John Fitzgerald Kennedy 11-22-1963 Where Were You?

[Hekate]

It's been 55 years -- I am shocked at how long it has been, and shocked at the realization that many of you were not even born then.

I was 16, on my way to Chemistry class, and strange news was spreading in the packed hallways... Confirmed by the teacher later as the news was made official by messengers sent from the principal's office.

Such grief that went forever.

I did not believe in conspiracies in those days -- that, indeed, came decades later for me.

[murielm99]

1. Typing class.

I was a sophomore. We used real typewriters then, so the clatter kept us from hearing the intercom. Finally, one boy pointed to it and we all got quiet. We were told by the principal that Kennedy had been shot. We tried to go back to work. The intercom came on again, and the principal put on the radio so the entire school could hear. Down in the cafeteria, they wheeled the TV from the teachers lounge into the lobby. We all learned, live, that the President had died.

When I went to my geometry class a few minutes later, the halls were dead silent. The only sounds were the slamming of locker doors. They sent us home within the hour.

I saw my old geometry teacher not long ago at my fiftieth class reunion. We spoke about that day. He has died since then.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

70. I was in the 4th grade; Our teacher left class, then returned crying to announce the assassination

[appleannie1943]

2. I was 20, getting ready for my 6 week check up after the birth of my first son.

I had on a black skirt and light green blouse when the 83 year old man from upstairs started pounding on my door yelling "turn on your TV, Kennedy was just shot" I let him in and turned on the TV. We were both watching when the announcement was made that our president had not survived. We cried in each others arms, an old man and a young woman. I then cried during the walk, pushing the stroller to my appointment at the clinic. People looked at me funny when I arrived and then I told them why I was crying. The nurse ran and turned on a radio and then everyone starting crying with me. I was glued to my TV the next couple days, like most of the nation. I remember Jackie getting off the plane wearing her pink suit with blood all over it. I remember the parade with the horse drawn casket.

I also remember RFK being shot. My brother drove one of the funeral cars from the Capital Building to Arlington. I still have the tear stained letter he sent home afterwards.

I think anyone that lived through those two events have them ingrained in their memories down to the clothes they were wearing and what the weather was like.

I often wonder what our world would be like if either of them had lived. I know it would have been better than it is now.

[Small-Axe]

3. I was five and a half...

I don't remember the exact moment I heard the news, but the grief of my family, myself, and everyone in my world is something I will never forget.

The funeral, especially the horse-drawn caisson and Jackie and her children were also burned in my memory.

A shocking time in America, even from a kindergartener's perspective.

[ChazII]

117. Phoenix Zoo with my fellow kindergarteners.

The bus returned to school where we learned the news.

[Small-Axe]

120. I find it strange that I don't remember "the moment" I heard the news...

especially since I remember the events that followed so vividly. I'm sure I was deliberately sheltered.

My parents were strong Democrats and loved JFK. My dad made several films on JFK including The Making of the President.

For the 1964 Democratic Convention, my father was instrumental in crafting a JFK tribute film we called the "Camelot film" but was officially known as A Thousand Days.

He also make a tribute film for Bobby called The Unfinished Journey of Robert F Kennedy.

I wish more than anything neither of these films had ever been necessary.

What losses!

[ChazII]

140. My mom was the one who

told me where I was that day. The teachers, according to mom, let the students in the upper grades know what had happened but not the students in the primary grades.

Our country is lucky to have you and your family.

[chillfactor]

4. I was cleaning the apartment my husband and I had at the time.....

and I was pregnant with our first child. I even remember what I was wearing at the time. I cried for a week over the death of such a marvelous thoughtful, kind educated man and the loss of her husband, Jackie, and his small children.

[Trumpocalypse]

5. I'm a crib

[whistler162]

6. Just 4 years old

don't remember where I was or doing.

[robbob]

90. Another 59er here

At age 4 I don’t remember the news of the assassination, but I believe some of my earliest memories are watching my mother cry, and the tv being on to watch the funeral.

[treestar]

96. same here

I don't remember it.

[lunatica]

7. I was in school in the 8th grade

I lived in Monterrey, Mexico and was going to the American School where all the expat children went along with Mexican students who wanted to become fluent in English. The principal told us and classes just stopped. There was no thought of continuing. There were a lot of tears and shock.

My stepfather was what is called a White Russian (escaped Russians from the Bolshevic Revolution that put the Communists in power) and he just happened to be in Dallas that day in the airport on his way home. The authorities detained him but, thankfully ended up releasing him after Lee Harvey Oswald was killed.

My best friend’s mother was a professional simultaneous translator for English and Spanish and was hired by the local tv station to translate everything that happened for the next three days. The tv coverage was solid, without any commercial breaks for three days and everyone was as glued to the tv as they were in the US. I think it was the same everywhere on the planet. The entire world was in shock. That’s something most Americans don’t know or have even thought about, but it’s true. John and Jackie Kennedy were truly popular everywhere in the world.

[agingdem]

8. I ws 15

and in the girl's locker room after P.E....the announcement came over the intercom and classes were canceled...but what is most vivid is the comment from a girl whose father was chairman of the local Republican Party...she said "good, now let's kill Justice Warren"..remember we were 15...

[sakabatou]

10. WTF?!

[agingdem]

51. WTF is right!

the difference between the Republican Party then and the Republican Party now is zero...when I hear the talking heads refer to the GOP's embrace of overt bigotry, racism, xenophobia, palpable hate of the "other" and disregard for human life as a new thing and exclusive to Trump and his followers I say BULLSHIT

[bobbieinok]

68. There were reports of TX school children cheering when they heard the news!

[agingdem]

79. Nov. 23 was my parent's anniversary

and I remember their tears...

[lunatica]

12. Wow!

That’s really sick!

Nowadays that sort of callous statement is par for the course, but back then? Obviously we had sicko psychopaths then too though. Why wouldn’t we?

Your friend started too early for her to have been a mature thinker, so evidently she was obviously in the thrall of her father’s hate education. Maybe she ended up a racist too. It’s really sad how poisonous hate can be
passed down from generation to generation.

[mnhtnbb]

13. See my response #11

I had very Republican parents.

[agingdem]

52. and my parents were Holocaust survivors

so what's changed???

[MaryMagdaline]

59. Yes, same in Santa Maria California

My sister came home crying because kids at school were cheering, “Yea, Kennedy is dead!”

I was 4. It was the first death in the family that I remember. It was my first realization of evil as well. My mother was grief stricken and little kids were cheering. I, too, have no illusions about the RWers

My older sister said that I was the one who told her. She came home for lunch and I told her the colonel was dead. (My father worked at vandenburg AFB so all I knew were military titles).

[demigoddess]

142. I was in Gym locker room also. So many of the girls were saying

"who is going to be president now?"

