Where were you when you heard Ronald Reagan was shot?

[itsrobert]

I was in a high school English class. I think.


I am in control here.

[hlthe2b]

1. Don't remember... I remember Challenger disaster. I remember JFK, RFK, MLK assasinations, though

I was incredibly young for JFK.

But, Reagan? I wasn't politically active at the time--and thus equivocal about Reagan, but I don't remember details...

[madinmaryland]

5. Probably the same place I was when Saddam Hussein tried to kill George HW Bush...

taking a dump.

[pangaia]

38. You stole my line.

I'm going to add it anyway. Hope you don't mind.

[JHB]

2. It was gym class for me.

[malaise]

3. I honestly don't remember

but I know about JFK, RFK, MLK and even Malcolm X

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

71. I don't either and I was living in suburban Maryland.

[LiberalElite]

4. at work nt

[MrScorpio]

6. I was working nights at the time

It was all over the TV when I got up that afternoon. I was glued to the coverage all night until I had to go back to work.

[livetohike]

7. I was teaching my 5th/6th grade combination class

in Houston, TX. I don't remember much other than having a tv in the classroom and watching it with my class. I despised Reagan for many reasons by then.

[okaawhatever]

8. At my job in the mall selling Levi's. I was in high school then..... nt

[MADem]

9. I was on active duty in the Navy.

I was busy, so I didn't see all the coverage of that business contemporaneously, either.

I did see the Haig babble--blew my mind. A realization formed in my mind as a consequence of his rank stupidity that it wasn't what you knew that got you promoted. I was amazed what heights that guy ascended to, in terms of rank/paygrade/national security position, and I just couldn't juxtapose that with his comments without saying to myself -- I couldn't believe it.

A cunning, and at the same time stupid, political animal, was Al Haig....

[etherealtruth]

10. Jeeze ... i don't know

I was in mrs. Blairs kindergarten class when RFK and Martin Luther King Jr were murdered

[TheCowsCameHome]

11. I don't remember.

Actually, I had to think for a moment to remember who it was that shot him.

[newfie11]

12. How weird

I can't remember.
Guess it shows how important I thought he was

[Deep13]

13. central MA

I was in junior high and home sick. Watched it either live or as newsbreak on TV.

[Scuba]

14. No clue.

[scarletwoman]

15. No idea. I don't even remember what year it was when it happened.

I absolutely loathed Reagan. I do remember having the fleeting thought that it was too bad the shot wasn't fatal - although I quickly felt ashamed about thinking such a thing. More substantial was my thought that, "Oh shit, now he'll be elevated to holy victimhood."

The Reagan years were sheer torture to me. Witnessing this bizarre and despical cult lay waste to the entire social contract in every way their evil minds could think of. My main memory of that time was the utter disgust I felt. His being shot was just another layer of disgustingness.

[Blue_In_AK]

91. Oh, SW, we're thinking the same thing again.

See my post below that I wrote before I read the replies of others.

I swear, we DO share a brain.

[warrior1]

16. Don't know but probably at work

[Brother Buzz]

17. The same place I was at when we landed on the moon

I guess.

[billh58]

18. I was on duty

as an air traffic controller in Honolulu TRACON, and it was five months later that the sonofabitch fired me and 14,000 other PATCO brothers and sisters.

[pangaia]

40. Yea, THAT really, really pissed me off.

Sorry for what happened to all you guys and gals.

[Holly_Hobby]

19. No clue,

I can't even remember what year it was.

[msanthrope]

20. Nice shout out to Al! I was in school. nt

[Codeine]

21. A fifth grade classroom in Farson, Wyoming.

Mr. Assemacher's class. I'll admit to not really grasping the true import of what had happened.

[tularetom]

22. I have no effing idea, it just was not that important to me

All I cared about was he wasn't around to fuck up CA anymore.

Little did I know.......

[shanti]

24. No idea at all n/t

[dhol82]

25. fascinating

don't have a clue where i was when i heard but do remember watching the news reports of the whole episode.
it obviously did not affect me all that much.

[CFLDem]

26. Couldn't see that either.

Probably because my view was still blocked by my dad's (then outdated) bell bottom jeans.

[silvershadow]

27. I don't know. At Grandma's maybe? meh More importantly, where was

Oh, never mind.

[DesertFlower]

28. i think i had just gotten home from work

when i heard it. we had planned on going shopping for a lamp and we did.

