OK, here we go again, and our numbers dwindle: But where were you 11/22/63?

[Faygo Kid]

Amazingly, I hurt more now every year. I guess it's because I have seen what this nation has become. At any rate, I was in Mrs. Burgoyne's seventh grade history class at Oakwood Junior High School in East Detroit, MI. I won't go through the details, but I remember every moment, and every detail of the next week.

It was a tough Thanksgiving. And the people that I loved then and who wept with me are now gone.

But I remain. And I remember. And quite frankly, it was bigger than 9/11, although degree doesn't matter. Thank you, Beatles, in early 1964. We needed you. Those of you old enough to remember know what I mean.

[TorchTheWitch]

1. a twinkle in my father's eye

Well, not really since I was "ooops, surprise!" baby.

[rox63]

2. Probably in my crib or playpen

I was 6 months old then.

[tavalon]

144. Three months for me

but I see what it and the rest of the 60s did to a whole nation. Nowadays, they don't have to shoot them, they just intimidate or buy them.

[Motown_Johnny]

176. 1 day shy of 7 months for me

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Home on leave from the marines.

Just back from Japan.

[Faygo Kid]

33. I thought I saw him walking up over the hill . .

With Abraham, Martin and John. Thank you for your service, my friend.

You remember this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dHvYB5JdSs

[EmeraldCityGrl]

155. In first grade.

We were sent home with no reason why. I remember being terrified because my mother worked and there was no way for me to get into the house.
I was shocked when I got there and my mother met me at the door.

Our black and white TV was rolled from the living room into my parents bedroom. We ate off of TV trays and watched everything that was broadcasted.
My parents spoke in whispers and through tears. I had an eventful childhood and life, but it remains till this day one of the most profoundly defining
events of my childhood. Looking back, I was to young to understand what i was feeling was trauma and grief. It was not projected from just my parents and the media, it was very personal and yet I was to young to have any real understanding of government or really up until that day much about JFK.
The world shifted and till this day I believe a hermit living in a cave would have felt the profound change.

[RobinA]

156. First Grade

for me too. Sent home for no reason. Came out of school to find the flag at half-mast. Asked my teacher about the flag and she replied that "It means someone important died." I figured that meant my grandmother, who was OLD (probably around 58 at the time). I was totally upset. Luckily, when I got on the bus some other teachers had told their kids what was up so it immediately became obvious that it wasn't my grandmother. I was relieved. I went home but didn't mention it because my parents hated Kennedy (Democrat) and I didn't want to hear them say they were glad he died (they never would have said that, but I was 5 at the time). I became onsessed with the thing, particularly Caroline and John-John because Caroline is my age and John was my sister's age. I couldn't imagine what it must have been like. Watched most of it on the black and white. I still can't look at black limos without having a flashback.

[Wwagsthedog]

80. Home on leave from the USAF. nt

[timtom]

129. Working a 12-hour shift at the Base Radio Station

(Camp Lejeune). It was our job to monitor for messages in morse code, which was thankfully on its way out in 1963. We had the AM radio on when we heard the news. Later in the squadbay, an E2 over 4 said he thought Johnson had done it.

[redirish28]

4. hmmmm.... my wife and I weren't even thought of.

[hlthe2b]

5. Kindergarten...

New janitor had all my fellow little kindergartners convinced "HE" was the one who did it. From that first bit of naivete' I went to watching my parents (my father was no JFK fan) nonetheless show their absolute devastation, and watched with my mother as Jack Ruby was murdered on tv by Oswald just a bit later.

I long maintain that I started my awareness period with the JFK tragedy, continued through the Vietnam eras horrific scenes on tv and with the murders of MLK, RFK, and attendant violence. It is a wonder many of us in the dwindling couple of years of baby boomer generation managed to move through this period without becoming just totally screwed up. (or maybe we all are).

I still cry when I hear Abraham, Martin and John..(DION)

[Faygo Kid]

8. I may have to post that song. Thanks for reminding me.

I went through it all, and remember it all, and it still crushes me.

[Faygo Kid]

73. Here you are, Worth remembering.

I remember every detail of all of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dHvYB5JdSs

[amerikat]

56. A turning point for me also.

Aware of politics after that. Come to think of it my dad campaigned for Kennedy in 1960. Maybe that's why it hit me so hard at the time.

[TheIdiot]

61. Uh... it was the other way around, kids...

Jack Ruby executed Lee Harvey Oswald.

[hlthe2b]

69. yes. of course... a bit of a sleep-deprivation derived brain "fart"

that's all. All of us, of course know this. Sometimes my fingers type "with a mind of their own.." ;)

(too late to edit, though)

[Paladin]

6. I Was In 8th Grade, Junior High, Austin, TX

And I still hurt, as well. I finally got the opportunity to visit JFK's grave site in D.C. recently, which brought it all back with even more force. This country lost something huge on 11/22/63, and we've never recovered from it.....

[Misskittycat]

54. I was in 8th grade, too, in the Philadelphia area. n/t

[safeinOhio]

70. In 8th grade too and still remember

seeing all those jaws drop and then the tears.

[pipi_k]

7. Like it was yesterday...

I was in Miss Curtis's sixth grade class. We were busy making papier mache' puppets for a Thanksgiving puppet show the class was going to have the next week. We never did.

Our teacher got called out of the room for a minute, then came back and was somewhat short and crabby with us kids. We didn't know why...she never said.

We were allowed to leave school a bit early, and when I got home I found out what had happened.


It still gives me chills all these years later.

:(

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. Just left a friend's house, on my way to work 3-11,

traffic was stopped dead at a major intersection, nothing moved except people getting out of their cars, talking to strangers in disbelief.

[Octafish]

10. Dad was in the Navy...

...We'd just started home -- Detroit -- for the holiday weekend from his base. I was six.

We heard the news on the radio. I sat in the back of the station wagon and remember thinking: "The world will never be the same."

It hasn't been for most who remember what it was like before November 22, 1963.

[Omaha Steve]

11. I was home sick from school

K&R!

First grade I believe. I remember telling mom what I saw on TV. She had been two houses away at my grandparents and didn't believe me. Dark Day indeed. I do hope before I'm gone from this world some type of proof into the conspiracy comes to light and is accepted by the world.

OS

[stevedeshazer]

78. Me, too, Steve.

I was sick at home with my mom. I was in the third grade.

She was ironing her blouses and we were watching "As The World Turns" on CBS when Walter Cronkite broke in with the news.

I'll never forget it. My mom passed away this year, but we talked about that day many times and I take comfort in that.

Peace.

[vanlassie]

91. Home sick. too...sixth grade.

I was mesmerized by it for days- bur my parents hated JFK so they didn't react that much.

[dflprincess]

99. My friend has a similar story

she was home sick from Kindergarten. Her mom had put the little TV in her room to keep her amused and the 2nd time the matinee movie ("Tarzan" as she recalls) was interrupted with bulletins she went out to complain to her mother about it. Her words to her mom included "talking about the president being shot" and all she remembers after that is her mother nearly knocking her over as she raced to put the living room TV on.

She also remembers being a bit put out that her mom did not care about her problems, but she was only 5.

[japple]

12. 8th grade English class. Our family didn't have a TV at the time

and we missed watching the funeral. Very soon after that sad event, my parents decided to buy a TV.

[Fire1]

13. Yep. I was in middle school. n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

14. In the quadrangle..Brooklyn College..between classes.

Someone said, "The President has been shot!". I said "That is NOT funny!!" The end of innocence...when we found out it was true!!!

[laughingliberal]

15. 3rd Grade, Parents lifelong Democrats. I remember every minute of the 3 days after.

:cry:

[EternalOptimist01]

16. Almost there

Born March '64.

[FarLeftRage]

17. I was at a friend's house...

After we both came home from kindergarten. After about 20 minutes of outside playing, he went and came out crying... His mother was crying and he told me that his father had died... he was mistaken. I went home and found my mom crying, as she watched television. "Uncle" Walter was on and said that "President Kennedy died in Dallas..."