[sakabatou]

9. Not born yet, but my parents were 13 and 10

[lunatica]

16. Have they ever talked about it to you?

[sakabatou]

19. Yes, it was for a middle-school project

[mnhtnbb]

11. I was in 7th grade English class

with Mrs. Sprinkle. The intercom started crackling and then the sound of a radio news station came through with the announcement. We were all stunned.

I walked home. My mother and my grandmother who was visiting us from California were sitting in the kitchen having tea. I asked them if they'd heard the news. What news, they answered. I told them JFK had been assassinated in Dallas and my mother said "It's about time." My grandmother was appropriately shocked.

That was a turning point for me. I grew up with very Republican parents. At that moment I knew I didn't like my mother and didn't want to be like her. Cold. So indifferent. I was the only one in my family glued to the TV that weekend watching everything unfold.

I'll never forget it. It was a defining moment in my development.

[lunatica]

14. I can't even begin to imagine your state of mind!

I was in the 8th grade. Both of us old enough to get it.

Did you ever talk to your grandmother about it? Did she grieve the same as you?

[mnhtnbb]

15. Never talked to my grandmother.

I think she went back to California very soon after that weekend. We were living in New Jersey. I didn't see her again until two years later when my father retired and we moved to California. She came to live with us in my senior year in high school, but we were never close.

[lunatica]

17. You must have felt pretty lonely

But you were proof that some people do break the chain of hatred and disfunction in their families. It’s always a conscious decision on their part though. It’s no accident when that happens.

Congratulations on honoring your humanity. It couldn’t have been easy.

[mnhtnbb]

23. I definitely was the black sheep in the family.

My brother is a die hard Republican. Greedy. All about $$ with him.
I don't initiate conversations with him any more. It's ok. He's in California and I'm in NC. Several of his grown kids are Dems.

Years later I discovered my mother's brother and his wife were Dems. My aunt was very active in the CA State Dem party during the 60's. When Bobby was assassinated, it hit her really hard.

Had some wonderful times as an adult visiting with my aunt and uncle during the 90's and first decade of this century. I really miss them both. Their deaths left more of a hole in me than when my parents died in 2000 and 2002.

My mother and my aunt never got along. My mother never had a nice thing to say about my aunt, but she adored my uncle, her little brother. I don't know how he managed to put up with her all those years when she was so cool and even hurtful to his wife, my aunt.

Families can be very strange.

[lunatica]

24. Thanks for elaborating

I really wanted to know your story. I’m glad you weren’t totally alone in your beliefs in your family. It can’t have been easy for your brother’s kids either. They also broke the chain.

[Cha]

18. I was 19 driving down the

road in Phoenix, Arizona on my way to my parents ' home in Tempe, when I heard it on the radio.

I had to pull off to the side of the road I was crying so hard. I wasn't political then.. I was just unbearably sad that JFK was assassinated.

When I got to their house Dan Rather was on tv reporting from Dallas.

[True Blue American]

34. Sitting in front of our little Zenith black and white TV

Watching !” As The World Turns.” Walter Cronkite came on, said,” The President was shot in Dallas Texas.!” A few minutes later he took off his glasses,tears welled up and he said,” The President is dead!”

The shock was indescribably awful. It was the first thing I thought when I saw the date on my IPad this morning. Everyone was glued to the TV for days.

[Cha]

130. Right, Ture Blue American.. we

were all glued to the tv for days.

And, it was so shocking.. the stupid brainwashed hate had changed everything.

[Duppers]

20. I was sitting in American History class

Listening to history being made over our school's intercom.

Don't remember how long it was before school was adjourned and we rode home in stunned silence.
A few of us were tearful but we weren't sobbing. We were trying to absorb it.

[Harker]

21. I was watching Bozo on TV.

When I told my mom that President Kennedy had been shot, she told me, smiling, that "no... it was President Lincoln that had been shot."

Suburban Chicago. Me a four year old boy.

[lunatica]

22. You can remember what happened when you were 4?

That’s very rare you know. Is it your first memory?

[Harker]

32. I don't remember all of it.

My earliest memory is from a year prior - vague visions of swans on a pond.

At four, most of my memories are of particular incidents rather than a coherent stream. Important things, like the JFK assassination and Fred the canary getting outside, and Mrs. Mister catching him with a fishing net.

It's sometimes troubling, often helpful to have a near cinematic memory.

[lunatica]

42. I get the kind of memory you're talking about

I think most people have that spotty kind of recall as their first memories, but most memories start around age 6. Maybe the trauma on the adults around you really left an indelible memory. It would have had to disrupt your view and emotional perception of reality at that age.

[Harker]

44. I think that the assumption that I was mistaken...

might have been at the root of it. I'm pretty certain that talking about it long after it happened has had the effect of cementing the scene in my mind. I can see my mom and Jean, the "cleaning lady", crying... yes, there was clearly a tragedy, and that burns in.

[blogslut]

89. My memory of it is sort of like that

I was three and situated on the floor in front of the TV. My mother's favorite soap opera was on when the news broke. Mom got very upset.

I had other early memories like that, little moments frozen in time.

[BlueMTexpat]

25. That was one of the worst days of my life.

I was in my senior year of college and had just exited a class, when a classmate I knew well came running by with tears in his eyes and told me that the President had been shot. Everything on campus literally stopped as we all gathered anywhere we could find a TV.

The only other comparable day was 9-11: two of the worst events ever on US soil in my lifetime!

I had been accepted as a Peace Corps Volunteer after graduation the following summer and had been inspired to volunteer by JFK, although I later learned that the PC was initially an idea of Hubert Humphrey's and that its successful implementation was largely due to the foresight of another wonderful man, Warren Wiggins, who was a Deputy Director in those early years. JFK had also visited my state in September 1963 and I will never forget the sight of his burnished head in the sun! He literally radiated light! Later, when I was actually a PCV in Morocco, it was amazing to me that often I would find his photograph on the wall of even the most rudimentary of dwellings, together with Morocco's King Mohammed V, who had also died in controversial circumstances in the early 1960s.

I simply cannot imagine that happening with ANY other US President, except Prez O! Frankly, that was one reason why I always feared an attempt on HIS life as well.

IMO, one of the BEST - if not THE BEST - books about the events of that day and the circumstances of the time (and yes, there were several who were happy with this tragedy - many of those in the John Birch Society fringe group who seem now to run rampant in today's GOP: "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters" by James Douglass. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JFK_and_the_Unspeakable

I encourage anyone who has not read it to do so. A reread would also be in order, especially considering events since 2016.

[True Blue American]

38. I have2 Books

Written on the entire subject in Honor from my morning and evening newspapers. Now merged into one.

[TexasBushwhacker]

125. Ah yes, the John Birch Society that was founded by the Koch brothers' dad

Even my Goldwater Reublican mother thought they were nuts.

