad day for all

Anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked around and he's gone.

[CO Liberal]

5. I Was In the Fifth Grade at Alfred Vail School in Morris Township, NJ

Since it was Friday afternoon, my class and two others were all crammed into one classroom watching a film. Suddenly the projector stopped, the lights came on, and the three teachers were standing in the front of the room. They told us to all go back to our home rooms as quickly as possible.

Once we were all back, my home room teacher (Mrs. Doswell) told us that President Kennedy had been shot. We all sat there numb. Then the principal, apparantly knowing that what he was about to say would be permanently etched in our memories, made the following announcement:

"Attention students of Alfred Vail School. This is Dr. Robertson. President John F. Kennedy has been shot, and has apparantly died. We will be dismissing school as soon as we can get the buses here to take you home."

Everyone sat there speechless. When the announcement came that the buses had arrived, we shuffled out of the building, not to return until the following Tuesday. School was cancelled on Monday so everyone could watch the funeral on TV.

[OneTwentyoNine]

82. 5th Grade in Wichita....

I really don't recall ever being told at school. Since it was getting into the afternoon I don't think the teachers said anything.

David

[CO Liberal]

87. You Were An Hour Behind Us

I was in NJ - Eastern Time Zone. He died at aroung 2:30 our time.

[BiggJawn]

6. In first grade...

Wondering what "assasination" was and why were we all going home early.

See, I was 6 years old, and *I* remember where I was.

Why can't Poppy Bush do the same?

[Sputnik]

7. "In my mother's womb"

Saying that used to make me sound young.

Now it makes me old, I suppose. :(

[cabbage08]

85. Me too

That makes both of us sound young :thumbsup:

[Sputnik]

86. I don't know, Cabbage

When I was first out of college and working with people all older than myself, I'd freak my coworkers out by saying that my mom was pregnant with me when JFK was assassinated. They'd say, "Oh my Lord, you're a BABY!"

Now if I mention this bit of trivia, people younger than me have a look on their face like "Wow, she's OLD!" So I mostly don't mention it anymore, lol.

[Shopaholic]

98. My parents were married Nov. 26th, 1963

I was born the following year. My Mom was uptown picking up her "going-away" suit when they heard the President had been shot. She hurried home and just as she walked into the living room, Walter Cronkite made "the" announcement that he had died. I've heard that story all my life.

[kittycat1164]

95. pre born too,

except my folks were in the funeral mass for two of my brothers that were killed (ages 7 and 9) when they heard about JFK. Can you imagine being 7 months pregnant and losing two of your kids? After I had my own girls I asked my mom how she ever made it through without losing me. She said I was what kept her strong, knowing that she had to keep me healthy. And now she's a 10 year breast cancer survivor to boot. Strongest, most beautiful woman I've ever had the honor to know.

[Shopaholic]

99. Kitty-that's an amazing story

:grouphug: to you and your Mom. She must have thought the world was coming to an end between losing her own children and what was going on in the world. I think they made people stronger in those days than we are today-we're just spoiled!

[cabbage08]

110. Wow

[jwirr]

131. You are not spoiled. One of the things that gives

me hope is the strength I see in the younger posters here on DU.

[babylonsister]

9. On the bus going home.

I was 7; a lady ran to the bus/bus driver crying. He told us what had happened, and the rest of the week my family was glued to the tube. Tears were shed, though I was too young to really get it.

[VivaKerry]

10. I was in Dallas!

(but in diapers).

You know that song they used to play: "what the world needs now is love sweet love? with the interjection of the news bytes from THAT day? Everytime I hear it, I just weep. I think as a toddler I must have heard that song over and over and over, and knew on some level that our nation had a reason to weep. It's engrained in me.

[Clinton Crusader]

62. I know it, I have it saved on a disc

I cant get through it either. Strangely, especially when they get to the Bobby part. Rips me up.

[AngryOldDem]

81. That is a powerful song.

Also had a clip from the last speech MLK gave, Bobby's speech followed by his assassination at the Ambassador, and Ted's eulogy at the funeral.

Powerful, powerful song -- really drives home how pivotal and turbulent the 1960s were.

[beg1958]

114. I was in Dallas also

:smoke: But was only 5 years old! I still remember clearly how everyone was crying. I remember how sad everyone was in Dallas. I also remember the song "What the world needs now is love Sweet love"
Although I was only 5 years old I will keep those memories the rest of my life! R.I.P. JFK

[SoCalDem]

11. In a stairwell on my way to English class.. I was 14

Kids had heard it on a transistor radio that was brought to school (against the rules)...Mass confusion, and teachers crying...The principal came on the intercom and said that school was dismissed until further notice..

The next few days were spent watching that grainy black & white footage..


I wandered down the street to my Aunt & Uncle's house and was sitting on their couch watching tv as Oswald was shot..


It was a very creepy time...

[Throckmorton]

12. Still in Diapers

but growing up during the Watergate era defiantly led me to be suspicious of republicans, small R on purpose, they do not deserve an upper case letter.

[Blue_Roses]

13. I was 2 years old

[Connie_Corleone]

14. I didn't exist yet.

My future mother was 12 years old in November 1963.

But, I've always been fascinated by the conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination.

On edit: got rid of "soon to be" since it was 8 years later.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

119. Not born yet (born in 1970).

[Semi_subversive]

15. In the lunchroom

at Citrus Heights Elementary School.

[nostamj]

16. 3rd Grade. Mrs. Rossiter.

she was crying. said our president had been shot. i thought she meant something about our school. we were dismissed early and my mother came to pick us up. my brother fell out of the car (door didn't fully shut) and I (the older) got blamed.

guess it was a tense day. remember seeing LHO getting shot on the TV.

