As a child, what was the first political news bit that you heard

[Sequoia]

which made you aware of something bigger outside of your little world and how old were you? I'd have to say mine was "The Bay of Pigs" when I was in 3rd grade.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

1. Bobby Kennedy's Assassination...

Remember exactly where I was standing and who was with me. I was eight years old at the time.

[midnight]

55. I remember my parent watching the news that day. I remember

Ethel calling out over and over again to her husband. Very distressing to hear.

[wordpix2]

214. John Kennedy's assassination when I was 10 y.o. in class at school

:cry: :scared: :cry:

[Justice]

229. Watching Bobby's Kennedy's funeral, procession

[OKNancy]

2. I asked my dad why they called Stevenson an "egghead"

and asked him what it meant.
I guess it must have been the second time he ran, as I was born in 1949.

[hobbit709]

3. 1956-The Hungarian Revolution

I was living in Vienna at the time so it was right next door. I was 6.

[SharonAnn]

143. That, and my parents talking about McCarthy somebody in

Congress. They seemed to think it was important. I was about 7, so since it wasn't important in my life at that time, I was puzzled as to why they would care.

I do remember the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, I was about 11, and couldn't believe that something that happened in history books was actually happening in real life.

[KurtNYC]

4. The Fall of Saigon

people grabbing the skids of the helicopter...the visual embodiment of desparation. I was 10.

[boobooday]

215. Yes, that was it for me too

I had nightmares for years after that.

[sofa king]

248. Same here.

My first political memory is that footage of the helicopters being ditched at sea during the evacuation of Saigon. My parents spent a lot of time trying to explain that whole mess to me, but it went straight over my low-slung five-year old head.

Edit: Actually, now that I think of it I also remember watching Nixon's resignation the year before, but I was far more interested in the differing opinions amongst the family. All the men were pissed and all the women thought it was great. Such is my family--I'm glad to say I'm a mama's boy.

[yellerpup]

5. My grandfather arguing for Adali

with my Great Aunt Zora, who was for Ike.

[mdmc]

21. God Bless Him!

[yellerpup]

181. Thanks!

Both my grandparents worked for the Democratic party their whole lives long. More about grandpa on my journal page: Yellow Dog Democrat. :hi:

[Totally Committed]

160. My grandfather was for Adlai, too!

He was the only Democrat in my family, so this was the first instance of political memory for me, too. I said so, downthread.

He was not for Ike, for sure!

TC

[yellerpup]

182. Most everyone on that side of the family was Democrats

I'm the only lifelong yellow dog left. Boy, I miss Grandpa! He never caved in to peer pressure. I guess I got it from him. :hi:

[Totally Committed]

185. My grandfather (A Sicilian immigrant) lived and died a Democrat

in a family that equated being Republican with being a "rich", and later, their own Americanization, in general. To this day, out of all my siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles, I am the only Democrat. Everyone else... even those they chose to marry... are Republicans. Needless to say, I don't attend many of the family's gatherings any longer.

My son, who was a Republican up until this year has now so had it with the Bush Republicans that he is now registered as an Independent. That makes me happy.

TC

[yellerpup]

189. Interesting family history, TC

My dad left the Democratic Party when LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act (kinda sums him up, unfortunately). My sibs have wavered back & forth across the lines but my brother married a Dem, self described as "one of the ten surviving Democrats in Oklahoma" & my sister married a Repug who refused to vote for B*** in '04. I'm gone from my original Red State for more than 30 years and happily living in true Blue NY. Congratulations on raising a son who can change his mind when he is wrong. I'd be happy, too! :loveya:

[BOSSHOG]

6. Kennedy Assassination

Friday afternoon. Eight years old. The nuns told us to put our heads down on our desks and pray for the president. That was THE news for a week. I remember watching the TV and all of a sudden Oswald gets shot. Then the funeral. That was powerful stuff to an eight year old.

[Canuckistanian]

25. I was five

Home from kindergarten, watching soap operas with my mom when the bulletin interrupted the show....

[57_TomCat]

27. This nails it for me as well. N/T

[CrispyQ]

38. I was in first grade.

We were outside for recess. Suddenly the teachers came out of the building & each called their class to them. Most were crying. We were all knew something bad had happened. I remember the funeral. I remember thinking that he was too young to die. I remember the incredible sadness everywhere.

[MissWaverly]

48. I was 10, I was home with the flu, my sister came home

and said the president has been shot in Dallas, we turned on the Tv and they brought in Lee Harvey
Oswald and Jack Ruby shot him to death right in front of us, my sister and I, we were just little
kids and somehow, we both knew nothing would ever be the same anymore.

[SnohoDem]

109. Yep,

I was a seven year old second grader. I remember when the teacher told us, "The president has been shot", and they let us out of school early.

[riderinthestorm]

118. Kennedy for me too. I remember my oldest sister sobbing and running from

the room.

My parents grim.

I was a toddler playing but I swear I vividly remember the reactions even now.

[Itchinjim]

125. Me too, I was four years old.

My mom had been cleaning out the attic of this big old house my parents had bought the summer before and my younger sister and brother and I were up there with her "helping" I guess, when my older brother and sister came walking up the stairs having just been dismissed from school. Of course mom was surprised, and asked why they were home so early, and when they told her she ran downstairs to turn on the TV. I vaguely remember my dad calling her around that same time. I also remember when my dad got home from work we all piled in the '63 Dodge wagon and went to a special Mass that afternoon.
Mom and Dad were both Irish-Catholic and staunch Democrats and they took it pretty hard. Maybe that's why I remember it so well.

[yardwork]

205. I was three. This is my first memory of anything political

I remember asking my parents and their friends and students what the president did. The whole thing was very puzzling to me, and upsetting because all the grownups were sad and worried.

[wryter2000]

7. Hmmm

Not sure. Either one of Ike's heart attacks or the uprising in Hungary in the 50's. I don't know how old I was.

[Dinger]

8. JFK Assassination - I Was 3 Years Old

Never forget it.

[MazeRat7]

12. Same here but I was 5.

[Mnemosyne]

40. 5 here also. n/t

[kineneb]

115. another 5 year old here

gee, there seems to be quite a few of us from the birth year 1958.

I seem to also remember my grandparents and friends discussing the Berlin Wall (going up, not coming down).

[dog_lovin_dem]

147. Add another 5 year-old.

I remember my Mom crying for days, as well as what seemed like constant replays of the assassination.

[City Lights]

14. Ditto. I was 4. eom

[Crunchy Frog]

47. I was about 9 months old.

Don't remember anything about it.

[wellstone dem]

59. I was in second grade

[Sparkly]

70. Same -- I was 6.

My Dad used to LOVE to hold up the Kennedy family as great examples for us. (At the dinner table, "Would you sit that way if you were having dinner at President Kennedy's house?" To which I always said, "If you take me to President Kennedy's house I'll be perfect." I'm the same age as Caroline Kennedy, and he loved to show me pictures of her in the newspaper, riding her pony and whatever.) Those were the days when the First Family seemed like something other young American families could strive to emulate, could look up to, could hold up as a model for their kids...

But I think all that familiarity made it VERY weird -- maybe for all ages -- when JFK was killed. He seemed like someone we all knew and loved.

[MassLiberal]

136. Also JFK--also 3

[beltanefauve]

153. Also from Mass

and was also three. My young, Catholic Massachusetts parents were absolutely enamored with JFK. (Too bad they became increasing Conservative as the years went by; typical Catholic "swing-voters") I was the oldest of four kids and the youngest was just born, (no birth control, either). My mother had the TV on and cried out in horror, "President Kennedy was shot!" She had no one else to share that with when it happened. Then my father came home from work early, my mother embraced him in the driveway and they cried in each other's arms. I had never seen anything like that before.

By the time I was eight, I lived on an Army base in Germany, 32km from the Czech border, during the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, and we almost had to evacuate. Also that year, Hubert Humphrey lost the election and I cried about it. All the other kids on the base were proclaiming, "My parents are voting for Nixon, because Nixon says were going to win the war!" but for some reason, I was different. And by the age of ten, back in Massachusetts, I wrote my first letter to a Congressman,Joe Moakley. So I guess it's just the natural order of things that I would eventually find a home at DU!

Great post, Sequoia, thanks!

[AtomicKitten]

156. I was 9.

... so that makes me, hmmmmmmm, 21.

I was in Catholic school. A nun came in and told us to hit the deck and pray. Even my uber-Republican mother was in tears; extraordinary to even contemplate that reaction from a Republican nowadays. I do believe if Clinton was assassinated, they'd declare a national holiday and go on a three-day celebratory bender.

[datadiva]

9. That John F. Kennedy would win the election

and that the Catholics would run the government! Those were the days!

[LibDemAlways]

178. I remember the Kennedy/Nixon election too.

My parents took me to see a Kennedy rally in Newark, NJ. Unfortunately, he was running really late and they left before he finally arrived. I remember the other 2nd graders asking each other on the playground if they were for Kennedy or Nixon, and I remember thinking that the ones supporting Nixon must be stupid. I guess things haven't changed that much!!