[BlueMTexpat]

147. And now they and their ilk are

in the majority in today's GOP. Most of those types were ushered into Congress in 1994 by Gingrich and many of the rest were inspired by the Tea Party in 2010.

By today's standards, Goldwater would likely have been an Independent or even a Libertarian, although he would probably still run for office as a Republican, given our essentially two-party system. Of course, in AZ, he might have won as an Independent. He was always and ever much more of a "maverick" than John McCain ever was or could hope to be. Goldwater and JFK were actually fond of each other and had been collegial Senators. See. e.g., http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/01/AR2008050102981.html

From the link:

As John W. Dean, who was Nixon's White House counsel, and Barry M. Goldwater Jr., Goldwater's son, remind us in Pure Goldwater, the results of the [1964] election were not surprising to the Arizona senator. Goldwater had expected to run against President John F. Kennedy, with whom he had discussed a trailblazing campaign in which the two of them toured the country together debating issues. After Kennedy was assassinated, Goldwater said he wouldn't run but relented at the urging of young conservatives. As Goldwater later reminisced, he knew he had no chance of victory "because the country was not ready for three presidents in two and a half years."

[TexasBushwhacker]

149. Thanks for that link

Although I disagree on just about everything with Goldwater, I do appreciate that he left religion out of his ideology, and saw the danger of mixing religion and politics.

"Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them."

[BlueMTexpat]

157. I concur with you about

Goldwater! Thanks for the quote!

And his anti-union stance was among the many unforgivable things about him!

[argyl]

26. Social Studies class. 7th grade at Lamar Jr. High, Temple, Texas.

[MissMillie]

27. As my mom tells it...

...I was conceived that day.

My twin sister and I were born in late July (one month early).

[RightiswrongTn]

28. 15 days old..

BTW..my name is John. And I come from a strong Democrat family. I was laying on a daybed and Dad was in the garden. Mom saw the bulletin flash across the screen, and went to the back door calling for Dad, crying. Shocking times.

[The Blue Flower]

29. Ninth grade PE

This date will always be a day of remembrance and sorrow for me.

[peace frog]

30. Sixth grade, had just returned to class after lunch

It was a small school in a small Florida town, only one class per grade and the principal was my teacher. He brought in a radio and announced that there were reports the President had been shot. We listened to the news chatter for a while, then the announcement came that President Kennedy had died from an assassin's bullet. I was devastated, it was like the roof had caved in. School was immediately closed so I went to get my sister in 3rd grade, we assembled outside where the flag was lowered. I could see my mother waiting for us in the parking lot. It was a sad, somber ride home.

As for conspiracies, certain things did not feel right to me but, being a child, I wasn't sure what it all meant. I witnessed Ruby's elimination of Oswald on live TV, and something in my head screamed "bogus"! Other inexplicable things ... when I saw the photo of Oswald in his back yard holding the rifle, I noticed that the fingers were too short. There were no fingertips, just short stubby fingers with no tips. I asked my dad about it and he was flummoxed. And so on, but at the time we were ordered to ignore the evidence from our eyes and ears, and just fall in line with official explanations.

Life went on, but questions remained. It was my mother who read Mark Lane's Rush To Judgement, she talked about it and I listened, and mourned our country's loss. We've never been the same since 11/22/63.

[jodymarie aimee]

31. 12 years old

the Catholic grade school kids were invited to the Catholic Girls HS to see a play... they played the girl and boy parts, both. We were walking 2x2 home with the Nuns holding up the rear. Some real lucky kid(we were mostly poorish) had a transistor radio...news spread like wild fire thru the line..we were dismissed from the remainder of school day...

HOME...way worse...every Catholic family had the Pope Jesus and JFK on the walls of their parlor...everybody bawling...then it is a blur...

[catbyte]

33. I was 8, sitting in the "library" of my one room elementary school (grades K-6)

painting a table green. I still remember the shade of green like it was yesterday. There was a clock radio on the shelf that was on when the bulletin came through. I remember that radio like it was yesterday, too. I don't remember much after that except later that day a school play our neighbor in high school was in was cancelled and everybody I aw was upset and/or crying. So was I. Then, a couple of days later, I got to see my first murder on live teevee.

What a week.

[bobGandolf]

35. In school

A Catholic school. I was in 2nd grade I believe, and I had no idea why all the nuns were crying. After awhile, the announced his assassination.

[llmart]

36. I was 14 and in the ninth grade.

I was in gym class and just getting getting ready to serve in a volleyball match when the intercom speaker came on to inform us of the death. The silence in that huge cavernous gym was eerie. We were told to get dressed and go back to our home rooms and we would be loading the buses to go home. When I got home I walked in the house and my mother was watching the coverage on TV and she had tears in her eyes. We sat and watched every minute of the coverage for the next few days. I sort of remember the weather was dreary to match the mood. Seeing that little boy and girl say goodbye to their father was heart wrenching for me.

That truly was a turning point in our world. Up until then, we had lived a rather naive life as children, thinking that we were safe, especially after JFK's handling of the Cuban missile crisis.

[Timer]

37. Lucy Read Elementary, Austin, TX

My fellow sixth-graders in Mr. Knight's class and I were having lunch in the cafeteria. The news was passing from table to table. When I heard it, I immediately lost my appetite and didn't eat any more. It seemed impossible--that that there was no way it could have happened. Austin was scheduled to be JFK's next stop, and the schools were to be let out early to see him and the motorcade on Congress Ave. in downtown Austin. Instead, schools were let out early and everyone went home.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

39. 12th grade government class. No sense of irony there. nt

[lilactime]

40. 6th grade classroom. Remember it like yesterday.

[Croney]

41. I had just turned 19 on 11/11, married five months,

and I was sitting in our car outside my husband's work, waiting to pick him up.

As was sometimes done back then, we had sent a wedding invitation in June to President and Mrs. Kennedy. We got back an engraved "signed" card of congratulations. I remember the thrill of seeing that White House return address on the envelope. I treasure it to this day.

[redstatebluegirl]

43. In 3rd grade

Our teacher Mrs Lewis went out into the hall and came back in tears. She sat down and told us something terrible had happened to President Kennedy. She told us school would be let out early. She told us to remain quiet and "prayerful". I remember thinking I had never heard her say anything like that before.

When the bus took me home my Mom was on the porch waiting crying. My Dad had just come in from the barn he was visibly upset. He said to my Mom "damn they killed him".

Being Catholic we were loaded into the car and taken to Church, it was full.

[Srkdqltr]

45. J.L.Hudson's in Detroit.

Worked near the T V department. We watched the announcement. After that there were no more customers. They closed early and were closed until the following Monday. The whole time was stunning.

