48 years ago today, sitting in Fifth Grade, everything changed for me,

[PCIntern]

and for so many others. For most of America, you may as well be talking about WW I, so many with whom we shared that experience are now gone.

sorry this pic won't show here...but the silence afterwards was deafening.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRoolrQUcWcQdeEQ__Z3RRglaGWPnQfFIIQwUyBPsdYUbKg0_3u0A

[aikoaiko]

1. Tis true. For me, the JFK assassination, like Lincoln's, is a tragic historical event

But not personal to me.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. Not born yet

But get it . . . My father was in the military and he lived Kennedy as his Commander In Chief. My mom was a freshman in high school and came to two parents in tears. They both stated something shifted in them when Kennedy was shot.


I'm almost afraid to state: I love President Obama. I truly believe he has done the best he can with the 20 pound bag of horse crap he found in the Oval Office. Getting back from Italy last week and learning a bullet had cracked a window in his family's living quarters is hopefully the closest I will ever come to understanding how people felt the day Kennedy was shot. :-(

[PCIntern]

7. Understood...

but it was a shot to the solar plexus and we've never arisen from the ground. I believe that hundreds of years from now, historians will point to that instant as the beginning of the Fall.

[Carolina]

39. you are so right

11/22/1963 was the beginning of the FALL!

[JustAnotherGen]

51. You know

That's what 'spurred' my mom's parents so to speak . . .they marched in Washington (including her). They supported War Protests and participated. My grandfather ramped up his 'hire the others' campaign (owned a construction company in Southern California). Etc. etc. They already believed in progressive values - but that made them active in their late 30's.

And it's why my mom (I'm convinced) has such a "Never Back Down" mentality that is causing her to be so active in the OWS actions in Rochester NY. She's one of those 'grannies' up there raising hell! :rofl:

She has point blank stated - if your dad were still alive (he passed away in August) he would be right there with me. They've got 30 years of battles won but this movement is the first shot back in the war. <---- Her exact words in an email.

They didn't win - not yet. Game on.

[flor-de-jasmim]

3. I was also in 5th grade, and I agree entirely.

[lunatica]

4. I was there too. I was a young teen

It was the beginning of the killing of our progressive leaders. We were so innocent and naive that our President and First Lady had no second thoughts about riding in a convertible. It boggles the mind now, but back then it seems perfectly normal.

This world has become a very dangerous place. Even in the so-called developed countries.

[newfie11]

5. For me it was the Watts riots and the protests in LA against Vietnam n/t

[ThomWV]

6. I was in the 11th grade, sitting in a History class when the announcement was made

It had precious little effect on my thinking, either then or now. It did, however, have tremendous effect on my life. I know this is pure blasphemy but bear with me for just a moment. Imagine a world in which Kennedy was never in the picture and the Presidency had passed directly from Ike to Johnson. I think we would be living in a much better world today.

[hobbit709]

8. I was in the 8th grade at the time.

Interestingly enough, I was in History class at the time the announcement was made.

[Gman]

9. We saw Kennedy drive by in San Antonio the day before

on a bright beautiful November day. It was such a happy, wonderful day. The next day at some time after noon we got the news. I cannot describe the shock and devastation on everyone. I was in 3rd grade.

[MgtPA]

10. I was in 5th grade too. We had art class on Friday afternoons, and without any preamble,

the PA system started broadcasting Walter Cronkite. The nun led the class in a few Hail Marys before school was dismissed early. Walking home from school that afternoon, it felt like us kids were the only ones left in a dead town. It was totally silent, no cars, no noise at all.

I was reminded of that day when I walked to the bus stop to meet my daughter's kindergarten bus on 9/11 - same eerie silence overlaid with a sense of doom.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Me too. 5th grade.

Seems like just yesterday. I remember it so clearly.

[freshwest]

12. I'd say it was the end of the world as we knew it. I was 12. And then the horror continued.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. You're Just A Little Older Than Me

I was in 2nd grade. I was home sick that day with my mom. They broke in to the one and only soap she watched and she started crying. I remember that like it happened 5 minutes ago.
GAC

[lonestarnot]

14. K & R!

[Major Hogwash]

15. And we still don't know the truth about that day!!!

George H. W. Bush was in Dallas that day, but he won't admit it!