[WildEyedLiberal]

183. LOL - I had the same experience 30 years later

I was in 2nd grade in 1992 and our class had a mock election. George Bush won overwhelmingly. I voted for Clinton and was so mad and thought everyone else was stupid and went home and complained to my mom about the dumb kids who liked Bush.

Yep, you're right, things haven't really changed! Those kids are still stupid Republicans - except now they can vote for real! :scared:

[Ediacara]

10. A girl?

I was six, Mondale chose Ferraro as his runningmate. It made big news even for six year olds. I knew who Ronald Reagan was, and for some obvious reasons, I just assumed that being an old man was part of the job of being president.

[hughee99]

11. Raygun was shot, 1981. n/t

[cool user name]

87. That's my second political experience ... (Reagan being shot)

I was 9 and at recess when I heard about it. I then kept on playing soccer. I knew it was a big deal, but I had goals to score!

[stranger81]

236. also my first . . . I was in kindergarten and I think I cried . . . [n/t]

[Mojambo]

13. Something about nuclear annihilation

back in the 80's.

I used to doodle designs of bomb-shelters in the margins of my grade school notebooks.

[Cameron27]

22. The Kennedy/Nixon televised debates

I was 9 yrs. old and was completely gaga over JFK.

(sorry meant to reply to the OP)

[demosincebirth]

15. Death of FDR

Seen many people crying as I walked from town. I was only 7.

[bobbieinok]

261. I was 4 when FDR died (and other political memories)

I was at a friend's house. A woman came in, and she and my friend's mother started crying. I went home and told my mother 'something' had happened. And then the kids' radio programs were all preempted.

--My dad was a major news junky and listened to radio news every evening. I remember being very surprised when Truman won in 48 b/c I got the impression from listening to the radio that everyone hated him.

--Nixon spoke at Skelly stadium in Tulsa in 52; my dad took me to hear him.

--When I was in college, students who took part in the Hungarian Revolution spoke on campus. One of the German professors pointed out that the revolution was not necessarily anti-communist; it was more anti-Soviet and pro-Hungarian.

(A colleague from Austria and her Hungarian-born husband visited Hungary in the summer of 89; remember Hungary took down its barriers that summer. She said it was really weird; the border guard figured out that her husband had participated in the revolt in 56. He and the other guards all shook his hands and praised him.)

--I was in college in Houston in 1960. I remember watching the Nixon-Kennedy debate and being very frustrated b/c I could not vote (the voting age was still 21 then). I wore a Kennedy button at the state Baptist Student Union convention that fall; it was held at Baylor. SoBapts were sure JFK would owe his first allegiance to the Vatican.

--I was studying in a reading room on campus in CA when a friend came in and said Kennedy had been shot; she'd heard it on the radio when she'd stopped at the drugstore. Everyone on campus headed to the Student Union and watched TV. I remember watching Johnson on the plane being sworn in. I was at home when Ruby shot Oswald. And then the funeral cortege; I thought that week-end would never end. That Monday there was a memorial service on campus; the inner quad was filled, the faculty were all wearing academic robes. That was the first time I ever saw grown men cry in public.

*****

Reagan being shot--When students told me their first major political memory was Reagan being shot, I remember being freaked out that my first thought was 'Why was that such a big deal? He didn't die.' As if the assassinations of JFK in 63 and of Robert and MLK in 68 were the standard for political reality.

[Redbear]

16. Watergate hearings at age 8

The usual afternoon shows weren't on TV because they were covering the hearings.

[Der Blaue Engel]

43. Same here

I still remember Walter Kronkite's voice as a soothing, but authorative grown-up addressing the story every night...so unlike the broadcasters today. :( (Except Keith...he's a shining beacon in the gloom.)

[Dulcinea]

155. Same here.

I remember hearing "Watergate" over & over on the news, & I asked my mother what it was all about, but it went over my head. I was almost 9 when Nixon resigned.

I also vaguely remember seeing footage from Vietnam as a small child.

[Sapere aude]

17. Sputnik was really big in my time.

Sputnik, the Cuban missile crisis and Kennedy's assignation scared the shit out of everyone. My getting drafted and sent to Vietnam was what really made me realize I didn't live in a fish bowl.

[mdmc]

18. Seasame Street wasn't on because Nixon was in trouble.

why couldn't the Senate leave Mr. Nixon alone so I could watch big bird?

[liberalmuse]

19. Viet Nam...

When I was 5. I didn't understand it, but knew we were in a war somewhere in the jungle. There were pictures of dead soldiers in the magazines at the laundr-o-mat.

[tridim]

20. Watergate

For a long time I thought it was a steel gate over a puddle of water. It was all happening just as I was turning 4 years old. I figured out what was really going on just as Nixon was waving goodbye on the helicopter.

[intheflow]

141. This is my earliest political memory, too.

I don't remember my parents watching much of it, but I remember one night it was on tv because we had just moved from NY to MA. I was very upset to have left all my friends, and I was trying to talk to my mother about it. She seemed distracted, and my mind kind of registered a snap shot of my mother, the tv guide cover, and Walter Conkite on tv, all focused on somethign called Watergate. I guess I was eight; we moved in the summer of '72.

[cyclezealot]

23. I was never a kid

At Haloween season, My concerns were politics. SInce the political season bumps up against Haloween. I'd go trick or treating for Stevenson, even tho I was what, maybe 8. My grandfather admired Adlai. Now, I admire Adlai not for just being Adlai, but for sharing our common religion. He is a real messenger. Think I first recall Political events when I recall Eisenhower being renominated at his parties convention in 1956. I watche it as a small kid, glued to the TV. Think I can blame my political fascination on my grandfather. I recall sleeping on their couch with the poster of Adlai looking down on us all from the wall.

[Hav]

24. .

From the important things probably pictures from the war between Iraq and Iran (not sure anymore). I was a small kid and it scared the hell out of me. Then in elementary school the first Gulf war.

[tech3149]

26. Eisenhowers farwell speech

[sinkingfeeling]

77. First thing I remember as well. Then my mom took us to see Nixon

give a speech from a train depot.

[tenshi816]

28. Me too.

I was in first grade and I still remember it vividly because of the way the adults around me reacted. Our next-door neighbors had a rec room in their basement that also had shelves stocked with canned goods (don't know if it was for general food storage or if they had a survivalist thing going on way back then) and also a room down there that had a couple of double beds and a bathroom.

When I got home from school the day the Cuban missile crisis first began in earnest, my mother took me next door and we stayed in the basement with the neighbors for a couple of days - seriously - with the adults huddled around a small TV, worried that we were going to be nuked any second, while we children had a ball just being kids, playing games, staying up late and having our day-to-day routines disrupted. We loved it.

After a while, the grown-ups realized we weren't going to be vaporized so we all went back upstairs to our regular world.

For the rest of my childhood I thought all adults were slightly unhinged.

[tulsakatz]

61. I remember..........

....our neighbors down the street used to have a bomb shelter too. They used it mostly when a tornado was in the area.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

29. Berlin Wall coming down.

I saw magazines talking about Russia and America being friends, but didn't really pay attention to it.

[blue neen]

30. I'm with you.

The Cuban Missile Crisis. I remember all of the adults acting very afraid.

The next political news I remember is JFK being assassinated. What a horrible time in our lives that was.

[nosillies]

31. I was being born while Nixon was giving his resignation speech

I'm sure something must have imprinted on me because of that -- repugs are crooks maybe?

Other than that, I remember visiting FDR's Little White House when I was very young. It sparked my interest in him and in politics and in how politicians can really bring about good social changes.

[mentalsolstice]

32. MLK & RFK

We lived in Ft. Lauderdale, I was seven and in the 2d grade...both events now seem kind of blended together...but they really opened up my eyes that it was a diverse world out there, and one that could be cruel and uncivil.

I also remember, probably around the same time, the kid that lived down the street from me getting killed in Vietnam, and my mom telling us to not play loudly near his house, so as to not disturb his mom.

[iamahaingttta]

33. During the Vietnam war...

It would have been 1966 or early '67, and I would have been 3 or 4 years old. I remember a TV newscaster saying that "only 8 of our boys died in Vietnam yesterday" and thinking that was a HUGE number! 8! My older sister wasn't even 8 yet, so 8 is lot! Mommy, isn't 8 a lot? And why did they die?

I'll never fucking forget that...

[MethuenProgressive]

34. JFK's assasination

I was 7 and a half, home alone watching TV after school.