[spinbaby]

17. Third grade

Coming in from recess. The scene is still crisp in my memory--coming in from the bright sunlight through the large arched doorway into the darkened hallway . An excited classmate talking about the shooting. The wait. The word he was dead...

[TahitiNut]

18. Attending college in Mobile, Alabama (Hate of Dixie)

Where I heard several 'good citizens' say "it's about time someone shot that SOB." When I entered the ROTC offices, I encountered senior NCOs in tears. Those were very, very shocking times, indeed. Traffic on the streets dropped by half. Shops and stores were nearly vacant. A pall covered the land. Everyone was glued to their television sets.

Little did we know that it would get even worse. Sad, sad times.

[jmcgowanjm]

27. "it's about time someone shot that SOB."

Yes, TahitiNut. At the time I was too young to
pick up on this attitude, but sometime, a few years later
maybe,
I got it.

Maybe along the time someone near me said
that JFK was warned not to go to Dallas.
That they hated him.

[jmcgowanjm]

35. My homestate MS was unpledged, I didn't know this

With two states still to file a final verdict and
Mississippi "unpledged" due to disapproval of both
parties' commitments to civil rights.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/9/newsid_3120000/3120396.stm

Election of 1960 Map

[TahitiNut]

46. Only 15 months earlier, I was a side-boy for JFK.

Navy and Coast Guard veterans know what a 'side-boy' is. It's one of the enlisted people who serve as an honor guard, flanking the gangway/ladder as a dignitary comes on-board a naval vessel. A head-of-state rates eight side-boys. I was the last on JFK's left. My face was less than 2 feet from his. I could see how close he'd shaved. I could see the threads in his suit. I could see the twinkle in his eye and tug at the corner of his mouth as he "tested the bos'n mate's wind." (I almost chuckled. I was forewarned.)

I can remember it like it was last week. Perhaps strangely, I feel like I lost a friend.

[SW FL Dem]

19. At home with my Mom.

It is my earliest memory, I was 5. A neighbor called my Mom and told her. My Mom dropped the phone and started crying, then we turned on the tv.

[ET Awful]

20. Has anybody here seen my old friend John?

Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked around and he's gone.

I was unborn, but I often wonder how much better the world would be today if he and Bobby had both been allowed to live :(

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

21. In sixth grade at a Catholic school in Chicago.

It was just after lunch and we were settling in for the afternoon when the principal came over the loudspeaker and told everyone that the President had been shot. She also informed us that everyone was going over to the Church which was next door to begin praying for President Kennedy.

The whole school filed over to the Church, I don't remember if we said a whole Rosary or not, but we were there for about half an hour and when we got back into our classrooms, the principal once again came over the loudspeaker and just told us all to go home because the President was dead.

I was only ten years old that day and I still remember it vividly. My parents and grandmother were inconsolable. People were completely dazed.

My cousin Katie's wedding was the next day. My late Dad always said it was the saddest Irish wedding he'd ever been to.

This country has never been the same since the awful, awful day 41 years ago.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

22. In the Platonic World of Ideas

where I would still remain for a year and a half.

[madrchsod]

23. sophomore in high school

i was just getting back from lunch and saw some girls crying, jfk had been shot....

[Booster]

24. It was my 21st birthday and my best friend had just taken me to

lunch. As I got out of her car and was going into the door where I worked she yelled back at me that Kennedy had been shot, and every birthday since has been met with more than a little bit of sadness. We all remember where we were, who we were with, what we were doing, but George H. W. Bush just can't seem to recall any of those things, and he was in Dallas at the time. Incredible that he's not pushed to remember or that someone doesn't ask other members of his family where he was and what he was doing. hmmmmmmm

[Goldmund]

28. For real???

Chimpy really claims to not remember where he was or what he was doing???

[SoCalDem]

31. Bush 1. He was in Dallas, according to records, but he has never

been able to "remember exactly" where he was or what he was doing..hmmmmm.. He's the ONLY person on the planet with that problem

[Goldmund]

48. Oh, George H W

But that is even weirder. Wow...

[RaleighNCDUer]

67. He doesn't remember if he was on, or walking away from, the

grassy knoll when the shots were fired.

[obreaslan]

80. HE was busy making sure there weren't any documents left..

COnnecting him to Oswald.

Oh, but Georgie, you forgot one....

[jdj]

136. Happy Birthday then, you.

It is amazing about poppy, he ain't giving nothing away.

[jmcgowanjm]

25. In the passenger front of family car traveling to Memphis

With 4 siblings and Mom. Dad,all of a sudden reached for the radio volume and told everyone to be quiet, you know
in that voice where you know something big is comin' down.

The sad and startling truth is that Kennedy's time really
was Camelot for the United States. Unlike Ronald
Reagan's completely phony Morning in America,
Kennedy's abbreviated term was the last time we were
lean, hopeful, and confident as a nation. Everything since
then has been a spree of one kind or another, and now we
face a new century in which we will be left alone in
our hemisphere, out of gas, bankrupt, our cities ruined, and
ou(r) beautiful land WalMartized, waiting for a "rapture" to put
an end to it all.  I miss John F. Kennedy more than I can
say.

http://www.kunstler.com/mags_diary12.html

And like BiggJawn, everytime I see PoppyBush,
I wonder why he can't remember where he was.

And at the same time wonder at the reaction of his
"Son of God", when told of the 2nd plane.

They're both connected: 112263 starts Vietnam Invasion
091101 starts Iraq Invasion

[karlrschneider]

26. At work, my part-time job at Sound Unlimited in Tulsa...almost finished

with college. Won't ever forget. :-(

[veracity]

29. On the 7th Ave. D train subway platform in NYC!

I was a young teacher at a wonderful school in Manhattan that catered to the theatrical crowd. I was waiting for the train to Brooklyn...after another happy day with marvelous kids, - when the word began to spread through the station. People on the platform were sharing the tragedy through tears and cries of denial. I still feel the pain of that moment after all these years.