[doc03]

18. I was a sophomore in 6th period Biology class when they

announced on the intercom the President had been shot. In 7th period Geometry they announced that he was dead. I remember on the bus home a son from a die hard Republican family said that we finally got rid of the SOB. There was intense hate for Democratic presidents then too but not as bad as today.

[flyarm]

19. In 6th grade class..when the principle walked into the class to tell us we were going home .

Then told us the President had been shot.

I was a walker to school, so we were sent home immediately.

When I walked into my house , my mom was sitting on the floor in front of our small tv Crying ( Black and white TV at that time)

Mom just patted the floor for me to sit next to her. Then the other kids came running into the house and we all sat on the floor next to mom, she hugged us to her and she just sat on the floor for hours holding onto us, watching the TV.

I had never seen my mom like that. Not before, nor ever after.

[Roselma]

20. I was in the 4th grade - Catholic school. We had been

nearing the last hours before dismissal for the day. Our principal announced over the PA system that we should all pray, because the president had been shot. I went home from school, and since we didn't have a television back then, we went to our neighbors where we watched news coverage for hours and hours.

[Subdivisions]

21. I was a zygote in my mother's womb. n/t

[blue neen]

22. I was in Mrs. Crawford's third grade class.

All of the teachers got called to the principal's office...that was very unusual. Mrs. Crawford, in obvious shock, came in and told us "The President has been shot." We were sent home in total oblivion of what really had happened.

I got home, and Mom was sitting there with the TV on, sobbing, and holding on to my little sister; she was 3 months old. Strangely enough, I also remember my younger brother, who was a second grader, getting in trouble for stepping in a mud puddle while walking home from school!

That whole Thanksgiving weekend---the adults' grief, the children's confusion, the horror of watching Oswald get shot on national television---it all left it's mark on our souls.

I have to thank you for bringing up the subject. It's always tough to remember, but the events of that fateful day are a part of our own personal histories. Besides that, it's a good opportunity to show our respect for JFK.

It also shows that hatred has no good purpose.

:dem:

[1776Forever]

23. 10th Grade typing class - I had quit my church over Kennedy win because of backlash from Pastor.

He would get up in front of the church and berate the Catholics and of course JFK and had handouts to give to the members. I was 16 and I didn't think that was right so I wore a JFK badge into church the next week before the election and I was told to leave. Never went back to any religious sect. It was a "Bible" church by the way.

[The_Commonist]

24. Apparently, I was in my high-chair...

...being fed strained something or other, when my father called home.
He was manning the teletype at the Oakland Tribune, and knew shortly before the rest of the world did.
He told Mom to turn on the TV.
It took a few minutes, but then she saw Walter Cronkite break into whatever was on at the time.
The TV wasn't turned off for days.
So, while I was only a year and a week old at the time, I probably absorbed everything that was on the TV that weekend.
I wonder if I have any unknowable memories of that?

My wife was conceived 6 weeks later after The Beatles made their first appearance on Ed Sullivan.
Or so she assumes...

[progressoid]

25. Poopin in a diaper.

But now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever asked my parents (life long Democrats) about their experiences that day. Maybe that would be a topic for Thanksgiving.

:thumbsup:

[w8liftinglady]

26. San Angelo,Texas...I was a newly-turned four year-old

[barbtries]

27. i ws in third grade.

miss gilliland, our teacher, told us that the president had been shot. her eyes grew and grew. i couldn't begin to appreciate the enormity of what had occurred. i think i do now.

[struggle4progress]

28. I was a school kid. A lot of people took off from work early that day. I think it was a Friday.

Anyway, coverage preempted almost all media for several days, including the weekend

[FLyellowdog]

29. Had gone home "unofficially" to get some 45's

to play during band at high school. (We had a very lenient band director). My friend and I heard the reports over the tv while we were at home and rushed back to school to pass the word. Our band director chastised us saying that what we were saying was not a funny joke. And then the school was notified over the intercom.

It was devastating. :cry:

[Hardrada]

30. In the office of the college student newspaper where I was the literary editor.

I looked out and saw people runnin to the Student Union where there were televisions tuned to the sad news. I went downstairs to the cafeteria to find out what was up. I did not believe it at first.

[Lifelong Protester]

31. In third grade, wondering why the radio was suddenly playing over

the intercom, wondering why everyone around me was crying.

It was a sad, sad day. I will never forget it.

If anyone has a chance to read "Letters to Jackie", edited by Ellen Fitzpatrick, you will see how the tragedy in Dallas affected a broad range of people. From a collection of condolence letters numbering in the millions, the editor picked 250 very poignant letters, some from famous people (like James Garfield's great grandson) to common folks (one 90+ year old man had lived through all four presidential assasinations, being about 3 at the time of the Lincoln assasination).

[TuxedoKat]

103. Thanks for posting that

I never heard of that book. I'll put it on my list. Thanks again.

[Lifelong Protester]

104. It is excellent, it will make you cry, make you proud to know that

people in this country really believed in him. I could not put the book down. Also, they try to follow up on what happened to the letter writers in later years, a pretty remarkable editing task, I feel.

[BlueIris]

174. Great book suggestion. nt

[MineralMan]

32. I was a freshman in college, on my way to a Biology 101 class.

I saw it on the TV in the dorm lounge, and went to my class, where I announced what had happened. The professor dismissed the class immediately. The dorm lounges were jammed with people watching the television. At that time, we weren't allowed to have TV sets in our rooms, so the dorm lounges became the de facto news centers for the entire campus.

[pscot]

34. I heard it on Armed Forces Network

in my room off the hangar at Werve-Thompson Airfield, Bad Hersfeld, Germany. It was dark, early evening, and I jumped up and ran across the hangar to the opps office to let the other guys know.

[El Supremo]

35. In Dallas

In 7th grade math class. A student had just told the class that it would be neat if Kennedy was shot. The math teacher came back into the room and said that the kid's wish had come true.

My father was delaying his flight's landing at Love Field until Air Force One had taken off.

[virgdem]

36. In 6th grade...

We were all called back to our homerooms and given the horrible news, after which we were sent home. Those days are emblazoned on my memory -the reporting all day long, the funeral and Oswald's shooting by Jack Ruby. I think all who were alive then will never forget where they were when they first heard the news and how they handled the events of the next week. I can't believe it was 47 years ago tomorrow that this country changed forever.

[Flubadubya]

37. In 9th grade shop class... LaMarque, Texas

Announced over PA system. Horrible day! :(

I think Kennedy's assassination really was the beginning of the downfall of this country.

[Bluenorthwest]

38. I was almost four, sitting on the floor

Mom was watching TV when they broke in with news. I remember Mom, and the guy on TV. And everything. I remember the entire following week pretty well, including seeing Oswald shot live on television and the whole nine yards. People think kids that age don't understand, don't remember things, and those people are wrong.

[kath]

44. How interesting that even people under age 4 at the time remember it, EXCEPT for GHWBush.

Vedddy inteddesting, no?

[hedgehog]

39. Home with a cold from 4th grade. Looking back, I remember an excitement

about JFK that I didn't feel again until Obama was elected; a sense that change was coming and anything was possible.

JFK and the Unspeakable
by James W. Douglass

Reviewed by James DiEugenio

This book is the first volume of a projected trilogy. Orbis Books has commissioned James W. Douglass to write three books on the assassinations of the 1960's. The second will be on the murders of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, while the third will be on the assassination of Bobby Kennedy.

This is one of the few books on the Kennedy case that I actually wished was longer. In the purest sense, Jim Douglass is not a natural writer. But it seems to me he has labored meticulously to fashion a well organized, thoroughly documented, and felicitously composed piece of workmanship that is both comprehensible and easy to read. These attributes do not extend from simplicity of design or lack of ambition. This book takes in quite a lot of territory. In some ways it actually extends the frontier. In others it actually opens new paths. To achieve that kind of scope with a relative economy of means, and to make the experience both fast and pleasant, is quite an achievement.

