What is first major news event you recall as child?

[Demovictory9]

I recall my brother watching moon landing. My parents watching funeral of MLK.

My own personal obvservations started with Nixon resigning because sixth grade teacher made us pay attention

Link to tweet

?s=19

[HUAJIAO]

1. Not quite an 'event,' but I remember rationing near the end of WW2.

And car headlights half blacked out in NYC. I think.

[Aristus]

2. Watergate and the Nixon resignation.

I was five. I remember my mother showing me a newspaper photograph of Gerald Ford and saying “He’s going to be our new President.”

[GPV]

3. Fuel shortage.

[Demovictory9]

41. Parents had cars with both odd and even plates. Dad got gas daily

[flor-de-jasmim]

4. The Kennedy-Nixon debate.

I didn't really understand the significance of it at the time. John Glenn's flight in 1962 was more impactful. A TV was wheeled into the classroom, and we GOT TO SIT ON OUR DESKS!! (Second-grade thrills).

[LeftInTX]

45. I was in Japan..No TV

My mom told me that John Glenn was orbiting the earth. Wanted to go outside and see his spaceship! Glenn's flight was probably already over by that time.

[Cracklin Charlie]

5. JFK death.

[hlthe2b]

22. Me too. I was too little to really understand but my Mom was glued to tv and crying.

and she screamed when she saw the televised shooting of Oswald.

[TexasBushwhacker]

38. I remember that too

Plus, my mother kept me out of school and took me to see the motorcade in Houston the day before. I saw him in the flesh on Thursday and he was murdered on Friday. I was 6 and it was my first experience with death.

But before that, I remember Hurricane Carla. Power was out but we a gas stove, so we had dinner by candlelight and Jiffy Pop popcorn for dessert.

[Cracklin Charlie]

39. Yes.

It was the first time that I remember seeing my mother cry.

[LeftInTX]

68. My parents' reaction to Oswald getting shot baffled me

They were upset and I was glad (I was 7)

[IcyPeas]

80. this, for me too. they immediately sent us home from school. I understood that it was big news.

[Rhiannon12866]

98. Same here.

I was in elementary school and my reading group had been given the unusual privilege of going to the school library accompanied - after being warned about staying in line and not talking or running in the halls. We hadn't been in the library long when the 6th grade teacher burst in to speak to the librarian. Apparently, "Coach," the school gym teacher had a free period and heard on the radio that the president had been shot - and he rushed to the closest classroom to spread the terrible news.

So we totally forgot the rules about staying in line and not running, we ran back to the classroom at the far end of the school to tell our teacher - who immediately ran out to find out the details and all hell broke loose after that. I remember sitting in the school gym waiting for the school buses to arrive, they immediately sent us all home. It was a confusing time and everyone was pretty much scared and stunned. The next few days were a kind of a blur, the TV news was on constantly at our house. I actually saw Lee Harvey Oswald shot live on TV and when I went in the kitchen to tell my mother, I remember that she had to hold on to the counter - she said she couldn't take any more of the week's news.

[Walleye]

6. Hurricane Hazel, after that, I'd have to say polio vaccine when I was six

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. Not really an event, but I recall asking my mother

if the war was still going on. She said yes. I thought WWII was still going on, because I knew something or another about it, but this was probably 1951, so she would have been referring to the Korean War. I would have been around three years old.

[Dream Girl]

8. JFK assassination and funeral

I was 3 years old.

[zanana1]

47. That's what I remember, too.

[MANative]

49. Same. First time I recall seeing my mother cry

Made a very big impression. I remember the horses in the funeral procession very clearly.

[Dream Girl]

62. I remember the horses too

It was a Saturday morning and there were no cartoons that day

[Dream Girl]

64. It left an impression on my too. A few years later I told my mom I would have a little boy

and I would name him John. Twenty one years ago I did had that little boy and named him John. We call him Jack. We didn’t technically name him after JFK, sine it was his paternal grandfather ‘s name.But I always thought the name Jack was cool because of JFK.

[Generic Brad]

57. Same here

It's like all my memories begin at that moment.