[TN al]

32. I turn 42 next month...

... my mother tells me I was drinking from a bottle.

[otohara]

33. 5th Grade School Playground - Woman Ran Up To Me

and said "go tell your teacher, President Kennedy has been shot"

[minerva50]

34. 8th grade at high school.

There was an announcement over the intercom while we were on Lunch hour. I remember being angry at some laughter and jokes among the kids milling about (Our was a Republican town). Later, I noticed our Art teacher blowing his nose and wiping eyes red from tears, which was unusual for a teacher.

[Individualist]

36. At work

On returning from lunch, my supervisor told the dept. that Kennedy had been shot. Ironically, my best friend was married that evening. It was too late to change plans, but the small wedding was, understandably, not a festive occasion.

[haydukelives]

38. In 3rd grade

In Hattiesburg, Miss. Talk about the deep south, I remember classmates saying they where glad it happened. My dad made us watch the coverage on T. V. I can't believe George Bush can't remember where he was?

[MoJoWorkin]

39. In my college library--I was a freshman--that event changed

my life, as it did for so many of us that were so swept up in Camelot. I walked door-to-door for JFK, at age 15. I was going to join the Peace Corps, but I was just crushed by his death, and did not even finish college then. I went back many years later. When Bobby was killed--I was devastated beyond belief.

I have managed to work for many democrats since; I joined in many Iraq anti-war protests; and will never stop caring or speaking out, as Bobby did so eloquently--but their deaths changed the course of my life.

[hatrack]

40. Hanging with Mr. Blanky & sucking my thumb

Don't remember a thing . . .

[ProfessorGAC]

41. Home From School With A Bad Cold

Seven year old with a cold and fever, so my mom kept my home.

Sitting in the little bedroom my parents used for a TV room. She's on the phone with her friend Amy. I'm in that room with her soap opera on (As The World Turns)

Special bulletin comes on saying the President has been shot. My mom only half hears and asks me what they just said. I repeated. She hangs up the phone and comes running.

Not more than minute later, CBS pre-empts EVERYTHING to cover the story and Cronkite is sitting there bringing information. I remember it in VIVID detail.
The Professor

[TahitiNut]

53. I remember Walter holding back the tears.

Of all the impressions that flooded me from the tube, that one stands out. Cronkite was "Uncle Walter" - and when he got that emotional, the whole nation held its breath.

[medeak]

66. that's why he's always been my hero

home alone with just Walter.. father figure.

[ProfessorGAC]

115. Yeah. That's A Good Recollection

I still get a lump in the throat when i see those tapes on assassination retrospectives.

Walter definitely had a way!
The Professor

[jwirr]

134. That I think is why we trust Walter Cronkite to this day.

[Red State Rebel]

42. 2nd Grade

I remember someone telling the teacher out in the hallway and she came in and told the class. I recall watching hours of black and white tv showing the funeral, replays of Oswald being shot by Harvey,
it was so surreal.

[lynintenn]

43. In typing class in high school

it came over the PA system. A cold rainy day here in Tennessee.

[noonwitch]

44. I was just a gleam in my daddy's eye

I wasn't conceived for a couple of months.

[bearfan454]

45. I was eating at my grandparents house.

I was 7. I still remember the way all the adults were acting. I didn't really understand everything, but I knew something was very wrong. That was probably the birth of today's gop(greed over patriosm) party.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

47. In my mother's womb

she was pregnant with me and working as a secretary. She remembers every moment of that day.

So many older Boston Irish Catholics have a picture of JFK in their homes. My aunt had a photo of JFK and autographed photo of Tip O'Neill in her foyer and brought them with her to her nursing home.

[Jim__]

49. 10th grade - English class

It was the last period of the day. They made an announcement over the PA that President Kennedy had been shot. No one really knew what to make of it.

[Tracer]

50. Driving back from Canada ...

... with my sister and new brother-in-law.

The rental car's radio was broken, so we just chatted and laughed and decided to stop at the Canadian border store to shop a bit.

As we were taking our purchases to the counter Ñ in a great mood and joking around Ñ the woman behind the counter paused a minute and then said "It's a sad day for your country."

Since we were so clueless, she explained what had happened. We were stunned.

A sad day, indeed Ñ and more to come.

[NoPasaran]

51. Second Grade in Security, Colorado

The saddest day of our lives.

[tyedyeto]

52. 6th grade

The principle came in and told us he had been shot, then not long after he came back said that JFK had died. Soooo sad..

Hard to listen to Abraham, Martin and John sometimes...gets me all mopey.

[Palacsinta]

54. Me, too, 6th Grade

Our janitor came in and gave us the news. Our teacher was stunned........she went into the hall and joined all the other teachers; I could hear one crying. We sat in our seats and whispered. The teacher came back........and gave us a quiz! I remember clearly that I missed one answer.............about Greenwich Mean Time. Funny what sticks in your mind.

[spanone]

135. Sixth Grade - Catholic School - P.A. Announcement

Whew, that was a long weekend. Killed on Friday and Buried on Monday. Televised All Weekend and Monday. Very Sad time.

[progressivebydesign]

55. Four years old, on a bus with my mom. Everyone was crying. n/t

[Ron Green]

56. High School Junior in East Texas. Some students cheered, most

were quiet and very watchful. The football game that night was played as scheduled, of course: This was Texas.

[Stinky The Clown]

57. I was at the bus terminal in Bridgeport CT

On my way home from Notre Dame HS. I was transferring from the Chestnut Hill bus to the Lordship bus and saw the news on a TV in a barber shop in the bus terminal.