I should inform the reader at the outset: this is not just a book about JFK's assassination. I would estimate that the book is 2/3 about Kennedy's presidency and 1/3 about his assassination. And I didn't mind that at all, because Douglass almost seamlessly knits together descriptions of several of Kennedy's policies with an analysis of how those policies were both monitored and resisted, most significantly in Cuba and Vietnam. This is one of the things that makes the book enlightening and worthy of understanding.

http://www.ctka.net/2008/jfk_unspeakable.html

[NOLALady]

40. High School We were at Lunch

when the PA system reported he was shot. We were in class when it was reported that he died. Silence. Maybe for a full minute. Then one girl screamed. And the flood of tears began. It seemed like all hell had broken loose. Many kids ran into the hallways throwing up.

They sent us home. It was raining.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

41. I was a sophomore in college...

I was living in a private, Catholic dorm, complete with its own chapel. Our priest, one cool guy named Father Healy, did a requiem mass for the President...

It was SRO. I was there.

Horrifying...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

42. Eighth grade math class

I had first lunch followed by math. We were just settling in, when the geography teacher, who evidently had second lunch, came rushing in, saying that he had heard on the radio in the teachers' lounge that Kennedy and Johnson had been shot.

Less than a minute later, CBS radio came on over the intercom. We sat and listened until the official announcement that JFK was dead. Several kids burst into tears.

A few minutes later, the principal's voice came on over the intercom and announced that we would all be going home as soon as the buses could get to the school.

All regular TV programming was canceled, and we had wall-to-wall coverage.

Political figures from all over the world came for the funeral: Charles De Gaulle, Emperor Hailie Selassie, even the Soviet ambassador.

We didn't go back to school till Tuesday.

[amerikat]

43. I was in the 4th grade and remember the day vividly.

My teacher was called out of the classroom. I don't think that had ever happened before. After a couple of minutes she came back in crying and could barely get it out between sobs that the president had been shot.
Not sure of the time frame after that but school was let out shortly after that(2:00 PM?).

I rode my bike home that day as I always did except in the dead of winter.
What struck me on the ride home was all the women out on the lawns, leaning over fences talking, crying, hands in the air hands on hips. Somewhere along the ride home I learned that the president was dead.

When I got home all the neighbors were outside also. In those days lots of moms didn't work outside the home. My grandmother and my aunt were there crying and scooped me up, I could feel the fear of a nation turned upside down.

I don't think our country has ever recovered from that loss.

[malaise]

45. I was in school

two days before my birthday. Students and teachers bawled.

[dixiegrrrrl]

46. I had just turned 18, was in a dentist's chair, of all places.

I was very apprehensive being at the dentist.
The receptionist stuck her head in the door just as the dentist was getting ready to jab the Novocaine, he excused himself and went out, then came back in, and I remember this clear as day, he went over to the window and looked down in to the main street of the town, then told me "You should go home immediately, the President has been shot".
I walked home, cars were slowing or stopped in the streets. It was incredibly quiet in town, esp. for a Friday.
Mom had the tv on,( black and white ) we all just sat in front of it for what seemed like days.
We didn't talk much, just watched Cronkite.
I remember there was a barely voiced fear that the Russians would take advantage of his death to attack us.
Anyone else remember that?
I remember my parents were stunned, numb, anxious, and everyone seemed to not know what to expect.

Very rudderless feeling.

[thelordofhell]

47. George Bush remembers where he was

He's never washed the grassy stains from that knoll off his trousers.

[Festivito]

93. No, George H.W. Bush, poppy, cannot recall where he was, but we know a few things...

A call was logged from about an hours drive out of Dallas from GHW Bush to the FBI in order to give a lead about the JFK assassination. The lead, ended up not helping much, Mr. Parrot never seemed much a suspect.

Odd. That paper log had to be hidden forty years. Why is that?

Driving along, hearing that news, stopping to make a call revealing a tidbit. I would remember something about where I heard it, even a gas station, a store would stick out, but not for GHWB.

Oh, that might be embarrassing, if he were driving OUT OF DALLAS at that time. He was an hours drive out in 45 minutes, which, in a speeding car could be... Oh, my.

We also know that his look-alike photographed in front of the Book Depository, was not him, er, um, he says was not him.

Amazing how many Watergate people were right there in Dealy Plaza at that moment in time.

No, we sure are glad to have a lone nut explanation and not some wild conspiracy involving Mr. Parrot, which would have thrown any investigation off into a grassy knoll conspiracy, ... ... ..oh, my.

Sent home from school, my mama was crying as I came up the landing steps. Whoever you are, you made my mama cry. I. want. you. got.

[Booster]

48. It was my 21st birthday and my best friend had just dropped me

off at work after having lunch to celebrate my big day. As I got to the door, she yelled from the car "the President's been shot". I watched tv for the next full week; the funeral, which I will never forget; Oswald getting shot, etc. I have never looked at my birthday the same since then; every year I remember what happened and always tear up a little.

[Faygo Kid]

50. Wow. Take care, and I hear you.

You might want to check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dHvYB5JdSs

[Booster]

105. Yeah, one of my very favorites. That song is so compelling and

one of the best ever written. Thanks.

[pamela]

116. Happy Birthday.

Mine was yesterday. I turned 5 the day before Kennedy was assassinated. I remember my neighbor running into the house screaming "Turn on the TV! Turn on the radio!" I remember that my parents were glued to the tv all weekend and that I got bored (and a little scared) and I remember JohnJohn saluting. I loved JFK even though I was so little. My mom said when I was little more than a baby I would crawl over to the tv and kiss the screen whenever he was on.

Anyway...I really do hope you have a wonderful birthday today.:party:

[Booster]

149. Thank you very much. And a belated happy birthday to you.

[barbtries]

163. try to have a happy

anyhow.

[amerikat]

49. I also rember the funeral train.

Walking along the train tracks in Hamilton, NJ. with my father. Thousands of people lined the tracks. My dad was warning folks away from the tracks because a couple of people were run over north of Hamilton. Not sure how he knew that except that he was a reporter for a local paper.

edit: transistor radio I guess.

[Faygo Kid]

51. Are you thinking of Bobby?

There was no train for JFK. The train for Bobby was one of the most moving experiences in U.S. history. You're going to get me crying again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dHvYB5JdSs

[amerikat]

59. You may be correct. To many assinations to count correctly.

Thanks for making this post. It's clear that people still grieve.

[pipi_k]

68. Yep, Bobby...JFK's coffin was on a wagon pulled by horses...

I remember Jackie with John Jr and Caroline...she leaned down and whispered something to John-John.

He saluted.

My heart still breaks thinking of it.

[Trajan]

52. 2nd Grade classroom ....

In a small catholic school, in north New Jersey, near NYC ...

I could swear we were watching Jeopardy, which we watched as part of vocabulary building for English. I remember the Nun's coming into class, crying .... Once the faculty calmed a bit, they came and told us he had been shot, but was still alive, as far as anyone knew then .... They turned the TV channel to one of the main channels .... I am not sure if it was Cronkite, or 'The Huntley Brinkley Report', which was on NBC .... I recall the anchors speaking off the cuff, and receiving sheet of newscopy to read as facts came in ...

When they released us to go home, I went home and watched as Cronkite came on, trying to sort through rumors and the little bits of information that were popping up on the newswire ... Eventually, Cronkite told the nation that Kennedy had died, as everybody has seen over and over ever since ...

They suddenly mentioned Office Tibbett being shot ..... Then they described how a suspect had been captured at a Theater .... They soon after showed images of him coming out of the theater with obvious injury on his face ... Reports started coming in about Oswald and his connection to the Tibbetts murder, and to bits and pieces of his history ...