[pangaia]

42. :>))))))))))))))))))))))))

[DesertFlower]

45. i'm not sure what that means.

[pangaia]

54. It is in total support of you just going about your business.

As if... just beautiful irony.
Hope I read you right.

[bitchkitty]

29. Who cares? n/t

[donheld]

76. Not in the slightest.

[elleng]

30. My Fed govt office in DC.

[undeterred]

31. What I remember best about that day is one of my co-workers saying

the shooter should be given the death penalty for being such a lousy shot.

[left on green only]

56. Damn Straight!.....or not so straight

I remember muttering something about, "Where is the NRA when you really need them?". I remember that at the time I was working for a "defense" contractor who also manufactured TeeVee sets. Coincidentally I was standing around one of their eternally turned on one-eyed boxes that was perched in the company cafeteria, and watching the "pageant" unfold. I didn't stay in either place for very long (my choice).

[zbdent]

32. I think I was in school ...

Ironically, I had suggested a "Death Pool" (long before I ever heard the term) at the time Reagan was elected.

I had been using the idea that the "President elected in a year with a zero die in office", and I was saying that people should contribute a dollar. Guess which month Reagan dies.

Almost immediately, Reagan could have died.

[LuvNewcastle]

98. I knew about the 0-year death rule, too, and I thought he would die.

I don't remember how old I was, but I always turned on the tv when I got home from school and I found out about it then. I think I was in junior high, but I don't remember what year it was. I'm surprised it wasn't announced in school. I'm in Miss., and everyone down here just loved Reagan, at least all the white people seemed to love him.

[CBHagman]

33. Walking along Greene Street at the University of South Carolina.

As I passed one of the dormitories a student stuck his head out the window and shouted, "Somebody took a shot at Reagan!" I went inside the student union building to see if radio reports were confirming that.

[ScreamingMeemie]

34. Second floor of Highland View Elementary School, third row, staring out the window down onto the

rubber tire climby things on the playground. It was Math Class. My teacher's name was Mr. Dunn, and the principal came over the PA to announce it.

[cpwm17]

35. I have no idea

I remember the important things like the Challenger disaster, 9-11, and hearing that Phil Mickelson won his first major.

But Reagan getting shot: I can't remember. I couldn't stand him. That's what I remember.

Reagan didn't die, so that might be why it's more difficult to remember.

Our family had no TV in the 1960's and my elementary school didn't mention the news, so I missed all of that era. I was also too young in 1963 to remember JFK.

[cynatnite]

36. I remember it scared my mom...

It reminded her of Kennedy and Reagan's brought it all back.

I was in the cafeteria at school when I heard.

[applegrove]

37. High school on a city bus.

[pangaia]

39. Sitting on the crapper.

[PasadenaTrudy]

41. At home in my room n/t

[Tikki]

43. On a field trip with my son's preschool class at a local Dentist...

Most of the mothers there were just acknowledging the news…but no one was overwhelmed with sadness.


Tikki

[Freddie]

44. Teaching music at a Catholic school

My brief (2 yrs) career before I started my life's calling as a payroll administrator (hey, somebody has to do it). I was 24. The teachers and nun-principal called all the kids into the library and they prayed. I always pretended to be Catholic (I'm Lutheran) in such situations. Then Reagan recovered pretty quickly and everyone forgot about it.

[ScreamingMeemie]

48. Not everyone. The image of James Brady...with a gunshot wound to the head--laying over a gutter--is

forever burned in my memory. This is why I remember EXACTLY where I was on this day.

[Igel]

46. Walked to the grocery store to buy something.

Saw it on the newspaper headlines.

Don't remember the name of the store--it changed a time or two when I lived in the area. 29th and Willamette, Eugene.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

47. Nobody would remember where they were when JFK was shot ...

... if he recovered from his wounds and finished his term(s) in office.

[ScreamingMeemie]

49. I remember every detail of where I was with Reagan because of James Brady.

[nevergiveup]

50. I was heading north on Rt I-55 somewhere between Springfield, Il

and Chicago. I don't remember my reaction.

[JackRiddler]

51. 78th Floor of World Trade Center One

Nice view.

[graywarrior]

52. I was still hurting from the John Lennon shooting in december

So I didn't care that much...(at all).

[Adsos Letter]

53. I was painting the exterior of a huge house, while listening to the radio. Funny thing is...

...I don't remember it because of the shooting, per se, but because of Haig's actions and words, which you quoted.

