November 22, 1963

[hedgehog]

[MADem]

1. Oh wow. Who thought there'd ever be a day when you could turn on the TV on this day and not

be made IMMEDIATELY aware of what happened "way back then" in "ancient history?"

I guess I'm an old fogey from the days of ancient history!!!

[Stellar]

8. You and me pal...

I just forgot about it. MAN!

[classof56]

32. It was my first thought when I saw the date on my computer.

I remember that terrible day--just where I was (at work) and my stunned reaction. An awful time in our country's history. What a different world it would be if he'd lived. And if RFK had lived...

Millions of dreams have died in the years since. I raise a candle to all of them.

[JDPriestly]

71. Thank you. Forgetting history is a big mistake.

[awake]

2. .

[Lugnut]

3. .......

[Thor_MN]

4. I had just turned 11 months old.

But somehow growing up, I had a sense of how important he was long before I had any sense of politics.

[cwydro]

5. Yes

[Dustlawyer]

13. I was a little over 2 months. I to always heard as a kid that Kennedy was different from other

politicians, which back then I thought it was because he wasn't old and bald. People spoke like we were robbed of great things he would have done, some truth to that maybe.

[kag]

49. Me too. I was almost exactly a month old.

And I was born in Texas. You and I might have a few things in common.

[sdfernando]

68. Just over 2 years old for me.

November 22nd is my parents wedding anniversary. Dad was away in Vietnam (I think), I don't remember the day he returned but it has always lent a somber tone to their anniversary celebrations.

I often wonder about how much different this world would be had JFK lived.

[mountain grammy]

6. ...

[Ninga]

7. I was 20. Couldn't believe this could happen in magical, perfect America.

I stand with those who say it was the beginning of the loss of innocence....

[zeemike]

24. I was 20 also.

And also stand with thoes you stand with.

[JDPriestly]

72. That's strange. I was 20 too.

I was observing a class for credit in an education course. The news came over the loudspeaker in the classroom. I will never forget it.

[HereSince1628]

9. Many people remember hearing of it from Walter Cronkite, not me.

I learned JFK was shot from Ringmaster Ned of WGN's Bozo'z Circus

I was home from school sick.

[MADem]

75. I heard it on Spanish television--they broke in to announce it.

Everyone started sobbing; from then on it was a week of national mourning. You'd have thought the Spanish had lost their leadership, with all the expressions of grief. Everyone went to church.

I didn't see any of the TV coverage until many years later. I heard a lot of the reports on assorted English language radio outlets.

[murielm99]

76. Wow.

I did not know Ringmaster Ned announced it. That is bizarre and chilling.

I was at school, in my typing class. The principal came on the PA system. At first, we did not hear the PA. (Those old typewriters made a lot of noise). We got the information, though. The principal came back a second time, and left the radio on for the whole school to hear. We heard the death announced. After a few minutes of a very somber geometry class, we were sent home. I was fifteen.

Last year, I went to my husband's fiftieth class reunion. The geometry teacher, now in his eighties, was there with his wife. He and I talked about that day.

[sorefeet]

10. I was 7 years old

and I remember it coming over the speaker in the class room.

[redwitch]

27. I was 7 too.

A really sad day for America. It still makes me sad to think of it.

[ancianita]

11. We haven't been the same country since.

[a kennedy]

12. I was 13, and our Catholic grade school immediately went to church and prayed.....

Everyone was bawling, all the nuns, and students, it was one of the worst days of my life.

[mackerel]

14. i too was 11 months, my family was living abroad.

My father often spoke of strangers coming to our home and giving our family condolences. It wasa tragedy that was deeply felt through out the world.

[Dont call me Shirley]

15. Reincarnate President Kennedy, please.

[MineralMan]

16. I was 18 and a new freshman at a California state college.

That day, I came down from my dorm room to head for an 11 AM Biology 101 class, which was held in a small auditorium. On the TV in the community room in the dorm (TVs weren't allowed in dorm rooms), the story was breaking on the local CBS channel, with Walter Cronkite making the announcement of the shooting. I watched for several minutes, then walked to where the class was held.