[ThomWV]

19. The day began, the day ended, what more is there to know?

At some point you have to give it up and move on. Kennedy's assassination is way past that point. Just my opinion.

[LanternWaste]

33. I imagine many people like to believe

I imagine many people like to believe they know when others should move on...

Just my opinion too... :shrug:

[ThomWV]

48. Yeah ... 50 years.

[Major Hogwash]

56. Why did the Warren Commission seal the records for 75 years?

There was no reason to do that.
None.
None that are plausible.

[Major Hogwash]

55. Well, since you said that, let me say something that may change your mind.

The "official" story of a lone gunman is not plausible.
Just like the attacks on America on 9/11 "just happened", it isn't even plausible.

[robdogbucky]

36. So was Nixon

My ex-brother in law, a Texas native was on a plane waiting on the tarmac in Dallas when the announcement was made. The plane was then held up for take off due to Richard Nixon's late arrival. The flight was to New York and my ex-brother in law had just enlisted and was on his way to serve in the US Navy, and eventually to Viet Nam. He said it was very interesting to see Nixon greet the press in the New York airport.

[Major Hogwash]

57. And yet, he had been the Vice-President and was favored to win in 1960.

However people don't even think how bitter he was after that, instead they focus on the "new Nixon", the one that got elected in 1968.
Like my own father said, "if you don't think that politics is dirty, everyone knew what a bum Nixon was, but here he comes, resurrected from his political grave."
He had even been defeated in his attempt to be the Governor of California, yet he was elected President in 1968.

[hifiguy]

63. My dad couldn't stand Nixon either.

I never knew why, but he despised Nixon.

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

16. I was in the second grade

We had been outside on the playground and when we came in to walk to our classroom, we saw teachers clustered in the hallway, crying. I remember being very scared. School was dismissed a few minutes later and when I got to the house, my parents were glued to the tv, crying. So tragically sad.

[sufrommich]

18. Your story is similar to mine except that my Dad was still

at work when I got home. My Mom was sitting on the floor near the TV crying. They wouldn't tell us at school why we were being sent home explaining that our parents would tell us, I honestly thought the world was ending when I saw my Mom like that.

[spanone]

17. 5th grade in a catholic school....

[MgtPA]

22. Ditto - on both counts

[EFerrari]

32. 2nd grade in a Catholic school in a heavily Irish parish.

Childhood pretty much ended that day.

[spanone]

58. i remember that weekend like it was yesterday.....

[JimGinPA]

20. I Was In Fifth Grade Too...

I had gone home for lunch and the news came out during that time. I ran into one of my buddies walking back to school and we were joking around and laughing as we came back into the classroom and saw that my teacher was quietly crying, as were as many of the girls in my class. I can remember her exact words, "Boys, sit down. They've shot President Kennedy." We pretty much sat in silence for an hour or so, until we were finally dismissed early.

[Carolina]

41. key words: They've shot...

Warren report be damned.

[hedgehog]

21. .

[warrior1]

23. I was in the third grade

and I remember everything about that day.

In our class room over the loud speaker they announce that he had been shot along with our Governor and that we could go home. When I was at home my mom all ready had the tv on watching the events. Sad sad day for America.

RIP JFK. What things you could have done.

The murderer writes the history.

[hifiguy]

24. I was in third grade

An announcement came over the speakers requesting that all of the teachers come to the principal's office. My teacher came back to our room a bit later, white as a ghost, and dismissed the class. A few minutes after I got home Walter Cronkite said that President Kennedy was dead.

It was also the day America died. :cry:

[99 Percent Sure]

59. 3rd Grade, PS #17, Buffalo NY.

Near the end of the school day. All teachers called into principal's office after which we heard cries of anguish. At first, as was posted by another, it was said that he was alive. After it was announced that he was dead most, including students, openly wept and school was dismissed.

When RFK ran for senator, I was one of the people who got to shake his hand during his campaign appearance in Buffalo. It's as if it was yesterday and I shall never forget.

[Le Taz Hot]

25. Third Grade here.

It was first announced over the loudspeaker that Kennedy had been shot but was alive. The teacher, visibly shaken, literally dropped down into her chair, shocked. We didn't say much. The teacher tried to go on with whatever we were doing but she and we were obviously distracted. A while later it came over the loudspeaker that Kennedy had died and that school was dismissed for the rest of the day (just assuming mommies would be home). I didn't become politically aware for another 5 years but later I realized the impact it had on the positive trajectory this country had going at the time. It was literally, the beginning of the end for this country as Nixon would have NEVER have had a comeback without both Kennedy assasinations.

