November 22 - Remembering the day

[imoldernu]

Like the moon landing, Pearl Harbor, Nine Eleven, and some other events that are etched in memory, the assassination of President John Kennedy brings back explicit flashbacks for most Americans who were alive at the time.

In my case, I was demonstrating a console TV to a customer in my store, when the screen went blank, and after a minute, the announcement was made that he had been shot. The rest of the day is frozen in my mind, dealing with the tragedy's affect on my employees, my customers, who were coming into the store without knowing what had happened, and my bride who was at home caring for the kids.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_John_F._Kennedy
Somehow, it was a little different from other sad events. It was back in the days when highest wish for one's children, was that someday he could be the President of the United States.

Our world was put on hold for two weeks.

 

[Lazarus]

I was in grade school. They announced it over the PA. I remember being kind of scared because I didn't understand why anyone would kill the President.

I have some Kennedy campaign buttons from his election that my Dad gave me. Those are getting pretty old now.

 

[pb4uski]

I remember it. I was in 2nd grade and was home from school for the day sick.

 

[Walt34]

Like most I can remember where I was and what I was doing. I was in Jr. High art class and they plugged a radio into the PA system and let it run for 20-30 minutes. Being 13 I knew it was significant but didn't understand the implications.

 

[eytonxav]

I was in 9th grade in the principal's office getting counseled when the news came in. They sent me back to my class, and I informed the class before it came over the loud speaker. The teacher said to me, if this is your idea of a joke, I don't think its very funny. Even after I said this is no joke, I don't think she believed me. Soon thereafter the announcement came over the loud speaker and they sent everyone home.

 

[Purron]

I remember the day. I was in grade school and our teacher told us. We were too young to understand. When I got home from school, my mom was very upset and then I realized something really bad had happened. Being a kid, I related to this image above all from the coverage on TV.

 

[Ally]

We were eating lunch in the cafeteria when I was in junior high. They hooked the radio up to the PA system, with no explanation as to what we were hearing. All I could make out was that someone had been shot.

At first we couldn't figure out whether or not the victim was local, at the school, or who it was. Then the announcer mentioned that the victim was President Kennedy. Shortly afterwards, the principal came on and told us to go to our home rooms. When they said he died, they sent us home early.

I walked home thinking about how surreal it was since I had just seen him the month before riding in an open car in our city, as he did in Dallas. My dad took us to see him and LBJ. They are the only Presidents I've seen.

 

[SoReady]

I was in grade school. They announced it over the PA. I remember being kind of scared because I didn't understand why anyone would kill the President.

I had the same experience, except the person announcing this tragic event on the PA was my mother (she was the principal secretary). I could hear the real concern in her voice which made it even more of an impact to me at that age.

 

[HFWR]

In Mrs. Johnson's fourth grade class. The intercom came on, without comment from anyone in the principal's office, but it didn't take long to figure it out.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

I was in the 3rd grade, and had gone home during the lunch break to get a can of Del Monte fruit cocktail to bring back to school for the Thanksgiving Day food drive. When I got back to school, I learned the news, and everyone was sent home. It seemed that there was nothing on TV for a very young kid to watch except the JFK news.

Obviously, next year will be 50 years since that memorable day. Isn't that the deadline set decades ago for the National Archives to release virtually all of it JFK assassination records?

 

[Dawg52]

I think I was in the 4th grade. Play teacher came in to get the class for our afternoon break. She broke the news to our teacher and us.

 

[braumeister]

In high school. They came on the PA system in every classroom to announce the shooting. They said he was seriously injured and was taken to the hospital for treatment, then they sent everyone home. On my way home, I ran into some friends from a nearby school who told me that he had died. The next few days were kind of a blur, with everyone just glued to the TV set. I saved all the NYC newspapers from those few days, and kept them for decades.

The only other day etched in my memory like that was the moon landing six years later.

 

[LauAnn]

I was too young to remember 'where I was'. But I do recall watching the funeral procession on tv with my grandmother. I remember the horse drawn carriage.

 

[veremchuka]

I was in 8th grade and school was about to end, we got out at 2. I remember walking through the hallway returning to home room when I heard someone had been shot and it seemed like it was the president. It was confusing. I walked home, about 20 minutes, and saw some coverage on TV so it was being announced at that point he was dead. I understood but didn't really grasp the enormity of the event.