The day is etched forever in my memory. I remember it as clearly as if it were yesterday.

[Clinton Crusader]

58. home from kindergarten...

But I remember.

At the time, my parents had a TV in the back room, blonde wood, and my mother has plopped me there while she made lunch. Suddenly, There was a screen on that just said "BULLETIN". I called out to my mother and said, 'mom there's a bulletin'. 'OK, OK, I'll be right there'. It seemed to stay frozen like that a long time, then Walter Cronkite came out saying 'three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas'. I repeated verbatim what I had just heard to my mother, although I didnt quite get it, who then came rushing in.

Then it all becomes blurry. She got on the phone, I dont know who she was talking to, then not to long after that, my father came rushing in the house, in the middle of the day. By the time it was announced he had died, my father was crying. I got scared, because I had never seen my father cry. And my mother was crying and wailing. Remember I was like 4?, I was scared, I didnt quite grasp what was going on.

Skip ahead to the lying in state and funeral. My father was destroyed and kept crying and then pulled me into his lap and said 'I want you to watch all of this and remember it one day.' So I sat watching all the dizzying events from 11-22/11-25-63. And I remember most of it. My family and I had met JFK earlier, on Park Ave., in Manhattan, as he was either on his way or coming from the UN after a speech. My father worked on Park Ave. at the time.

Not too long after, maybe 3 years, I became interested in all of it because of my father making me watch it. By the time Bobby was killed, I was fully into it, and cried for 2 days, refused to sleep alone, I was REALLY scared.

Since then I am a Kennedyana collector, researcher, you name it. I even ran a newletter for a time and hosted a JFK conference in Wash., DC. There are framed photos, busts, books, etc all over my house re: JFK and RFK, Jackie, other members of the Kennedy family, alot of whom I have met over the years. I watched American Experience last night, about the family, and once again sat crying.

Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

59. Eighth grade math class

I had first lunch period and math class afterwards.

A few minutes into the class, the geography teacher, who had been spending second lunch period in the teachers' lounge listening to the radio, rushed in and told us that Kennedy and Johnson had been killed (he wasn't too bright).

In a couple of minutes, the radio came on over the school intercom. We listened stunned as one update after another came in. Finally they announced that JFK had died. Several of my classmates burst into tears. I did not, since I was mostly in shock.

Then we heard the principal's voice on the intercom, telling us that school was dismissed and that we could all go home as soon as our school buses arrived. I lived only 2 blocks from the school, so I walked home.

We were all glued to the TV all weekend, although I did not see the Oswald shooting. As a preacher's kid, I was expected to be in church on Sunday morning unless I was sick. One of my brothers, then age 10, was home sick, and my mother stayed with him, so they saw the shooting live.

ON EDIT: Oh, yes, we still had to go to our violin lessons on Saturday morning. Our teacher was a member of what was then called the Minneapolis Symphony, and he said that they were replacing their regularly scheduled concert with a performance of Mozart's Requiem. He was an Armenian immigrant and quite shaken by the whole situation.

I still remember a lot about the funeral, especially all the world leaders who came.

Although our suburb had mostly voted for Nixon, my dad held a memorial service at the church, and almost everyone attended. It was a different time, and Republicans were not at all freeperish.

Bush has said that "everything changed after 9/11." Actually, I think that everything changed after 11/22/63. Until that time, the 1960s seemed like just a smooth continuation of the 1950s. Yet the following year saw the Free Speech movement at Berkeley, the escalation of the Vietnam War, and the arrival of the Beatles, and within five years, dizzying cultural changes had occurred.

I'm not saying that JFK's assassination actually caused any of this, only that I think baby boomers remember the date so sharply because it happens to mark the true transition between the 1950s and the 1960s.

[MADem]

60. In Spain, living under Franco

The Spanish were quite devastated at the loss of JFK...as was all of 'Old Europe.'

[bikebloke]

61. Third Grade

As we alighted the school bus, some little kid was shouting "Kennedy was shot! Kennedy was shot!...." Found out what he meant whene I got home and the TV was on.

[hyphenate]

63. I was seven years old

and in school. They let us out early that day because of the assassination. My friend's mom was crying when we got home, and I asked why. I don't remember much else about it.

[RaleighNCDUer]

64. School carnival. We had fish ponds, dunking booths, and balloon

dart boards, and a cakewalk.

And an announcement came over the school loudspeaker that the president had been shot, and the base was put on alert.

The place emptied out in about five minutes as everyone went home to pack their bags and listen to the news on AFRS.

I was 10 yrs old, stationed at a base in Germany.

ON EDIT

I remember that I was right in front of the 'Rubber Duckie' pond, where we paid a quarter, I think, to pick out a rubber duck an see if there was a prize # taped to its bottomside.

Just realized that this might explain the aversion I've always had for those damned things.

[medeak]

65. was at home making lunch (5th grade) and watching news

even then was a news junkie. My Dad called me to make certain I was ok... we both were shook up.

[DemonFighterLives]

68. 4 year old hangin out with the TV

Big announcement comes on (NBC was all we had- don't remember the announcer). I misheard it and ran to tell my mother in the basement," Mrs. Kennedy was shot". All I remember is everyone crying and remember watching John John saluting. My parents brought up the Mrs. Kennedy thing many times. Sadly, I don't remember much about Bobby or Martin Luther King, but what hit us in those years still infects us today IMHO. Wellstone added to the list of those that coulda, shoulda, woulda led America out of the darkness.

[Chelsea Patriot]

69. In My Bassinet

I was just over two months old.

I count myself blessed to have been born in Camelot.

I have come to realize that those two months had a greater impact in my life then one would ever think.

[SudieJD]

70. 6th Grade Homeroom..

