Where were you the day JFK was shot?

[Edwina's Secretary]

I was 10 years old. I know I was in school and I remember one boy who stood up and cheered when the anouncement was made (he didn't know what he was doing....had heard his parents talk I'm sure.) Everyone else was silent.

[Pam]

Originally posted by Freckles

Last night on my Public TV channel, there was an excellent documentary "JFK: Breaking the News" which explained how broadcast journalism was changed forever by this event. Hopefully it will be rerun, so watch it, if you can.

There is also a special tonight at 9:00 EST hosted by Peter Jennings which supposedly will take a bit of a different slant to it. It looks interesting so you might want to catch that.

I didn't see the program you refer to but I do agree that this changed so many things forever in this country. I do believe that the networks had live coverage around the clock for the first time I ever remembered seeing. I still remember the sounds of those drums as the funeral procession made its way down the street. Gives me chills just remembering.

[RICHARD]

My dad had 'twinkled' me out of his system already.

I was five years old....

I don't remember the shooting but I do remember the funeral. I was standing next to the telly and I'd like to think I remember John Jr's saluting...
I do remember the caisson being pulled behind the horses..... I do remember the next year and seeing the JFK picture in all the classrooms.

[Felicia's Mom]

I remember that day very well. I was living at home with my parents. I had graduated from Hi-school in May.

I was home by myself; everyone else was either at work or in school. I watched TV all morning, but turned it off before 12:30. Then I played the piano and photograph records until 3:30 when I turned the TV back on.

It wasn't the show I was expecting to see however. It looked like a live news broadcast. So I turned it to another and then the last station (we only had 3 stations back then). Each time it was the same thing.

I was ready to turn off the TV when one newsman said something about shooting the president. I think:"The president?, they don't mean the U.S. president!" After I found out, I watched it in a daze.

[mahayana]

I was sitting on a school bus waiting to go home when someone came onto the bus with the news. I was in the 9th grade, had just turned 14.

My parents didn't like Kennedy, they were Republicans. I remember thinking that they might like Johnson better as he was a Texan too.

I have lots of memories of Jack Kennedy, he seemed much smarter and less nervous than Dick Nixon in the TV debates (black & white TV) before the 1960 elections.

He started the space program, he was the youngest president...I really grew to appreciate his idealism more after his death.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

I, too was only like 18 months old or something like that. We were watching that show on PBS the other night too, and when Terry asked me where I was, and I said I had no idea, he looked at me like I had two heads! He said how can you not remember? I reminded him that I was just a baby and didn't remember anything so how would I remember this?

I do remember, though, where I was when I heard Princess Diana had died and how awful I felt about that, and I really think that was similar to how everyone felt with Kennedy - but more so because he was an American, and a most beloved president.

My parents know exactly where they were and Terry remembers - he was in school and an announcement came over the loud speaker. He said kids were crying and everything and it was just awful.

Right now there is a special about Lee Harvey Oswald. He was a sharp shooter in the Marines.....

[lovemyshiba]

I wasn't born yet, however I can remember my mom telling me how everyone remembers where they were when they heard that awful news. I didn't really know what she meant by that, I didn't remember much, but that changed when I heard about the Challenger explosion--4th grade, my teacher came in crying and told us about it--that was the first tragedy I came to remember as strongly as many of you remember Kennedy's assassination.

Unfortunatley, I can remember quite a few others now too, for example the Oklahoma City bombings, the Columbine shooting, the first time the WTC was bombed, 9-11, and others, all of which are making me sad to think about.

[Karen]

I was not yet born, but my older sister remembers that day because they interrupted Captain Kangaroo with the news. She was just mad that they interupted her favorite show, didn't know the impact of what they were saying. She was 4 years old.

[G.P.girl]

i wasn't born, but my grama told me about it a few times.

[Rachel]

I was a sophomore at Wisconsin State University in EauClaire. It was during the noon hour and the TV was on at the Student Center lounge, when I saw people starting to gather around it. We were stunned as we watched the reports coming about the happenings in Dallas. I remember walking the halls in a daze to my first class after lunch, which was sociology. I had always liked and admired my professor and felt that he would help the class deal with what had just happened. Can you imagine the shock I experienced when the class was held and conducted without ANYONE mentioning what had just occurred? I couldn't believe I was attending an institution of higher learning, and a professor of sociology couldn't or wouldn't deviate from the lesson plan to acknowledge the assasination President of the United States, and none of the students brought it up either. My mind was screaming...Are you people crazy? Doesn't what happened matter to anybody? I have always regretted not standing up and saying that out loud. Instead I walked out of class in more of a state of shock than when I came in. The idealism and innocence which I lost that day put me into a serious depression, although I didn't realize what it was.

[babolaypo65]

Wow Rachel. That's just wrong.

I was teaching when 9/11 happened. Lord, we certainly didn't go on with the lesson.

[Twisterdog]

I wasn't born yet, when JFK was killed.

I was, however, in seventh grade science class when they announced the assassination attempt on President Reagan.

Does that count?

[trayi52]

Edwina's Secretary
I was about 10 years old at the time, somewhere in that age brackett, but I remember I was in class and they came in and announced that Kennedy had been shot and killed, I was so shocked, because just about everybody in my class stood up and cheered!!! Not just one person either.
Anyway I watched everything on TV, the furneral, Jackie coming up and kissing his casket, it was all so sad to me. Yeah I cried.
I remember it all so well.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I was still a baby. My Mom said that she was grocery shopping at the time and I was with her. They announced that he was shot over the PA system.

[Barbara]

I was eight years old then and I was deeply in love with Jackie Kennedy. I had called my doll Caroline (in English pronounciation). I loved her dresses, her smiles.

The Kennedys were the first politicians I ever noticed and they were so much more beautiful like any others I'd heard before.

I knew that all other politicians had similar names like Eisenhower and Adenauer and Ollenhauer (a SPD politician which is now forgotten). The Kennedys were different

So it was a great shock for me and I remember that I heard it in the news (maybe radio?) in the evening. My parents were somehow shocked but not as much as I. I was wondering why Caroline and John John were allowed to wear blue grey coats as here they would have worn black.