Where were you? When JFK, MLK, Bobby Kennedy...

[bliss_eternal]

On another thread something interesting came up. In that when a major public figure (like JFK) is killed you recall where you were and what you were doing, etc. It's kind of fascinating to me that we recall with such vivid memories events such as these (i.e. I recall many details of waking up and hearing of 9/11).

So for those of you that were old enough to recall, where were you when any of these leaders were killed?

If you aren't old enough--you can say where you were when Reagan was shot, if you like. :eyes:

So if it isn't traumatic and you feel like sharing, feel free...

:hi:

[Clintmax]

1. Not born yet. LOL n/t

[ghostsofgiants]

7. Ditto

[swag]

2. Hi. I remember Bobby Kennedy's death because that's the morning

that my father shipped out for a year's hitch in southeast Asia (he came back fine, lucky me), and it was the day after my seventh birthday.

If you research news reports of the time at a library that has microfilm of newspapers, you will find tremendous confusion as to whether June 4, June 5, or June 6 was the day that Robert Kennedy died.

[bliss_eternal]

17. That's weird. Is there any reason why that happened?

Why couldn't they pinpoint the date?

[swag]

46. There were three consecutive events that seemed to confuse the

reporters and editors:

1. California Primary Victory
2. Shots fired
3. Death of Robert Kennedy subsequent to shooting

Cal Pri Victory happened on June 4
Shooting happened on June 5
Death happened (according to source) on June 4, 5, or 6 (authoritatively on June 6, in Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles)

Reporting news, even ripping news from a teletype machine, is a tough job, and many reporters or transcribers probably simply got the dates jumbled. The result, though, is a tremendous confusion on dates by the papers of the time, and a limited confusion that persists today in historical accounts and records.

[bliss_eternal]

54. I undertand now, thank you for the explanation.

It's a shame, because as you said we now have no accuracy for the sake of historical documentation.

[skygazer]

3. Not old enough for those three

I was born but very small - it really seems like I can remember JFK but I was only 3 and I think it's because I grew up hearing about it and seeing the Zapruder footage a lot.

Don't know where I was for Reagan either but I know precisely where I was when John Lennon was shot - at the greyhound track where I worked. A friend burst into my kennel early the following morning while I was cleaning crates and told me. I was in shock the entire day. :cry:

[bliss_eternal]

20. I was at my cousin's apt. when they announced Lennon.

We were just listening to his latest song on the radio, It's Like Starting Over.

I just sat there on her couch, shocked. Then I got up, walked to her bathroom, shut myself inside and locked the door--and cried as quietly as I could.

[xmas74]

55. I think that I was at home when I heard about Lennon.

I wasn't that old so it didn't register but I can remember telling my mom what I had heard on the radio. I remember she came running out of the kitchen and she thought that I was lying about it (I was 6. How the f*ck would I have thought of that unless I'd heard it somewhere?). I remember I was sent to my room for lying to her. Later on she found out that I was telling the truth but never did anything about it.
Strange the way you can connect things together.

[swag]

4. I remember the murder of MLK.

The schoolday following the assassination of MLK, my second grade teacher asked the class if anybody knew who Martin Luther King, Jr. was.

My good-student, know-it-all hand shot up immediately. You see, I had asked my mom the night before after watching the news (and so thought I had an authoritative answer).

Me: "Who is Martin Luther King?"

Mom (making dinner at the time): "A riot starter."

My second grade teacher did not find my answer (a repetition of my mother's answer) to be acceptable.

This story is legendary in my family.

[candy]

5. Raising my family in the sixties-----I still remember every detail of

each day,though.

[Missy M]

6. JFK, MLK and Bobby Kennedy I remember vividly because I was at...

home with my babies. I can't remember with Reagan but I must have been at work. I couldn't stand Reagan so I didn't pay much attention.

[bliss_eternal]

13. I couldn't stand him either--

apparently none of the children in my school cared for him much either.

I was in school. The announcement came over the PA. We were taking a test. Announcement-students, Pres. Reagan was just shot....

There was an eruption of cheers and applause that you could hear through out the room and down the hallways of the bldg. I was in.