"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with
unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and
competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let
its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open
market is a nation that is afraid of its people."
- President John F. Kennedy

Kennedy quotes:
http://home.att.net/~jrhsc/jfk.html

[Democrats_win]

35. The moon landing.

[eleny]

36. Korean War

[nickyt]

37. Yeah, Sputnik, 1958? And then later, when Khrushchev banged his

shoe on the table? Why, I thought that was the funniest thing I ever saw (watched a lot of Three Stooges, Nikita fit right in!). Was at Parris Island in early '60's for the Bay of Pigs - big ships were steaming by right out our back door on their way to Cuba. We were to take shelter in our little basement if necessary. My parents were pretty cool, I guess, cuz I don't remember freaking out...oh, I was born in '50.

[cadmium]

226. a few yrs later

Oh yeah Krushchev shoe banging. I remember having a liberal Pope and being afraid of Cubans. My father had a begrudging admiration for Eisenhower because he took so many vacations. By fifth grade trouble was brewing in a place I thought was called "Sovietnam"

[POAS]

39. 1952, Eisenhower

During the 1952 campaign Eisenhower came to town campaigning and his motorcade passed near our home, it seemed like the entire city was out to wave and sheer as he drove by. I had never seen so many people at one time before that. (This was in a very heavy Democratic and union town but Ike was THE war hero.) I was 7 at the time.

After that my next recollection was watching the 1956 Democratic convention on that new fangled contraption the TV. I remember Kennedy speaking and my mother swooning and declaring him the next president (after Ike who was a shoe-in in '56 that is).

[Crunchy Frog]

41. I guess mine would be the 1972 election.

It was the first election that I had any awareness of. I remember that I was rooting for Shirley Chisholm in the primaries. Also, I was certain that McGovern would win, since I was in Boulder CO, and there were huge demonstrations for him there. I saw all those crowds of people and figure that he must win with all those supporters.

I also remember my dad watching the Watergate hearings constantly, and thinking they were really boring. I was kind of a latebloomer as far as political awareness went.

[BootinUp]

54. Me too. n/t

[tulsakatz]

42. I remember when JFK ran for President

I was in elementary school and I remember some people worried that JFK would make everyone convert to Catholicism......

Even though I was just a kid, I really started to pay attention to some politics during his administration. I remember his press conferences were fun to watch.

[KoKo]

44. I had to eat my food because children were starving in CHINA!

My FIRST MEMORY! I was a baby! But, I remember GUILT!!! I was maybe 18
Months old? In a High Chair and remember the food being shoved with a spoon into my mouth? :shrug:

[Sequoia]

60. Ha, same here... I said "The kids in China can have my liver."

At our school we had it every Wednesday and for years and years later I dreaded Wednesday because of it. Cow liver is the worst food ever.

[Mz Pip]

45. I remember

my Dad giving me a Nixon/Lodge bumper sticker for my school book cover.We lived in what is now outgoing Congressman Henry Hyde's district. Very Republican. I was 11. He was a Republican through and through but would not have liked to see the abomination it has morphed into. He was a true small government conservative. When the Vietnam War started heating up it bacame pretty obvious to him that he had an activist on his hands and that we did not think alike. He wasn't an ideologue, though, and was more concerned about my safety at protest marches than my anti-war stance. He died in 1968 before things got really crazy.

The other big thing was the Cuban Missile Crisis. Duck and Cover drills and fallout shelters on display at trade shows. Freaky stuff for kids.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[crikkett]

46. The energy crisis in the 70s...

.. and the pictures of cars waiting in line for gas, and the controversy over whether a zero was a letter 'o' on a license plate.

On edit: 3rd grade.

[proud patriot]

106. Yep that and the Hostages in Lebanon

I also helped save an elephant in the san francisco zoo
by sending in pennies . The elephant was named Penny
and she's still there at the zoo. :hi:

[Maccagirl]

49. Bay of Pigs here as well.

It was on my 5th birthday and I remember calling downstairs to my mom "President Kennedy just said that Cuber was invaded by a bay full of pigs." Okay-not too bright, but I knew that a bay was a body of water.

[OXM]

50. I was four years old, in Israel

I remember Sadat coming to Israel in 1977 and the arguments for and against peace with Egypt. I remember Begin shaking his hand and I remember thinking how great it is to have peace. It's kind of silly, but I really thought that this visit was going to end all of the wars in the area. I remember I was eight when he was assassinated.

[Sequoia]

67. I found an old newspaper article from 1967 or 1968

that was in a scrapbook from my childhood days. Most of the scrapbook contents was about an airplane crash whose site I went to (a Piedmont Flight 22 in NC) and then I found this other article mentioning how there weren't enough immirgants (from the USA) that are willing to settle and have children in Isreal. It was like after the 3 day war they high tailed it back to the USA. It mentiond Begin who hadn't achieved his greatness at that time. I ran across this article last week after years and years...dang! I had pressed flowers and ferns in it also. Cool.

[OXM]

224. Begin

Begin did some terrible things. He was a terrorist when he was young, killing Palestinians and English people, and he was the Prime Minister when Israel invaded Lebanon fifty years later. But he also knew the time to end the fighting with Egypt had come, and he brought about (with Sadat) the possibility of a larger peace in the region.

[Sequoia]

253. English too?

Why? Oh, never mind,I can look it up. Thanks.

[OXM]

259. Here it is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_David_Hotel_bombing

Although this attack has become pretty much a part of the less glorified part of the struggle for independence, like other attacks on the British and documented killings of Palestinians, the actions of the Irgun (trans. The Organization) are still considered important and positive, with commemorative plaques around the Country.

It's ironic that the same people who celebrate Begin's hard-line against the Palestinians and his actions against the British (and accept the necessity of peace with Egypt) condemn Palestinian violence and can't see the similarities between the Irgun and Hamas. Just like plaques today celebrate the struggle of the weak stateless Jews against the British, fifty years from now plaques and memorials will celebrate Hamas' attacks and their part in the struggle for a Palestinian State.

[Sequoia]

268. Wow, that's....what an eye opener! Thanks.

[bliss_eternal]

51. A local election--

My elementary school teachers went through an entire ballot and asked the pupils what the "right way to vote" was. :rofl: This cracks me up, because I know if this were to happen today, parents would have a fit.

Keep in mind, this was a predominately minority school, with minority teachers. Everyone in that community and school was Democratic, it wasn't a secret. I recall they went through the entire ballot and asked who to vote for and why. We even went through all the propositions. If anyone said the 'wrong' choice, or wasn't sure what was the appropriate choice, they were promptly corrected by the teacher and told the "right" way to vote (Democratic)and why. ;)

When I went home and told my family what I learned that day, they were thrilled that the teachers were instilling proper "citizenship" in us.

:D Ah--those were the days! Good times!
:hi:

[yellerpup]

184. What a cool school!

[bliss_eternal]

188. Thank you--I had no idea at the time...

but looking back at that time as an adult, I really appreciate it. Especially now that I look around and see so many examples on the right of people "sneaking" their rw political agenda into school curriculum. I'm sure some would say it's horrible that the teachers were pushing their leftist agenda :eyes: but again, this was predominately a minority school. I appreciate that the teachers wanted their students to understand how to vote in their best interests.

:hi: Interesing thread and fun to read--thanks for starting it!

[yellerpup]

191. I went to 13 different schools between K-12

and everywhere the teachers had their own agenda. In a one-room schoolhouse (grades 5-8) one of my teachers kicked a boy who refused to pledge the flag out of school and called him a commie in front of everyone. He was a Jehovah's Witness, I think, and he never came back. Call it Civics and teach everyone how to 1)think first, then 2) Vote! Wish I could take credit for starting this thread, but the credit belongs to Sequoia. :loveya:

[bliss_eternal]

193. Thank you for starting this thread, Sequoia...!

yellerpup--that sounds awful--kicking a kid out for not pledging allegiance to the flag. :scared: Apparently no tolerance for religious freedom wasn't high on that teacher's list of priorities.

[yellerpup]

198. It takes a special person to teach in a two room schoolhouse

This teacher directed a Christmas play called "And the Littlest Angel Sang" starring the school's wealthiest girl. Another little girl hid behind a curtain and did the singing while the little rich girl lip-synched! (1959) This teacher wouldn't let anyone use the colored chalks unless they could pass a drawing test. I'm pretty sure she was at least a Repug, if not a Nazi! :grr: I met some wonderful teachers moving around they way we did, this one ranked next to the bottom. The guy on the bottom set himself on fire.

[Sequoia]

254. You're welcome.

Quite amazing to come back to work on Monday and see all these hits. I had no idea.

[midnight]

52. Watergate was a turning pt in my life. I was a young kid at

a camp ground and my relatives were glued to the t.v. and radio that summer. I remeber my family saying how brave Martha Mitchell was for calling ,don't rember who it was, and saying that there were laws being broken. They tried to write her off as a bit on the crazy side. Brave lady...

[BootinUp]

53. Re-election of tricky Dick

Edit: maybe it was 3rd grade.

[Fridays Child]

56. I'd have to say Kennedy's election...

My parents were furious but they actually came around to liking him, before the end. I recall my father coming home, one evening, and telling me that I should shake his hand because he had shaken hands with President Kennedy, that afternoon.