I watched TV for a solid week, waiting for every detail ... shocked and fascinated by the gravity of the situation (I was 7 yo) ...

I too watched as Ruby approached the cortege for Oswald's transfer as it came out of the elevator and walked to the garage, shocked as hell as Ruby suddenly thrust a revolver directly in front of Oswald, and shot him in the gut .... It was perhaps the most surreal event I have ever seen in my life - ALL within a little 13" B&W TV ....

NOW the rumors run wild about Ruby and his possible association with Oswald, and as a possible co-conspirator ...

Really - That week was an unprecedented TV-Media event ... It was horrifying and fascinating ... for a 7 year old ...

Perhaps the worst thing that has happened to America in the 20th Century ....

[Sinistrous]

53. In college. In Boston, MA.

[catrose]

55. 6th grade, but not a peep over the intercom

But our battleaxe teacher was crying as she dismissed us. My best friend Kathleen and I talked it over as we walked home and decided her brother who had cancer must have died. My mother met me with the news at the door. The rest is a blur until the funeral--we must have been let out of school for that? And my mother criticized all the women in church not wearing hats. She didn't like JFK or Jackie and didn't much care that he was dead, but it seemed to me she could have worked up a bit of sympathy for a widow and orphaned children, not to mention someone who died in such an awful way. My first neocon, my mother.

[Thor_MN]

57. I was 11 months old, ostensibly, I had just learned to walk.

I don't remember JFK, but I have vivid memories of when Bobby was shot.

[lostnfound]

58. in my playpen, sensing the trauma that the adults around were feeling. nt

[kiranon]

60. Walking to the book store at the Un. of Oregon, Eugene. n/t

[Tuesday Afternoon]

62. 1st grade. Mrs. Taylor's class.

:(

[pnorman]

63. I was living in Japan at that time, in a small fishing/farming village by Sasebo.

Satellite broadcasting had just been introduced there, and it was stunning news and in real time! That nation went into lengthy mourning, and all my neighbors went out of their way to commiserate with me.

Despite my Obama avatar, I remain a committed leftist (of the "left-"libertarian" variety), and I share at least some of Noam Chomsky's distrust of Kennedy. But I am now FIRMLY convinced that it was NOT a "lone gunman with a magic bullet"! That assassination (execution?) was much MORE of a "game changer" than 9-11! I attained "political adulthood" then, and I haven't stopped maturing to this day.

[asjr]

64. I was at work in Kansas City and heard it over

the radio. Simply couldn't believe it!

[HarveyDarkey]

65. Ninth grade algebra class

I'll never forget it,

[uppityperson]

66. Trying to figure out why my mommy was crying.

RIP Jack, and Bobbie, and Martin. It was a bad few yrs there "they are killing all the good guys" said the teen uppity

[TheIdiot]

67. I was 14 years old, living in France...

my dad worked for SHAPE in Paris... he was home that evening, playing cards with friends, and he got a call on one of those big black telephones... my little brother & i were sitting on the couch listening to American radio - there was no tv - and we watched as he hung up and just stood there. it was the first time either of us ever saw him cry. i'm not sure if that's what caused it, but we flew back to the States within a few months. i remember looking out the window of the airplane, a four-engine prop job, as we were taxiing for take-off at Orly Field and seeing tanks on the runway...

[bluedigger]

71. Probably playing in a sandbox.

I was three. I don't remember much about "the world" back then - first news story I "remember" was the Manson murders several years later.

[Demoiselle]

72. At the dentist in Northampton, Massachusetts

I was a senior at Smith. The dentist's receptionist walked into the room and said, "The President's been shot." The dentist went into his outer office, very upset, and tried to make a phone call. He couldn't. Every line in the state (and everywhere, most likely) was tied up. He slapped a temp filling in my mouth and asked me to leave.
I got into the student lounge on campus just in time to see Walter Cronkite choke up as he made the horrible announcement. We all spent that weekend wandering aimlessly around campus or locked in front of the few tv sets in our dorms.
The terrible hurt has never stopped. It just moves a little farther into the distance.

[Faygo Kid]

76. I'm with you. What a story. It's still like it happened yesterday.

I was younger, but still 12 years old - and that means sentient. It is still frozen in time, with so many others.

[AngryAmish]

74. The grassy knoll, you?

[H2O Man]

75. I was in school.

I remember the day well.

[ellenfl]

77. sitting in an 8th grade classroom. i don't remember the subject

but i do remember it was a portable classroom. the principal announced it over the school's intercom.

ellen fl

[NEOhiodemocrat]

79. in 8th grade class at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Ohio

Our teacher, the principal and a nun, had her office off of our classroom. The phone rang and then she came out of the office crying and told us that President Kennedy had been shot. She made an announcement over the PA and we all prayed and then were released from school Walked home and spent the next few days watching the events on TV. I do not believe anyone who was over 5 or 6 doesn't remember that day and what they were doing when they heard the news.

[kath]

117. Except for GHWBush (wrt your last sentence)

[Individualist]

81. I was working in the Medical Records Dept. in a small hospital

When the Medical Records Librarian returned from lunch, she told us the President had been shot.

[REP]

82. My parents were getting married. I would be born 13 months later.

[JohnnyLib2]

83. College campus, stunned.

Didn't have a tv, so watched part of the coverage later that week in a casino in Reno. Empty, silent, chilling atmosphere.

[66 dmhlt]

84. Sophomore English - My teacher (All-State BB) openly wept

The announcement came over our HS PA system. To see an 6'-4" man who was an Illinois All-State basketball forward hold his head in his hands and uncontrollably weep is an image indelibly etched. Me? I was just stunned and numb.

[northoftheborder]

85. where I was

I was at home, watching "As the World turns", when Walter Cronkite broke in with the news. From that point on, for years, I had a compulsion to watch the news. I was shocked, but not surprised; I knew what Dallas was capable of, the kind of people who lived there. I blamed that city and it's conservative viewpoints for years.

[EFerrari]

86. At recess from 1st grade at Our Lady of Mercy School

in a San Francisco suburb. All the nuns were talking in a huddle and crying.

[jwirr]

87. Home with my three daughters - I was reading and left the TV off.

Didn't know until about 2:00 pm after my parents called and wanted to know if they could come over to watch it on TV with us. I went to the bank to put some money in my savings account and they deliberately placed the entry in the savings book upside down. At that time I still did not know.

[emilyg]

88. We were at Fort Dix. Crying our

hearts out.

[Blue_In_AK]

89. Ms. McCafferty's 4th Period English class,

South Houston High School. I was a senior and I remember very, very well the moment they announced it over the PA, and Mrs. McCafferty started crying. It was extremely hard on us because JFK had just been to Houston the day before. Those were very, very dark days, and I agree with you that the impact was greater than 9/11, at least on me. That event colored the whole rest of my life.

[Faygo Kid]

94. Mine, too.

I feel like I should respond to everyone posting here, but that's unrealistic.

The power of that event speaks for itself. Thank you for sharing your memory; incredible stories.

[frogmarch]

90. I was a 20 year-old college student.

I had some kind of flu and was at home, recovering. I was watching the soap "The Edge of Night," when all of a sudden Walter Cronkite interrupted the program to announce that JFK had been shot. I called to my mom, who was in in the kitchen, and she came running. I said, "Someone shot President Kennedy!" My mom, who'd been an Eisenhower republican, had also voted for Nixon - mainly because she was afraid that if JFK were president, the pope would run the country. But she'd come to love and respect JFK, and when she heard he'd been shot, she wept in her hands. When it was later announced the president had died, we both cried.

I was also watching TV when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald.

What an awful time it was.

[Faygo Kid]

92. I'm adding my post to my Journal, thanks to posts like yours.

And all the rest. I'm deeply touched; I did not expect such a response.

I cried that day, too.

[littlewolf]

95. Home sick ... I was 7 years old ... I saw it on TV ...

[Skittles]

96. Peterborough, England

[Danmel]

97. I was three

In East Flatbush Brooklyn. Don't remember it at all.