He was not a friend to minority school children, or their parents that struggled to maintain their middle class status.

[Missy M]

18. That is amazing seeing as we are always being told he is....

the most beloved president ever. Also, the Great Communicator, which also baffles me. We still hear about the greatest line ever spoken and I quote "there you go again". The media thought it was brilliant and I just don't get it.

[bliss_eternal]

29. He was NOT beloved in inner city communities.

The teachers hated all of Nancy's 'Just say No' crap. They thought it was glib, unrealistic and didn't address the problems at all.

I had to stop watching tv news the week he died. I honestly didn't know who the hell they were talking about, going on about this great man, and all he did for people. What people? Rich people?

:eyes:

[Obamarama]

59. Speaking of Reagan, I had a very eerie experience with his shooting

I was a teenager when he was shot. My parents were staunch democrats and I had just become interested and involved in national politics. I remember about a week before Reagan was shot my parents and I were talking about some policy's of Reagan's and how wrong it was. I said "Someone should just do the country a favor and shoot him."

My dad got pretty angry with me for saying that, citing the experiences of having gone through JFK's, RFK's and MLK's assasinations. He said that if it's okay to shoot Reagan for his political beliefs, than that means it was okay for someone to assasinate "our guys" for theirs. I got the lesson he was trying to teach me.

But imagine my horror when a week later, it actually happened. Talk about Jewish guilt. Oy.

[MrSlayer]

8. Not alive for the ones you asked for. I was in 4th grade for Reagan.

We got let out early, so I was happy.

[u4ic]

9. Either too young, or not born yet

I do, however, remember being in the dentist's waiting room when news came out Ben Johnson was stripped of his Olympic gold medal...

[AuntieM1957]

10. In my first grade classroom when JFK shot

I remember the school nurse coming to speak with my teacher - Mrs. Gray.

A very unusual thing to have happen, and at first thought we all hoped for "playtime". Especially since they seemed to ignore us - so as 6 year old will do - we started playing and talking.

Then I noticed their tears. I don't remember them telling us what had happened. But we were all sent home from school early.

Maybe because Dallas was so close to Houston (my hometown) and the Bay of Pigs so recent, there was some fear of something war-like.

I have a mental "movie" of watching those two women and their reactions - and that's what I recall whenever someone asks that question - "where were you when Kennedy was shot?"

[graywarrior]

11. JFK- I was in 9th grade English class

Bobby Kennedy-Home tokin' j's
MLK-Art school
Ronnie Reagan-Home contemplating suicide
John Lennon-Work, contemplating suicide
911-On Michael Moore's forum.

[intheflow]

16. graywarrior

Glad you made it to the other side of the '80's. :hug:

[graywarrior]

21. No shit, huh? Friggin miracle. Thanks. Glad I got through it.

[bliss_eternal]

32. Yes, absolutely!

:pals:

[Bullwinkle925]

24. Another 9th-grader, eh?

Glad you're here posting.

:hippie:

[graywarrior]

28. Back atcha

[WCGreen]

12. With JFK, I was in First Grade at a Catholic School

The principal, Sister Madonna, seriously, got on the PA and said, cildren the presidnet is dead....

We are sending you home to be with your families.....

I remember the constant drum beatm the black and white coverage of the ceremonies and the riderless horse, that's what stuck in my mind, the riderless horse....

MLK, my family had much the same reaction, Riot Starter....

But I felt bad. A budding liberal in fifth grade....

RFK, my mom woke us up for school saying, they killed another Kennedy....

I was working at a bar when RR was shot, watched it on the big screen and said, Oh my god, Bush is going to be president....

[cmd]

14. I remember all four and a little about FDR

JFK: I was returning to my dorm from class. As I walked into the lounge I found everyone gathered around the TV. We waited until word came of his death. I then went to the balcony outside my room and wept. This was the day the world changed for me.

Bobby: I was at home when word came of the shooting. My family and I watched the film over and over with great sadness.

MLK: This happened during a bout of giant hives covering my body. I found I was allergic to penicillan. I remember watching TV coverage and itching. My principal would not let me work during that time because I was so weird looking the kids would be frightened.