[East-A-Squared]

9. Nixon's resignation. I remember my parents and their friends talking about it.

[Ocelot II]

10. The Cuban missile crisis.

[multigraincracker]

58. That was mine too.

[Hekate]

71. I was in high school, & it was terrifying. O'ahu has many military bases, & my friends' dads...

...were all on high alert. The crisis did not feel at all far away.

After it was over, I vowed to never let myself be that scared of nuclear annihilation again.

[csziggy]

99. I was in elementary school in Central Florida

We had planes flying over from the base in Orlando (way pre-Disney World, the airport there was an Air Force Base) and in Tampa (MacDill AFB). At school we were having bomb practice (they called it something else but that's what we kids called it) and my parents drilled into us places to meet them. Dad had a whole plan about sheltering in the basement apartment at his mother's house. It wouldn't have worked since it faced towards Tampa and MacDill was sure to be a target.

I'd read Pat Frank's book the year before - Alas, Babylon - set in Central Florida and knew that if we survived, life would be horrible afterwards.

Some of the feel for that event is in the movie "Matinee" though that movie also sends up some of the crap kids had to go through then.

[ProfessorGAC]

78. Mine Too

As I said below, at 6 I didn't get it, but I did get that my parents were freaking out.

[Ocelot II]

90. I was 13 and I did know what was going on,

and it scared the bejeebers out of me. I'm glad we didn't know at the time how bad it really was.

[jpak]

96. I was terrified - almost nonstop fighters, bombers and sonic booms

sucked

yup

[kairos12]

11. JFK Inauguration.

[Docreed2003]

12. The assassination attempt on Reagan

I was three but remember my parents watching the news coverage

[kacekwl]

13. JFK Assination.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

14. I was only two at the time...

but I remember, not the event, but the reaction in the people around me after the Kennedy assassination. I remember the sadness and crying and despair.

[Bayard]

15. Watching the moon landing with my Dad

He actually took pictures of the TV screen.

And then, JFK's funeral. My Mom was crying. I didn't really understand, but I was impressed with the riderless black horse.

[CloudWatcher]

102. We took pix of the lunar landing too :)

And we had a reel-to-reel tape recorder saving the audio (with a microphone near the tv).

What'd I'd give now to have those old pix and tapes!

[AllaN01Bear]

16. my late mom rembered peral harbor attack.

she , her sis ( my aunt) and grandpa were out getting christmas tree and the news broke in about the attack and said all military personel report to your bases . mom goes to gpa and says did you hear that . ?" gdad says " im going to get this tree set up and then i go." he got into his base by the skin of his teeth . my first "news event was the republican convention nominating nixon.and later the debates . i also remember the last of project gemini and the first moon landing. i also was in first grade when apollo 1 caught fire .

[elleng]

17. Eisenhower defeats Stevenson.

'The 1952 United States presidential election was the 42nd quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 4, 1952. Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower won a landslide victory over Democrat Adlai Stevenson, ending a string of Democratic Party wins that stretched back to 1932.'

(I recall several family members were @ home with me/us, and realize now probably because it was a traumatic year for the family, having lost 2 family members. Family was disappointed in election results.)

[Polly Hennessey]

28. This is the one that pops up when I think about

my awareness of news. It seemed important in my house.

[Raven]

36. Me too.

[JohnSJ]

18. Cuban missile crisis. I recall the very real worry on my Mother's face

[Quemado]

61. Same here.

My parents were worried, too.

[JohnSJ]

63. Yes. Coming home from school, no one knew if this was going to be it

[Tomconroy]

19. Like for many, JFK's death.

Not an event, but I actually saw him when he came to New Haven in Nov. 1960. I vividly remember his reddish hair, his flushed face. as he waved sitting way up in the limousine. Even to a five year old he oozed charisma.

[TexasBushwhacker]

40. I remember his reddish hair too!

When I tell people that they're surprised, but in the sunshine on a bright fall day, you could definitely see the Irish in his coloring.

[LeftInTX]

20. John Glenn orbiting the earth. I wanted to go outside and watch him!

Last edited Sun May 16, 2021, 12:46 PM - Edit history (1)

We didn't have TV. One day, I woke up and my parents told me that this guy was orbiting the earth....

Since I was living in Japan, the odds of Glenn orbiting the earth that morning over Japan were next to none!