[dflprincess]

98. Fifth grade

and we were working on English when the principle came over the loud speaker and, quite clearly crying, said "President Kennedy is dead. He was assassinated."

I remember my teacher just went white and flopped into her chair while my class and I just sat staring at each other. We had recently finished our history unit on the Civil War and we had been to the history museum in Buffalo and where we learned about William McKinley. We were old enough to know what "assassinated" meant.

[Historic NY]

100. St. Patrick's School Newburgh N.Y.......

i saw & talked with him in May of 63 while he was going to West Point.

[disillusioned73]

101. I was born 10 years later..

but I appreciate the sentiment in your post. From what I have seen of politics in my lifetime, I now know that I will never have my generations JFK or FDR... I envy you, for at least you knew what it was like to have an unashamed liberal as President.

"If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."

[pacalo]

102. In my 6th grade class on a dark, rainy day.

Mr. Lloyd received a note from the office & his face immediately turned red, then he softly told us before tears started streaming down his face.

Moments later, the intercom came on & it was announced that there would be a recess on the patio.

As young as I was, I loved JFK. I watched all the news coverage I could. I even remember Oswald being led to an elevator later that evening & right after he stepped inside & faced the cameras, he told the tv reporters, "They're trying to railroad me.". I didn't know what "being railroaded" meant. I've never seen footage of that moment since -- one would think that would be, at the very least, an interesting moment to see since there's certainly a lot of curiosity about him.

I actually wished that JFK would get out of the coffin when I watched his funeral.

[Desertrose]

106. Art class..HS freshman...couldn't believe it.

Yeah...we did SO need the Beatles then.....makes me so sad to look back at what was...and now, what is.

[Urban Prairie]

107. I was in first grade in a parochial grade school

I still vividly remember our principal (a nun) announcing over the P.A. that the President had been shot and she said to pray for him. We weren't sent home, but I did not find out that Kennedy had been shot in the head by a rifle or rifles, until I got home and my saddened mother had our B&W TV on with the news.

[AmBlue]

108. Kindergarten...

We had an extra-long nap time at the wrong time that day, while teachers spoke in whispery tones just outside our classroom door. Things felt strange... people everywhere had sad expressions. It felt like time stopped. I think my parents tried not to talk about it. But then I remember being devastated that my Saturday morning cartoons were interrupted by non-stop coverage-- I think it was of the funeral procession. I was most devastated when I saw Caroline who was nearly the same age as me, and her little brother John-John as he saluted the horse with the funny backwards boots.

I loved John Kennedy and his beautiful family. Still do. That terrible day was the end of innocence...

[KharmaTrain]

109. Watching Bozo Circus

I was in the third grade...came home for lunch. I remember it was an usually warm day. On the way back to school one of the kids said he had heard that Kennedy had been shot in Texas. First image I had was JFK riding in a Stagecoach with tumbleweeds all around and a bunch of bad guys in black masks shooting at him. When I got to school the teachers were in hysterics and I quickly realized something real real bad had happened.

Despite being 7 at the time I remember that weekend very clearly...including seeing Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald that Sunday morning/afternoon. I still remembering my mother constantly wondering "why" and saying how this event would be remembered for the rest of our lives.

[global1]

110. On My Way To The Cafeteria For Lunch After P.E. ..........

my hair was still wet from the shower I just took. This was freshman year of high school. I walked into the cafeteria into complete silence except for the TV's that were broadcasting the news. I knew something was wrong because the cafeteria was usually loud with the noise a group of Catholic boys make wherever they are.

We didn't eat lunch that day. We watched the TV news accounts of the tragedy. Then we got the word that all classes were canceled and we were allowed to go home.

When I got home - my parents were devastated. We were all glued to the TV over the next few days.

I too caught the live broadcast of Jack Ruby shooting Oswald.

I'll never forget that period of my life. I didn't believe the official story when we got it then - and I still don't now. Just like I don't believe how we're being fed BS on 9/11.

My adolescence ended the day JFK was shot. I became much more politically aware and very jaded.

And JFK assassination was just the beginning of the end.

Look where this country progressed to. We're a shadow of our former greatness now after having to endure additional assassinations, Watergate and most recently 9/11.

Looking back now - it appears to me that this country was systematically dismantled. Piece by piece.

I'll always believe that there was and still is some sinister group that continues to nick away at our freedoms being represented by the Repug party.

[Lugnut]

111. I was 18 years old.

I graduated from high school in June of 1963 and was attending classes to earn my cosmetology license. One of our teachers was crying inconsolably as she attempted to tell all of us that President Kennedy was shot. Many of the students were Kennedy supporters when he visited our town on his campaign trail. There wasn't much to joke and kid about for the rest of the afternoon. Friday was a busy clinic day for walk-ins and appointments at the school. Students and clients were all n a hurry to get home to their TVs.

The rest of that weekend was surreal. People were glued to the TV stations that were broadcasting day and night for the very first time. There was no such thing as cable back then. My dad preferred Huntley and Brinkley for his daily update of national news of the day. Our TV was tuned to NBC for the whole weekend and much of the following week.

I will never forget that day. I never understood how George Herbert Walker Bush couldn't remember where he was on that day. Really, George? Really?

[yurbud]

112. I was a few days old, still in the hospital with my mom...

she said she was still drugged up and kept asking why the flag was at half mast.

[upi402]

113. i remember, and don't forgive the unadressed sins n/t

[DearAbby]

114. I was in school

Just came in from lunch, when the announcement came over the loud speaker of the News, and that School would dismiss early. I remember walking home, I even remember the sun gleaming off the chain link fence as I looked back into the empty school yard. I was 8 years old. I remember it vividly still.

The year before, right before Halloween was the Cuban Missile crisis, and that was the first and only year our parents took us out trick or treating in the car (Big deal for us, normally my sister and I went around the neighborhood alone.) It was as if they didn't want to be away from us.

[CakeGrrl]

115. Nearly 1 year from making my entrance into the world. n/t

[Citizen Worker]

118. Zoology class lecture. One of the math teachers who didn't have a class that period came into the

classroom to announce what had happened. The zoology teacher, standing at the lectern, didn't say a word as he snapped his pencil. I don't think it fully registered with most of the students until we got to our homes and saw the news coverage.

As the years have sped by I am more and more convinced that 22 November 1963 was THE turning point in this country. The murders of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy made permanent that change. It has all been downhill from there and we're nearing the bottom. The oligarchy took over that day and they've been in control ever since.

[TexasObserver]

119. We sat quietly in English class, no one speaking, waiting.

A shaken principal came on the intercom and announced that the president was dead.

The son of one of the town's right wing stalwarts mumbled "probably a publicity stunt," but many in the class began to tear up and cry, especially the girls, as boys were not supposed to show that.

I was 14.

[eridani]

120. In 4th year Latin class

Sister Celeste had just told the story or Petronius Arbiter, who wound up on Nero's fecal register, and decided to commit suicide before Nero's attentions got really seriousl.. He had his wife and children drink poison, but he arranged a big feast to which he invited friends and enemies. He had slit his wrists and had his servants wrap them tightly in linen, and at the end of the party loosened the wraps and expired in front of his guests.

My mind always does weird association things almost against my will, and I tried unsuccessfully to stifle a giggle fit. Sister Celeste was seriously insulted, and wanted to know what was so funny about this tragic story of nobility in ancient Rome. I said "I was just thinking of a song."

"You were just thinking of a song. A song."

"Oh it's my party and I'll die if I want to, die if I want to..." The class roared, and the nun was absolutely clueless about the Top Forty and Golden Oldies and all that kind of thing. OK, back to ancient Rome.

Ten minutes later the announcement came over the PA that we all had to go to the auditorium. We didn't have radio or TV, so we got a second hand account. It was awhile before anything at school seemed funny again.