The other early political memory I have is of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I remember that my father talked about moving us away from Oklahoma City because he thought Tinker AFB could get nuked. I was scared shitless and I'll never forget it.

[The_Casual_Observer]

57. My dad let me pull the levers to vote for Kennedy. I was five,

[mrreowwr_kittty]

58. Watergate when I was about 6.

I grew up near DC and remember wondering what the big deal about the curvy building was. My dad explained to me that the President sent some burglers into a room there and that he made tapes about it.

[Cooley Hurd]

62. The '72 election - Mom brought me down to the county Dem headquarters

... and, in no time, I was stuffing envelopes for McGovern. I was 7 years old, and had McGovern campaign posters all over the walls in my bedroom:

Lil' Cooley, circa 1972

Less than two years later, I remember doing a little dance when Nixon resigned.:)

[Sequoia]

69. Aren't you the little cutie pie.

[Cooley Hurd]

76. Out of all the pics of me as a child, I'm most proud of that one...

:)

[qnr]

63. Hmm, outside of assassinations and protests in the US, I'd say the Russian

invasion of Czechoslavakia in 1968

[MrCoffee]

64. When Reagan fired my dad - August 5, 1981

The ATC strike.

[readmoreoften]

102. FUCK Reagan and what he did to the ATC.

I was fired for striking because of the precedent set when Reagan fired your dad.

[LeftishBrit]

65. My really early political memories are mostly about education

Especially to do with the debates in the UK about comprehensive education and abolishing the eleven-plus. I also dimly remember Maggie Thatcher as education secretary in the 1970s, and that she was very unpleasant and, among other things, abolished free school milk. I suppose I got an early head-start in hating her guts!

I haven't changed much; I now work in areas related to education, and my strongest political interests are related to that topic. (And I still hate Maggie.)

I also remember being aware of the atom bomb and the danger it presented to the world. I remember at the age of about 6, sitting and thinking to myself that I wanted to be rich when I grew up, so that I could bribe 'the soldiers' not to drop the atom bomb!

[many a good man]

80. LOL! "bribe the soldiers"

Now THAT's a real good use of your riches! If only six year olds could rule the world....

[calico1]

66. I don't remember the JFK assassination itself but

I do remember the funeral. A neighbor boy and me were sitting on the floor in front of the couch watching what we thought was a parade. And I remember the horses. But it didn't really register with us what it was we were watching, or why all the grownups were gathered in the kitchen sniffling and crying.

[RebelOne]

68. Pearl Harbor was bombed. n/t

[frogcycle]

71. Maybe not exacly political

The Rosenburgs getting the chair. I was five. I remember wondering if hte lights would dim, and thinking I smelled something burning.

[sarge43]

72. The Communist Coup in Czecholovakia

The word Prague caught my attention. I'd just turn five.

[distantearlywarning]

73. I remember the Iran hostage crisis

It was on TV in the background one day when I was visiting my friend down the way. I think I was about 5 or 6.

I also remember Reagan being elected the first time.

[cool user name]

93. The Hostage Crisis was mine too. I was about 7 ...

[Sweet Freedom]

202. Same here

Iran hostage situation scared the b'Jesus out of me...

and I cried when Carter lost because I was afraid of Reagan.

[many a good man]

74. My 2d birthday - JFK killed

Is my earliest memory of anything here on Earth. We were on the way to Grandma's house for my birthday party when the news came over the radio. I remember cars stopped in traffic, everyone's radio blaring, people sobbing in the streets. I was bummed because it ruined my party.

I also remember the moment I became a liberal. I was 5 years old riding in the car down Broadview Road when a news report came over the radio about a local KKK rally. I asked my Mom "Mommy, what's a Ku Kux Kan?." She told me they are people who hate people just because they are black, Jewish, or Catholic. Being a Catholic, I was furious that someone would hate me not because of me, but merely for the fact I was Catholic. Ever since that day I have empathized for the downtrodden, the marginalized, the outsiders.

My first real political awareness came during the summer when the Watergate hearings were all over TV. I watched 'em gavel to gavel and became hooked on politics! Have been ever since.

[Sequoia]

83. What! Two years old!

Now, that's amazing! You were certainly a very aware child, Watergate too? I was a bit bored by it all and wanted it to end because it was just one lie after another.

[many a good man]

96. [EXPLETIVE DELETED]

"To the best of my recollection..." "I am not a crook!" What great phrases!

I picked up "All the President's Men" as soon as it came out in the library. I was about 13. I remember picking up "Helter Skelter" at the same time.

[jwirr]

75. FDR's funeral. I was 5 years old and can remember my mother

listening ( and crying) on the radio while I sat in her lap. I assume it was her crying that placed it so firmly in my memory.

[cmd]

98. I remember that too.

Dad was in the Navy. I spent a lot of time with Mom.

[intaglio]

78. That I was aware of as political?

Faint memories of the appointment of Harold MacMillan as leader of the Conservative party in 19

I can say it


.... 1957

I was 5

[Rowdyboy]

79. The 1960 Republican convention when Henry Cabot Lodge was picked

as Nixon's running mate. I was six years old and I have NO idea why this particular image stayed with me. Probably saw part of the news at my granddad's house one day.

[Hosnon]

81. Jeez...where is my generation? My first was Gulf War I. I remember being

scared but also thinking it was cool (eight year old boy).

[ktowntennesseedem]

82. Commercials in '72 by "Democrats for Nixon"

There are a few vague politically-based memories prior to that, but at age 10 this one really stands out in my memory. Grew up in a conservative Republican family, but no one was very politically active and so differences between Dems and Repubs were largely meaningless to me then. But I did wonder how terrible McGovern must be if the Democrats can't even agree on supporting him.

Lucky for me, tricky-dick said "bye-bye," along came fellow-southerner Carter and by the time I was old enough to vote I had done a complete 180 from my childish uninformed opinions. Been voting Dem ever since.

[Totally Committed]

84. I remember hearing that Adlai Stevenson had just lost the election

and Eisenhower had won. There was a huge argument at the Sunday dinner table between my Grandfather (a die-hard Democrat) and my parents, aunts and uncles, who were Republican. Even from the "kids' table" we knew they were angry.

ETA: I was really young at the time, honest! LOL! But, it's a vivid memory, anyway.

TC

[cool user name]

85. I think it was the Iran Hostage Crisis ...

I was about 7 years old then.

[AwakeAtLast]

86. The Iran hostages

That and Jimmy Carter's reelection bid. They pretty much go together.

Later on, in high school, I met one of them. He was the uncle of one of my teachers. He told us cockroaches tasted really good when you were starving. That was an interesting day.

[hsher]

88. The moon landing

I was a toddler, but I remember seeing it on my mom and dad's big Zenith TV. The picture was all dark and snowy, and I remember a man in what I thought was white tinfoil bouncing very slowly across a black screen. Somebody was announcing something in a crackling voice, and Walter Cronkite spoke after it. I just knew him as the deep-voiced mustached guy my parents liked looking at every day on the Zenith, and I sensed he was important. I also sensed whatever was happening on the Zenith was important. My parents and older brother were crouched around the TV staring at it like they were in prayer. There was this intense, reverent atmosphere in the room. That's what I remember.

After that, I'd have to say Watergate and the withdrawal from Vietnam were the next two.

That is one bitchin' question! Thanks for asking it! Recommending it to Best!

<--- Born late 1968

[intheflow]

137. This is my earliest momentous memory.

Not sure I would class it as politcal in my schema, but it ws the first thing that popped into my memory when I read the question. I was totally annoyed because my mother made me come in from playing outside to watch it. My family was all in there, too. I was too young to appreciate what was happening, but I remember seeing it on tv.

[Hepburn]

89. I remember Ike and his Inaugural Parade

I was a bit over 4 years of age and I remember thinking the car he was in was really something else. I remember it was a black Caddie convertible and I wanted my grandfather to get one like it. "Pop" drove big, black 4-door Chrysler New Yorkers with suicide doors and gangster white side walls and I thought the Caddie that the Prez was in looked like a lot more fun!

I guess my love of politics and cars started at a VERY early age! :hi:

[annabanana]

90. Army McCarthy Hearings...

I was all of 4. My Pop was teaching at Harvard at the time (Hotbed of Commie infiltrators, dontcha know). Several of his colleagues had gathered at our place & were watching a small screened b&w tv in a large console)
I had NO IDEA what was going on, of course, but I knew that it was serious and that if I was going to be noisy I would have to be noisy in another room.

[mitchtv]

130. I remember that too, anna

but I was coming home from school for lunch. Quite boring for a kid I don't know when that was , but I was in school( our 11-12 inch tv had a giant 6" thick magnifier on it

[Eugene]

91. Martin Luther King assassination.

I was 5 years old at the time. I understood at the time
that it was a major event and a bad one.

Later on, my teacher told that class that Richard Nixon
was our new President.