Interesting. Good lesson/exercise. Not sure which. Perhaps both.

Edit: proofreading is a good thing...

[sweetloukillbot]

55. I was in 5th grade...

The shock is that I distinctly remember another girl in my class saying how she hoped he died because he was so evil. Can't remember Lennon, and probably wouldn't remember Reagan if it weren't for that girl.

[GP6971]

57. Who cares?????? n/t

[SaveOurDemocracy]

58. Ummmmmmmm ... No clue.

[MiniMe]

59. I was at work

[truebluegreen]

60. Who? the poseur? I forget.

When was that anyway?

[2naSalit]

62. I cheated and looked it up...

3/30/81.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

61. I was in a downtown coffee shop ordering coffee. I was on my way to work.

I worked for the state at the time and Reagan had just ended Carter's C.E.T.A. a program that had trained and put to work many people. At work there were sobbing frightened people who didn't know if they were going to be able to find work ever again. Many of the woman were divorcees, in their 50's, who had never worked outside of the home until C.E.T.A. trained them and found them work.

In the coffee shop an air force officer walked in behind me and said "Reagan's been shot"! I said, "Good".

[2naSalit]

63. I was driving a semi somewhere in Wisconsin

or Illinois. I had to look up the date but I do recall watching the news showing it that evening and I thought, "Here we go again." I would gladly have traded him for Lennon.

[Va Lefty]

64. In college walking back to dorm from class

[Comrade Grumpy]

65. I dunno. Not a defining moment in my life.

[prairierose]

66. I really have no idea....

I hated him so apparently, I did not bother to remember much about it. I felt bad about Brady but didn't care if raygun survived....

[cherokeeprogressive]

67. Ronald Reagan was shot?

Holy fuck!

[Ikonoklast]

68. At work, on lunch break, with a guy I worked with who was a WWII AAF vet who flew over the Empire.

Harold actually met a lot of Hollywood actors when on leave from B-29 training at Muroc, and before shipping out, Ronald Reagan being one of them.


Harold said it looked like a little bit of the war Reagan missed out on while banging starlets in Hollywood finally found him.

[Ian David]

69. I remember where I was when Buckwheat was shot.

[redstatebluegirl]

70. In a room recovering from a bunch of medical tests including a colonoscopy

Do not know why I remember....

[caraher]

72. I think I just got home from the orthodontist

I was in high school.

And Al Haig... a few years later when I was in college Haig gave a talk on campus. The big issue then was deployment of Pershing II missiles in Europe, and activists were out in force to give him the greeting he deserved. The best bit of heckling came when someone called out, "I'm in charge!" which echoed about the room as others repeated the taunt. Even those who disapproved of efforts to shout him down had to chuckle at that one...

[loyalsister]

73. 5th grade

Mrs. Warren's class

[Dreamer Tatum]

74. Sitting right here! Reagan got shot??????? nt

[OwnedByCats]

75. I was only about 8, so I was in school

Regardless of who is in office, I never wish bodily harm or death to them.

[chillfactor]

77. I do not remember...

probably because he was such a horrible man and president.....but i do remember crying for days upon hearing about JFK, MLK, and Bobby.....I can tell you what I was wearing at the time and what I was doing...

[Egalitarian Thug]

78. Moving boxes into my first (and only) condo. n/t

[Pretzel_Warrior]

79. I don't honestly remember. Probably in class.

ButnI remember specifically being in P.E. When the teacher suddenly told us to be quiet as high school principal announced Challenger shuttle disaster.

[dchill]

80. I was in the kitchen...

of a rented mobile home. I remember it because of Frank Reynolds' outburst at his staff - "Let's nail it down!" (After very prematurely announcing James Brady's death.)

[avaistheone1]

81. I don't remember.

[Liberty Belle]

82. Working in CA's state capitol.

Where Reagan used to be Governor.

Even Republicans there said he wasn't too bright, but he was personable, and it was a shocking event though he was a terrible president.

[pansypoo53219]

83. PAROCHIAL middle school + the class cheered. (lutheran)

[Art_from_Ark]

84. I have no idea

Heck, I can't even remember where I was when Squeaky Fromme took a shot at Gerald Ford.