[Diclotican]

177. eridani

eridani

It was the same fellow, who was given Nero a earfull, in his testamente, who was read by a fellow friend in front of Nero, after he had killed himself.. As the testament progressed, and the greedy Nero was more and more sure that he would be hair to the rich properties Petronius Arbiter once owned, it ended up in a harrang, where Petronius Arbiter, now secure that he would never be harmed by Nero was given a no hold barrel of list of Neros crimes.... Crimes goes back as long as the first days of the emperors rule... Nero was pissed off, mostly becouse was not given a daim of the money or wealth that Arbiter once owned.. He had given it all away, and the emperor was just given a airfull of truth...


I was not born when Kennedy was killed.. It was more than a decade before my mom got me... Im just born in 1976...

Diclotican

[eridani]

188. Indeed. And Latin teachers the world over admire Petronius Arbiter n/t

[Diclotican]

191. eridani

eridani

Indeed, you have to have some real balls, when you can do that, first you act as you want to give your estate to the emperor, and then you are telling in no easy term what a criminal bandit he really is... He must have been a master of latin when he managed to play around with Nero that way... On the other hand, Nero was maybe not that smart.... A smarter emperor had maybe understood what was in the brew long before it was coming...

On the other hand, since he killed himself, the estate was given as by the will of the testament, so the emperor was indeed not be given anything of the great estate Petronius Arbiter was given away.. A old law in Rome, was for once given a rich owner the benefit of not given away anything to the emperor... And not many years after Nero himself was doomed by the Senate, and killed himself, or war killed by a slave (depend of witch history you belive)

Diclotican

[eridani]

197. Ovaries actually--in both cases

The Latin teacher was a nun who was all of 4 feet 8 inches tall, and most of us were terrified of her most of the time. Natuarally, we called her Little Caesar when she wasn't around. She nailed be for laughing, and I couldn't think of anything to do besides tell her why.

[Diclotican]

200. eridani

eridani

Some persons, is like that, their relative size dosen't matter, their whole apperance is enough to scare the hell out of everyone, all th time.. And a Nun who had been teatching a log of kids by the years, would defently be in that catagory I guess... But I guess, she teatch well, if you still rembember the lady after all this years;) And it was maybe for the best, that she also got why you was laughing, she might had a sence of humor after all.. Not everyone, but some of the old bats have a sense of humor you never know before they show it. I rembember likewice a woman, who I was with when I was really young, mayge 4-5 year old.. She was not a big woman, even by a 5 year standard.. But she had the "wibs" of a queen, and wel, we kids had respect for her, and I mean really respect... At that age I was in a orphanage (long story I doubt wil interst you the bit) and she was the head of the orpenhage... She really know how to act to make us respect her, it dosen't matter how young or old we was.. And she was also a kind hearted woman I would say.. She is posible dead by many year now, or really old, but I still rembember her foundly... For the most part she was a kind woman, carefull and nice.. But she know how to act when we did something wrong... Wel for the most part I was a nice boy I guess..

Diclotican

[eridani]

202. Little Caesar was actually a pretty good Latin teacher

Very much in love with ancient Rome.

[Diclotican]

205. eridani

eridani

I can understand why, Rome was one interesting place to be in ancient times;). Even today, 2000 year after, when most of it is in ruins, it is still impresive to look at... And the histories who could be told if the ancient walls could talk..

Diclotican

[mwb970]

121. 8th grade, hall guard, across the hall from the school office.

Woodbury Jr. High School, Shaker Hts., Ohio. Heard them discussing what had happened and whether to go on the PA with it. (They did.)

[TexasProgresive]

122. In 8th grade at Sacred Heart school in Houston

It was our custom to pray the rosary after lunch. One of the Sisters came in and told us that the president had been shot. Shortly after we learned he had died. The whole school ended up in the church. I will never forget the sound of children crying. One of the boys turned on the tollers (electric bell ringer). The sound of slow tolling bells from the downtown churches was so sad. Nothing has ever been the same since.

I wonder what it was like in Dallas- I'm sure there were some who rejoiced.

[WinkyDink]

123. Home sick from school, watching "Hawaiian Eye," which was interrupted by the horrible news.

[KatyaR]

124. In school in Meridian, Oklahoma, first grade.

My mom was our teacher (and the only teacher), 12 kids grades 1-8 (no 7th graders). Someone--maybe my Dad, I can't remember--called the school and I guess Mrs. Smith, the lunch lady, picked up the phone. We were sent home and I don't think we went back to school until after the funeral, but I can't really remember that much.

I do remember my mom's best friend had David Frye's album about the Kennedy White House. I loved that album and had her play it every time I was at her house. She never played it again after he died. She said it would be disrespectful.

[BlueGirlRedState]

125. In Leonardo, NJ, getting on the school bus

I remember a teacher and the school bus driver talking about it as I boarded the bus. I was in 1st or 2nd grade.

Watching it on TV, in black and white, from the funeral to the assassination of Oswald.

Last year I visited the Schoolbook Depository museum in Dallas. It really brought it all back, and it's a chillingly similar climate to today.

[bmbmd]

126. I was in Camelot-for one brief shining moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCUY2OLZTz8&feature=related

[Iggo]

127. I was 2. (n/t)

[Waiting For Everyman]

128. I was on an 8th grade field trip inside Luray Caverns in VA.

We went into the caverns that day and our world was normal, and when we came out a few hours later it was broken beyond repair. We were told the news as we came out of the caverns in small groups. It was so surreal, it was hard to comprehend what we were being told. We were about 3 hours from home, and that was a very unnaturally silent ride back, considering that it was a bus full of teenagers. All three 8th grade classes were on the field trip, more than 100 of us and about 8 teachers, from Towson Maryland.

I still mourn it too. We were all part of a national broken heart that day. That was the first failure to prosecute a top-level national crime... from which all the others since have flowed in succession. (I'll never forget watching Oswald being murdered in real time on national live tv - inside a police station, no less.)

You're so right Fago Kid, about how rough that Thanksgiving holiday was, and the Beatles (and all the British Invasion) catching on just at that time was a godsend for us teenagers. I think music saved our sanity then.

I still wonder sometimes, as I'm sure most of us probably do, what the world would be like now if JFK, MLK, and RFK had been with us all these years. It would be very different for the better, I have no doubt of that.

I think all of us of roughly that same age are united in our memories of it, FK.

:hug:

[lib2DaBone]

130. Someday they are going to tie Poppy Bush into that murder....

.. the day the country died and the Military Industrial Complex took over.

[Tippy]

141. I agree.....

[WinkyDink]

146. Never. If Bush pere didn't get rid of the evidence/records, then Bush fils did.

[a kennedy]

131. I was in 8th grade in Madison Wisconsin....

a Catholic school and we all went to the chapel to pray for him. 13 years old..... wow hard to believe it's been that long. :cry:

[sufrommich]

132. I was in 2nd grade, I remember we weren't told what happened

but were told that school would end at lunch time and that we should go straight home.I ran all the way home with my brother and we found our Mom sitting on the floor crying,she told us the president was shot by a bad guy, my Dad came home shortly after that.My 2nd grade brain thought the world was coming to an end.

[BoneDaddy]

133. "bigger than 911"?

The death of JFK was a horrible tragedy but how could it be bigger than 911?

[hlthe2b]

140. I'm not sure I would say "bigger" but the scope/magnitude

was quite similar. Remember, there were only the three networks for TV. EVERYONE was getting information from the same basic sources. It was a uniting tragedy that had come on the heels of the Cuban Missile Crisis (which likewise had riveted people) and the Bay of Pigs debacle. No one knew how these things might connect to the assassination of a modern American President. I was only 4 1/2 or 5 at the time, but I remember the impact on the adults around me. It was quite poignant--and frightening.

[BoneDaddy]

160. I understand

I was just trying to clarify that this wasn't one of these "where were you moments?" that become this strange oneupsmanship that I often see round here where people try to see whose tragedy supercedes another.