[VOX]

92. The famous photo of the East German guard leaping the barbed wire fence

into West Berlin, and to freedom.

As a kid, this picture fascinated me. I simply could not look at it enough. I was trying to fathom what made this formidable looking guy want to actually get away from the country -- the country that he served, right up until the moment he jumped the wire. Such a thought hadn't occurred to me before.


East German border guard leaps into West Berlin over barbed wire on 15 August 1961

19-year-old Hans Conrad Schumann, the first border guard to defect on August 15, 1961, two days after East Germany sealed off its border with the wall. After him, about 2,000 soldiers fled to the West. Photo by Peter Leibing.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

127. An incredible picture. n/t

MKJ

[Stinky The Clown]

94. Fifty Six - The Year to Fix ........

It was a local (and perhaps even national) slogan for the Democrats. I also recall Ike's presidency, but not with the clarity of the presidents from Kennedy on forward.

[leftofthedial]

95. JFK versus Nixon

when I was 4

[cmd]

97. Dad joined the Navy shortly after I was born.

I remember a map that Mom had over the sink with little push pins in it marking where Dad was at the time. That had to be when I was two or a little more.

edit: WWII.

[bonito]

99. It was the Thresher

Real sad, still is, I think it had more impact on me than the JFK assassination back then.

[devinsgram]

100. The election Ike Eisenhaur.

And of course his Vice-President "tricky Dick." I was constantly singing "I like Ike." What did I know I was only 6.

[readmoreoften]

101. The assasination of Anwar Sadat left me stunned for some reason.

I remember walking around elementary school completely stunned. I felt like the world was going to descend into chaos.

But I remember watching Nixon when I was 3 or so. I remembering thinking I was hot shit because I knew what a president was.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

124. I was in my twenties, but I remember the man who orchestrated the

Israel/Egypt peace agreement (along with Carter, of course) as such a voice of reason.

:cry: is how I felt when I saw that post. And, I'm so glad that his legacy is here right now.

MKJ

[trashcanistanista]

103. Second Grade

Hoses and German Shepards used to attack black people marching for civil rights. I knew what Civil rights was but did not know why they were hosing people and setting attack dogs on them. I will never ever forget those TV images and have been a Democrat ever since.

[robinlynne]

104. jfk assassination. 6 years old. i'll never forget it.

[hopein08]

105. Operation Desert Storm...

It was 3rd grade. I was all gung-ho about the war, the soldiers, super patriotism...even, gulp...Bush 41, etc. Crazy child, I was...

Then I caught the 1992 Democratic Convention, got all gung-ho about Bill Clinton.

And here I am.

[union_maid]

107. Probably integration in southern schools

When we first learned about segregation in school, I got it all confused and backwards. It was explained as being a thing where some people didn't want kids of different races going to school together. As a New York City child, I assumed at first that this was a new and terrible idea. I couldn't imagine a world not full of people of all different races, religions and nationalities. Eventually I learned which end was up and what was really going on, within the limits of my understanding.

[HamdenRice]

169. New York City school integration and "beat up niggers day"

I posted a different memory below, but just wanted to comment on your post.

New York City's schools were themselves very segregated in the 1960s especially in the outer borough of Queens where I lived, where the white neighborhoods were quite accurately portrayed in All in the Family, as Archie Bunker land.

When I was in second grade, a bussing program was instituted right here in New York, and I was bussed to a "white" elementary school from my black neighborhood. In elementary school, the reception was mostly friendly and several Jewish families and one German Lutheran family really embraced our family.

But when I got to junior high school, the first day of school the locals had painted on the handball court wall, "Niggers go home," and it went down hill from there. The parents were frothing maniacs and some of the faculty weren't much better. The tougher white kids even had a mid year holiday called "beat up nigger day," during which we had to run to our bus stops for our lives.

I'm surprised that you didn't understand segregation growing up in NYC, unless you perhaps lived in Manhattan or certain parts of Brooklyn.

[izzybeans]

108. Reagan's complicity with Iran-Contra

It wasn't until college that I realized that some folks were still falling for the "He's an actor" bull shit. Reaganites are stargazers in the worst way.

[AlCzervik]

110. Richard Nixon resigning.

[CTyankee]

111. The atomic bomb in Japan

Since I was born in 1939, I was 7 in 1945, and I remember the dropping of that bomb. I was scared to death. My mother sat me down and said she understood that I was scared and told me to set aside an half hour each day just to worry about the bomb.

I did that and sure enough, I was fine after a few short weeks. Of course, I was only a kid, but I got over my fear real quick.

Hey, what a great country, right?

[Chulanowa]

112. US involvement in Nicaragua and Panama

I'm a young'un :)

[OzarkDem]

113. Eisenhower as president

My grandparents always talked politics. When I stayed with my great grandparents they always watched the Today show every morning, Huntley Brinkley every night. At that time they didn't even have a phone or get a daily paper, but they watched the news twice a day. Gr-grandad was secy of the county Dem party.

[NMDemDist2]

114. Dallas, November 1963

JFK's assassination

I vaguely remember the pictures of Khrushchev banging his shoe on the table in the UN, but the JFK assassination I remember vividly

I was 8

[elfin]

116. Stalin's death - am I the only geezer here?

On the radio in our pink and green kitchen in 1953. Then turned off for dinner.

I was 12 and although I sensed it was BIG news given the radio being on at that sacrosanct family time, I did not fully understand the import.

Around those years, I vividly remember a leaflet about the UN on that same table before it was whisked away. I now suspect it was a fear inspiring treatise, but do not know. My folks were "Reader's Digest Republicans" who changed very slowly over the years. My Mom died shortly thereafter, and my Dad voted for Clinton near the end of his life.

Kennedy - I was in college and the prof gave us a whole 20 minutes to finish our semester final exams after announcing the news.

[rzemanfl]

165. I posted the same event before I read your post. I heard it on

TV, CBS as I recall.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

173. Stalin's death is probably my earliest memory

It was huge news in my family, because my grandfather was from Latvia, having arrived after the 1905 revolt, and he was at that time working with the many Latvian refugees who had come to Minneapolis.

I was not yet three years old (this surprised me,too, when I saw the date of Stalin's death), but I remember my mother listening to the radio, suddenly jumping up and running to the phone to tell my grandparents, "Stalin died!" She must have been very excited by the news to make such a lasting impression on me at such an early age.

[bobbieinok]

262. same age -- I remember when Stalin died it was like a gigantic weight

was lifted from my spirit that I hadn't really realized was there.

[Pab Sungenis]

117. The first I remember being conscious of was the 1976 election.

My school classroom voted for Ford over Carter 20 to 19, then I remember staying up late the next night watching returns with my Grandfather.

One where I wasn't aware, but my earliest memory is PBS showing the Watergate hearings. I was very annoyed (at the age of 4) that "Sesame Street" wasn't being shown so all these old men "could talk about toothpaste." (No one bothered to explain the difference between Watergate and Colgate to me.)

[laylah]

119. I Like Ike...LOL...n/t

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

120. I have a confession. I was in 1st and 2nd grade during "duck and cover"

and never remember having to do that a single time. I guess my "confession" is I went to a school that didn't bother. And that was probably a good thing.

If I had, or if it had stuck with me, that would have certainly been the event.

However, like so many, seeing teachers visibly upset and everything coming to a halt and parents glued to the TV, well that was it.

MKJ

[WCGreen]

121. Kennedy's announcement on October 22nd, 1962 that

Cuba had Missiles

That was my fifth Birthday and it is forever etched in my mind...

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

122. K & R, an amazing thread!

:kick: MKJ

[Sparkly]

123. Just want to say to Sequoia -- Great Thread!!!

I love these "slice-of-life among DUers" threads. :hi:

[ms liberty]

126. Kennedy assassination - I was 4 years 5 months old...

Walter Cronkite broke in on the soaps with the news - I think it was As The World Turns. My mother was washing windows. Then there was the funeral which I also remember. Right after that the Beatles were on the Ed Sullivan Show, and then there was MLK, and then Bobby. There was a lot happening in that period from about 1963 on til 1974 - Vietnam to the Moon to Watergate. Is it any wonder I've never trusted the government?

[mitchtv]

128. Dewey at the convention

it musta been '48? on vacation at Lake Champlain it coulda been '52 if Dewey ran that year or was NY's favorite son.
then I remember the fall of Dien Bien Fu,= '54 ?

[bobbieinok]

263. I remember the fall of Dien Bien Phu mostly b/c of a teacher

I was in jr high school; the science teacher was really upset. One of the kids said her son was in the army and she was worried. I didn't really realize the significance of her worry and the fact students were aware of it until years later.

Nixon apparently wanted to go in but Ike said as long as he was president 'no American boys were going to die in a land war in Asia.' He ran in 52 on getting us out of Korea.

