Where were you when you heard about JFK's assasination?
 

I must have been a freshman in hs. I remember listening to it in a classroom in the basement of our high school. I don't remember the subject but remember the room clearly. Someone brought in a small transistor radio (they were new then) and we had to sit it on the window sill to get a good signal. The newscaster mentioned about Johnson having had a heart attack previously. A classmate misunderstood and thought Johnson had had it when he heard about JFK. Later after he was announced dead we met in the gymnasium and had a somewhat formal ceremony. I stood holding my girlfriend's hand. She wept. I was numb.

I have read a lot about the assassination. I have my doubts about the warren commission's report. I think it was probably a political whitewash and meant to reassure by saying that the assassin was certainly Oswald acting alone to make everybody feel safe. I suppose if that is true it is forgivable to some extent.

On the other hand if it were a conspiracy it is surprising nobody has ever come forward and claimed a part in it.

I was watching TV. I remember it clearly it was 1983 and I was trying to see if the Dukes of Hazard was going to come on.

I was in 4th grade class at a Catholic grammar school in Daytona Beach. We had just moved down from NY 10 days before and I was trying to overcome culture shock ( I was now in a classroom with about 50 kids run by a 83 year old Irish terrorst nun, Sr Mary Vincent, RIP).

The principal (another Irish nun) made the announcement for us to all pray for him over the intercom. I remember the exact spot I was sitting at the time. I go to church there very infrequently, but when I do I always peek through the window in the door of that classroom and remember that moment.

For those of you that weren't around at the time this was another one of those 9/11 or probably Pearl Harbor moments....

I wasn't born yet, and my parents never really discussed or even mentioned it, or anything about the government in particular.
They were just busy enough getting on with their lives trying to raise a family. My first exposure to politics was the resignation of Nixon.
So my first impressions were that politicians are rarely doing what they do for the purpose of which they should be doing it, to serve the majority of the people for their districts/states, etc. It continues.
The only thing that I can see to stop it is to have term limits.
We have it for the president. We should have it for every stinking one of them. Career politicians are simply a bad idea.

For those of you that remember when it happened, that perhaps feel that America's innocence was lost on that date, I have often, but not always, envied you.
You at least were able to really experience that innocence, even if briefly.

I grew up in a much more cynical world my entire life where it seems that everything cannot be trusted, that there is always an ulterior motive or corruption behind the scenes that we may know about or not, whether it directly affects us or not.

rs899: There's a difference in scale between one murder and several thousand deaths. Plus, 9/11 was different to me since I had close family working two blocks away.

Walking down the street at night with a gang of boys going to raise hell in Shipley, Yorkshire. One of the boys' dad drove by, stopped and told us JFK had been shot. It didn't deter us from our mission of shooting out streetlights.

I was in the first grade. Teacher was called to the office and came back, crying.

She told us our parents were coming to pick us up because the Russians had killed President Kennedy and we were going to war. Stressful moments for a kid.

Gulf Coast was a nuke target, first strike, so I imagine adults were anally puckered for a while.

It was like 9/11, in a way. The loss of what was a mostly media crafted innocence. Camelot destroyed, et al......

3rd grade in Catholic elementary school. One of only a handful on non-nun teachers. Kindly old nun principal came to room and told us. We of course behaved like a bunch of overly dramatic 3rd graders. School continued for rest of day but learning was pretty much out the window.
And no, I do not believe the Warren commision report but suspect we will never really know what happened.
Really though, he was only one in a long line of presidents elected on a 20 year cycle that died in office. Reagan broke that curse by being alive when Bush finished taking oath of office.
Wonder how many nut-jobs are out there today trying to make a name for themselves by repeating the act on the 50th anniversary?

Certainly, but the impact on those of us who witnessed both was, I think, somewhat similar.

Similar, but still different in that in the latter, we were being attacked as a country whereas the JFK event wasn't so much of a threat to all of us.

It was the year 7 BS.

He was there. You weren't.Which has little to do with his description of the country's reaction.

I was in first grade when they announced the JFK shooting over the PA. I don't recall having a strong reaction beyond, "Wow, didn't see that coming." It was a big deal with my Irish Catholic family. Everybody was glued to the TV for his funeral. The image that sticks with me from the funeral is the riderless horse with the boots backwards in the stirrups.

There were three big assassinations in relatively short order when I was a kid - JFK, MLK, and RFK. I didn't appreciate at the time how crazy that was.

2nd Grade at Mill Creek School near St. Augustine FL. I remember we were taken to the Auditorium and told by the Principal that there had been a National Tragedy and we would be taken home by busses early.

I remember my Mother having us write letters to Jackie and still have the black bordered card we received in return. I remember seeing John Jr standing and saluting his Fathers casket on TV.

When John Jr. has his magazine, George, in the same building where his wife worked, I would see him going in and out all the time. Sometimes I would see the press hanging around and stalking him trying to get a reaction that would make a saleable photo. Poor kid, the public and the press never left him alone, ever. Caroline found a way to shield herself but John Jr. was just fodder for the gristmill.

When I was a News Cameraman, I refused to do the body-watch stakeout coverage outside of Jackie's building after she died. The press was just salivating for footage of Caroline an John Jr. at that time (mid 90's). I also routinely refused to do the stakeouts on John Jr and Caroline, as I thought they were entitled to their privacy.

The failed political assasination of George Wallace in 72 was in there too. I don't know who was behind it but I know who benefitted. Nixon collected all the votes that Wallace would have gotten if he had been in the race. If not for the shooting, McGovern may well have won.

Kindergarten class in North Jersey.

It had quite an impact on many Canadians as well. We were doing a television show outside in central Toronto. Just shut it down and went to a bar. There was no thought by anyone of continuing.

I think at the time I felt or realized it may be the end of an era. Kennedy may have had a lot of flies but overall there seemed to be some stability and upside during his tenure.

Doubt very much if most other presidents in my lifetime would have impacted us as much. Yes it was one of those times you will always remember where you where when you heard the news. We may have even gotten the news a little earlier than the general public.

I remember as well we had to wait some time for the announcement that he was actually dead. It was a very sad day to us.