I was in homeroom (Noble Elementary, Detroit MI) when over the PA system, it was announced that all students were to leave the school and go straight home. No reason was given. I didn't have a clue until I got home and found my father, sitting in front of our black and white TV, crying. I had never seen my father cry before.

Sudie in MN

[MassLiberal]

71. 3 years old

I remember my parents watching the news and everyone talking about how the president hadn't wanted the bulletproof bubble over his car.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

72. On leave from the marines.

I had just returned from Japan and was on 30 days leave. Had just woke up, got some coffee, and flipped on the TV. Spent most of the rest of my leave glued to the TV watching the reports.

Absolutely stunned.

[RUDUing2]

73. I was 2.5 yrs old..so probably playing in the front room or taking a nap(M

one of my later friends was having his 3rd bday party...

24 yrs ago today I was in labor with my oldest son.

[mcscajun]

74. 7th Grade Catholic School...

...the nun teaching our class was called out of our classroom by the principal; I forget exactly what she said...but she didn't say much. Next thing we knew the TV was rolled out of its corner and turned on to CBS to follow Walter Cronkite's report. We were sent home a short time after the announcement of Kennedy's death.

I remember sitting at my desk; I know I pounded on it once or twice. I was very angry. Like most of the country did, I spent the next three days glued to television, being very sad.

I'd have been even sadder, and angrier, had I realized then that this was the moment it all started downhill leading to where we are now. That America is gone.

[LittleWoman]

75. I was a freshman at the University of Minnesota

I rode to the campus with a neighbor who was on the faculty at the U and when I got in the car that morning, it was very gray and gloomy, I said that I felt something bad was going to happen that day. I usually don't have "feelings" like that and I don't know where that came from. Today in Columbus, OH it is the same kind of gloomy, rainy day and I feel just as sad and angry as I did then.

[donsu]

76. in the Library of Congress doing research

nt

[candy]

77. In my kitchen(where I spent most of the sixties) taking care of my

very young children.

My husband called me from work and told me-----an awful day,just awful!

After he hung up I tried to make some calls but the circuits were busy for hours. I just wanted to TALK to someone.

[AngryOldDem]

78. I was only 3

...I was napping at the time of the assassination.

But my first vivid memory -- one that is still fresh after all these years -- is of Lee Harvey Oswald getting shot on live TV that following Sunday.

Of course I didn't understand what was going on, but I did sense that it was something very big and very bad.

[maxsolomon]

79. in hospital with a hernia

i was 6 weeks old.

[KharmaTrain]

83. 3rd Grade - Decatur School - Chicago

That Friday is still clear as a bell. Unusually warm 70'ish degree day that turned to rain by evening...how ironic.

My tale is such: I was at home for lunch, watching Bozo Circus, and was on my way back to school (I was 7 years old), and met up with the "neighborhood liar"...a kid who lived across the way who I really didn't like or get along with. He comes up and says that the President had been shot in Texas. The first words from my mouth were he was lying, and my thoughts were of Kennedy riding in a Stage Coach with bad guys in bandanas and 6 shooters and tumbleweeds firing at him from the outside.

I got to school and I quickly found my neighbor wasn't lying. As soon as I came in, just before 1pm, I saw the teachers huddled around the lone TV set (that was used only for special occasions) and a lot of screaming and crying. I remember the teacher telling us about the President being shot and the stunned silence for the remaineder of the day.

The next memories are of being riveted, like many others here, to the non-stop TV coverage. I was playing in the family room while the coverage of Oswald's tranfer was going on that Sunday morning (there was nothing else on to watch), and I saw that shooting as well...it was way too much for me to really comprehend at the time.

The last memory is of JFK's burial, as we all gathered...teachers, students and lots of parents, in the lunchroom at my school where we saw the burial and then classes were dismissed for the day. It was such a strange and different world, and would replay itself again in my life in '68.

Every generation has some moment like this where they can make a firm "memory marker" as a reference of events and their own life...November 22, 1963 is the first of many in mine.

Thanks to all for their stories...very much appreciated here.

Cheers from Chicago.

[juliagoolia]

84. In Tx first grade

Amarillo TX Parkwood Elementary

sigh..........

[TheCentepedeShoes]

88. A sophomore

at Palo Duro HS. A very sad day.

[juliagoolia]

101. Pan Handle sorrow...

still there?

[TheCentepedeShoes]

102. Yeah

Actually, lived in Florida 1970-2002. Back here now. Family stuff.

[RetroLounge]

89. I was at home and in Diapers, being 2 years old.

I remember RFK's death.

I am extremely saddened to know my country would be so much different and better if they had lived...

RL

[mimitabby]

90. 7th grade catholic school

they let us out early.. and told us the prez was hurt.

[Danmel]

91. I was three

I have no memory of it at all. The first world event I remember was the 1964 NY World's Fair which I attended with my grandparents.

[Danmel]

92. I was three

I have no memory of it at all. The first world event I remember was the 1964 NY World's Fair which I attended with my grandparents.

[Danmel]

93. I was three

I have no memory of it at all. The first world event I remember was the 1964 NY World's Fair which I attended with my grandparents.

[Patiod]

104. Also three, but I remember the funeral

Distinct memories of the casket lying in the rotunda, because I couldn't figure out why that picture was on TV instead of cartoons and Gene London and Pixanne.

Also have two memories of The World's Fair - "It's a Small World" ride and riding the monorail in the rain.

[meow2u3]

94. I was 3 years old

in Queens, NY--and too short of attention (I was a very hyper kid) to remember.

[bunny planet]

96. In my third grade classroom listening to our principal announce it over

the loudspeaker. We were sent home early and I cried all the way home on the bus. When my mom picked me up at the busstop she was crying too. I also was watching the TV when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald in real time. That was way scary stuff back then, before there was much violence on television.