[bobbieinok]

265. in 62 when I was in Germany I met a US soldier on the Rhein trip boat

He said all the soldiers were requesting assignment to Vietnam b/c 'that was where the action was.' Once again I didn't appreciate the significance of what I was hearing until later.

[No Exit]

129. Small town in Minnesota--saw some pictures of "negroes" on TV

They were demonstrating. It was on the Huntley-Brinkley report. And yes, the newscasters called the people "negroes".

[a kennedy]

131. Me too, I was 13 and it came over our school intercom that the

President had been shot and later died. Such a sad and rude awakening to the world of politics for me.

[AnnieBW]

132. Watergate

I was in first or second grade at the time. I remember all of these jokes about the "watergate bug". I didn't know that the word "Republican" wasn't "damnrepublican" for the longest time. ;) My Mom and Dad made me sit down and watch Nixon's resignation because it was history.

[peace13]

133. JFK

Funeral on TV and mom crying. Peace, Kim

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

134. I was 7 when JFK beat Nixon

Mom and Dad, who had campaigned for JFK, stayed up all night watching TV. Around 4 or 5 in the morning she woke us all up, screaming with joy. "Kids! Get up! Kennedy won!!" We all danced and jumped around the living room like it was Christmas morning. One of my favorite memories.

My folks always talked politics at the dinner table. I barely remember a time when I wasn't aware.

[Lucy]

135. The Kennedy/Nixon debates

My Grandmother was visiting and I remember she kept saying about Kennedy, "That boy needs to get his hair cut". I was 10.

[Fabio]

138. Desert One

[lumberjack_jeff]

139. Election of 1972.

I was the only kid in my school who was for McGovern. Idiots.

[powergirl]

140. NIXON'S RESIGNATION

I was in third grade and I thought it was scary that the president just decided to leave. Little did I know . . .:crazy:

[Iris]

257. me, too. Have you heard the James Taylor song about that

day? I can't remember the title right now, but it always gives me chills!

[Lorax]

142. Watergate

Watergate testimony on TV. I was mad because they prempted Sesame Street. I didn't understand what was going on but I distinctly remember thinking "someone is in trouble." I was 4 years old.

[rockymountaindem]

144. Gulf War I

I remember being upset that my parents were glued to the tube during the ground war period and they were too busy to read with me.

[AZBlue]

145. Reagan being shot - I went to school with some cabinet members' children

and they all thought their parents were the ones shot with him. It was a very scary morning.

[Oak2004]

146. I remember seeing Eisenhower on TV, but

don't recall anything about the speech he made. The first thing I can recall with any *content* to it was being taught to say "Kennedy Kennedy He's Our Man-- Nixon In The Garbage Can!" by my fellow children, and being disturbed that a playmate's family was supporting that "Nixon" person (this in Chicago, where everything revolved around the Democratic machine).

[Oak2004]

148. Let me add that my real political awakening was when MLK led a march

through my Chicago suburb. I saw the local bullies morph effortlessly into the local racists talking about how they were going to attack those n*****, while the good gentle people I had always liked remained good gentle people who wondered aloud what they personally could do about discrimination. I deduced that bullying and racism were one and the same, and that good people tried to do something about all sorts of bullying, including racism.

And from that all the rest followed.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

149. LOL, I remember the saying the same thing in 1960 and wearing a

Kennedy button (that seemed absolutely huge to me) on my grammar school uniform on the southwest side of Chicago.

I also remember my Dad coming home the morning after the election. I had just turned 7. He was a precinct captain and it was first time I'd ever seen him stay out all night. He was absolutely over the moon that JFK had beaten Nixon.

[Cameron27]

179. Oh yes, I remember those buttons too!

My family waited at the airport for one of JFK's campaign stops, and I'll never forget seeing him through the crowd with his auburn hair shining in the sun. He was startling attractive and I can never forget his voice.

I was so young, but what a time to be alive and see the political world as something good & decent, when life seemed to hold so much promise for everyone.

[Oak2004]

187. Southwest side? We lived at 52nd and Kedzie.

Where? We may have been neighbors, shouting the same slogans :)

[CitySky]

150. Carter/Reagan election

I must have seen SOMETHING about Vietnam etc. when I was younger -- my mom was a grad student at Berkeley -- but it didn't dawn on me that politics mattered until I saw my Dad bemoaning Reagan in 1980. They had us take a "poll" in class and of course we all voted as our parents would have. When I went home and asked my Dad WHY we preferred Carter, when some kids at school said he was an idiot, all Dad said was, "well, yes, Carter's an idiot. But Reagan's a BIGGER idiot." It stuck with me.

[gr8dane_daddy]

151. I remember the Iran hostages being released after reagan

took office. Didn't realize the implications of it since I was only 10.

[OneBlueSky]

152. my first awareness of politics came as I watched the 1956 . . .

Democratic Convention on the black&white Philco that my folks had purchased about a year earlier . . . I was about 10 years old at the time and had no idea what a convention was, but it fascinated me nonetheless . . . I remember being impressed by a potential VP candidate from Massachusetts by the name of John Kennedy, but I ended up rooting for Estes Kefauver -- I think because he had an unusual name and seemed like a "regular guy" . . .

in 1960, I was 14 and REALLY tuned in . . . I watched every minute of the convention every night for a week . . . I was hoping Kennedy would get the nomination and was delighted when he did . . . what surprised me as the campaign got underway, though, was that most of the kids in my high school (I was a freshman) seemed to be Nixon supporters . . . couldn't figure out what they saw in him -- and still can't . . .

I briefly toyed with the idea of trying to become a page at the next convention, in 1964, but the events in Dallas and LBJ's ascension turned me off on "establishment" politics . . . I preferred demonstrating against the war and for civil rights because it seemed that direct action was the only way that change would ever come about . . .

I still think that's true, btw . . . unfortunately, though, demonstrating today can get you disappeared . . .

[Trajan]

154. The Kennedy/Nixon Television Debates

The confidence of Kennedy, in direct opposition to the smarmy unkempt Nixon, shone through our little, rounded 12" B&W TV ..... I know my mom's adoration for a young, handsome Roman Catholic man somehow played a role in my own political development as a progressive ....

The Kennedy Assassination was an altogether different kind of 'awakening' .... but it came after I was already aware of who Kennedy was and what he meant to Democrats ....

[Arkansas Granny]

157. I remember Ike's first election, mainly because my parents

were split over it and even though their discussions weren't heated, they left an impression on me.

[marigold20]

204. I Like Ike!

I remember standing at my back door shouting "I Like Ike!" My dad was a Republican and I was shouting at some neighbor kids who were yelling something - what was Adlai's slogan? Maybe I just liked the rhyme!

[bklyncowgirl]

158. Cuban Missile Crisis

Duck and cover drills at my school every day and how would fat Sister Mary Grace ever fit under her desk.

I also remember a major press conference with Kennedy--I don't remember what it was about but I do recall a woman asking the first question. Since most of the newspeople were men I asked who that lady was. My Dad said it was Helen Thomas and that she always got to ask the first quesion. I thought that was pretty cool.

[cleveramerican]

159. 49 states for Nixon

I'm from Ma. the only state where Mcgovern won.

[conning]

161. Truman beating Dewey

As I walked home from school that day in my very Republican town, I was aware of the the very somber atmosphere. But, when I got home, my mother and father were demonstrably elated by the news. That contrast in political views made an impression on my nine year old mind.

[lynne]

162. CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS - But I didn't realize it at the time -

- I was 6 years old and we were driving home from shopping in our 1955 Ford. My parents thought I had fallen asleep in the back seat and they began to whisper. My mom whispered to my dad "Do you think this will be World War III?" Frightened the hell out of me.

Only years later did I understand that they were talking about the Cuban Missile Crisis.

[theHandpuppet]

163. The Kennedy/Nixon debates

My extended family got into some very heated arguments over that presidential campaign (I distinctly remember a real knockdown, drag-out shouting match between my Dad, who was a Kennedy supporter, and my uncle, who was a Nixon man). My next vivid memory was of the Cuban missle crisis and watching that whole thing unfold on our small b&w TV whist my Mom made an emergency first aid kit from an old tin breadbox.

[rzemanfl]

164. They broke into TV and said that "General Josef Stalin is

dead." I felt sad, generals were good and dead was bad. What did I know?
I was in the First Grade.

[Gman]

166. The Cuban Missle Crisis

I remember my dad talking to the guy next door who was a civil service worker at the air force base. He said he wasn't really worried about the base being targeted by missles because Russian missle guidance technology was pretty bad so he was saying the best thing to do might be to just stay put because if we evacuated you could find yourself in the way of an errant missle.

[LizW]

167. Caroline Kennedy had a pony.

And I wanted one. :)

[HamdenRice]

168. "If President Johnson doesn't win, it's back to slavery ..."

Well, actually my first political memory is the Kennedy assassination, but since everyone else mentioned it, I thought I'd post about my second major early political memory.