[lonestarnot]

26. Damn 48? We're getting old.

:hug:

[Gregorian]

45. 48 years ago? I'm sitting here thinking the same thing. Damn.

No wonder I'm feeling tired. It's hard to believe that cold morning was that long ago. Now I'm sad.

[pipi_k]

27. I was in sixth grade...the week before Thanksgiving

we were making little puppets for a class puppet show we were to have before the holiday.

Our teacher was called out of the room for a bit, then came back in and was somewhat cranky to us kids. I didn't know why, or what we had done.

My most vivid memories are of the casket being pulled down the street, and of John-John saluting it.

Politically, that was one of the most awful days of my childhood, right alongside of the Cuban missile crisis the year before.


PS..I'm currently reading 11/22/63 by Stephen King, in which one of his characters attempts to go back in time to stop the JFK assassination. Classic Stephen King, IMO, for anyone who enjoys his stuff.

:)

[Octafish]

28. Every year, there are fewer of us who remember.

The assassination of President Kennedy was a major turning point for our nation and planet.
Consider how JFK treated the nations of Africa has differed from his successors.
Consider how JFK worked for ALL the people, not just the corporations and their wealthy owners.
Consider how JFK worked for peace when so many of his successors are quick to go to war.
Consider how JFK enforced the Constitution, so ALL Americans stand equal before and under the law.
Consider how JFK dreamed of a better world, where all nations worked together, compared to the current system of empire.

It is a shame, what we've missed. And that's why it's so important we who remain continue to post.

Thank you, PCIntern.

[LWolf]

29. I was 3. I don't remember it. nt

[cpwm17]

30. I was born on the day Kennedy was elected.

I was 3 when he was shot, so I don't remember it.

My family didn't get a TV until the early 70's, so the 60's almost didn't happen for me. I knew little of what was going on in the world. Our school didn't discus current events, and my parents kept mum.

I only remember Robert Kennedy's assassination from trying to watch TV at my grandmother's house and she turned me down. She said someone was killed and there would be nothing else on TV. I now assume it was Robert Kennedy.

[alterfurz]

31. sitting in phy-ed class, listening to a lecture by Coach on "personal hygiene"...

...(that's what they called it back then) when the announcement came over the P.A.

Got coach off the hook that day, and he never revisited the topic--leaving a serious gap in my education. Just another missing piece in the conspiracy puzzle?

[MarianJack]

34. Second Grade, Catholic School.

The broadcast came over the PA system and the teachers were out in the hallway crying. When I got home mo mom, who was a bank teller had taken $100 out just in case(a fortune for that time) because she remembered the runs on the bank as a child.

We saw as much as we could bear on the TV and then my mom, me and my 18 YO at the time sister lay on my mom's bed in our sorrow and despair.

I was 8 at the tome and didn't understand how our system works and I thought that our new president would be tricky dickie.

It was the horrible day that American innocence died.

PEACE!

[bikebloke]

35. Fourth Grade

Found out as we were disembarking from the school bus. A kid was screaming, "Kennedy was shot! Kennedy was shot!".

[Catherine Vincent]

37. Fortunately I had just turned 3, so I don't remember it

[Carolina]

38. fifth grade for me, too

Lived in DC. Still remember the hope and inspiration of January 20, 1961 and the sorrow of November 22, 1963 when the North Portico of the White House was draped in black.

:grouphug:

[Carolina]

40. PS,

to all in this thread who feel we should get over it, I say: NEVER.

It was the begiining of the end for this country and those of us who lived through it will never forget the genuine hope, the inspiration, the innocence ... that died that day!

This country has never been the same and has spiralled downward since.

[99 Percent Sure]

61. Born in Birmingham, AL and started school the same year that

Dr. Shuttlesworth with dr. King began the movement there marching at the schools, Bull Connor siccing the dogs and turning the fire hoses on marchers. As early as 4 years of age, I remember being snatched up by my great grandmother because I sat next to a white woman at the front of the bus.