[JustAnotherGen]

85. I came home from school

And our Zookeeper (how my dad referred to the babysitter) told us. I was only 7 or 8 but was into General Hospital. She got mad because I was mad ABC didn't have it on. :doh:

[Douglas Carpenter]

86. watching TV and smoking lots of dope in a little shack I was renting in Scotts Valley, California

[LeftishBrit]

87. I was at my parents' home, and my dad told me that this had just happenedt

I have to admit, however, that my memories of the attempted assassination of Reagan are very mixed up in my mind with my memories of the attempted assassination of the Pope, which happened a couple of months later.

[treestar]

88. In college, just arrived at Spanish class

Where people who'd heard about it on the news were talking about it.

In spite of his being the worse politician ever, I was glad to hear he survived.

[Hekate]

89. No idea. I cringed at it happening *again* and was grateful he survived.

The country just does not need another assassination on its rap sheet.

Immediately edited to add: As a member of the Boomer generation I had already had one psychic blow after another as American leaders of all kinds were violently assassinated. I no longer told myself that this event was unique, as I had believed when President Kennedy was murdered. That's why it didn't have the same impact.

[Blue_In_AK]

90. I barely remember.

I think I was at home doing something, but I honestly can't remember what.

Funny, I remember exactly where I was when I learned that JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King, and John Lennon were shot, but Reagan, not so much. I do remember thinking (god, if there is a god, forgive me), why did THIS one have to live.

[Scootaloo]

92. Wasn't born

My parents recall changing the channel "because fuck that asshole."

[Morphia]

93. About 4 blocks from the Washington Hilton

When I got home a few people told me that they thought I was going to be named as the shooter they knew I was in DC, yes I hated and still hate that fucker RR but NEVER threatened to shoot him so my reply was well if it was me I would have finished the job. Of course everyone laughed at the joke.

Fuck RR I hope he is roasting in the fiery pit where he belongs and I hope all the asshats that voted for him will be joining him when they too kick the bucket.

[kydo]

94. Don't remember

Other then I was in High School. And honestly, I really didn't care about the raygun, but I remember being more concerned for Brady.

[woodsprite]

95. All Eastern Chorus rehearsal, Kutchers CC, Monticello, NY

400 voices strong. The director, Lee Kjelson, told us. We sang the
Hallelujah chorus from memory during that rehearsal, in honor of Pres. Reagan.
I thought that was a little odd at the time.

[panader0]

96. In which movie?

[99Forever]

97. Don't remember, don't care.

Ronnie Rayguns was an evil POS, however, I still didn't advocate the violence of a gunhumper on him. I only wish that he had never held the reins of power, the damage that jerk caused to this nation might never be repaired. He makes me wish there were an afterlife so he could be burning in Hell for all eternity.

[lonestarnot]

99. I have no idea.

[blueknight]

101. driving my car

running errands when i heard. Im a life long member of a labor union, which he so desperately tried to decimate. i remeber thinking " who gives a fuck" ? now all these years later, i still feel the same way

[Neoma]

102. I wasn't even born.

[mockmonkey]

103. I don't remember

I was working third shift at the time so I assume I might have had a nap after work and watched the news at some point.

What I do remember was Frank Reynolds saying that James Brady had died and then getting told that he hadn't. Reynolds then chastised the newsroom on the air about getting their information right.

[llmart]

104. Hmmm.......

Can't remember and don't care. Maybe I was standing in line somewhere waiting to collect my 5 lb. block of Government cheese Or pouring catsup on a spoon and eating it to get my daily allotment of "vegetables".

[AndyA]

105. I have no idea where I was when Reagan was shot.

Remember JFK, MLK, RFK...but not Reagan. Hmmm...I wonder if that means something.

[BeyondGeography]

106. A bar in Paris; the guy next to me said, "Better luck next time."

He was funny.

[RiffRandell]

107. 5th grade in CT.

I had been sick so I stayed after school to make up work and a teacher from another class came in to tell my teacher...she had called home and her daughter had given her the news.

[giftedgirl77]

108. I was 3,

so I only know of it from watching documentaries.

[Callmecrazy]

109. I was in my freshman wood shop class.

A radio station was broadcast over the intercom.

[RBInMaine]

110. 8th grade in the school hallway between classes when teachers brought us in early and announced it.

[boston bean]

111. I was on the school bus, so didn't hear until I got home

close to 3pm. Remember being pissed that General Hospital was going to be interrupted, though!