It was the night of the Johnson-Goldwater election and after my mother led me in good-night prayers and tucked me in, I asked her about the election and why it was so important for president Johnson to win. She said something like, you remember those stories about your great grandparents being slaves? Well, if President Johnson doesn't win, it's going to be something like slavery again.

I worred a little in bed and next thing I remember was waking up and hearing that Johnson had won re-election.

[rosesaylavee]

177. Wow. Just the opposite of

my post a few down. My folks just didn't get it - good people - but just didn't get it. I think they would get it now if they were still alive.

[Erechtheides]

170. Iran-Contra; first grade

I remember trying to start conversations about it with my classmates waiting for the school bus.

[BillORightsMan]

217. iran-contra refresher

So it's been 20 years since. Do ya remember keeping up with the unfolding story, up to Reagan's "I'm Sorry" moment? And the pardoning of all the creeps, like Ollie North?

Here's a refresher:

Tomgram: Greg Grandin on the Mother of All Scandals

You never can be too early when it comes to an anniversary. It's barely June, but a quick look down the road reminds us that the twentieth anniversary of the Reagan administration's Iran-Contra Affair lies just ahead this November.

The Swift Boating of America
By Greg Grandin

An illegal war, torture rooms, warrantless wiretapping, manipulated intelligence, secret prisons, disinformation planted in the press, graft, and billions of reconstruction dollars gone missing: just when it seemed that the Bush administration had reached its corruption quota comes a new scandal. This one is a bribery case involving defense contractors, Republican congressmen, prostitutes, secret Hawaiian getaways, Scottish castles, and -- wait for it -- the Watergate Hotel. At its center is the just ex-Executive Director of the CIA, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, whose sole qualification for being appointed to that post by just ex-Director Porter Goss seems to have been his ability, while head of the Agency's Frankfurt post, to hand out bottled-water contracts to friends and show junketing politicians a good time.

Don't fret though if you are having trouble separating this particular crime from other Republican offenses. There's a good reason -- they're all one scandal, part of the same wave of militarism, fraud, and ideology that has swamped American politics of late...

The rest at the link...
:patriot:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

171. Seeing the 1956 conventions on TV and wondering what all those

people were doing crowded into an auditorium and why TV was carrying that boring stuff on all channels.

I also have vague memory snippets of Stalin dying (big news in our family, which included Latvian emigres) and of sitting on my mother's lap, looking at Life magazine, pointing to a picture of a man and asking, "Who's that?" and her answering, "That's Senator McCarthy."

[marlakay]

172. John Kennedy's killing

Second grade. Remember exactly how it felt to lose him. Even though young we all loved our president. Gee, can't remember last time I felt that...

[rosesaylavee]

174. My mother coming home from voting in 1964

and telling me if that 'Johnson gets into office and not Goldwater, things would be very bad or life as we knew would end' or something to that effect ... :scared: I was 4 and very frightened at the time - especially after he won the next day. My folks were very rightwing, very John Birch/Phyllis Schafley Republicans.

I remember the Kennedy funeral but didn't connect it as a political event.

[Paladin]

175. 1960: Rumors That JFK Would Take Orders From The Vatican

As I remember, a good portion of the adults on our street in Austin, Texas truly believed that JFK, as the first Catholic president, would be subject to directives from the Pope. Thankfully, my parents weren't among those who believed this hateful nonsense.....

[chieftain]

176. The 1956 Convention when JFK lost the bid for VP

when Adlai let the delegates choose his running mate. My family was very interested in politics and my aunt and uncle had a party to watch the last night's session. I was an Irish-Catholic 10 year old and it was the first time I learned of the prejudice against my religion. The uncles talked long into the night about Al Smith's defeat, the KKK and Republican disdain for working men and women. I was hooked on politics for life.

[bobbieinok]

266. I was fascinated by Kennedy at the 56 convention

I was in high school and read his Profiles in Courage. I remember classmates 'teasing' me and saying from his picture on the book he looked like Art Linkletter.

I remember JFK being nominated for veep candidate and 'my own' OK senator Kerr leading the fight against him. Kerr was a SoBapt and JFK was Catholic. (They used to say in OK that when OU and Notre Dame played against each other there was more praying in OK than at any other time of the year; all the SoBapts prayed for OU and the Catholics for Notre Dame.)

[Keefer]

180. Kennedy assassination here too...

I was 5 and in kindergarten. They sent us home. I only lived a block from school then. My mother was on the couch in front of the TV crying her eyes out. I didn't get it then. The pics of John-John saluting his fathers caisson are priceless.

[Forrest Greene]

186. There Wasn't A Specific Event

...but I clearly remember noticing that Eisenhower & Khrushchev resembled each other closely, & thinking that fact said something more about the similarities of both men, as powerful leaders of countries, than it did about the alleged differences between those countries. I was born in 1953.

[alcibiades_mystery]

190. Anwar Sadat assassinated

Weird, huh?

[OzarkDem]

206. Very sad

I was transferring to a new job in Denver, living in a hotel. I recall watching the reports on tv right after it happened, then going to the lobby to get a paper. He was a pretty courageous guy and the ME destabilized a lot after that.

[BillORightsMan]

220. Anwar Sadat assasination

I was a bright-eyed Bobcat junior at OU with a minor in poly-sci and one prof I had REQUIRED us to subscribe to Christian Science Monitor. I still read CSM to this day.

When it happened, this was all we talked about for days, weeks, and discussed how this would change the region.

[Dragonbreathp9d]

192. Hearing of Whitewater

and Ken Star. I'm only 18.

[Rocknrule]

194. The whole "videogame violence" thing

It got me to start thinking and caring about issues and made me realize that what the majority believes is not always right

[MountainLaurel]

195. The Carter-Reagan election

I remember watching the results on the news.

Around the same time, I must have been listening to some news about the hostage situation in Iran, because I became convinced that Iranians were hiding in the hills around our elementary school and were going to attack.

Yeah, I had quite the imagination.

[greiner3]

196. Letting out of school early for no reason;

Going home and my mom was watching tv and crying. She told us that 'they've killed President Kennedy. I was 7. I do have memories of the Blockade the year before though. I remember having drills where the teacher told us to hide under our desks, face away from the windows and cover our eyes. Not too many years after that I delivered the afternoon paper 6 days a week. Every day's headlines dealt with 'body count' and how important it was to have a higher number of the 'enemies' than 'ours.' I am more frightened of the present troubles than I ever remember feeling during THOSE interesting times. I fear for my children and grandchildren.

[rep the dems]

197. Probably my dad telling me that Clinton was going to win in 1996

and then seeing him win it. I was 6 at the time.

[Divine Discontent]

218. hi youngin!

A lot of folks remember lots from the 50-60's, I go back as far as remembering Carter losing to Reagan, that was the first "political" event I recall. My Mom knew it'd be bad for us, it was, Reagan's cuts took away my Dad's SSI for 9 years til my Mom won it back in court.


I loved both Clinton victories!

[rep the dems]

239. I knew very little about politics at the time, but I was glad that

he won. I think I actually made fun of one kid who said his parents were voting for Dole.

[AspenRose]

199. Not exactly a 'bit'

When my parents or grandmother took me to church in the summer (with no A/C) the congregation fanned themselves with fans from the local mortuary.

These particular fans had MLK, RFK and JFK on them. I guess I was 4ish.

But my parents always had a portrait of JFK hanging in the house, so that's been since I was born.

And I remember Watergate interfering with my cartoons.

[otherlander]

200. Hearing that the first gulf war was over.

I know, I'm young.

Actually, before that, I vaguely remember my mother saying that Republicans wanted to shut down Head Start. The wierd thing was, even though I didn't know what Democrats and Republicans were at the time, I imagined Republicans as people wearing funny red hats... :)

[ChazII]

201. Dr. King's assignation

and I was in 4th gr at the time.

[dsweet]

203. Phil Gramm

When I turned 18, as a Democrat I voted against Phil Gramm, even though he was, ostensibly, a Democrat. That was the last time you had to look at the person instead of the party.

William Pryor paid me a visit today. A hell of a good man, and a neighbor, vote for him.

[citizen snips]

207. Bill Clinton

winning his second term.

[lpbk2713]

208. My 3rd grade teacher brought in her own TV

so we could watch the Eisenhower inauguration. And that took some doing. In those days even a table-top model TV was a heavy brute. Thank you Mrs Damon, wherever you are.

[NoPasaran]

209. Cuban Missile Crisis

Although I didn't know what it was at the time, I remember my parents being very concerned about something on TV. I was six.

[windbreeze]

210. When FDR died...

I was 4...
wb

[RoyGBiv]

211. Vietnam ...

I only have vague memories of this and don't really know to what degree official "news" was a part of it because what I most clearly remember is Grandma worrying over her only son, who was in the military, during Vietnam. I do remember seeing news on television that mentioned Vietnam, but not the specifics.