[Cleita]

97. I was at work.

My roomate, who was allowed a radio at work, called me to tell me. I informed my co-workers. Our manager brought out a radio from his office and plugged it in. We were able to follow the events from then.
The shock we felt was much like the shock people felt for 9-11.

[Starlight]

100. First grade in Lignite ND...

Teacher said we were going to talk about President Kennedy. I was happy because I liked him. Then she said he was dead. :(

[yellowdogintexas]

103. 10th grade biology class

The physics teacher came into the room, whispered to our teacher and left. Seems some of his students had a radio in class while they were doing lab and it had come over the wire.

I think these two classes were the first to know in our school. Then Crafton hitailed it down to the office to alert the principal so they could follow it from there.

Anyway, our teacher turned around to us and said " If this is another of Crafton's sick jokes I will never forgive him." and then he told us what happened.

Pretty soon the announcements and live broadcast came over the intercom.


And then the long long weekend of mourning.

Things you never forget.

I was nursing my baby when the Shuttle exploded

I was just waking up in Louisville when I heard about RFK

I was in the dorm packing for spring break when I heard about Martin

[Missy Vixen]

105. I was three

My dad was a Boeing machinist. In those days, men didn't cry in public. My mother told me when I was a bit older that my father came home from work and said that he saw his male co-workers openly sobbing when they heard that President Kennedy had been shot.

My thoughts are with Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, and every other American that dares, still, to hope and work for a better world.

"And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."
John F. Kennedy, Inaugural address, January 20, 1961

Julie

[yellowcanine]

106. 7th grade life science class - grading a quiz. We exchanged papers to

grade the quiz. Just finishing up and the principal put the live newscast on the PA of Cronkite saying Kennedy was dead. Most kids and teachers were quite shaken up but we had at least one jerk who actually was celebrating.

[GoBlue]

107. Junior year Chemistry Class

Muskegon Michigan. Back right-hand corner of the lab when the Principal announced it over the PA. The son of a Doctor started to laugh... no one else did.

My oldest daughter was born November 22, 1972.

[amandabeech]

108. In Third Grade

in a little school in rural Michigan. The grade-school kids weren't told of the President's death, so I didn't find out until I was on the bus and the high school kids boarded. They were all very upset and told the little kids. I didn't believe it and told them so. They said that the principal had announced it over the loudspeakers. Well, I had to believe it then, because the principal was also my uncle. I was stunned and sad, and so were my parents, even though they were ardent Nixon supporters. School was canceled for the day of the funeral and I remember very well the courtege. It was a very, very sad time.

[juslikagrzly]

109. 1st grade

remember them announcing the assassination over the intercom system.

[tjfreeman]

111. I was on the grassy knoll...

nah, just kidding...if I had been I probably would have died mysteriously soon after.

I was actually in 1st grade in a Catholic school in Beaumont Texas.
Though it was a sunny day in Dallas it was dark and foreboding in Beaumont. At the announcement that the President had been shot we all had to get on our knees, on the hard concrete floor, and start praying the rosary. I always hated the kneeling part. The dark clouds outside the window added to the sense that something truely terrible had happened, and though my knees were killing me, I offered my most fervent prayers. I don't know how long this lasted, it seemed like an eternity, and then the principal came back on the intercom and said that the President had died. Lotta good that did, I thought. My first real clue...

[placton]

112. St Jude Seminary

Momence IL - Father Moran came into study hall, to say JFK had been shot. We immediately went to chapel - where we were told he'd died. We were lucky enough to be in a place of prayer - not a dry eye in the place. We went to church later with the girls from the local girls' boarding school - the only thing that relieved the sadness.

I still cry every 11-22.

And now, we elect people like Bush.

[LibDemAlways]

113. I was in 6th grade, but

we had no school that day because of parent conferences. I had gone on a girl scout camping trip and when the bus arrived at the campground, one of the girls noticed that the flag was flying at half staff and asked the campground manager the reason why. He explained that Pres. Kennedy had been assassinated. The camping trip continued and I don't recall anyone visibly upset by the news. Perhaps because we were away from television, we didn't get the full impact. Also, the group I was with were from a very repuke area, and the adults as well as the kids seemed pretty unaffected. I remember it all very clearly.

[bobthedrummer]

116. John Muir JHS in Milwaukee, a friend came up to me with tears in his eyes.

I asked him what was wrong and he told me President Kennedy had been killed in Dallas. I cried too.
Btw November 23rd is my birthday.

[coreystone]

117. I was 13 years old and in eight grade. .......

I was attending school in a small SR/JR High in mid-western Vermont. It was a Friday. Everyone was anxious to begin the weekend.

A friend of mine had a mother who was the school secretary for the principal of the school. Both of us were in "seventh period" study period. He had gone down to speak to his mother. There was a TV in the office. He came back around 2:00 (EST) and told everyone in the study hall (the library of the school) that Kennedy had just been shot. It wasn't until the eighth period science class until it was announced that JFK had died. Shock would be an understatement for the way we felt.

I went home to my parents house. Within a short period of time my parents (both teachers), and, my sister and brother were all assembled in our household. We were all watching the the TV. I remember later in the evening that I was crying when one of the networks were showing a quickly put together documentary. It was one of the saddest times of my life.

I was pretty much obsessive about watching as much of the coverage as I could. By Sunday, November 24, 1963, my parents thought it would be a good idea to "get away" from it a bit. We went driving south with no real destination known to me. Eventually, we stopped at a restaurant in the middle of Sunday afternoon. At the restaurant, I believe we had heard that Oswald had been shot. So many thoughts to sift through, at this point, some I remember, some which are more vague.
We returned home and verified on the TV that that Oswald had indeed been shot.

