Where were you when President Kennedy was assassinated? (USA, how, ally)

[Mightyqueen801]

I was five years old and at the dentist's office in the waiting room with my mother. There was a hallway that connected to the room where the dentist worked, and there was a table with one of those old clock radios with the dial clock sitting on it. All of a sudden the nurse or assistant or whatever she was ran over to the radio and turned it up, and at the same time my mother jumped up and ran to the radio, too, and I heard her say, "Did he just say the President was shot?"

I had no idea what this meant, but I could tell something bad had happened, and I asked my mother, hopefully, "Does this mean we have to go home and I don't have to see the dentist?" She said, "No".

The other thing I remember is my father showing me a picture of "The President" on the front of the newspaper and I was confused because he looked just like a regular man and I thought the President had white hair with curls at the bottom like he did on the dollar bill. I also remember watching the funeral procession on television and my mother crying, and me asking, "Why are you crying? Did you know him?"

Really was just too young to get it.

[cat1116]

I was riding my bicycle around on the driveway. My Mom, I think called me into the house and then either saw it on the news and/or both parents told me. I can't recall if my brother was there at the time or at a friend's further on down the road.

[ohio_peasant]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

...So I had my wonderful date and it was in the ensuing years that I realized the impact of what had occurred. The end of an era in which we were happy and hopeful and excited about the future.

The assassination is a watershed, regarded by many as being a sharp and irreversible transition between "then" and "thereafter".

Originally Posted by Okey Dokie

...JFK assassination, the first moon landing, 9/11. Before my time I’m sure it was Pearl Harbor, and V-E and V-J Days. These are events which tie us together.

9/11 will likely be remembered similarly… as an opening to the fraught and uncertain era, closing-out a chapter of comparative calm, prosperity and optimism. Recall that in the 90s, the Cold War had finally ended, the internet was replete with promise, free-market capitalism had triumphed, and even the US annual federal deficit had turned negative. Times were good. Until one day, they were no longer good.

Originally Posted by merv1225

A couple of years ago, I visited the 6th Floor Museum and Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Well worth the visit.

Some years ago (fairly recently), I stayed at the Ft. Worth Hilton. My room was on the same floor as Kennedy's suite, where he had spent his final night. The hallway was decorated with commemorative plaques. The aura was somber, and a bit creepy.

[Tallysmom]

I was four, so I don’t remember where I was, but I do have a memory of my Dad being very serious and my Mom crying. I knew something bad happened, even if I couldn’t grasp it. Years later, after my mom died in 2010 ( dad died 1981), we kids went through old suitcases of family memorabilia. Dad purchased multiple papers that covered the assassination, including the New York Times, and saved them.

[ColdAilment]

My dad was 2 when Kennedy was assassinated. I was in my 7th grade math class for September 11th 2001, a day I will never forget

[jtab4994]

On November 22, 1963 I was playing with toys at home, probably Tonka trucks or wooden blocks, and possibly also playing with my baby sister. Our older sister was in kindergarten. For RFK and MLK I was still only 7 years old and don't remember much about either episode.

I don't even remember where I was during the two assassination attempts on Gerald Ford, but I do know I was at work at a Savings & Loan when Reagan was shot. For John Lennon I was at home watching Monday Night Football and was informed by Howard Cosell.

[Patrolman]

I was in the 7th grade attending a Catholic elementary school in Los Angeles. At a little after 11:00 am, the nun, who was the principal, got on the school's P.A. system to announce that President Kennedy had been shot. At 11:20, she announced that the President had died. The school day continued as if nothing had ever happened.

[Lodestar]

I was in high school study hall and they announced it over the intercom. Some of my classmates started to cry and I was surprised. I was apolitical and had very little sense of empathy at that point in my life. It didn't seem to have any connection to my own little world.

Typing this now I realize that the US was temporarily in a very precarious position at that moment. I also had no recognition of how much that single event would reverberate in the direction of US history up to the present day.

I think of that moment frequently since as a huge turning point whose fruition has had destructive consequences for us all.

[johngolf]

When I was 15, I worked at a Brandeis University as a Busboy. JFK was a Senator and he spoke in the dining room. As he and Jacqueline passed through the kitchen he was saying hello and shaking hands with everybody. I got to shake his hand.

I was in the US Navy, home for the weekend on Liberty. I was walking through a department store when I saw a crowd standing around TV's in the TV section. I wandered over and saw what was happening.

[kygman]

I was in second grade. I remember our teacher came back in the room and had been crying. She told us to look out the window at the American flag that was already at half staff. Then she told us what happened.