[WinkyDink]

148. Hello?! The assassination of a President supercedes the deaths, even many multiples, of

ordinary citizens.

It's why the former isn't called merely "murder."

[BoneDaddy]

158. I disagree

any loved one lost in 911 would be much more important than the death JFK. And your tone sucks. Don't assume with the "hello?!" that what you believe to be true, is true. It is true for you, but not for me.

[BoneDaddy]

134. "bigger than 911"?

The death of JFK was a horrible tragedy but how could it be bigger than 911?

[Hannah Bell]

135. in school, we went out to the teachers' parking lot & listened to the news on their car radios.

i have that memory, but it seems strange that was the only place to hear the radio. it was a rural school, maybe that's why.

[remember2000forever]

136. 9th Grade Science Class

Like most of you, the news of JFK was announced on the school intercom.

Years later when Regan was shot I was in a bar in London with the "Telly" on. I'll never forget what the guy next to me said. "You Americans really do like to play cowboys!" Very telling, even back then.

[Douglas Carpenter]

137. Mrs. Olson's third grade class Writght Street School - Corry, PA

[voteearlyvoteoften]

138. I remember my parents crying

Heard on pa at end of school day

[Tippy]

139. I happened to be sitting in front of the TV.......I remember screaming...NO...NO...

God Help us....

[progressivejazz]

142. In Worcester, Mass.

Watching the Mike Douglas show. I had planned to do a big pile of homework when the show was over, but that didn't happen. When I heard he was shot, I was shocked. When I heard he had died, my life changed. Have any of us ever been the same?

[treestar]

143. A four year old

Maybe about the oldest of the people young enough not to remember it.

The first President I remember is LBJ.

[onenote]

145. Fifth Grade. My mom picked me up at the bus stop. Which she never did.

So I knew something was going on.

[Zen Democrat]

147. I was at my locker after lunch ....

and a guy in my next period English class stopped at the locker next to mine and said, "Kennedy was just shot in Dallas." I said, "That's not true" but he didn't have a smile on his face so I knew it wasn't a joke. He had been off campus for lunch at the hamburger hot spot next to the school and heard it on the radio. I went to the school library where there were televisions, and our school librarian was in her office watching As The World Turns ... she motioned for those of us coming in to come into her office. She said that an announcement had been made on CBS that shots had been fired at the President's motorcade in Dallas. We were watching when Cronkite came back in to say it had been confirmed that the President had been shot. And then, the network went back to As The World Turn for another 3-4 minutes. I guess the media was in shock too.

We had a lot of emotion that day - grief, shock and outrage. Outrage because it spread like wildfire through the school that one of the biology teachers had made the comment that this would "save America from going Communist."

I remembered that so vividly as I read Jim Douglass's tour de force, JFK and the Unspeakable, Why He Died and Why It Matters. That book which Douglass had privately published in 2008 has now been bought for distribution by Simon and Shuster. I got a copy at Barnes & Noble last week. It's not a book so much about who was the shooter(s) as much as who were the plotters and what was behind it. It's prodigiously footnoted throughout with much of the information from recently released documents by the Kennedy Library and from the Federal Assassinations Records Review Board. It will blow your mind.

My comeaway from the book is that in another 50 years, if the fascists haven't taken over, JFK will be hailed as the greatest of all our Presidents - giving his life to save millions.

[polmaven]

150. High School freshman..

Was acting, with a friend, as 3rd period "office pagette". We sat outside the office door daily, running errands for the principal and/or office staff. I was on one such errand, climbing the stairs to the second floor, when my civics teacher walked by and said..." The President has just been shot and is badly hurt"....I nearly fell down the stairs.

After completing the errand, I convinced myself that he had meant some other "president", not the one of the U.S., sand went beck to my spot. We were then called into the principal's office to watch the news reports on TV, and we heard the announcement that he had died. I will never forget the look on Principal Barry's face as tears came down his face. That period ended, and my next class was with that same civics teacher. Mr. Barry made the announcement to all of us by the loud speaker, and school was dismissed for the day.

The next few days were horrendously hard to live through.

[robdogbucky]

151. November 22, 1963

We were all either 14 or 15 and freshmen at a Catholic high school, Edgewood, in Madison, WI. Being Irish as well meant that in our family there was a swelling of pride in our collective breast, that an Irish Catholic man had been elected president three years prior. They said it could never happen but it did. The Kennedys were young, smart, rich, successful and Democrats. That election night was the happiest I had known to date.

Mine was a union family as well, with all my Drunkles holding positions as shop stewards or reps in their respective labor organizations. We had cousins that were nuns and priests, some in Ireland, some here in the USA. My cousins were all part of big families, and gathering at our grandparents’ home in time of celebration and in time of need. My Irish immigrant grandfather had been the mailman in our Irish neighborhood, the Old Fourth Ward, during the Great Depression.

Back at school that fateful day, we had just finished Religion class with Father Wagner, and after the bell rang we all flooded into the halls on to our next class. Something was not right. A few students stood, leaning against lockers, sobbing quietly. We all looked around in confusion. Then it came. Sister Killeen, our principal, came on the PA, her voice choking as she quietly said, “Boys and girls, I have bad news.” We had never heard her do this. We were all stunned into silence. “An hour ago in Dallas, President Kennedy was shot and killed. Please take a moment now and offer up a prayer.”

My world changed forever that day. Camelot was over. Our dreams were dashed. The future was suddenly uncertain. It has remained uncertain since that day. Someone had snuffed out the flame that gave us hope.



rdb

[Bombero1956]

152. I was in Puerto Rico

My parents had separated and my father had sent us to his parents house. I heard it on the radio and remember that the announcer was weeping. People from all over the barrio came over to watch because we had the only TV.

[bikebloke]

153. Grade school

Fourth grade. When we climbed off the bus after school, some little kid was shouting, "Kennedy was shot! Kennedy was shot!". Eventually, I finally went inside, the TV was one with the coverage.

[Mad_Dem_X]

154. I was born almost exactly 3 years later

My mom was really worried that I would be born on the 22nd. I just made it - 10:19 pm on November 21st.

[barbtries]

161. happy belated birthday!

my SIL's bday too

[rexcat]

157. I was in the 6th grade sitting in class...

and my teacher came into the room visibly shaken and announced that the President had been killed. We were dismissed from school early.

[NOLALady]

159. The radio was on as I was preparing to leave for school.

They were discussing his visit to Dallas. I remember thinking that I would be so glad when his term was over as I feared for his safety.
A few months before, Medgar Evers was assassinated. It was a very violent time in this country. It seemed that progressive leaders were targets.

[Cleita]

162. I was at work.

We weren't allowed to listen to radio on my job, but my roomie was, who called me to give me the news. I gave the news to the rest of my co-workers and managers. The Big Cheese Boss brought a TV into our work space that was kept in the conference room so we could all watch what went on that day. While home on the weekend, there still was non-stop news coverage and Americans were able to watch what was probably the first live homicide on air, when Jack Ruby killed Harvey Oswald.

[saracat]

164. The nuns sent us home from first grade andwould not tell us why. I came home and my

mother was watching the TV and told me. She was very grave. My father was on thephone and he and his brother in California were trying to locate a case of a special bottle of Scotch to send to the WH.I was amazed thsat they were talking "long distance".That was a very rare thing back then and usually meant something back had happened because it was considered so expensive. They had both been friends with the Kennedy brothers through college and prep schools.I have often wondered if the brothers got the Scotch. I never thought to ask.I assume they did.

[bhcodem]

165. I was...

in Mr. Hubbard's college prp English class, Keystone High School, Keystone, IA

[jotsy]

166. I was but two.

But the debate of who was responsible became a discussion I took note of as a preteen. Hard to believe in the end that three progressive heroes would meet their ends in less than a decade at the hands of lone, and DISASSOCIATED crazed gunmen.