It was a long weekend indeed, but, the reality of our nation's tragedy finally hit home during Kennedy's funeral on Monday November 25, 1963. As I remember it was a national day of mourning which this country had never seen. Those are just my thoughts about. It still makes me sad.

[jwirr]

139. Somewhere at the end of this thread I

tell you that I was curled up with my oldest daughter. But when you mentioned the saddest funeral this country had ever seen I wanted to tell about the other very sad funeral that I remember: I remember being 5 years old and setting on my mothers lap crying as we listened the the funeral of FDR. That is my first historical memory. That was also a major sadness for the nation.

[SemperEadem]

118. a blissful 3 yr old playing with my dolls

waiting on the birth of my baby sister in the coming year.

[orpupilofnature57]

120. 1st grader watching TV and my mom and dad crying a lot, event

what i was doing was being robbed of an example, seeing a president right his wrongs and not knuckling under to the(good ole boy network)a rare occurrence in modern history.

[ramapo]

121. Third Grade- Hawthorne NJ

Remember it like yesterday

[geniph]

122. Babysitter's. I was just turned 4.

I remember everyone coming home early from school, and my mother even came home early from work (which NEVER happened). Everyone was crying. My mother's sister tried (again) to commit suicide. This Irish Catholic family took it VERY hard.

[Contrary1]

123. 7th grade...Indianapolis, IN.

Holy Spirit Grade School. In Sister Joseph's class. My all time favorite teacher. I remember the pastor of the church making the announcement over the PA sytem, and then school was let out early.

So vivid in my memory...like it was yesterday.

[shayes51]

124. 7th Grade. A boy in our class returned to school from lunch

and said that President Kennedy had been shot. We thought he was lying. How I wish he had been lying! I still can't look at the videos of that day.

[canuckagainstBush]

125. 22 years from being born

[Taxloss]

126. My father was in his late teens.

The news emerged just before supper in the UK. Dad says he remembers sitting down to dinner in stony silence, no one saying anything. Just my dad and his parents.

Then my Granddad said: "Now we'll have nuclear war."

Grandma snapped: "Kenneth!"

Granddad: "They'll blame the Russians. Then they'll launch their rockets."

Grandma : "Kenneth! Stop it!"

Granddad: "Well, I might be wrong."

Dad says he remembers this word for word. Mum's memories are much more jumbled.

[Ms. Toad]

127. One room school in Nebraska

in second grade. A Catholic neighbor came to give us the news, since the school had no phone.

[barb162]

128. in school helping a teacher and the teacher told me what happened

I thought her eyes had looked awfully red but of course didn't want to say anything. Then she said the president was shot.

[MrSlayer]

129. 7 years before I was born but I recently visited the Grassy Knoll.

And I was really moved and outraged. I was so sad and confused after leaving that place knowing for sure that the government lied about the entire affair and even more so because no one did anything about it. You must visit the Knoll to really get a perspective. A very, very sad day for everyone in the world. I believe JFK was a visionary who would have planted even more seeds for this country to grow in the direction it was intended to.

[jwirr]

130. At home curled up on the bed with my oldest child

reading a book. I had not turned on the TV. Went out to deposit money in the bank and wondered why they stamped the date upsidedown. When I go home it was around 2 in the after noon when my parents phoned to say they were coming over so we could all watch together. That was the first I heard about it. A very sad day.

[Greylyn58]

132. I Was 5 Years Old at the Time

and we were living in Triangle, Va. My Dad was in the Marines and he was stationed at Quantico Marine Base.

I remember laying on the living room rug reading a book while Mom was ironing clothes and watching her favorite soap opera - As the World Turns.

When suddenly Walter Cronkite broke into her show and started talking. I remember he seems very sad(for obvious reasons) and he began telling the world that President Kennedy had been shot and had died at Parkland Hospital.

I didn't really understand what was going on and I was scared too because she was crying at the time. I had to ask my Mom what had happened. She tried to explain it too me.

It was a sad day.

[graywarrior]

133. 9th grade English class

My life sucked for a long time after that.

[procopia]

137. HS junior in hospital

recovering from car accident. My transistor radio was on, but since I was only interested in listening to the music, I missed the newsflash. My mother said, "Did they just say Kennedy had been shot?" I was only 16, and I didn't believe such a thing could ever happen.

[marlakay]

138. Second grade and I still remember the flag going down

my parents crying and everyone was so sad.

[nomatrix]

140. 9 yrs old walking home from the church bazaar

with my best friend, people came running up toward the church. As they were passing us, stopped briefly to say "President Kennedy's been shot."
John was one of us. Liberal/Massachusettes/Catholic who we prayed for everyday. Every house had a picture of the Kennedy family or John alone. I never saw houses with the presidents picture again.

I remember each one of my family coming home to the round picture TV set. In the dark, no lights because everyone was crying. No one left the TV for that weekend, the shock would not end. It was the 1st time we ate on a card table in front of the TV. We never had the TV on before during dinner, and now it seems we never had it off at dinner.
Vietnam was constant companion for dinner after that.

[man4allcats]

141. I was a HS sophomore in Conroe, TX.

We were just leaving the lunch room when the rumors started circulating. Forty-five minutes later while I was in my 6th period algebra class, the principal announced over the school's PA system that President Kennedy had been shot. Shortly thereafter the PA system crackled to life again, and the principal said that the President was dead. It is still just as inconceivable to me now these 41 years later as it was then.