I was late, so the class was already underway. I walked in, walked down to the front of the room, and apologized to the professor for interrupting and then announced what was happening. The class was dismissed instantly, and I went back to the dorm, where I spent most of the day watching the story develop.

[zeemike]

29. That reminds me of a story a SO of mine told me.

She was also a freshman at Florida State and they were in the assembly when it was announced that the president had been shot in Dalas...she said the whole student body stood up and cheered.

There was much love for JFK, but because of that there was also a lot of hate for him in the south...it rivaled the Obama hate.

[MineralMan]

31. You know, I find that very hard to believe, actually.

The reaction where I was was simply shock and disbelief. I can't imagine that Florida college freshmen had any different reaction than that class of about 200 students in California.

California went for Nixon in 1960, as did Florida. And yet, nobody cheered in that college classroom. So, I actually don't believe the story you're telling. I was there. I saw the reaction at my classroom full of freshmen.

[zeemike]

52. Well I don't doubt her words...

And that part of florida is right wing to this day...And I lived in that state for over 20 years...she was not prone to making things like that up.
But believe what you will.

[ashling]

60. Believe it

http://claireconner.com/

I grew up in Texas.

[Sancho]

39. I was in school in SC, and yes there were some cheers...

but even my ultra conservative father corrected those who were "happy".

In Charleston, we were very afraid of an atomic attack because of the naval base there. We had a fallout shelter in the back yard (really). Most of the military and crazy war folks hated the idea of a Yankee, Catholic, Democrat as President. They made fun of the Peace Corps.

Regardless, many knew it was very serious to assassinate a President, and some were genuinely worried about a coup in the US! That was the kind of talk I heard. Many others immediately blamed the Cubans or Russians. Even a few days after, there were theories that it was an inside job by the CIA. Others wondered about the North Koreans being behind it.

It was a very scary time in the early 60's.

[zeemike]

53. Well I do suspect that not all of them hated him that much.

But in a crowd when some stand up and cheer the rest do to to fit in, and I suspect after that first reaction many of them,realized how wrong it was, I know my SO did.
And there is nothing more interested in fitting in than a freshman.

[jwirr]

42. You did not have to be in the south to experience that. My brother Paul was in industrial arts class

when it was announced over the loud speaker. Their teacher said "Good." He was lucky he did not get killed himself. All the students walked out on him.

[zeemike]

55. Good for them.

There are a lot more decent people than there are the others...at least there used to be.

[The Blue Flower]

48. I was in the ninth grade, Orlando, FL

There was nothing but shock and grief. I still grieve over what died that day. As well as the day JFK, Jr. died.

[mnhtnbb]

79. I came home from school (7th grade)--where it had been announced over the loudspeaker--

and told my mother and grandmother. My mother was a staunch Republican. I'll never forget what
she said, "It's about time." I never looked at her the same after that. Despite her politics, how
could someone possibly approve of the President of the United States being assassinated? In our country?
A husband and father. I realized then that my mother was severely flawed as a person and that she
lacked empathy.

My grandmother was shocked. So my mother didn't learn to be an a$$hole from her mother.

We were living in New Jersey at the time. In 1965 my dad retired and we moved back to California--
where my parents were from. My mom became a huge supporter of Ronnie. I used to puke when
I'd go home from college--UCLA--and see the damn photo she'd hung of him in her kitchen.

[ColesCountyDem]

17. ...

[Ineeda]

18. Growing up in the era of TV shows

where the 'good guys' might get shot but they always recovered with 'it's just a flesh wound, ma'am'. It was inconceivable at first, that this 'good guy' was actually dead. I was a naive 16, and he was my president.

[irisblue]

19. First Grade @ Parkwood Elementary.

All the teachers disappeared, I would guess they were in the principals office crying. I can remember the next several days pretty clearly for a 6 yr old.

[Inspired]

20. The date of my 5th birthday.

Such a sad day.

[pamela]

56. It was the day after my fifth birthday.

Happy Birthday! I'm one day older than you.

[ashling]

21. I was 11 years old

Sitting in Social Studies class in 6th grade when the radio came over the loud speaker. Chet Huntley announcing that the president had been shot and killed.