We were sent to Buffalo to live with my father the summer of '63 because of the severe civil unrest in B'ham when they were arresting children and any other protesters. In fact, my cousin, Freeman Hrabowski, provost of University of Maryland at Baltimore, was 1 of the 10 year old children arrested.
I remember John and Bobby Kennedy facing down George Wallace at the University of Alabama. I remember the murders of JFK, MLK and RFK, the killings of the 4 Kent State students, the deaths of very young Vietnam War draftees, my uncle Charles Jr. doing 2 tours of duty who is still alive and kicking but obviously affected by his serving in an unwinnable war.

I'll always remember, unless God takes my memory away, and no one, NO ONE has the right to tell any of us that we should "move on" when these very horrible historical events are what shape our politics and economy to this very day.

Whoever said, "Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it" ain't lying. OWS and the mess that is our government which, no matter the president, can't say no to war--JFK did (see Khrushev, Bay of Pigs)--proves how repetitive marches of folly and economic callousness are.

[deaniac21]

42. .

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/texas/dallas/dealeyplaza/

[onenote]

43. In 5th Grade in DC suburbs

No announcement at school. But my mom met me at the bus stop, which immediately got my attention since the bus stop was only a few houses down the street from where we lived....

[marked50]

44. Fifth Grade for me too

Amazing that so many on these threads report about the same age for that life remembering event. I was in school in Overland Park, Ks at the time. A rather conservative area but everyone was in a state of shock, so similiar to what is was like on 9-11. Me and three buddies meet at my house after school and spent the afternoon trying to figure out how we were going to catch the assasin.- Yeah, like 4 ten year olds were going to be heros. We didn't think of Mafia involvement tho....

[MgtPA]

46. Yeah, who knew 1953 was such a big year for infant Dems?

[MgtPA]

47. Whenever I hear the word "assassinated", I think of JFK.

I'd never heard the word before (I was 10), and when I first heard on TV that JFK had been "assassinated", I ran to my Mom yelling "He's not dead, he's only assassinated!" I thought it was a medical term, like paralyzed or unconscious. Weird.

Haven't thought about that in years...

[ladyVet]

49. I don't remember the events of this date personally.

My brother and I were about the same ages as Caroline and John, Jr, which put me at 5 and him at almost 3 years old (his birthday is 11/24). My mother did say once that it really hit her how his children were the same age, and wouldn't remember much about him.

[RebelOne]

50. When JFK was assassinated, I was at home with

an infant son. I remember it well. My uncle was a truck driver and stopped at my house and told me about JFK's death. Had to turn on the TV to get the details. Didn't have Internet in those years. He was the first presidential candidate I had ever voted for when I turned 21.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

53. I was in sixth grade in a Catholic school on the South Side

of Chicago. We had just come back to school from lunch and one of the girls in my classroom was a few minutes late. She tried to tell Sister Malachy that the President had been shot in Dallas, but par for the course back then she got a slap from the nun. No sooner had that happened when the principal came over the PA System announcing the exact same thing. The whole school decamped to the parish church shortly after that to pray for President Kennedy. We were in church when they told us he was dead. I went home and my Gram was saying the Rosary and crying. A horrible, horrible day.

I've always felt sorry for my cousin Katie. Her wedding was the next day and there was a terrible pall over the celebration. None of the usual stuff that happens at an Irish-American wedding in Chicago.

[MichiganVote]

52. Sister Amelia turned on the black and white TV. We watched the whole thing. 3rd grade.

It was the equivalent of our 9/11.

Only we had Walter. We all knew Walter. We all believed Walter.

[99 Percent Sure]

62. And Huntley and Brinkley. Not one of the 3

postured when they reported the news of the assassination. IIRC, all had eyes brimming with tears and, it seems, all of us knew in our gut that our world had changed for the worse.

In the 90s, another history and politics buff and I pieced together what we believe is the most plausible scenario for the assassination and Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby while participants aren't major players. We believe that one of the clues is RFK's remorse, Joe's crookedness and his win the WH at all costs, and the slim margin Jack won by in Chicago, among other crucial info.

[kiva]

54. Third grade, went home to lunch.

Didn't go back to school that day.

[Auntie Bush]

60. You guys are all so young! I was bathing my new born in the kitchen sink.

He'd be 48 years old now! We also called him John-John and used to compare the two while growing up.