Reagan: I was shopping at a local discount store. I heard about it at the checkout.

FDR: One of my earliest memories was of my mom crying because the president had died.

[intheflow]

26. self-delete

Meant to reply to OP.

[LastKnight]

15. where was i when i heard about all these events?

history class, im too young for em, so thats how i found out about em.

[Bullwinkle925]

19. I was in the 9th grade when JFK was murdered. I grew up in a small

town in Kansas and had just been home for lunch and watched him arrive at Love Field. Went to school and a girl came running up the stairs saying "The President has been shot". I answered her (smart-ass that I am) - "No he hasn't; I just saw him on TV". Then in about 10 minutes it all went to hell in a handbasket.
Was out with my friends cruising around the town when we saw a cop we knew and stopped to talk with him. He told us that there was an "APB" that had just been issued regarding Kennedy's shooting.
It was so surreal because we all thought it was JFK he was talking about and didn't understand what was happening.
Again - a few minutes later it all went to hell again.
I don't remember just where I was when I heard about MLK, but the news was just as horrendous to hear.


In a note about RFK's murder - my husband had seen him in San Francisco the day before campaigning and had the fortune to be able to shake his hand.



edited for typo

[maveric]

22. JFK, 2nd grade, Miss Plummer's class. MLK @ home watching TV.

RFK, my parents woke me up early in the morning to tell me.

11/22/63, Miss Plummer was called out to the hall for about 5 minutes. She came back in crying, telling us that the President had been shot. She was broken up and shocked. Afterall this was the Boston area. She couldnt even conduct her class. A few minutes later she was called back out to the hall where she was informed that JFK was dead. All the teachers were crying while trying to answer questions about it from elementary school kids. School was then dismissed early.

I cant remember what time of day it was but our family was home with the TV on when a David Brinkley "special report" came on telling of MLK's murder. My dad, a liberal news journalist was frantic and angry. He told me that "A great man was murdered today and all hell will breal loose". He was right on both points. Then the ensuing rioting footage dominated the airwaves. The next day at school I remember a kid I hung around with and liked, telling me "The stupid ni***rs are burning their own slums down". I was confused by this as a 12 yr old may be. I now know why they burned. I never hung with that kid again.

A couple of months later I woke up for school, which was almost over for the year, and found my parents crying at the breakfast table. I asked them why and they told me that "Bobby was killed last night". They were working on his presidential campaign, as they did for his brother.

[flamingyouth]

23. I was not born, but I was in the womb when RFK & MLK were killed

I think that being in my activist mother's womb during 1968 definitely helped shape me in many ways.

[SoCalDem]

25. When JFK was shot, it was a very cold dreary day, sleeting a bit

I was on the 2nd landing of the west staircase of the Lincoln building of my junior high. We were on our way to math class.. The PA system said that all students were to "pass quietly through the halls, immediately..and to go to their next class. Students at gym class were to dress immediately and go to the auditorium."

We had NO CLUE what had happened, but after the Cuban Missle Crisis, we were all very scared..

Someone had a transisitor radio (against the rules) and started saying.."They shot Kennedy..they shot Kennedy".. Everyone ran to their classes, and were told then, that yes.. someone had shot Kennedy, and that we should all go home immediately...

Then we had the weeklong blur of black & white pomp and circumstance and the mood was a dreary as November in Kansas


.........

The day MLK was killed, my friend and I had tickets to see Bill Cosby at his performance at KU....Needless to say the event was cancelled. They offered refunds for those tickets, but no one I know ever asked.. I wonder whatever happened to those tickets I saved)..


.........

The day Bobby was shot, we were actually watching it on tv..I have no idea why, except that he was the brother of Kennedy, and he was anti-war, and it WAS 1968..we were ALL anti-war then...
The only thing I really remember was thinking.."Not AGAIN!"... I think I actually tuned out of politics then...and stayed out for a long time

[Blue_In_AK]

27. I put my JFK story on the other thread...

I was at a friend's apartment when MLK was assassinated studying for mid-term exams (I was a senior in college) when we heard the news on the radio. I remember having the same heart-dropping feeling that I had when JFK was shot. I was very close to civil rights issues at the time since being a white girl with many black friends in Houston in those days didn't make me particularly popular in certain circles. I still have a poem I wrote April 8, 1968.