When I got home my mom was sitting on the couch crying.

[ginnyinWI]

25. I was also 11

Had just walked back to school after lunch break (imagine that--going home for lunch in the middle of the day!) My friend met me by the coat racks and said, "Did you hear what happened?" Our sixth grade class sat and listened to the radio, and the teacher had tears in her eyes.

[pipi_k]

40. I was 11 too...

Our teacher got a call on the intercom phone but didn't say anything. She just got real short with us kids. We didn't know why.

Many of us never found out what happened until we got home.


I remember watching the funeral procession a couple of days later, where John John saluted as his father's casket passed by.

[ginnyinWI]

26. you know what else--

Our family was solid Republican. But my mom was visibly upset and there were no comments around the house like, "good thing!", or "serves him right!". We pulled together as a nation to mourn OUR President.

[DFW]

51. I was 11 as well

We were in Friday afternoon assembly at my school in Washington, D.C., and a teacher came in and quietly escorted Joe Kennedy III (in my class) and Bobby Jr. (a grade below me) out, but no one was told why. When we were done, I took a bus downtown to the National Press Building at 14th and F streets, and saw the screaming headlines "JFK SLAIN!" I had seen all the oddball tabloid exaggerations many times, and thought this one had gone too far. But when I got up to my dad's office on the 12th floor, he was looking very agitated and had two phones in his hands, one in each ear. I interrupted him just long enough to say, "don't tell me it's really true?" He nodded, and got back to talking to whomever it was he was talking to, and we listened, stunned, to the radio all the way back to the house in Virginia.

[kwassa]

73. I think you mean Joe Kennedy II. Joe Kennedy III was born in 1980.

still amazing, nonetheless.

[DFW]

78. That's it.

I can't keep my Roman Numerals straight.

[Moostache]

22. I was not born until '71, but I remember '81 attempt on Reagan...

I often wonder what would have happened in '63 if the Zapruder film was discovered and broadcast immediately instead of years after the fact? What would this world look like today if the powers that be in '63 had to contend with the current hyper-speed media and outlets that would have had that film on TV in a constant loop by 23Nov63...

I bet the Warren Commission would read a lot differently...

[YarnAddict]

28. Don't know what you mean by "discovered"

The Zapruder film WAS known at the time, and it was part of the evidence presented to the Warren Commission.

[TNNurse]

23. I was 14 and in Latin class

If I forget this date and what it meant to our country and what it means about the state of things today, my dementia will be real. I guess then I will not be sad.

I have always thought that assassination is a less awful word for murder. Our President was murdered makes it sound more real to me.

[Zorra]

30. A dark day. JFK was the last FDR Dem ever elected to lead our country. nt

[ashling]

62. Uh, No.

LBJ was

[PatrickforO]

33. Yes, November 22

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

34. I was on leave after a tour in Japan. 20.

[Cryptoad]

35. The sad part of the Story is,,,

the same forces of evil are still are work in the GOP!

[LiberalElite]

36. 8th grade - principal made the announcment on

our newly installed intercom system. Before that she had to go classroom to classroom.

[Basic LA]

37. North Carolina

I was 17, stationed at a Marine Air Base in N.Carolina, & wondered why the whoops of joy were coming from the rec room. I thought a game was on. And someone yelled, "The N-lover is dead!"

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

38. I was ten years old..

It was my dads birthday... Quietest BD party we ever had. Then out of school and watching the coverage on TV, saw my first murder live on the tube a couple days later when Oswald got shot. Changed my view of the world in a profound way.

[Ccarmona]

41. It Was My

13th Birthday, and unfortunately, nobody ever forgets where they were that day.

[CountAllVotes]

43. 'Twas my late father's hero

JFK -- he knew everything about the man and worshiped him.

I remember lots of crying going on.

This was the day that America as I knew her to be died a sad sad death. It has never been the same since and never will be the same again.

[MissDeeds]

44. So much hope and promise was lost

that day.



K&R

[Tuesday Afternoon]

45. .

