Where Exactly Were YOU On That Fateful Day?

[DCPatriot]

Where Exactly Were YOU On That Fateful Day?

Okay....I'll start.


I was seventeen years old and a junior in high school.

At 2:55PM, the Prefect of Discipline, Father Gordian, always announced school activities and events over the Public Address (PA) system.

Sitting in my desk and hear him say EXACTLY this way.....

"President Kennedy was shot and killed today in Dallas, Texas."  Then without seeming to miss a beat, he says, "The Debate Club will meet in Room 202 at 3:20PM"

That was it.   An all boys Catholic High School. 

I watched Jack Ruby kill Lee Harvy Oswald "LIVE".   It's seared in my brain.....and not like John Kerry's PT Boats sneaking into Cambodia either.

[EC]

I was 6, sat in my grade 1 class, trying to get the hang of subtraction without using my fingers. Had no idea what had happened until I got home and Dad put the news on.

[Rapunzel]

I was at work in downtown Los Angeles at the LA Credit Exchange, someone called in to check credit on a party and when I gave him the information he said - have you heard the news today, the President has been shot.  I was stunned.. I came to my love of politics because of Kennedy when he ran for the office, I was in Texas the summer of the Demoratic convention and stayed up half the night to see if he was going to get the nomination, followed the entire election my junior year in high school- made A's in Civics classes for papers I wrote about the election. My senior year went through the ups and downs of the Cuban Missile Crisis (my boyfriend at the time was in the Marines and was called back to the base at 29 Palms to be deployed to Florida)...   

I loved Kennedy and his death stunned and devastated me.  I watched the coverage all weekend, still remember the black and white pictures of the plane returning to DC that night...  I was asleep when Oswald was shot, my husband came in to tell me what happened... I stayed home from work on Monday to watch the funeral....    the country had hope when he was elected, they lost it the day he was murdered in Dallas.

[Cincinnatus]

I was, for forgotten reasons, at the doctor's. A friend of mine who know I was there came in and asked if I knew "he" had been shot. I had no idea who "he" was but then I noticed radios were on in the office and the female staff were all crying. My friend then informed me "he" was Kennedy.

I finished my business there and went to my parent's home where a group of friends had already gathered. As we watched the unfolding events on TV we engaged in the kind of black humor only young males are capable of. Pace Rapunzel, I and they were not fans of Kennedy and while his murder was shocking it did elicit within any of us deep feelings of loss.

My mother, not surprisingly, was not pleased with our behavior.

[flowers]

I was to young to have a clue.

[DCPatriot]

I was to young to have a clue.

One of the stations I listen to while driving is Sports Talk Radio 106.7 The Fan.

Today, both hosts were saying that 9/11 NYC  is the event that "changed their lives forever".

To my parents, it was probably Pearl Harbor.

But everybody feels like it happened 'yesterday'.

[truth_seeker]

I was a 15 year old HS junior, in what might have been called Nixon land.

I cheered Kennedy's death announcement. We expect our political leaders to entertain us and to be like royalty.

Do you expect the builder of your home to entertain you? The repairman man of your vehicles?

Why political leaders? Because at the most basic level, humans must survive. In groups, they listen to the strong, charismatic, successful among them.

But bullshit doesn't last long. Battles must be won, and people must be fed.

In our modern lives of plenty, with the weakest surviving and voting, bad choices are not punished.

In a more ideal world, the weakest would die off.

[Lipstick on a Hillary]

Putting aside the fact that I have no idea what the f*** you just said, I'll just relate that I was in 4th grade, in art class.   My father LOATHED the Kennedys, so needless to say, I heard a lot of that growing up.  He loved the schadenfreude of Chappaquiddick, I must say.

But I DO remember sitting in our den, watching the funeral on TV, and noticing tears streaming down his face.   I'll never forget that.

[flowers]

My family wasn't fans of the Kenedys either. Mom told me that her mother wrote her a letter when mom and dad lived in Germany telling mom not to vote for Kennedy even though he was catholic.

[Lipstick on a Hillary]

I remember my father walking in the door from work that evening, and bending down to look at me intently in the eyes.  He wanted to be sure I understood the import of what happened that day.  I really didn't, of course, but at least he tried. 

My father's family was pure New England--whalers from Edgartown MA.  I don't know if that had something to do with his dislike of the Kennedys or where it came from, exactly.  He was really shook up by the assassination though, but like I said-- he sure dumped all over Ted for the Kopechne thing.  He bought every book he could find on the subject.

[Bigun]

I was walking down the hall at my HS between my 3rd and 4th period classes when someone told me. I thought they were joking but soon found out that they weren't.

I remember this well but remember Nikita Khrushchev standing in the UN pounding o the table with his shoe and telling us that they would bury us much more! There has not been a single day pass from that to now that I haven't recalled what he said that day!

[flowers]

I remember my father walking in the door from work that evening, and bending down to look at me intently in the eyes.  He wanted to be sure I understood the import of what happened that day.  I really didn't, of course, but at least he tried. 