[rogerashton]

46. At Louisiana State

I was passing thru the student union card-room on my way to my dorm room to get ready to drive home for Tgiving, a 250 mile drive. My next-door neighbor in the dorm was happy about the assassination, and said "If the guy who killed him needs to hide out, he can hide in my room." I listened to the coverage on the drive. Everybody up home -- real redneck country -- was appalled, so far as I recall, though most were far from liberal. By the time I returned to the dorm, Oswald had been killed. My next door neighbor said "I'm sure glad they got that communist who killed my president." Say what you will about the standard story, it may have prevented still more violence.

[Vinca]

47. 9th grade home room.

I hate to think about it. I can still hear the drums.

[Omaha Steve]

48. I was home sick from school

[scipan]

134. me too.

My mother said, "turn on the radio" so I listened upstairs in my bedroom, then went downstairs and turned on the TV. I was glued to it for the next 3 days. I can still hear the drums too.

[calimary]

150. Sheesh - so can I. It felt like a national heartbeat.

I was glued to that TV all weekend, watching the coverage. David Brinkley, John Chancellor, Frank McGee, Sander Vanocur. I’ll never forget that. Sitting on the floor in the family room in front of the TV. All weekend, keeping that vigil.

Those drums. And that single horse with no rider, just the rider’s boots, backwards, in the stirrups. And that long shot from the bridge to the cemetery in Arlington watching the funeral procession approach from the Capitol.

Indelible memories. That truly was a turning point in our country, as was pointed out upthread. We were somehow sadder, more cynical, not as hopeful as we had been when that decade began - and we had a President to whom I could personally relate. Who had kids only a few years younger than I was, and the kids’ parents were around my parents’ age, instead of old like my grandparents.

[Hekate]

49. The time was about 9:30 am, Hawai'i time. We weren't let out of school...

...though some kids took off. Maybe the reason for not letting us out had to do with the fact that most parents were working and not home, and that many of us were not in walking distance and needed to wait for the busses to come up the hill for us.

It seems odd, but I am sure some of the news and rumors went around because some of the students had transistor radios with them. One of the rumors was about "some kids at a school in Texas celebrating" which we were sure had to do with the racial unrest on the Mainland, and which I did not know whether or not to believe. I see some of you experienced those sentiments first-hand, though, so it was likely true. My gods.

Unlike a lot of you, there were no intercoms in our school, so official word was carried from class to class via notes. We had an all-school assembly outdoors in the plaza by the flagpole, all 2000 of us. The updated news of the assassination was given, the principal spoke solemn words of consolation, flag lowered to half staff, the best trumpeter in the band played Taps... I don't remember what else, but probably led in a prayer and a song.

Went home and was glued to the television for the next three days. My parents were in absolute shock, and it hit my dad especially hard. He just sat in his chair very softly hitting the armrest with his fist, quietly saying "Damn. Damn. Damn."

Jack Kennedy inspired us to see ourselves as part of the much larger world, and to see the possibilities for any of us to do things that mattered. Decades later when I was getting to know my second husband he made some passing comment about his youth and having "a packet from the Peace Corps in his desk drawer." I did too. I sent off for it in high school and read everything in it and kept it for ages.

[Mc Mike]

148. Re that 'cheering dallas schoolkids' 'rumor':

Here's an 11/28/63 Pittsburgh Post Gazette article, picked up from AP.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19631128&id=VEgNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YGwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6266,4365719&hl=en

The link was posted by DUer Mabus in '09, in response to redqueen's query on this site, 9/18/09.

Note that it is not just the minister saying it, but also a teacher. This verification of the rumor is in addition to Cronkite's CBS news coverage about the incident on 11/26.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6581976

[Jarqui]

50. I had recently turned 9 in grade 4 class

I had got caught up in President Kennedy in the years preceding. I'd been reading about heroes but they were all dead. I asked my father about a hero that was still alive and he suggested I learn about JFK (PT 109). I'd got inspired by JFK ("ask not what your country can do for you ..&quot to work on my first political campaign delivering campaign literature door to door.

Our teacher stopped the class when he heard the news of the assignation attempt, got a radio and we listened until they confirmed his death and beyond that. Then he tried to talk to us about it. I was kind of in shock. I felt like I'd lost a good friend or family member. I remember making my way home from school, kind of lost or stunned and being struck by the harsh headline in the local paper "KENNEDY DEAD!" - I wished they'd been more discrete.

It went on for days. Oswald got shot right in front of us on TV. The funeral, etc. Eight days later, my grandmother passed suddenly and unexpectedly. Dark time I'll never forget and a kind of a blur.

[NurseJackie]

53. ...

[Mendocino]

54. I was 6.

We were let out early, didn't quite understand why at first. Sometime while waiting on the bus the word came out. It started to snow, it was a bleak confusing day.

[lastlib]

55. I was six--first grade. only a dim memory of hearing it in school.

It didn't really sink in til I got home and talked to Mom.

Thought this would be appropos for today.

[kpete]

56. I was 12

in school, sent home, my family was devastated, first time I saw my dad cry

JFK was the beginning of a political awakening for me, I knew at 12 that he was special
I loved listening to his speeches
I know he wasn't perfect, but he lifted my spirits as a young girl and sparked my imagination
I think the most special thing about the man is that he told us what America COULD be

It seems to me that his death sparked the end of idealism, even though in the 60s we tried to reignite the spark, it has never been the same since.

mho,
kp

[raging moderate]

57. I was almost sixteen. Study hall period.

I went into my high school library, and everyone was hushed, and the radio was on. I didn't even know they had a radio in there. And Walter Cronkite was talking, and he suddenly said, "President Kennedy is dead." And there was this strange sound like all the air was being sucked out of the room. It was the sound of about two hundred people suddenly gasping, all at once. And everybody started crying or staring ahead in shock. And after that was art class, but there was no class. Again, everybody was crying or staring ahead in shock, and the teacher was weeping silently but smiling bravely and telling us not to be scared, we would be all right. And then some of the kids made those ghoulish jokes some people make at these times. My friend Ronald was mad at them, and he asked me rhetorically, "Why are they joking about it?" And then, a half-hour ahead of schedule, the bell suddenly rang, and she said, "Well, there, I guess school is dismissed, kids. Don't forget to take all your things with you." And we all walked out as we always did and went home. And for two or three solid days, there was nothing on TV except news reports about the assassination, the Kennedy family, the investigation, the arrest, the assassination of Oswald which happened right on live TV, funeral preparations, and then the endless funeral, with those heavy drums going boom-boom-boom-boom. The next week, we learned that the school office had not meant to dismiss school. Someone had noticed kids still standing about in the hallway crying and had had the irrational thought that maybe they had not heard the bell in their grief and so had brilliantly decided that ringing it again would bring the school back to normal order. But nothing was every really normal again.