Peace!
The black man cried,
While all around him
Raged the seas of discontent
And the storms of hate and bitterness.
The cities are enveloped
In clouds of fiery disillusionment.
Patience runs thin --
And still he cries,
Peace! Peace, my brothers!
A lone voice in the night.
And suddenly the voice is stilled forever
By one who could not understand
That peace can also be
Black

Maybe not literarily great, but a true expression of my feelings at the time.

By the time Bobby was killed, I was pretty well numb and I don't remember the exact moment when I heard. It was so unbelievable to have so much horror in such a short time. I think we often forget all the riots and so on, as well.

As for Reagan (and maybe I should be ashamed for saying this) the first thought that went through my mind was how ironic that he survived when those three good men before him didn't. It just didn't seem fair.

[intheflow]

30. JFK: In utero.

My parents kept me pretty sheltered, so I don't remember either Bobby or MLK. I do remember being emptied out of kindergarten ('68) for bomb scares on a number of occasions that I vaguely remember having something to do with racial tensions, so I assume that was around the time of King's murder.

Oddly enough, though I don't remember MLK, he has been one of my greatest influences.

I woke up on 9-11 to my boyfriend calling me to tell me a plane had struck the WTC. It was only four days after I had uprooted myself, leaving almost 40 years of freidns and family, and moved accross country to work on my M.Div. concentrating on peace studies. It was a hard introduction to peace studies! One I'm still working through. (Not that we don't all still struggle with 9-11 all the time.)

I heard about Reagan being shot while pregnant and hanging out at a relative's house. I don't remember where I was when I heard Reagan died, but I do remember being annoyed at the seemingly never-ending tv coverage of his "greatness" and the flags flying at half staff.

[ghostsofgiants]

31. Sept. 11...

I was at school, but the air exchange system was busted and it was the middle of a heatwave, so we got out of school at lunchtime. At this point I had no idea anything had happened. I walked through the door and my little brother, who was 10 at the time, ran to the door and told me that the Pentagon had been blown up. I was like "what the hell?" Then my dad walked out of the bathroom and asked what I thought of the news and I still had no idea what was going on. He told me what had happened and I went to my bedroom and turned on CNN.

That was actually the biggest reason I became interested in politics. I had always had a slight interest before, but Sept. 11 just sparked an interest in me to seek the truth and justice whenever truth and justice need to be sought. (I kinda sound like a fucking superhero right now, haha.)

[bliss_eternal]

33. We need some Democratic Superheroes!

What would your superhero name be?

[ghostsofgiants]

35. I want to say Lethargic Lad, but that's taken, haha

Though I wouldn't be a Democratic superhero, since I'm not a Democrat (I'm Canadian).

[bliss_eternal]

37. LOL! I like that name a lot!

:rofl:

It's ok, we'll make you an honorary Democrat! We need all the people we can get to help fight these monsters.

[ghostsofgiants]

38. Haha...

Amusing comic, Lethargic Lad.



And well...I'm a New Democrat up here, so you know...

[RoyGBiv]

34. Reagan shot ...

I was sitting in 6th grade class, listening to the radio through an earpiece when a special report came on. I knew it was such big news that I didn't care if I got in trouble by telling everyone what had just happened.

One of the reason I remember it was that the girl that sat next to me, Rochelle, said upon hearing the news, "I hope that asshole dies. He cut off my grandma's benefits, and I hate him." It was defining moment.

When Lennon was shot, I was spending the night with my friend Chad who happened to be a huge Lennon fan. He was one of the "tough kids," and hearing this actually made him cry.

This is probably expanding the original question more than intended, but when the first space shuttle exploded, I was at home with a bad case of the flu. Mom woke me up, telling me what had happened, but I had such a high fever I thought I was hallucinating. (I guess if you can actually think you're hallucinating, you really aren't.)