The hope in the world they envisioned remains high on the list of my own dreams, and no matter how much the PTB see to my suffering I'll never believe as much in anything else.

[blm]

167. Second grade.....and my grandma died that day, too.

.

[bluesmail]

168. Was in the 6th grade, Mrs Davies classroom, a mobile unit at Montclaire

Elementary School, Los Altos. She came in picked up a chalk piece and simply wrote The President Is Dead. My friends and I walked to school so there was no problem getting home that Nov. 22 1963 day. I remember crying myself to sleep at times because of the assassination.

[musette_sf]

169. 5th grade, Brooklyn NY

We got sent home for the day.

At home we watched everything we could to try and get facts and information.

[Carolina]

170. I was in fifth grade

at Amidon Elementary School in Washington, DC. It was a half day Friday because of teacher training (now called in-service) and because both parents worked, I was at my grandmother's house eating late lunch while she watched the soaps (so much more innocent then) in the background. Then came the announcement...

Yes, I too, remember every detail of that weekend. Notably I remember driving past the White House that sad night and seeing the north portico draped in black. It was so still and so cold. It was the first time I ever saw adults cry.

And I totally agree; it was as big, if not bigger, than 9/11 because it was a coup! Now we all cry --at least those of us who can remember -- not only for what we lost on that Friday afternoon but the lost (in every sense of that word) future of this country. :hug:

[CrispyQ]

171. First grade.

We were outside for recess. All of the teachers came out of the building - most were crying. We kids knew something was terribly wrong & gathered round the teachers who then told us the president had been assassinated.

My mother loved JFK. She cried for many days after that. Years later, after listening to that fat ass Limbaugh, she became a rabid right winger.

[BlueIris]

172. K&R for the historical and therapeutic value of such a thread. nt

[Spike89]

173. I was 5, remember telling my Mom

I was watching TV and they interupted with news reports, but no video, just a still photo of JFK (B&W). I wasn't sure what was happening at all, but it was certainly scary.

[Hepburn]

175. 10th grade -- Trig class.

I can tell you what I was wearing -- down to the color of the velvet bow in my boufant hair-do. I will never forget that dayas long as I live.

[11 Bravo]

178. 8th grade English class, waiting for my Dad to come and pick me up for a dental appointment.

He was driving a little Triumph Spitfire which, believe it or not, didn't even have a radio. I told him the President had been shot, and he damned near killed us both racing to the dental office. When we got there, my dentist told us that JFK was gone, and that he was closing his office for the day. I'll never forget it.

[Carolina]

179. K&R

Thanks for this thread! I have enjoyed all the posts and recollections.

[PCIntern]

180. Fifth Grade Class...

the teacher left the room and when she returned she was visibly upset. The third grade teacher was rather pleased that he'd been killed...I do recall THAT very well. As well as the entire weekend...many memories...

[Still Sensible]

181. 3rd grade, Mark Twain Elementary School

Bettendorf, Iowa. Miss Huba's class. Just returned after going home for lunch... and was sent home.

[Donnachaidh]

182. First grade - in the SRA reading group n/t

[Divernan]

183. Driving to the grocery store in suburban Sacramento w/ my 1 year old.

Heard the news on the car radio and stopped my car right in its' lane. Flagged down an approaching car and told the driver, the President's been shot. Turned my car around and drove to my Catholic church. I was still a church goer in those days. The nuns had brought all the grade school kids into the church. The nuns were mostly crying and the kids looked like they didn't know what was going on or how they were supposed to act. At that point the news hadn't announced his death yet, so they were all praying that he would live.

It was a terrible, terrible Thanksgiving weekend and we were glued to our TV the entire time.

[madmax]

184. Sitting on (my) front porch

(we rented) I was 14 and home owner opened her front door and said, 'the President's been shot'.

She was elderly and I thought to myself, is she talking about Lincoln? Asked her where, she replied, Texas - I knew then it was Kennedy. She invited me into her living room and we watched Walter Cronkite for the rest of the day.

Over the next few days my Mom and I watched it all unfold. Oswald being shot in jail by Jack Ruby, the lines of people to pay respects, the Riderless Horse, Little John John's salute to his Dad. So very sad, my Mom took it very hard and for a kid, I was pretty wrecked myself.

[A-Long-Little-Doggie]

185. Mrs. Roy's third grade class.

St. John the Evangelist grammar school, Attleboro, MA. Second row from right, third seat back.

The nuns were so upset, everyone was crying, something I will never forget.

[TBF]

186. Before my time by a couple years - but I found this great clip on You Tube

nearly 50 years ago and it could've been given this week

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rpG2ZM1vi0

(JFK on Terror)

[mimitabby]

187. In school

[bitchkitty]

189. I was on the swingset in our yard in Indonesia.

We lived on a block that housed mainly US and British government employees. A girl rode her bike around breaking the news. I don't remember how I felt, I was only 7, but I remember the swing so clearly and how the metal seat felt against my legs. Strange.

[Peregrine]

190. Sitting in my 3rd grade class

at Chin Elementary (KC) when the principal announced that Kennedy had been assassinated. On kid cheered and yelled "No more physical fitness tests."

[Spirochete]

192. I was in 4th grade

Seems to me I don't remember getting out early, but I was in a small SDA community school at the time.
The teacher did announce that the president had been shot.

[supernova]

193. Toddling around

I was a 1 and 1/2 years old. :-)

I remember LBJ but not JFK.

[LWolf]

194. Somewhere being a 3-yo.

I don't remember it. I WAS old enough to remember the assassination of RFK, and my mother's profound grief.

[Tracer]

195. At the Canada/US Border Crossing

My sister, brother-in-law and myself were driving home from Canada.

The radio in the rental car wasn't working.

We stopped at the border gift shop and went inside. Being young, we were laughing and goofing around.

When we went to the register, the woman there looked at us oddly and said "It's a sad day for your country."

We had no idea what she was talking about and asked her what she meant.

I remember how incredibly stunned we were, and the silent drive the rest of the way home.

[dembotoz]

196. 6th grade in the gym practicing for some music concert.

on the stage all lined up. Some xmas drivel.
Somebody comes in and whispers in my teachers ear.
My teachers name ironically was Mr bush. Perhaps my
best teacher ever. He announced the assasination and then
said he did not feel like singing any more and we went back to our
respective classrooms.

[ThatsMyBarack]

198. Not born yet.

Still makes me sad. :(

[Dulcinea]

199. Not born yet.

I didn't burst upon a waiting world for another 2 years.

[blondeatlast]

201. Wondering why my mom was frantically dialing my dad and her best friend Donna

while watching the TV.

I was about John's age--I do remember watching him salute the casket. :cry:

[pipi_k]

203. And those of us who had seen it...how could we ever forget...

Walter Cronkite's broadcast, and his massive struggle to maintain his composure...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K8Q3cqGs7I



:(

[hayu_lol]

204. I was home babysitting since my wife and some of her friends had...

gone clock shopping in Heidelberg. Home was our base housing apt. at 17th Air Force Hdqtrs, Ramstein AFB.

Had our small tv set turned on to the Armed Forces TV station on base. Aside from one brief announcement that the president had been shot, the screen went blank while announcements continued on voice only advising all American Forces that we had gone to full lockdown on the base and were essentially on a war footing. Dependents were advised to pack basic clothes items in the event it was decided to carpool all dependents to Marseille for shipment back to America. All privately owned vehicles were to be used for such a convoy.

My wife finally got home, the group of them had a terrible time getting through the gate. By this time, American TV was showing a picture of JFK on the screen with classical music appropriate for the time playing. No other programing at all. Switched to German TV and started receiving news bits as they arrived in Europe.

We were told to standby for any action that might be necessary, but it was believed at that time that we would probably come under attack by east block countries.

The next few days were much the same. All 17th Air Force fighters were in the air 24 hours a day. Not much real news about what was going on in the states.

The thought we all shared was that the 'balloon had gone up' and we were in for a war.