[Thirties Child]

112. I have no idea

I can tell you where I was when JFK and MLK were shot, even know where I was when I heard FDR died - I was 10, walking to the store, heard about it from people standing on their porches, crying. But no idea about Reagan. I do remember crying the night he was elected - knew we were on a downward slide.

[gopiscrap]

113. Who cares, it was Ronald Reagan

[MoonRiver]

114. Uh, hmmm,

just can't seem to recall.

[Chan790]

115. Well...I was under 3, so even though I have no recollection...

I could probably tell you if I knew what time of day it was; my mother is a fastidious creature of habit.

In 30 years, she's managed to get her first cup of coffee into the same 10 minute window every day except twice. those were bad days...she wakes up at the exact same time too: 7:12am. It really fucked me up when I got to Kindergarten and the teacher said we had these things called "free time" and "recess"...What do you mean I can do whatever I want? This is uncomfortably unstructured for me!

[meaculpa2011]

116. In my office at the Rahway campus...

of Merck & Co.

Second best job I ever had. Maybe third best.

On my worst day I never wished physical harm to anyone, regardless of their politics.

[itsrobert]

117. I am DU reccing my own OP because

unexpectedly there are over 100 replies. Off to the greatest page.

[Paladin]

118. Beats me. Thanks for asking, this thread speaks volumes. (nt)

[Autumn]

119. I saw something about it a day or so later.

I really have no clue.

[Greybnk48]

120. I don't remember.

I remember seeing the footage on the news, but not much else.

[starroute]

121. No clue here either

But I also don't remember much about Squeaky Fromm trying to shoot Jerry Ford. You only imprint on the ones that pack an emotional punch.

[arely staircase]

122. 7th grade PE class. nt

[rbrnmw]

123. In 6th grade band class

We were dismissed and I went home and watched the coverage on CNN my Mom was upset she wondered how after all the Asassinations and violence during The 60' s that someone could get that close to a President with a loaded gun??

[itsrobert]

130. I think my sister was upset because

she couldn't watch her soaps (General Hospital)

[NaturalHigh]

124. I was getting on the school bus to go home.

[SummerSnow]

125. I was in highschool...

Our principal announced it over the loudspeakers.

[karadax]

126. I was almost 2 so I was probably sitting in a poopy diaper playing with toys. n/t

[itsrobert]

127. or

sitting on toys playing with a poopy diaper?


jk, but possible for a two year old.

[lpbk2713]

128. Hey, I was hundreds of miles away.

Don't try to stick that on me.

Sure, he was an asshole but I wasn't that fed up with him.

[Aerows]

129. I was in the 1st grade.

I don't really remember much other than the bus being late that afternoon.

Now that I think about it, I was in 1st grade, because Mrs. Butterbaugh was our teacher and she made us stand outside waiting for the bus even though it was raining. She was so mean, even the parents didn't like her.

We went on a field trip to the Okeephenokee Swamp, and a bunch of alligators started approaching the picnic area. My mom was chaperoning and herded most of the kids on the bus and closed the door while one of the other mothers got a group of kids into her car and blew the horn at the alligators. Mrs. Butterbaugh ended up standing on the picnic table surrounded by alligators and some of the mothers took pictures of it. I remember them laughing as they handed it around.

Knowing my mother, she was probably the prime instigator of them taking the pictures.

[asjr]

131. Probably cleaning the cat litter pan.

[hfojvt]

132. truthfully, I cannot remember

in my memory I am getting it mixed up with John Lennon.

December 8, 1980 versus March 30, 1981.

So I would have been in the same dorm. Unless it was spring break. 1:27 central time. Still almost lunch time, but I would not be watching TV. Other than private rooms, there were only two TVs in the whole dorm. But one was by the mailboxes, which is where I was when I heard about Lennon, going to check if the mail was out yet because it was very late that day. Monday night football was on the tube, and Howard Cosell broke in to announce that Lennon was shot. And I was thinking "who the heck is John Lennon?"

So perhaps it was the same place. Maybe I was walking back from class and checking for mail and the TV was on with the news.

I don't really remember though.

I do remember seeing the footage and thinking "that one guy was shot in the head and is lying face down on a storm gutter. Give me some news about him, because he looks like he's hurt bad."

[Faux pas]

133. I don't remember.

But I know I wasn't at the scene of the crime.

[frogmarch]

134. I remember clearly

watching it all unfold on TV, but for the life of me I can't recall where I was at the time.

[Arugula Latte]

135. Home sick from high school.

I will just leave it at that.