I know it had an effect because for a long time, the "world" as I conceived it consisted of Oklahoma, Texas, and Vietnam. The first two were okay. The latter was bad, and I knew that meant something was going on just outside my own field of vision that indicated powers were at work in the world that made bad things happen. And, I remember that because when Vietnam was over, my uncle was assigned to Grand Forks AFB, and we (my mother, one of her sisters and her husband, a cousin, and my grandma) took a car trip from OK to ND to see him. That expanded my "world" significantly and made it all sort of start to click together.

[windy252]

212. I remember vaguely

the Bush I/Dukakis debates and I'm not sure if this is memory is correct but didn't Bush I have a few officals that had to resign because of Nazi ties? I do remember not exactly being enthused about Dukakis, but also being vaguely aware of Bush I's relationships with them.

[amandabeech]

213. Kennedy pulling it out over Nixon in 1960,

My parents were ardent Republicans then and let me stay up to see Dick win. He didn't. My mom in particular was very, very upset. I thought that Kennedy was handsome and Nixon looked creepy.

I am proud to say that my parents both saw the light later. Watergate and Vietnam took their toll. I think that my Mom voted for Carter in 1976 and both voted for him in 1980.

Dad's gone to his well-deserved reward now, but my mom gets so worked up when she talks about her friends who like Bush that she can barely speak.

Even her arch-Republican sister who went to both of Bush's gubernatorial election balls in Texas said that she'd had it with him on Iraq and had regretted her support of him in the past. I hope that she was rewarded for those righteous remarks when she passed three years ago.

[Thirtieschild]

216. Roosevelt died & no one was sure who was vice president

People were standing on porches crying. I was 10.

[Divine Discontent]

219. aw...

FDR was really loved.

Thanks for that memory! I remember Carter losing to Reagan, I was 9, I want to say I remember him the 76 election, but I don't, I remember the bicentennial parade, but not the election.

[leanin_green]

221. The JFK assasination when I was 5.

I remember my mother calling my sister and I in from playing outside and had us watch what was going on on TV. My mother cried and cried and seemed to know then that the beginnings of a new world order in this country was taking place. Our home was abuzz with a lot of adults in discussion(my mom was very active in Democratic politics in Fresno, CA where we lived). In a way, it was a culmination of many different events that I was going through, at the time. Having air raid sirens go off for drills in town, having to do the nuclear drills at school(getting under your desks and covering up), seeing so many military aircraft flying overhead as I played(there was an Air Force base close by, can't remember which one). That kind of stuff began to make me aware that something was going on. But the JFK coup is what brought it all home.

[Skittles]

223. I was 6 but don't remember it

I was in England (USAF dependent) but don't see why that would make a difference

[Doctor_J]

232. I was 6 - in my 2nd grade classroom (see below)

I remember the funeral, and was watching live when Ruby put Oswald down. That's when the wheels came off the American Dream.

[Skittles]

222. Enoch Powell's Rivers of Red racist speech in 1968

yes INDEED; that was the first time I became politically aware of the hatred out there

[LeftishBrit]

225. I also remember Enoch Powell

My memories don't quite go back to that speech; but I remember him as nutty and racist and that it was the nastier people who supported him. He eventually rebelled from the right against the Conservative Party, and became an Ulster Unionist MP for a Northern Ireland constituency, even though he was not Irish. Always seemed to have a screw loose!

[Skittles]

240. my English gramdparents thought he was "rubbish"

LOL, my grandmother called him a "twisted old twit".

[LeftishBrit]

244. Your grandparents were right!

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

245. Enoch Powell was the UUP MP that represented my husband's and

in-laws hometown in Co. Down, NI. His name is a "dirty" word to them...

[sakabatou]

227. 9-11

[GOPS Worst Fear]

228. Sen. Everett Dirkson gets caught with shoe boxes Full of $$$$$

this was after his death. Then some questions about hie relationship with his secretary...?????

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

247. It wasn't Everett Dirksen that got caught with the shoe boxes

full of cash. It was the Illiois Secretary of State, Paul Powell and he was a Democrat.

Ev Dirksen was always referred to by my family as "Golden Throat". He was a Republican, but I think even my Dad had some respect for him.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

264. Powell wasn't caught with the money. He was dead when they found it. ;)

My family had a lot of colorful terms for Dirksen, too. Dad was in DC lobbying with other Machinists against the Taft-Hartley bill. They saw Dirksen on the Capitol steps and blasted him with the kind of language he deserved. The old POS gave them the finger.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

267. You're right, I forgot that detail. I stand corrected...

:hi: :hi:

[zanne]

230. Kruschev banging his shoe on the podium...

Saying "we will bury you". As bad as the media is today, it was just as bad back then.

[Doctor_J]

231. I was sitting in my 2nd grade classroom when it came over the

intercom that JFK'd been shot. IMO that was when the ultra-right-wing gangsters, including George HW Bush, got a strangle hold on thsi country that they haven't let go of to this day.

[atommom]

233. Watergate was my political awakening. I remember running into

the kitchen to tell my mom the pres said it was all "Damn lies." I can still remember the stunned look on her face ... she would have liked to tell me Nixon was right, but she just couldn't do it.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

234. Blah blah blah Vietnam war blah blah Vietnam blah Vietman war blah...

When I was a child, all news broadcasts sounded like that.

[Eurobabe]

235. Johnson swearing-in on the plane, after Kennedy assassination

I was only 3, but for some reason, I remember that footage. Maybe my mom didn't let me watch the Kennedy stuff, too awful.

[demwing]

237. Watergate

and the idea that a president might lie and cheat.

[misternormal]

238. When I heard....

... "President Kennedy died, some 38 minues ago"

[Johnny Noshoes]

241. The Cuban Missile Crisis

I was 8 years old in October '62 and didn't think I'd make 9. I had nightmares about bombs for a few years after that fall.

[fortyfeetunder]

242. Two things as a tyke

I vividly remember seeing the picture of Nikita Khruschev banging his shoe on the podium at the UN. I had to be almost 4 when that happened.

When I looked up when these events happened -- OMG, I didn't realize I was that young! I guess I was fascinated with seeing an older guy have a tantrum!

The other was the Bay of Pigs/Cuban missile crisis. I was a little older then.

[LWolf]

243. News?

As in something on the tv, radio, or in the newspaper? Probably the 2nd Kennedy assassination.

The first political news that I was aware of? The Civil Rights movement, because my family talked about it.

[Steely_Dan]

246. JFK's Death and Johnson's Commercial

I have some foggy memories of the assasination of JFK and the funeral. However, I do remember the "little girl in the field with the daisy" commercial. I also remember very clearly, my mom getting me up to see news footage of blacks being attacked by German Shepards and being water hosed in the South. It forever cemented my views of the South that exist to this day.

-Paige

[Sequoia]

255. Look here:

http://livingroomcandidate.movingimage.us/index.php

Johnson: Peace Little Girl (Daisy)
The "Daisy Girl ad," made for the Lyndon Johnson campaign, uses a striking combination of images and sounds to imply that if elected, the Republican candidate, Barry Goldwater, might start a nuclear war.

[El Fuego]

249. Watergate.

I remember my Mom watching the hearings all day on TV.

[high density]

250. Berlin Wall coming down (NM)

[SteppingRazor]

251. Reagan: "This may be the generation that sees Armageddon."

I was 5 years old, and even I was old enough that someone so dangerously lunatic should not be elected president.

This was maybe the second news item I remember seeing in my life, after the death of John Lennon a few months earlier -- basically, the earliest memories of my life that don't involve my immediate family include the death of a great man and the ascendancy of a maniacal scumbag. Terrible, terrible.

[Bucky]

252. 4th grade, Nixon finally negotiating end of fighting in South Vietnam

I think the peace lasted several months. I also remember seeing the news of the helicopters taking off from the embassay in Baghdad. I mean Hanoi. I don't know why I typed Baghdad just now. I was thinking about Hanoi.

[Hippo_Tron]

256. Clinton won in '92 but it was vague

I remember my dad was voting for Clinton and he took me in the voting booth with them. I could tell that he won because all of my family and my teachers were really happy.

I remember '96 a bit better. My parents were staunch democrats so they were voting for Clinton. My nanny was a mormon and so she voted for Dole just because of abortion. I asked my dad why we shouldn't give Dole a chance and he was like "are you kidding me?".

In 2000 my dad was obviously voting for Gore but my mom was considering Bush until the very end. I asked my dad about Bush and he told me "Name me one thing that you can seriously complain about with our government right now." I couldn't really think of anything and so he said "That's why I'm voting for Gore."

[KansDem]

258. The debate between Nixon and Kennedy (1960)

I remember looking at the cover of some weekly news magazine and seeing the both of them. I was around seven years old at the time.

[Jed Dilligan]

260. I can vaguely remember most of the big events

of the late 70s--what stands out in my mind are Abscam, Three Mile Island, the Iran hostage crisis, and Jimmy Carter in general (he reminded me of the Dukes of Hazzard because of the Southern accent).

I was born in 74.