Glenn probably had launched around 10 pm Japan time the evening before and splashed down around 3 am. It was old news already.

[happybird]

21. John Lennon being shot and killed

I remember my Mom crying and being very upset. It scared me because I had never seen her cry. She explained what happened, why it was so sad, and we listened to his music for the rest of the day.

[Demovictory9]

42. You are.a young one

[happybird]

52. I was feeling super young

reading all the responses... until my coworker chose “the Berlin Wall coming down” as his memory, lol!

[TexasBushwhacker]

43. God, I remember that too

It was pre-internet, so it took a day or so for the news to get around. I was in college and grew up with the Beatles.bIt was so tragic and unbelievable.

[LeftInTX]

110. I had a bad experience with that. Didn't get the full story until around 6 pm the next day.

I did not have a TV.
I probably didn't listen to my radio at home as I got ready for work the next day. (I also didn't subscribe to the paper)

I had no idea that anything had happened to John Lennon as I headed out the door to work.

I'm driving to work and they play a John Lennon song and the DJ mentions something about the "Late John Lennon"...I'm like, "What?"

Nothing else was mentioned. I was wondering if I heard the DJ correctly.....

I get to my crappy workplace and I'm already late, so no time to listen to the radio for possible updates. I worked in a very hostile environment. I asked a few people, "Did John Lennon die?" No one would answer me.

After work, I purchased a paper and found out.

[Dave in VA]

23. JFK election as president

1960, I had just turned 8 years old.

[nevergiveup]

24. I remember

our grandparents picking us kids up and taking us to a friends house to watch Eisenhower accept the Republican nomination in 1952. I don't think we had a television yet.
My grandmother was an FDR Democrat but she absolutely loved Ike.

[Delmette2.0]

25. 1959 Yellowstone Earthquake.

I was spending the week with a friend in the small town of Lincoln (far away from Yellowstone).This was about 90 miles from home. Mom had been told that we were all fine, no damages. She still had Dad come get me. Soon I learned of the people who died and damages done. I was 7 years old.

[Livluvgrow]

26. 2 things

Ford as president and 3 mile island.

[krispos42]

27. The turnpike bridgee collapse in Greenwich, CT in 1983

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mianus_River_Bridge

I was 7 or so, and my mom had gotten me briefly into making a scrapbook. It was mostly full of comics that I liked snipped from the newspaper, but my parents showed me the story and I put a picture in the book as well.

The first big one was the Challenger exploding in 1986.

[Totally Tunsie]

65. At one time, I lived in Riverside - Exit 5 off the Thruway,

and I traveled this road and this bridge daily. By the time of the collapse, we were living elsewhere, but I recall the shock on hearing the news.

[Glorfindel]

29. The Chinese entering the Korean War in 1951. My 18-year-old brother

was there, having lied about his age the previous year. I was five and didn't really understand what was going on, but knew my idolized big brother was in danger.

[malthaussen]

30. Alan Shepard and Freedom 7.

Five at the time, very big on astronauts.

-- Mal

[rampartc]

31. sputnik, and the mercury astronauts.

space was big when i was young.

[EYESORE 9001]

32. JFK defeating Trick Dick

in the Presidential election.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

33. My birth!

[MOMFUDSKI]

34. Adlai

losing the election.

[catbyte]

35. The Cuban Missile Crisis

I barely remember it, but I do remember my classmate, Tim P., giving a report about every morning in class.

[Coventina]

37. Nixon's resignation, because I was confused as a 5 year old.

When my mom told me President Nixon was going to be on TV that night, I thought she said DIXSON, who was a man in our church.

I was impressed for two reasons 1) That the President was someone I knew and 2) Someone I knew was going to be on the TV!

Boy, was I ever disappointed, hours later to see some guy I didn't know droning on about stuff I didn't understand.

[LeftInTX]

46. LOL

[vercetti2021]

44. 9/11

I remember it so well. It was during the book fair at school and the TV had the news on. I thought it was a hurricane hitting NYC from the smoke. But after school the substitute told us what had happened. The deafening silence of that classroom never will leave my memory.