My father's family was pure New England--whalers from Edgartown MA.  I don't know if that had something to do with his dislike of the Kennedys or where it came from, exactly.  He was really shook up by the assassination though, but like I said-- he sure dumped all over Ted for the Kopechne thing.  He bought every book he could find on the subject.

The killing of a America president for most I am thinking was the huge impact on our daily lives. I was 5 years old we lived in Baden Baden at the time.

[flowers]

I was walking down the hall at my HS between my 3rd and 4th period classes when someone told me. I thought they were joking but soon found out that they weren't.

I remember this well but remember Nikita Khrushchev standing in the UN pounding o the table with his shoe and telling us that they would bury us much more! There has not been a single day pass from that to now that I haven't recalled what he said that day!

I remember as a small flower pod in school we had to duck under our desks in case of a nuke attack!!!!! 

[Cincinnatus]

Putting aside the fact that I have no idea what the f*** you just said...

 

  I had the same exact thought. What was that?

[mystery-ak]

I was 12yo..a 7th grader at Queen of Peace school...I was in class, school was almost out for the day when the Nuns announced that the President had been shot..most of us walked over to church to pray....My mother came to school to pick my siblings and I up and we heard as soon as we walked in the door at home that he died........we were all devastated...and our home literally went into mourning........Right before we went to mass on Sunday we saw Jack Ruby kill Oswald...it was all a surreal moment in time.

[happyg]

I was a sophomore in study hall when his death was announced. The class interrupted in crying, along with the teacher. After a few minutes, school was dismissed. I was in shock, and watched all the news about him. Dad never liked him, but I remember him and Mom discussing it in hushed tones. It seemed like everyone spoke in hushed tones that week. The tears came when John John saluted the casket.

[Liberal_Spy]

Hmm, that was 6 years before my dad was born. haha

[truth_seeker]

 

  I had the same exact thought. What was that?

I was getting wound up into an idea of why we turn political leaders into superstars, and Maslow's Heiarchy, and then it crashed, burned and I hit the post button. Sorry

[mountaineer]

I was in second grade in Northridge, California, and have a vague memory of hearing the news at school, but don't recall whether the teachers were crying or anything. I remember the shooting of Oswald and seeing the riderless horse in the procession, but little else about those days.

[NavyCanDo]

I was 5 still not yet in Kindergarten.   Even at that young age, I still remember a little of it, but mostly the funeral procession, and memorial at Arlington.   I remember very well a record album my Dad had with JFK's most famous speeches on one side and Martin Luther Kings speeches on the other.   I don't know what ever happened to it, but I bet I could get a small fortune for it from a collector or on Ebay.    By the way my Dad was a Kennedy Democrat, but later became a Reagan voter, and voted republican from then till he passed away.

[Chieftain]

I was in second grade (Mrs. Virginia Hamm's class), and all I remember was the Principal making an announcement over the PA that the President had been shot, and was playing the radio news over the school PA when they announced the President was dead.  They cancelled school for the rest of the week and we all stayed home to watch the funeral on television.  I remember the sadness and being very confused about what had happened.

[Rapunzel]

I was 5 still not yet in Kindergarten.   Even at that young age, I still remember a little of it, but mostly the funeral procession, and memorial at Arlington.   I remember very well a record album my Dad had with JFK's most famous speeches on one side and Martin Luther Kings speeches on the other.   I don't know what ever happened to it, but I bet I could get a small fortune for it from a collector or on Ebay.    By the way my Dad was a Kennedy Democrat, but later became a Reagan voter, and voted republican from then till he passed away.

And the president Reagan most quoted was Kennedy.

[DCPatriot]

And the president Reagan most quoted was Kennedy.

My dad was a member of the United Auto Workers and they leaned Democrat.

I was too busy trying to hit a breaking ball and didn't pay any attention to politics at the time.  I do recall Marilyn Monroe poured into that amazing gown singing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" and even at that young age, thought, "you lucky bast*rd".

He had a very Metropolitan, cover-girl wife, and two beautiful children.  If I recall, she miscarried as First Lady, too.

After experiencing the gas lines of Jimmy Carter and asking me to keep my thermostat at 65 degrees...wearing a sweater?  Reagan was a dream come true.

And I was hooked.

[alicewonders]

I was in second grade.  I don't remember an announcement over the loudspeaker, but they did let us out of school.  I remember walking down the hall and looking in my first grade teacher's room and seeing her in there crying.  I saw all the other adults were crying too and I knew something really bad had happened. 

[alicewonders]

I was in second grade (Mrs. Virginia Hamm's class), and all I remember was the Principal making an announcement over the PA that the President had been shot, and was playing the radio news over the school PA when they announced the President was dead.  They cancelled school for the rest of the week and we all stayed home to watch the funeral on television.  I remember the sadness and being very confused about what had happened.

You know, I just now caught that...your teacher's name.