And, when the first bombs fell on Baghdad during our first excursion, I was sitting at a friend's house and almost simultaneously got a call from my mother telling me daughter had suddenly spiked a fever and started convulsing, that my wife had taken her to the hospital, and ... I'm sure she was in the middle of saying something else, but I was already out there door by then.

[bliss_eternal]

39. I like that you expanded the parameters of the original question.

I was hoping someone might relay the Space Shuttle memory. My husband (reading over my shoulder again haha), brought that one up and told me how it affected him.

So thank you for expressing yourself about these incidents. :hi:

[bliss_eternal]

41. Oh and on Reagan...

I knew many people that reacted this way about Reagan. He cut benefits to so many populations that desperately needed them.
There are still homeless people in the Bay Area and Downtown LA--mentally ill people just let loose on the street when he shut down mental health facilities.

It's ironic (imo) that he became mentally ill himself.

[RoyGBiv]

42. Poetic justice ...

Too bad he wasn't also poor so that he and his family could truly understand what his policies did to people.

Rochelle's grandmother, who was in her 60's, had had a leg and foot amputated. (Diabetes) Somehow it was determined she shold still be working for a living.

[Lilith Velkor]

47. I was in 7th grade when Raygun got shot

I vividly remember lots of kids cheering when they heard. When he died last year, people were setting off fireworks. I think it's because a lot of my neighbors are from Central America, but there are plenty more whose grandmas suffered as well.

I was home sick on 9/11. Yiiiiii....

[RoyGBiv]

48. 9/11 is the most vivid ...

And it will likely remain so. I was working in a convenience store at the time that was a couple miles north of the airport. First there was the whole weird traffic patterns for incoming airplanes, then the FAA employees leaving work, and then the panic that resulted in a run on the gasoline. It was the most surreal day I have ever experienced.

The initiation of the first air campaign against Baghdad is a close second because of what was going on with my daughter.

[Lilith Velkor]

53. weird

I have almost no memory of the first Iraq war, I had a factory job at the time.

The recent war started while I was on a plane to Paris. Two hours after my plane landed, the massive demonstration started and didn't let up for four days. I didn't mind walking everywhere, but I was rather amazed at how many streets were closed to cars.

Surreal, man, surreal.

[bliss_eternal]

56. Thank you for sharing this!

I was kind of embarrassed to be the only one here who's classmates applauded after Raygun was shot.

Fireworks, wow...that's a very telling statement.

I couldn't believe how the news seemed to find every single person in the area that just adored him and thought he was a 'great American.' You know there had to be at least one guy that was like,' sorry for his family's loss but fuck him!'

[bliss_eternal]

36. 9/11

I woke up next to my hubby to Danny Bonaduce on the radio saying,"...again the World Trade Center in New York City was just hit by a plane...this is not a movie..."

I sat straight up in bed, as did my husband, who said," :wtf: what did he just say?!"

I told him to go turn on the tv. I grabbed my specs and ran after him. We turned it on just in time to see the second plane hit. I will never forget those horrible images.

The plane hitting the tower.
The tower in flames.
The people jumping to their deaths.
The people walking down the street all covered in smoke and soot.
The retarded newscasters standing around asking people(covered in soot) how they felt (thankfully, every single one they asked ignored them).

The people putting up posters of missing loved ones.

I'll never forget a moment of any of it.

The streets here were absolutely deserted that day. It was surreal.

[caty]

40. When President Kennedy was shot

I was in my 10th grade social studies class. A very sad memory.

[MikeH]

43. In Eighth Grade When JFK Was Shot

In junior high I was sick a lot with a cough, cold, or sore throat.

I was home sick from school (8th grade) when John Kennedy was shot. In fact, I happened to be reading a book about Adolf Hitler at the time (whom I had for some reason developed an interest in) when my mom called me. When I came down she told me the President was shot, and I was shocked to hear that. And I pretty much stayed glued to the TV the rest of the day.

MLK and RFK were shot when I was a senior in high school. I was going through a very rough time personally then (as a very unhappy teenager), and then there were the riots and the unrest and the Vietnam war.

I remember I had a talk with my dad the night King was shot; he and I were talking about some of the difficulties I was going through. (Though in truth I also had problems with my dad.) He at one point in our talk mentioned the crazy people who would kill Martin Luther King and President Kennedy.