Went home and watched recap of everything. Who knew this would lead us to our current world? People living in fear of their own shadows

[LeftInTX]

48. My kids were at school and it was kept from them...

They knew something had happened...but did not know the details. My son was a freshman, my daughter was in 6th grade. I was surprised at how little they knew.. They said, "Yeah, we heard about a plane or something".

I had been at school when Kennedy was shot and was expecting my kids to be traumatized. The schools kept 911 from them because of what had happened at all the schools with Kennedy. I wonder if they figured letting kids out of school would have been a win for the terrorists??

Anyway, my kids weren't traumatized when I picked them up. But I'm sure they were after seeing it for hours on our TV at home...

(A few months later a bank was robbed near our house..The schools were put on lockdown...When I went to pick my daughter up, that was all she talked about. I had no idea that the bank was robbed. )

[vercetti2021]

53. I wasn't traumatized

I just couldn't believe something like that could have happened here of all places. I always blamed Bush part 2 for not taking his security briefings seriously. It set a precedent for our current country. Now we are fighting home grown white domestic terrorism

[RobinA]

118. I Was In

First grade when Kennedy was shot and they told us NOTHING. They did let us out early (I'm pretty sure) and when I asked the teacher why the flag was at half staff she said to ask my parents. I remember all kinds of bits of information from that time, but I was mostly worried about Caroline and John-John who were almost exactly my age and my sister's age. I couldn't imagine having my father shot in front of everyone.

[LeftInTX]

124. I was worried about Caroline and John too..(Mostly Caroline cuz John was my brother's age)

I remember scouring the funeral to see if they were crying.

I figured John was too young, but since Caroline was a year younger than myself, I knew she must have been devastated.

[Sneederbunk]

50. The end of the Korean War. My uncle came home.

[Elessar Zappa]

51. The baby Jessica who was trapped in a well.

I was about three.

[LeftInTX]

55. Jessica McClure liked to watch Rescue 911 (So did my kids)

She saw an episode about a little girl in a well. Her mom told her, "That's about you". That was how she found out about her ordeal in the well. She had no memory of it or anything.

[Elessar Zappa]

56. Interesting!

[Demovictory9]

82. at work ... we listened to the rescue on radio

[CTyankee]

131. me too. I was terrified about that happening to me.

[Laffy Kat]

54. The assassination of JFK. nt

[gibraltar72]

59. Queen Elizabeth coronation.

[lpbk2713]

79. Same here.

Teacher brought her TV in from home. It was a table model but it was still a big
monster of a thing. It took two janitors to get it from her car to the classroom.
It was probably the first TV program of any sort I ever saw, we didn't have a
TV at home yet. I told my parents about it and it wasn't long after that before
we got one.

[LeftInTX]

109. That's so cool!

[Hekate]

60. President Eisenhower ordering the National Guard to integrate schools...

Last edited Mon May 17, 2021, 01:04 AM - Edit history (1)

I was in elementary school, very young.

B/W tv in the living room of my parents’ then-home in the San Fernando Valley. It was very relatable to me, as I was the age of some of those children. The images were reinforced by the iconic still photos in LIFE magazine.

[Fla Dem]

66. Not necessairliy "Major", but my first awareness of Eisenhower was when he gave a press

briefing from the Oval Office. Mid-50's.

[Totally Tunsie]

67. Sputnik

Riding in the car with my parents, I remember the news coming over the radio. It was on my birthday!

[Midnight Writer]

69. WWII. Before I was born, but it shaped my family and affected me for decades.

My parents grew up in the Depression and were young adults during the War. My upbringing was peppered with stories of tragedies in the Depression and the horror of the War.

[sarge43]

70. Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1948

I remember thinking Prague was a funny sounding name.

[Rastapopoulos]

72. Vague memories of John Glenn's spaceflight

Definitely remember JFK. I was four.

[Auggie]

76. Me too

I was going to say the JFK assassination until I saw your post. I have vague memories of Glenn as well. Yep.

[steventh]

73. End of WWII Summer 1945

It was after dark. There were so many people up and down the street as far as I could see. Dancing in the street. People waving tiny flags. People holding candles. Talking and talking in many languages and accents. Sounding happy and excited.

[Niagara]

74. The Challenger Disaster.

[Demovictory9]

83. big one!! it's interesting that the next Nasa disaster was big, but was't as big as challenger

when the shuttle crashed on return spreading debris across states.