A common theme among science fiction authors is what circumstances might have been like in a given situation had history taken a different turn than it actually did. In these stories, the turn not taken is usually assumed to be the wrong turn. Most of us, whether Judeo-Christian, agnostic or atheist, like to assume that somehow at the last minute fate (or should I say "Fate"?) always intervenes to save us. Sometimes when I'm feeling a little deterministic I think that on November 22, 1963, history actually did take the wrong turn. That wasn't supposed to happen, but it did and much of the hell since then came to pass because evil triumphed on that day when someone who perhaps could have made a difference was forever silenced. I do not generally think of myself as religious, but I do believe that evil exists and that good does not always triumph. I also find it a bit ironic, even eery, that 41 years to the month (11-02-04) if not to the day, American democracy was assassinated, like John Kennedy, when George W. Bush was elected to the Presidency of the United States.

[tibbir]

142. I was in 7th grade science class in Metairie, Louisiana

when they announced he had been shot. It wasn't until much later that we were informed he had died. I was so sad and horrified. I went home to my mother who was a very cold-hearted person and a republican to boot. She didn't come out and say that it was just fine with her but she didn't have to, I could tell.

[maveric]

143. 2nd grade, Miss Plummer's class, Salem NH

She was called out to the hall for a few minutes, then came in crying and explained to us that the President had been shot. A few minutes later she was called back out to the hall for a couple more minutes and came back to tell us that the president had died. They let us out of school early that day. I took the bus home and found my mother crying. My Dad was a newpaper journalist and had to work throughout the night. It was a very sad weekend in New England.

[timtom]

144. Camp Lejeune, NC

Heard it on the radio as it was happening. When they said he'd been shot, I thought it was, like, a buullet in the arm or something. I mean, you couldn't actually kill the president, now, could you?

[Ani Yun Wiya]

145. Watching TV

I was home for lunch from 6th grade that day.
The TV was on, I saw the announcement and told my grandmother.
She bummed out instantly.

From that announcement until many days later I watched the news.

That day there was footage that was only shown ONCE.

I am still curious about that footage and whatever else was on that reel.

I eagerly awaited the Warren Commision report.
I read it.
I was amazed that people were dumb enough to fall for their conclusions.

[intheflow]

146. in utero.

but I've always felt it affected me somehow. No other explanation as to why I came out a peacenik dove in a repug hawk household.

[Behind the Aegis]

147. I wasn't even a "twinkle" yet!

But, my partner was being born!

[Raenelle]

148. Algebra class (3rd period), Sacramento High School

[janx]

149. I was just short of six years old...and I remember watching

the black and white television (our only television) that my parents had in their room.

For awhile back in those days, my mother entertained a conspiracy theory after awhile... "Kennedy, King, and Kennedy," she would say.
And she was a very well-educated woman--no conspiracy nut in the least. But I remember that she said it a couple of times to me when I was a little girl: "Kennedy, King, and Kennedy." KKK

[helnwhls]

150. I like to think

the man who raped my mother was already stalking her.

That make you all warm and fuzzy?

[bobbieinok]

151. finished my MA; still at same CA grad school taking classes, gearing up

for PhD.

Another grad student came into the study-library. She'd been at a drug store and heard about it on the radio. She wanted to know if we'd heard anything.

We all went to the Student Union; they pulled in some TV sets and everyone watched. I thought that weekend would never end.

On campus there was a memorial convocation in the inner quad. Before that time I had never seen grown men cry in public.

My dad was at a regional conference in Tulsa. He said that as soon as it was announced that the president had been shot, people from MS, LA, AL, etc, rushed to the phones. They called their wives to get the kids and stay at home. According to my dad, they were sure it was the start of an uprising of people who hated JFK because they perceived him being favorable to civil rights for blacks.

[janx]

152. See my post #149

[gauguin57]

153. Sitting in a 1956 Chevy Belair.

My friend and I were waiting for my mom to come out of our school library -- she was a volunteer and had just popped in to check on something. We didn't have school (1st grade) that day for some reason (teacher in-service or something) -- my mom heard the news in the library, came out to the car crying and told us.

It was so very confusing to a little kid. We were Catholic, and the Kennedys were like saints to my Old World relatives.

I think it hit a lot of us because it was the first time some of us had ever seen our parents cry.

[fortyfeetunder]

154. 1st grade Washington DC

When a President passes away, the schools in DC close on the day of the funeral. However, we weren't in school the day of the assassination.
Though I think we were spared the brunt of the event if we had gone to school on that day.

On Nov 22, 1963 we were home from school because of, what I think was a teacher's in service day. I was looking out the window watching my brothers play when I thought I saw my mother at the other end of the house watching TV and I thought I saw her praying or at least on her knees. She was watching the soap opera "As the World Turns" which was on about 1PM EST , and just as the show was over, the news report announcing the assassination took place.

Let's see. My teacher's husband was in the funeral honor guard. We talked about it some, but how does one explain to little kids? All the kids in school went to the gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery as a field trip I think in January or Februaryof 64. (IT was a cold day, I remember that) I remember the gravesite was not completed by then. but the eternal light was still there.

The President's assassination was the second experience with death this 6 year old had in about 4 months. I was so effing confused about what happens to us mortals after being fed the story about Jesus being raised from the dead. I so much wanted to see the President's coffin opened to see if he was still inside.

And it made me connect with Caroline Kennedy a little bit because she was the same age as I. I could not possibly imagine a kid like me losing a father so suddenly.

Also remember seeing Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated, and my parents would not explain it to me.

And one more story. I cannot look at the videos of that assassination. One day it was on TV and I walked out of the room. For some reason, that just repeats the awful confusion of that time.

[moorpork]

155. 63 Scool in New Zealand

I was ten and in 7 th grade, at school in New Zealand. Our teacher stopped the class and turned on the radio for a news flash.
He had done the same thing during the Cuban missile crisis.
Televisio was new to NZ at the time and we were lcuky enough to have one. My mother sat and watched and cried her eyes out.

"What is the world coming to she asked." What would she say about the state of the Neocon world I wonder.