[Jersey Devil]

58. 12th grade, Play Production class

We were seated in the high school auditorium directly across from the Principal and Admin offices. The teacher was not in the room and we could see and hear teachers and other admin personnel talking and moving about in the hallway outside the auditorium through its open doors. Clearly they were very upset, some crying and holding their heads with their hands. My first thought was that we were at war and waiting for the bombs to start falling.

After a few minutes our teacher came in the room and with a very serious look, addressed the class. He said President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas, Texas and that first reports were that Vice President Johnson had also been shot. No one knew if the President was alive or dead.

I remember the reaction of the class. Total silence, except for one student, an exchange student from Norway, who audibly gasped and let out a muted yell. Some students (including myself) stood up and just looked at each other in silence.

A few minutes later the teacher went back out into the hallway and then returned, telling us that the President was dead. It was my last period class and afterwards I remember that no one knew quite what to do. I wandered down to the gym and got dressed for football practice, as we did everyday after last period. I remember trotting out to the field and getting ready for practice, no one really saying anything, just waiting for some kind of direction from our coaches. We lined up to begin warmup calisthenics and that is when it hit me. Tears began to stream from my eyes and I turned my back to the coaches in front and silently began walking back to the locker room. No one said anything to me. I dressed in the locker room and walked home alone and in silence.

[secondwind]

60. I was 16 also, in NYC, and was riding the subway home from school.

I noticed that people were not talking or smiling, etc. some were crying.

[Igel]

61. Probably playing. I was 4.

I do remember a couple of days later being really upset. I turned on the tv to watch cartoons, and there was this horse-drawn cart.

Went to the neighbors and asked to turn on their tv. Finally concluded that all the tv sets in the neighborhood had for some reason broken at the same time.

None of the neighbors explained what was going on. (One parent was probably asleep after working the midnight shift and the other was probably at work. In case of emergency, I would wake a parent. If hungry, I'd scavenge.)

[Stinky The Clown]

62. On my way home from high school, switching busses downtown. There was a TV store with TVs . . . .

. . . . in the window and a crowd watching.

[flor-de-jasmim]

63. 5th grade, Haddonfield, NJ (Mrs. Steele)

It is hard to believe that 55 years have passed. I can still remember that we were sent home early. It was a Friday and my family and I spent the entire weekend glued to the TV set.

[Ninga]

64. I was nineteen, at my part time job. My boss came through the room to announce

"The President has been shot!"

I thought she meant the president of the company where I was working.

Truthfully, and honestly, life changed in an instant, pivoted and pointed to direction thT robbed the innocence of this country.

Changed forever.......

[H2O Man]

65. I was in school.

We were sent home after it was announced. I remembering my younger sister crying on the bus ride home, and my mother weeping when the five of us kids went into our house. My father had completed building our house about 18 months early, in a rural neighborhood outside of town. Five neighbors had put up "for sale" signs, as they were highly offended that an Irish Catholic family had moved in. Hence, on this day, I remember some of the rude things that kids in the neighborhood said about JFK, the pope, and us.

Fifteen years later, on this date, a good friend of mine was murdered. Thanksgiving is not among my favorite holidays.

[nocoincidences]

66. I was in Driver's Ed class, 15 years old.

I had a bit of a crush on the DE teacher, but as some of us became tearful when we heard Kennedy was dead, he was a total asshole about it: I don't understand why you are crying, you don't even know him!

I woke up that day to several new insights. That the world was an evil place, not the peaceful home with the Camelot King. That began my suspicions about conspiracy, and who was really in charge, and the importance of being skeptical and the sanity of being cynical.

I also had my first coherent conclusion that I didn't like male attitudes very much. That there was something really off about the other gender, they lacked some kind of emotional depth that was natural to all the females I knew.

That suspicion very quickly solidified and I joined the Women's Movement in college, came out as a Lesbian, after many: Is that all there is? moments trying to figure out my sexual proclivities.

And all of those things are defining qualities of mine, even to this day.

I remember that day VERY well.

[kskiska]

67. At home with two kids

watching "As the World Turns" on TV.

[MineralMan]

69. I was in my Freshman dorm, about to head for a class.

The news broke on the TV in the common room. After taking it in, I went to my class, late, and interrupted the Professor to announce what had happened. It was a large auditorium and the class was Biology 101. The Professor asked me if I was sure. I told him that it was being announced on the television news, which had broken into other programming. The class was dismissed.

Shortly thereafter, all classes were dismissed on that campus, and every place with a television set was jammed to the walls. In those days, most students who lived on campus did not have TV in their rooms, so the common rooms were packed full, and remained so for many hours.

[mulsh]

71. California playground, morning recess, second grade. Our 15 minute recess drifted into an hour unti

we were called to line up for assembly and herded into our class rooms. This was a Catholic school.

There Sr. Superior announce the President had been shot in Dallas and we were about to head to the church for a special mass. After mass and lunch we had another extended recess. Teachers and parents looked distressed, a few were crying. The next announcement was that he had died, we headed back to the church for some prayers then school let out.

I remember watching news mostly that weekend. I was watching live early in our morning when Oswald got shot. I not happy they had canceled week end cartoons and David and Goliath. How dare they do such a thing?

some follow up info.

Two of my classmates fathers were world renowned forensic pathologist and worked on Kennedy's autopsy. Years late when they were able to talk about it they both told me "Given the evidence presented to me it was one very lucky gun man who shot and wounded those people"

Also with the exception of one conspiracy theory with in two weeks of the assassination I'd heard every theory I've ever heard from my second grade and some third grade class mates. The theory about Johnson being the assassin came from an Econ professor friend of my in laws about ten years ago.

They say tell the truth, it's easier and no one believes you anyway. That's and the above fellows is why I think it was a lone, lucky gunman.

[oasis]

72. H.S. English class. Our teacher was jovial and began cracking jokes w/several

students in the class. The rest of us were stunned at the news. When the bell rang we filed out of the room into the hallway. Dozens were walking to their next class in a zombie-like state. Through the shock and sorrow of that historic day, what I remember most is the reaction of the few assholes.

[kentuck]

73. Junior in High School

We were on lunch break. Someone said the President had been shot. First thought, it's probably just a slight injury.

Then, before the evening break, the principal comes over the intercom and says that the President has died...

There was a momentary silence.

Someone had killed our President. We did not know who it was at the time.

We rushed home to see if the shooter had been caught. We watched Oswald get shot on live TV. We watched LBJ console Mrs Kennedy. We saw the plane leave for Washington with the dead President.

The world had changed.

[randr]

74. Coincidentally I too was headed into chem class

Ushered in and told to sit quietly for important announcement; one that changed our lives for ever. We were told to all go back to our home rooms where we would receive a dismissal announcement.
We all experience an emotion that up to that moment was unimaginable. Sobbing, the only sound, echoed down the halls
The following week is burned in my memory and still causes tears to flow.