[Niagara]

104. Absolutely.

Here's a remembrance memorial for Columbia as well. They were almost home.

[bikebloke]

75. Kennedy's Inauguration

[ProfessorGAC]

77. Cuban Missile Crisis

I had recently turned 6.
Not that I understood the gravity of the situation, but I had never seen my parents that nervous & concerned before as they were glued to the CBS nightly news.
That image of frightened parents stuck with me.

[Harker]

81. JFK assassination.

I was four.

Bozo's Circus was interrupted. I went and told my mom. She said, "no, Terry, it was Lincoln who was shot, not President Kennedy."

[elleng]

84. After Eisenhower defeats Stevenson, Army/McCarthy hearings.

The Army–McCarthy hearings were a series of hearings held by the United States Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations to investigate conflicting accusations between the United States Army and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. Wikipedia

Chaired by Senator Karl Mundt, the hearings convened on March 16, 1954, and received considerable press attention, including gavel-to-gavel live television coverage on ABC and DuMont (April 22 – June 17). The media coverage, particularly television, greatly contributed to McCarthy's decline in popularity and his eventual censure by the Senate the following December.


((Watched after school, even tho 'only' 9 years old.))

[marmar]

85. The Iran hostage crisis

[rurallib]

86. Polio vaccine - my parents were so relieved

then Sputnik

[3catwoman3]

87. Watching Sputnik at night.

I was 6. We lived in a small town in the Buffalo NY area - East Aurora. There was an ice cream place on the outskirts of town, by the name of Snowshoes. It was high up on a hill, and no street lights, so it was very dark. We watched it go by several times.

[Demovictory9]

88. that's a great memory

[yellowdogintexas]

89. McCarthy Hearings, which were broadcast live in the daytime

and my mother refused to change the channel so I could watch cartoons!

"No we are watching this. This is important!"

Followed by the 1956 National Conventions.

[yellowdogintexas]

120. Looking back at other posts, I realized I should have said Polio Vaccine

That was second grade for me. Every kid in the county was bused into the county seat to line up at the hospital and get the shot. It took about 3 weeks and probably involved every school bus in the entire county. We went in one classroom at a time, lined up for our shots, then we were taken to the local theater for an hour of cartoons, probably to allow the buses to take the previous load back to the school and bring in another group. (also if any of us had side effects it would happen while we were still close to the hospital)

Anyway my memory of McCarthy was third grade.

[Tree Lady]

91. President Kennedy's death

I was in second grade and remember my parents crying and my teacher.

[sinkingfeeling]

92. Sputnik in 1957.

[Demovictory9]

111. Amazing how much sputnik impacted usa..in 60s

Teachers were still teaching us about it

[Shrek]

93. Tet offensive n/t

[applegrove]

94. Landing on the moon. Not for the first time. I remember my parents

Last edited Sun May 16, 2021, 11:29 PM - Edit history (1)

joking about the astronaughts losing their toothbrushes in space. I think one astronaught's first name was Gordon.

[Iggo]

95. Not a one time event, but a recurring one. Body counts on the evening news.

Viet Nam War on TV.

[csziggy]

97. Sputnik! We were living in a rental house near where my Dad was working

Out in the middle of no where so there wasn't much to do. My older sisters got into astronomy since there weren't any outside lights. Dad bought us a transistor radio so we could listen to Sputnik beep.

Orbit height: 577 km
Dimensions: 58 cm (23 in) diameter
Orbits completed: 1440
Orbits per day: 14.96
Time per orbit: 96.2 minutes

The audiovisual consists of one original "audio" file from NASA. It is about 4 seconds long. During the recording of the audiovisual, the audio file loops exactly 15 times, equally to the number of orbits Sputnik-1 made within 24 hours.

Visible frequency range: 1500Hz
Audio length: 70 seconds
Resolution: 24 steps per second
Speed: 0.25 degree per step / 6 degree per second

Audio source:
Sputnik: Beep
https://www.nasa.gov/mp3/578626main_s...
Image of the exact Sputnik replica:
http://www.maxuta.com/maxuta/collecti...
Tools: Algorithm made with Processing (https://processing.org/)

[elleng]

103. October 4, 1957, memorable

as family's trip to Europe!!!