[saidsimplesimon]

46. Days of infamy

I was in chemistry class. The announcement came over the PA. We were first shocked, then in tears before the high school closed for the day. We had no idea of what was to follow.

2/21/65 the murder of Malcolm X
4/4/68 the murder of MLK
6/5/68 the murder of RFK

Great screen name hedgehog, don't judge a book by its cover?

"Le hérisson" The Hedgehog, a great French movie, imho. "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" (French: L'Élégance du hérisson) is a novel by the French novelist and professor of philosophy Muriel Barbery. see wiki and other sites for details.

[Historic NY]

47. .

[saidsimplesimon]

50. Would the passage of the 26th amendment

to our Constitution count as a reaction by those of US who wanted to make a difference? It is proof that if we want change, it is possible.

[hedgehog]

64. IIRC, it was a question of sending off 18 year olds to Vietnam -

it seemed like they should have some say in the matter.

[Gothmog]

54. Sad day

[niyad]

57. I was in class--the announcement came over the loudspeaker, and I thought "why would the

secretary say anything so horrible?' it was simply unbelievable. we lost so many good people in that decade, and I am so disheartened to see what this country has become.

[pinboy3niner]

58. .

[John1956PA]

59. Every year when November rolls around, I feel gloomy anticipation for this calendar date.

I was in my second grade classroom at Catholic school when the public address speaker suddenly blared a radio news report that President Kennedy had been shot while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, and that he was taken to a hospital where his condition was critical. I was generally aware of the location of the city because a family member had worked there. I was not sure of what a motorcade was, but I came to understand that the president had been seated in the back seat of a convertible when he was shot. Before long, the class was given a restroom break. In the hall, the principal explained the meaning of "critical." When we returned to the classroom, the public address speaker was quiet. After a short while, it again started with the radio news feed. The president was dead.

[uppityperson]

61. k&r

[Hekate]

63. It was 9:00 am, I was headed to Chemistry class at high school....

We had no intercoms, but some kids had transistor radios; I heard someone say, "The president's been shot!" which I thought was a lousy joke. I don't know when it was officially confirmed, but by the time we had an assembly in the courtyard to have the flag lowered to half-staff while the band's best trumpeter played Taps, rumors were starting to circulate that in some places in the South there had been cheers. But for us it was auwe, auwe

Glued to the B/W tv for the next several days. Grief. Like so many other young people I had a Peace Corps packet in my desk drawer -- remember?

[robertpaulsen]

65. .

[WillyT]

66. Was In The Third Grade... Walked Home For Lunch Only To Find My Mom Sobbing Uncontrollably...

On The Couch With The TV On...

We watched TV non-stop for the next Four Days:

[kwassa]

74. Everyone did. That is why I saw Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV.

As it happened.

Millions of us saw that. It was so unbelievable, but it was true.

[mnhtnbb]

80. I was the only one in my family--all Republicans--who watched all of it on TV.

The only one. My parents and brother never set foot in the den while I had the TV on.

[Cadfael]

67. One of my earliest memories..

I remember kneeling with my mother (who was not a very religious person) and praying for the president. I was about 3 weeks short of 3 years old at the time.

[RoverSuswade]

69. My experience was very unique:

I was in a record store (remember those) on South Illinois Street in Indianapolis. I was about to buy an LP of the Limeliters for $3.98 when this "hippie-type" guy with a transistor radio at his ear yelled out "The President's been shot." People either laughed at him or ignored him until he said "no, listen" and held the radio out. It was true. I felt sick and left the store and went back to my hotel where I was attending a Music Educators convention at the Severin Hotel. The sessions for the day had been cancelled. I checked out of the hotel, got in my Volkswagen, and drove south to my home near Evansville. As I approached the tiny town of "Freedom" on Highway 67 the announcer on the radio said he was dead. I never felt so despondent and lonely in my life.

[eridani]

70. In Latin class when the announcement came over the PA

Junior year in high school. We all adjourned to the auditorium, and school was closed for the rest of the day.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

77. I was in elementary school.

The principal played the radio over the PA system. The girls in fourth and fifth grade were crying.

We were staunch Democrats and had three pictures of John F. Kennedy on the wall.