[crazycatlady]

75. not born

[Historic NY]

76. Catholic school........they recessed us to the playground & the nuns announced it.

Even the big motorcycle cop was crying, when the bus's came to take us home.

[luvs2sing]

77. At Grandma Young's house..

I was six. I remember being at my grandmother's house, playing with my dolls, with my back up against her big console TV when my mother called to tell her of President Kennedy's shooting. I remember Grandma being hysterical, screaming about how "The Russians" were going to invade us. Then she had a "heart spell" and I ran out to the kitchen to get her medicine. We heard a plane fly over, and she began screaming that it was "The Russians" already coming to bomb us.
It seemed like forever, but probably was no more than ten minutes later when my mother came in the back door and we turned on the TV. I remember Walter Cronkite announcing that the President was dead, and more hysteria from Grandma. Not long after, Grandpa and Dad came home, and that's when I knew something REALLY terrible had happened. It was the first time I'd seen either one of them come home from work early.
I then remember watching the funeral with my parents, the endless sound of horses' hooves and little children, children right about my age, saying goodbye to their daddy forever. My mother crying, and my dad very, very quiet and serious. Seeing Lee Harvey Oswald being shot on television. Realizing for the first time that this world was a pretty darn scary place to be...

[dembotoz]

78. grade school practice for christmas program

remember standing on the risers practice of some xmas song.
it was announced.
i remember the teacher sent up back to our rooms.

he said he did not feel like singing anymore

[Hoyt]

80. Geography class learning each state that grew sugar beets and stuff. They called everyone outside

and told us. If I remember, we went home early and spent the next several days listening to Walter Cronkite, etc., on the couple of TV channels available at time.

[calimary]

81. In 5th grade. Sister Dorothy disappeared from the classroom in the middle of things.

Last edited Thu Nov 22, 2018, 01:21 PM - Edit history (1)

Nobody knew why. We couldn’t have guessed that she’d been called to the school library where they had a TV. This particular morning they had it tuned to the news. All the teachers had crowded around the TV to watch at least some of the coverage.

She returned to class in a few minutes. “Nobody scream. The President is dead.”

And we sat there, frozen. Not sure how to process that. Lunch period was next. We all filed downstairs to the lunchroom. Usually a loud and boisterous moment in the average day. This one rolled out in complete silence. We were all shocked.

Our class was headed to a special table in the lunchroom. Actually several tables put together end-to-end so the whole class would sit together. The head of the table was the seat of honor for the student having a birthday that day. The birthday girl in our class took her seat as did we. In total silence. And that’s how the whole lunch period went - school-wide.

Lunch was always noisy and comical and a fun break in the school day. But not this time. Everybody sat there in stony silence. Not just our class. EVERYBODY. I remember feeling sorry for our birthday girl. No one felt like celebrating on this particular birthday. We were ALL just in a state of shock.

[jpak]

82. Third grade Mrs. Mitchell's class

Around 2 PM, the principal came in, whispered something in Mrs. Mitchell's ear, and they both started sobbing.

Mrs. Mitchell then told us that president Kennedy had been shot and killed in Texas - and broke down again.

School closed immediately and we all walked home making siren sounds and yelling "The president's been shot!".

[sarcasmo]

83. George Herbert Walker Bush, where were you on that fateful day?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/27/russian-born-oilman-real-international-man-mystery-vivid-presence-jfk-files/807303001/

[John1956PA]

84. Second grade.

The radio feed spontaneously commenced over the public address speaker. I was the closest to it at the time. The bulletin was that President Kennedy had been shot while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, and that he was taken to a hospital. The word "motorcade" was new to me. I knew of Dallas because my brother had worked there the year before. The news feed went off. Our class went to the restrooms for our afternoon break. After we returned to our classroom, the radio news feed resumed, and we learned that President Kennedy had died. Ours was a Catholic school. The shock was overwhelming.

[Turin_C3PO]

85. My parents were 9 and 7.

I wasn’t even a twinkle in their eye yet. But I can’t imagine the terrible shock and sadness that must have ensued . Terrible, terrible, time.

[PCIntern]

86. Fifth Grade classroom

I had never seen a look like that on our teacher. I thought she was going to die on the spot she was ashen gray.

[VOX]

87. 10th grade French class; teacher read the 1st bulletin, "President has been shot"...

Another bulletin was rushed in on foot by some hapless assistant; the French teacher read allowed, “The president is dead.” Her face turned ashen, and she had to sit down. Quite a mixed reaction by the shocked students: weeping, some nervous laughter, quickly hushed. Most of us just kept looking at one another, with mouths agape, trying vainly to make sense out of the insane news we’d just heard. Nothing in our lives had prepared us for something so beyond the boundaries of decency and the highly regarded stature of JFK...you mean JFK is DEAD? Yes, *snaps fingers* just like that.

The man who stood up to Kruschev, who used diplomacy and strategy like no one else, who was youthful and rode (while he contributed to) the ascending trajectory of the post-WWII United States was now gone. Unbelievable. Alive on Friday morning, memorialized the following Monday.

I mark this staggering tragedy as the event that turned the country away from what it was briefly, and what it could have been for decades to come. Instead, the assassination ignited a series of events, each being a further step away from the liberal democracy that was in our grasp,

We were close. So close.

[rzemanfl]

88. Junior year in high school, history class, heard over P.A. n/t

[marybourg]

91. At work at the old Domino Sugar plant in Brooklyn.

Standing next to my co-worker listening to his wife, on the phone, report on her doctor visit with their very sick child that morning. She must have had the radio or TV on, ‘cause she suddenly started screaming into the phone: “ The President’s shot!”” Our boss has a portable radio. We gathered around.

We were sent home early. I still have the copy of the Daily News I bought on the way to the subway. It was a typical November day in NY; overcast and chilly. We trudged home, silent and stunned.

It was terrible for us adults, but reading here, I realize how scary it was for children. Not comprehending, or comprehending less than us adults.

[greatauntoftriplets]

92. I was 14 and a high school freshman.

It was time for lunch and I was headed to the cafeteria when another girl told me that she'd heard the president had been shot, but didn't believe it. I immediately got a very cold feeling and somehow knew it was true. I ate lunch very quickly, then went into the very crowded student lounge where there was a television. We were allowed to stay there even after the lunch break had ended and I saw Walter Cronkite's famous announcement.

Later we were told to go to our classes, though we mostly just sat and cried. Eventually we were sent home early. A terrible day.

[robbob]

93. I've always been struck by this quote from the movie Naked Lunch

“America is not a young land: it is old and dirty and evil. Before the settlers, before the Indians... the evil was there... waiting.”