[jcgoldie]

100. hostage crisis

I was 6.

[Demovictory9]

127. That went on forever

[Withywindle]

101. Jonestown

I vaguely remember my parents talking about Watergate but I was little and didn't understand it at all except that the President had done something really bad.

Jonestown was the first one I got independently obsessed with. My parents had the Time or Newsweek with all the bodies on the cover and I stole it and read it every night.

[LeftInTX]

108. I was 22 at the time. I bought that Time issue myself

The song "Le Freak" with the lyrics blaring "Freak Out" was climbing the charts at the time...
"Le Freak" provided the perfect soundtrack for this real life horror movie...


Several weeks later, a horror show in suburban Chicago would relegate Jonestown to the second page of the newspaper. (Gacy's home)

[myccrider]

105. The Cuban Missile Crisis

I would wake at night when a plane flew over and think "Is this it?"

[AngryOldDem]

106. Oswald's assassination.

First clear memory. I was 3.

[Marthe48]

107. I remember JFK getting elected

I remember when the Kennedys' 3rd baby died at birth.
Cuban missile crisis.
JFK assassination.

I was 9 or 10

[djm5971]

112. JFK on tv

I remember walking past the black and white tv and seeing JFK giving a speech.

[Mad_Dem_X]

113. Moon Landing

I was about 2 1/2 years old. I remember standing in the living room, with my mom (8 months pregnant with my sister) behind me, either sitting in a chair or standing up, ironing.

[eppur_se_muova]

114. The RFK assassination. I was a little over 8yo.

We never watched the news on TV at the time, and as kids, never paid much attention to the front page, so I really didn't understand what it was all about. I just remember my mother telling me that his brother had been shot too, years before.

[Tikki]

115. I can remember the car radio droning on and on with the Coronation of Elizabeth...

while I was in the back seat of the family car while traveling from quite a distance to back home.



Tikki

[deepthought42]

116. Baby Jessica n/t

[RobinA]

117. Cuban Missile Crisis

I was 4 1/2. My mother made the comment that, "Eat, drink, and be merry, tomorrow we're going to die." Apparently forgetting that her high strung daughter was sitting at the table.

[BluesRunTheGame]

119. JFK assassination.

I also remember the Beatles playing Indianapolis in ‘64.

[wnylib]

121. I was 4 years old in 1954. My mother was dusting

tables and knick knacks in the living room with the TV on. The TV showed men in suits talking harshly so that I thought they were scary. My mother slammed down a knick knack and snapped, "Damned witch hunt!"

It was many years later that I realized that she was watching the McCarthy hearings.

The first major event that I knew what it was about was 2 years later when Eisenhower was re-elected.

After that, the Cuban revolution and a news flash on TV that the US had broken ties with Cuba. Then the Soviet launch of Spitnik, the Kennedy-Nixon campaigns, Kennedy inauguration, Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile crisis, Kennedy assassination.

[NNadir]

123. Washington crossing the Delaware. Damn it was cold. By the way...

...he didn't stand up in the boat as in the famous painting. His face would have froze off.

He just sat in the boat shivering like the rest of the guys. He didn't help with rowing either.

The next day he invited the captured Hessian officers to a nice dinner - with food he captured from them - while the regular troops slept outside on the frozen ground.

That set up the rest of American history.

[electric_blue68]

125. Probably Alan Shepard '61 - first American in space when I was 9

followed by The Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK's assassination (aftermath), by the time I was around 12 I had kept on following The Space Race, but also started following the Civil Rights Movement.

Can't wait to read other's experiences 👍

(got to go to sleep first 😁 )

[onethatcares]

126. the police beatings in Selma

and though it looks like the names and places have changed........they haven't.


60 plus years and we've barely progressed.

[Demovictory9]

128. ...

[Polybius]

129. Reagan beating Carter

And my mom being very surprised and upset. She loved Cater. Sadly, she voted for Reagan in 1984.

[No Vested Interest]

130. Dec. 7, 1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor.

I recall my Dad coming into our kitchen on that Sunday and telling my Mother and me that the "Japs" had bombed Pearl Harbor.
("Japs" was a term routinely used at that time, even in headlines in newspapers, etc.)