IIRC the documents were locked away for 75 not 50 years. Obviously someone is guilty of something or why would they do that and for such a long time? The single assassin theory seems to held up over time but I always felt this was a coverup and there were other shooters. I'm not a fan of PBS but in the past 12 months they ran a documentary that really seems to have answered the conspiracy theory questions so now I think Oswald acted alone but who really knows. Like I said why lock up documents for 75 years!

 

[foxfirev5]

I was in 2nd grade and the teacher told us something very bad had happened but provided no details. The older kids told us when we were walking home.

 

[Purron]

For those interested in this subject, I'd recommend "11/22/63" by Stephen King. It's based on a man who found a way to travel back in time and struggled with the possibility of changing history by preventing the Kennedy assassination. Classic King with great descriptions of life in those times. I loved it.

 

[veremchuka]

Purron is that a short story or a book?

It's all just talk but if you could go back in time changing anything, no matter how small, could and probably would change the future... your time.

Say you went back and did not do something that was something you wished you did not do. Say you were caught speeding and got in trouble and wanted to undo it. How could you be sure that action wouldn't cause all sorts of things to occur? Maybe instead of driving that day you walked to the library and were hit by a car. Taken to the utmost you might not be alive in your future!

 

[haha]

I was in college, doing a titration in a biochemistry lab. What I hated most of all was seeing that awful film footage.

Ha

 

[Ronstar]

I was in third grade. I remember teachers crying, and they wheeled in the TV's for us to watch the news. IIRC, they sent us home upon the news that JFK had died.

 

[Purron]

Purron is that a short story or a book?

It's all just talk but if you could go back in time changing anything, no matter how small, could and probably would change the future... your time.

Say you went back and did not do something that was something you wished you did not do. Say you were caught speeding and got in trouble and wanted to undo it. How could you be sure that action wouldn't cause all sorts of things to occur? Maybe instead of driving that day you walked to the library and were hit by a car. Taken to the utmost you might not be alive in your future!

It's a book V. 849 pages long. And the questions you raised are just the things Stephen King thought of when writing this. I think you might like it based upon your comments.

 

[JakeBrake]

I had the opportunity to visit the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza a couple of years ago. I was fascinated by the shooter's position. Before my visit I had been under the delusion that the assassination of JFK was an incredible feat of marksmanship. However, from the shooter's position I could see that the kill shot required only average marksmanship.

Lee Harvey Oswald had qualified as a "Sharpshooter" in the USMC. This is good, but not the best. The four levels of rifle marksmanship medals in the USMC range from the best "Expert" down a step to "Sharpshooter" down another step to "Marksman" and last the dreaded "UNQ" (unqualified).

At the time the Italian war-surplus rifle like the rifle allegedly used could be bought for about $12. Lee Harvey Oswald bought a rifle with a scope already mounted on it for about $30.

 

[Brett_Cameron]

I was in the third grade in Oceanside, CA. They announced it to the school over the PA. My thought at the time was "this is not good".

School was closed the next day. I remember going outside and not seeing many cars or people then remembered. It was the first time I remember reading a newspaper headline.

 

[obgyn65]

Thanks for sharing. I was not even born yet. The wiki article is well written and makes interesting reading for those, like me, who come from abroad and who are interested in US history.

 

[Lazarus]

I had the opportunity to visit the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza a couple of years ago. I was fascinated by the shooter's position. Before my visit I had been under the delusion that the assassination of JFK was an incredible feat of marksmanship. However, from the shooter's position I could see that the kill shot required only average marksmanship.

Lee Harvey Oswald had qualified as a "Sharpshooter" in the USMC. This is good, but not the best. The four levels of rifle marksmanship medals in the USMC range from the best "Expert" down a step to "Sharpshooter" down another step to "Marksman" and last the dreaded "UNQ" (unqualified).

At the time the Italian war-surplus rifle like the rifle allegedly used could be bought for about $12. Lee Harvey Oswald bought a rifle with a scope already mounted on it for about $30.

I have been there too. The position behind the fence where some say a second shooter was is a much easier shot.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

Have Caroline, JFK Jr., or Ted ever expressly said whether they believe Oswald acted alone? If so, that would answer the question for me. Of anyone, Kennedy's kids and brother would have inside information, one would think, and the purest motives for wanting to get to the truth.