William S. Burroughs

Canada is not a perfect country, but still, there has been exactly ONE assassination attempt on a sitting Prime Minister (a mentally deranged lunatic who claimed to hear voices broke into Jean Chrétien’s residence but was locked out of the bedroom by Madam Chrétien and surrendered to the RCMP), while FOUR sitting Presidents have been assassinated and there have been 30 assassination attempts against sitting and retired Presidents in your countries history.

Judging by some of the horrible comments made by ordinary Republican’s that have been described in this thread the evil is still there...still waiting...

Waiting for what? Trump?

[Luciferous]

94. My mom was only 2 at the time...

[libdem4life]

95. Geometry class...the Superintendent came in...we sat in shocked silence.

You know, that's all I remember. They may have sent us home for the day. How could you learn anything with such grief and horror? We had just gotten a TV at home...my Dad won that battle because they were just starting to televise sports...and even though they were John Birchers, we watched the news reports non stop. You just could not take your eyes away. i still feel it today, reliving it. And looking at Ted Kennedy, Jr. I have such hopes...almost 6 decades later. Can he fill the shoes?

Also, I was watching Bobby Kennedy speak live, when......

They really did a massacre on liberals for 2-3 generations. Let's make up for it.

[leftyladyfrommo]

97. I was 15 and in high school class.

It was like 9/11. Everyone was just in shock.

[jalan48]

98. High School study hall. I'll never forget the gloom that descended on our household the following

weekend. It felt like we went from optimism about the world to fear and depression.

[HipChick]

99. A spark in my dad's eye

I think...my mum and dad had just met...
I do wish they had followed through with just having an only child...ME!!

[shanti]

100. In Japan

Yokota AFB, where dad was stationed. I was 8.

[Sneederbunk]

101. High Scool sophomore. Cafeteria. Silence.

[woodsprite]

102. My playpen in our living rm. Mom said nobody could take their eyes from the TV

But they couldn't really see the TV for the tears.

[Staph]

103. I was 9.

We lived in West Virginia, but my dad had a job interview in New York City, so we had taken a long weekend from school. My mom was nervously driving the streets of Manhattan (and only once went the wrong way on a one-way street!). When we picked up Dad, he said that he had heard the craziest rumor on the way down in the elevator -- that someone had shot the President. We laughed it off, but then noticed crowds of people around open car windows and at the window of stores selling televisions (remember when stores would have televisions in the window!).

We turned on the radio, found a station. I remember sitting in the back seat with my two sisters. In shock. How could this happen? I don't really remember anything else from that trip, going back to the hotel, driving ten hours back home. I do remember bits and pieces of watching the funeral -- the black horse with the boots backward in the stirrups, all of the old men in black overcoats walking behind the cortege, John-John saluting his father. Photos of him saluting still bring me to tears.

(FYI - Dad didn't take the job. I was really happy - I didn't want to move to a place with such bad memories.)

[StarryNite]

104. In school, the 8th grade.

The announcement that President Kennedy had been shot came into the classrooms over the school PA system. A short time later we were all sent home.

[elleng]

105. College political science class,

sophomore year.

[eleny]

106. 17 and a senior in high school

I was in class when the announcement was made over the speakers. We all went back to our homerooms to gather our things and go home.

The A-train (in Brooklyn) subway riders weren't engaged in any conversation. Same on the Jamaica el train. Everyone was into their own thoughts.

[FraDon]

107. 15 yrs old, in speech class at a podium, three minute drill,

I had just pulled a 3x5 card with the topic "How to fly a kite in a closet." Before I could even finish my first thought, "this'll be fun", the speakers crackled, the Principal said the President had be shot and the school was closing. Our rude awakening had just begun.

[LAS14]

108. On my way to German class. Sat around on stairs waiting to see...

... if class was cancelled. It was.

[dewsgirl]

110. Not born for another 13 years, Carter was president.

[Takket]

111. I was born in 1978 so....

[Mrs. Overall]

112. In a bassinet in the living room as my mother was vacuuming--

She would always talk about how she was vacuuming the living room on Nov. 22, 1963 with the TV on (and me in a bassinet--I apparently was lulled by vacuum sounds), and how she glanced at the TV expecting to see her soap opera, but Walter Cronkite was on with a special report. She stopped the vacuum to find out what was going on, and she was absolutely stunned.

[KWR65]

113. I was a twinkle in my Father & Mother's eyes

[Freddie]

114. Second grade, just turned 7

Our class was next to the office and had a door going directly to the office. I remember the school secretary coming in to talk to the teacher, who told us that President Kennedy was shot and wounded. A little while later the secretary came in again to tell the teacher he had died. The main other thing I remember was being disappointed that there were no cartoons on that Saturday morning.
We got Life magazine and I remember reading about Officer Tippett, the policeman Oswald shot and killed later that afternoon.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

115. On the Coast Guard Cutter Westwind loading spare parts into the hold,

Our home port was Brooklyn Navy yard.

[williesgirl]

116. Was working my 1st job out of high school. Everyone at work

Ended up down in reception area, crying. The owner closed company down for the day and let us all go home.

[machoneman]

118. In church at St. John Bosco, west side of Chicago, passing out....

hymnals for the upcoming Sunday service. All by myself when the principal came on the loudspeaker to announce the terrible news to a scared 12 year old.

[Chalco]

119. 10th grade at Stranahan High in Ft. Lauderdale

I was standing at my locker in the hallway between classes. Somebody screamed Kennedy was shot. We all ran to the auditorium where a tv was on with the news. We were all in shock. Crying our assess off.

[TexasBushwhacker]

121. I was in first grade. I saw him the day before in Houston

My mother took me downtown to watch the motorcade. I remember her saying "There he is!". It was a beautiful, bright day and his hair looked red in the sunlight.

Someone from the office came into my classroom and whispered in my teacher's ear. She looked shocked. First grade let out at 2 and I walked home. I arrived to find my tearful mother watching the coverage on TV. I wanted to watch the "Mickey Mouse Club" like I always did after school. She said it wasn't on. I asked about "I Love Lucy" since I always watched the reruns and she said it wasn't on either.

So she had to explain what had happened, and I had to wrap my not quite 7 year old brain around what "died" meant and how the man we were so excited to see the day before was no more.

[OnlinePoker]

122. I was two years old that day.

My mother said she stopped making my birthday cake as soon as she heard the news. The news shocked her into numbness. And we are Canadian.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

123. First grade

I remember the announcement over the intercom at school. I didn't even know what the president was at the time. Just that Kennedy was a guy I saw on TV.

