Where were you when JFK was assassinated?

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kingzeppelin

Member who probably should be COMMITTED!
Apr 15, 2012
7,441
20,496
Oxfordshire, UK
I was 16 and on a my why home from night school on a number 47 bus, having been studying English & Economics for the Institute of Bankers Examinations at Bromley College here in the UK.
At one of the bus request stops, a passenger got on and announced to everyone that the American President had been shot in Dallas.
There was a stunned silence, then uproar as everyone started talking at once.
I was travelling alone, so sat and listened to the passengers expressing their shock, horror and disbelief.
Being that young I took little interest in international politics, but knew enough to understand that with JFK gone and the Cold War still raging, the World had just become a less safe place.
 

jchanic

Well-Known Member
Jul 11, 2006
3,164
6,097
79
Cleveland Ohio
I thought I had posted about this, but it must have been on the old board.

I had just walked my girl friend (now my wife) to a class at Kent State University and went over to a book store just across the street from the campus. They had a radio playing. I was browsing when I realized just what was being broadcast. After my girl friend got done with her class (she had to take a test and heard about the shooting just before she went into the room--she didn't do too well on the test, naturally) we walked over to her dorm and watched TV.

I remember that a lot of the exchange students barricaded themselves into their rooms, sure that rioting would follow. (That's what would have happened in their countries.)

It was a very weird feeling all over campus.

John
 

Haunted

This is my favorite place
Mar 26, 2008
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29,421
The woods are lovely dark and deep
542680~Welcome-Mat-on-Forest-Trail-Posters.jpg
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
I was 11 and in school in class. One of the other teachers opened the classroom door and motioned for our teacher to come to the door. Some of us could see both of them whispering on the other side of the door, then they were both wiping their eyes. I don't recall anything about school the rest of that day, but at home being in the backyard, trying to have a normal day messing around and couldn't really due to feeling a way I wasn't used to feeling, maybe never had felt before. The personalness associated with my feelings was due largely to the fact that my mom was quite upset, crying a lot and complaining to someone - it must've been her friend next door, my own best friend's mom. I remember the assassination was all my friend who lived across the street and I talked about while we threw a football back and forth.
 

RichardX

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2006
1,737
4,434
You can now watch a live webcam from Dealey Plaza that gives the perspective from Oswald's location. The trees have grown up quite a bit obscuring some of the Elm St. One fascinating and bizarre trend is that tourists continually run onto the busy street to get their picture taken on the exact spot of the assassination. It's a bit nerve wracking to watch them pose while traffic is bearing down on them.

EarthCam - Dealey Plaza Cam
 

Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
9,682
65,192
59
sweden
I just finished reading 11/22/63. Loved the book--took me back in time. I got a chill reading this--I still remember where I was when the news came. I had to do the math and realized I was only 4-1/2 years old at the time. We lived on a small town in the prairies in Canada. It must have been lunch-time; as I was in the kitchen with my mother. I remember the news of the President being shot in Dallas, and the shock on my Mom's face. We were glued to the radio for the rest of the afternoon and, by the time my Dad came home for supper; the grim news had come through that he had was dead. Everyone--even Canadians--were devastated by the news. We thought the world of President Kennedy, his wife Jackie; and their family. I find the part about the roses eerie; this was what my mother always referred to when talking about that day--everywhere they had gone--Mrs. Kennedy had been given a bouquet of yellow roses; but in Dallas, they were red. Excellent account--I was rooting for George all the way!
I wasn't born... But i do remember where i was when my countrys prime minister, Olof Palme, was assassinated in 1986. He was gunned down in Stockholm by someone and i was on the same strret, just a few blocks away filling my stomach with hamburgers and coke and fries. It was my birthday and we were a little drunk after a little party and my friends and I stopped to eat somemore before we said goodbye. We saw the ambulance and made some tasteless jokes about they were probably on the way to pick up some junkie. I have always been ashamed of that.
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
So true--all of you. Princess Di, 9/11, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela--there are, unfortunately, many memorable moments in history. Funny how it's the tragedies that always stand out. Apparently, I am unable to form new memories!!
I remember hearing about John Lennon being shot and killed (December 1980). To me that was shocking and terrible. I was a young Private, having recently joined the Canadian Armed Forces. The older military guys did not really care about it, but I was quite sad.
 

The Nameless

M-O-O-N - That spells Nameless
Jul 10, 2011
2,080
8,261
42
The Darkside of the Moon (England really)
hahah well obviously "where were you when you heard Princess Diana died?" isnt a big one in your part of the world but thats about the only other one I know...and what glorious month did you turn up? I'm a lovely Winter June baby.
Oh yeah, forgot about Diana. To be fair though the answer to both 9/11 and Diana are the same - at home watching the news, the Diana story broke in the early hours, just before I was going to bed, and 9/11was around 2pm here and I was in a different sleep pattern then, so I was just getting up and turned my tele on. I actually saw people jumping live on the news - I was thinking WTF??

I'm a full blown real Winter baby - December, apparently one of the worst snowfalls in a long time.
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Oh yeah, forgot about Diana. To be fair though the answer to both 9/11 and Diana are the same - at home watching the news, the Diana story broke in the early hours, just before I was going to bed, and 9/11was around 2pm here and I was in a different sleep pattern then, so I was just getting up and turned my tele on. I actually saw people jumping live on the news - I was thinking WTF??

I'm a full blown real Winter baby - December, apparently one of the worst snowfalls in a long time.
To me 9/11 was devastating and shocking - Diana, not so much - I never idolized her like some of my younger female friends did.
 

Grandpa

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2014
9,724
53,642
Colorado
In Catholic grade school. I forget the grade. Suddenly Sister Mary Joseph, the principal, burst into the class. She said, "President Kennedy has been shot! Children, come to the church and pray! We need our President!"

Even as a kid, I could be socially inappropriate. I didn't say it out loud, thank goodness, but I remember thinking, "If he dies, he'll be the fourth President assassinated."

The whole school marched over to the church (a good 30 yards away) and we said at least one rosary. I went home, and my parents were glued to the TV. They didn't like Kennedy all that much, but they were horrified by the events.

Nothing else was on the three TV stations. After a couple days, I was tired of the constant news and walked out to read. I then heard my parents yell. They had just seen Ruby shoot Oswald.