Robert Kennedy was shot the week before I graduated from high school. It was a time I was supposed to be very excited but I was actually very miserable (I don't wish to go into the details or reasons). I remember waking up one morning and being told that Bobby Kennedy was shot, and following the news about his condition that day. The next day when I woke up I was told that he was dead.

I had a lot of personal stuff going on then, but thinking about it now I feel sad wondering what the world would have been like if any or all of those three had survived and lived out their normal life spans.

[yellowdogintexas]

44. 10th grade when JFK was shot; biology class

the teacher from the physics class next door came in and started talking to our teacher, and then our teacher said, " if this is another one of Crafton's sick jokes.".....then he told us the President had been shot in Dallas. We all just sat there shell shocked then Mr Crafton came BACK in and told us he was dead. One of the guys in the physics lab had a transistor radio on while they were doing lab and when the news came on he just turned the volume up. So we were the second group in the school to know..then the intercoms came on and we didn't do much the rest of the day.

Then that long interminable emotional weekend of hearses, and swearing in and another shooting, and marching. I remember seeing DeGaulle, Churchill, Prince Phillip, Haile Sellassie, King Hussein of Jordan, the Shah, etc etc all marching down Pennsylvania Avenue behind Jackie, Robert and Edward, and President Johnson. That was so unbelievably moving, all those world leaders there walking together.

MLK I was in the dorm in college. Spring break was starting the next day and many of the women were going home to cities that could have trouble. I just remember feeling very sad and sorry for his family.

RFK I woke up to it on the TV news. I was in Louisville visiting my boyfriend, and his sister and I woke up to this newscast. It just broke my heart; I was so excited that he might be the Democratic nominee.

Reagan, well I figured he was gonna get it anyway..the old election year ending in zero mythology. But he didn't die. I was doing some field work for my employer in Memphis.

I was also in Memphis when Mt St Helen's erupted and when Sadat was killed, and there was an eclipse of the sun one of my trips to Memphis.

[6th Borough]

45. F*ck Reagan. The first "memorable" event for me is the Challenger...

explosion. I was in 2nd grade, if I recall correctly, and we were watching the Challenger's last flight (of cousre, we didn't know it would never fly again at the time) on a classroom TV. It was extra-special because a teacher was on board.

Boom.

I still remeber that moment.

By the way, I'll be 26 in less than a month, if you are trying to judge my age.

I think.

5% chance I'll be 27. Err...I'm a bit forgetfull :/

I DO remember Iran Contra though. That was fun...my initiation into politics.

[swag]

49. Challenger - I was sitting, chain-smoking Viceroys at my phone

console at Metro Messenger on Champlain St. in Washington, DC. Later I went up to grab a meatball sandwich at a deli on 18th St. Watched the shuttle blow up about 50 times on TV with the Iranian deli owner.

[RoyGBiv]

50. Teacher on board ...

My history teacher was in what I guess would be called the semi-finalist group from which Christa McAuliffe was chosen. This teacher was not a well-liked person (she liked to harp on her supposed relation to Robert E. Lee), and I am somewhat ashamed to say many jokes arose about how the wrong person got on board that day.

But anyway, yeah, that was a pretty traumatic event for me.

[The Straight Story]

51. Mom was shopping when JFK was shot

She bought a freezer that works until this day. She related many times how she was shopping and saw the frezer. They went in and bought it then heard on the radio about JFK.


On mom:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x3668294

[Seabiscuit]

52. JFK - Freshman year, Oberlin College, Oberlin Ohio; MLK - Philadelphia,

visiting my brother; RFK - NYC, watching TV at my apartment after work.

I could go into detail about what I was doing, but nothing memorable -what was memorable was the events themselves.

[RebelOne]

57. I remember when JFK was killed.

I was at home watching TV. I guess the news hadn't hit TV stations yet. But my uncle stopped by on his way to work to tell me.

[Obamarama]

58. I was 5 when RFK was shot.....

I remember my parents being very upset. I remember my older brother explaining that he was a very good man and was the brother of a very good president, and that he was running for president too.