[madamesilverspurs]

124. High school auditorium, study hall --

The hallway door burst open and a teacher ran down the aisle to the monitor's desk on the stage, whispered to the teacher monitoring the study hall. After a minute or so, he walked over to a control panel and turned on a microphone, then told us that the president had been shot. We all gasped. Then a girl sitting a few seats away muttered, "It's about time" and the boy sitting in front of her turned around and back-handed her across the face, hard. No one said anything to him about it. We were dismissed to our home rooms, and that's where we got the news that JFK had died. I don't remember anyone who was not crying. Classes were cancelled for the rest of the day.

We didn't say a word as we walked home. I stopped in to the drug store where my mother was a cashier. She was surprised to see me and could tell I was upset, she asked if I was sick. I told her that we'd all been sent home because the president had been killed. They hadn't heard the news before that. Her boss grabbed a radio off the shelf, unpackaged it and plugged it in, and we all stood there listening and crying.

My parents were Republicans, but their shock and sorrow was very real. The day of the funeral my dad put his face in his hands and sobbed like a baby. He stayed on the edge of tears through the holiday season that year, as did we all.

[nycbos]

126. I was -24 years old.

[Joanie Baloney]

127. I was in Japan

My dad was stationed on an AF base there. I was 10. It was already Saturday when we heard the news (dateline and such). My dad woke me up and told me. I was in shock wondering if it meant war. Strange to think that, but I suppose it was a reflex from the Bay of Pigs and the Cold War. My dad was actually happy. He hated Kennedy. It was my first glimpse into a political point of view that I wanted no part of.

My hubby was also overseas on that day, but in England.His dad was stationed on an AF base there. He was 9. He remembers hearing the news on BBC, but the big news event for the Brits was it was also the day that Doctor Who debuted. He always remembers the date of the two being intertwined.

-JB

[shanti]

143. Saturday?

I was also in Japan (Yokota AFB, you too? Maybe Tachikawa?) I always remember it being Sunday morning that we found out, but I could be wrong.

[Joanie Baloney]

145. Yes, Saturday

Happened on Friday in the U.S. So Saturday in Japan with the time difference.

We were stationed at Hakata AFB in Kyushu, southern-most island.

[shanti]

146. Ah, thanks!

Glad to have that verified.

[fantase56]

128. Second grade - Salina, Kansas

Still feel the emptiness of what could have been. Feel the same about Bobby too.

[kimbutgar]

129. 2nd grade in my Catholic school class

I remember the principal coming over the loud speaker announcing it inin a a cracking voice. The nun who taught my class started crying and told us to put on heads down on the desk, after awhile we had to pray for his soul. My older sister came and got me and we walked home and we got home our mother was crying. On the day of the funeral I saw my Dad cry the first time in my young life.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

131. Ninth grade Goodwyn Junior High School in Montgomery, Alabama.

Other students and I were in a tiny room putting together the school newspaper, and discussing the previous night's episode of Alan Funt's "Candid Camera," which showed people not knowing who the Vice President was.

My parents never even mentioned Kennedy's assassination, let alone discuss its significance.

Later I watched Jack Ruby kill Lee Harvey Oswald live as it happened. To my young teen mind it was as if the world had been turned upside-down. Again, when I told my parents what I had witnessed they had no response.

[Andy823]

132. Tucson Arizona

8th grade.

[SHRED]

133. I was 7 and in school when it happened

I recall the entire school changing its mood to grief.

[Martin Eden]

135. I was in 1st grade

I don't remember hearing the news, but I remember the funeral.

[Niagara]

136. I didn't exist yet

My mother was 11 years old in 1963. She grew up in a Republican home and later became what one would call a Reagan Democrat.
She has been a Democratic voter ever since then.

I never thought to ask her about the day that Kennedy was assassinated. I remember right after Ted Kennedy passed away that she talked about his accomplishments in congress.

[TomSlick]

137. I was in the first grade.

I remember nothing of that year other than my teacher crying when she told us and my mother crying for days.

[OriginalGeek]

138. Obstetricians office

My mom was getting a check up. My dad was at work so Grandpa took mom to the doctor and he heard it on the radio. With a very heavy heart he told her when she came out. I was born about 3 weeks later.

[BigDemVoter]

139. I am 55 and was born on November 7, 1963.

I was very likely asleep in a crib. . .!

[dflprincess]

141. I was in fifth grade and the principal made an announcement over the loud speaker

it was clear she was crying. My teacher turned pale and just flopped into her desk chair and just stared at us. Nobody knew what to say or do.

The seeds for believing in conspiracies were sown in me when Oswald was shot on Sunday and I heard my dad say to my mom "Someone doesn't want him talking."

I also recall that the family Thanksgiving gathering the next Thursday turned into more of an Irish wake.

[nini]

144. 8 years old in Catholic School

The nuns were all crying. I don't think they told us younger students because most of what I remember that day I was at home.

But I remember the TV reports etc.. I remember feeling so sorry for John Jr.

[James48]

151. 3 years old- very first memory.

I was at swimming lessons with my mom. The house we visiting at had an indoor pool and I went twice a week to learn how to swim.

I remember the swim instructor lady crying, and asking my mom why. She said because somebody shot the President.

It’s amazing what you can remember from age 3.

[haele]

152. 4 years old, we were in the car on the 101 on the way to the store, I think...my dad pulled over.

And my mom had started crying. She never cries. And then we just went home instead of going to wherever we were going.
I didn't know what was going on at the time - I thought mom had gotten hurt, but I remember the heavy traffic going past us for what seemed to be an eternity until dad started the car back up.

Haele

[Cold War Spook]

153. I was at the Steinbeck theater on Cannery Row Monterey CA.

We were watching the Russian opera Queen of Spades. I didn't understand it since I was only in my second week. At the end of the movie projected on the screen was that Kennedy had been shot. Our teachers were talking in Russian since they were Russians and I asked another student what they were saying. The hoped that the shooter was not a Russian. Then we hung around the barracks for a few days playing The Red Army Choir albums.

[DiverDave]

154. 1st grade

Goshen elementary, Goshen Or.
I can't rememer what we were doing before Mrs. Anderson came in crying. I didn't think the old battleaxe COULD cry. She was very mean to us. Broke a yardstick over Ricky Lloyd's head one time.
They sent us home, and the whole extended family watched tv .

[Soxfan58]

155. Kindergarten

Thats my first memory of school.

[YOHABLO]

156. Austin TX 2nd grade at Highland Park Elementary.

I was living in Austin TX in 2nd grade at Highland Park elementary school. In fact we were going to be let out of school early because President Kennedy and wife were coming to Austin directly from Dallas for a fund raiser that very day. There was going to be a big parade for the motorcade etc.. We could tell something was up when our teachers began acting strange. I remember our teacher took us outside and we sat under a big oak tree and she read us a book. She then told us the bad news and they released us to go home. I came home and everyone at the house was very upset including my grandmother and aunt who had come to visit for Thanksgiving. Later on we took a trip to Dallas and visited Dealy Plaza. Lots of flowers everywhere.