11/22/63

[micropolitan guy]

Surprised there is not a thread on this, although I'm sure we've had many in the past. One of the few historical, unforgettable days in my life.

Our fourth-grade class had gone down the hall to the Spanish classroom, waiting for the teacher. He did not show up for about 20 minutes, then came in, very emotional, telling us that the President and governor (we didn't know who, except that it wasn't Rockefeller) had been shot and killed. He was almost beside himself.

We got escorted back to our normal classroom, our teacher told us what had happened, and then we were released from school early. I remember walking home with my neighbor, both of us talking about it and neither understanding anything.

I think it was the first WTF? moment in my young life.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Surprised there is not a thread on this, although I'm sure we've had many in the past. One of the few historical, unforgettable days in my life.

Our fourth-grade class had gone down the hall to the Spanish classroom, waiting for the teacher. He did not show up for about 20 minutes, then came in, very emotional, telling us that the President and governor (we didn't know who, except that it wasn't Rockefeller) had been shot and killed. He was almost beside himself.

We got escorted back to our normal classroom, our teacher told us what had happened, and then we were released from school early. I remember walking home with my neighbor, both of us talking about it and neither understanding anything.

I think it was the first WTF? moment in my young life.

He said Connolly was also dead?

 

[tapintoamerica]

 

[ChrisLong]

Sixth grade, Miss Davis. Recent grad, first-time teacher. There was a TV that was rolled around from room to room as needed. It happened to be in our room. She got a call, started crying and turned on the TV. We saw what was going on but didn't understand. I didn't remember this, but on a FB thread a couple of years ago I was reminded that we were sent home. I joked that the cool kids who walked home down 14th St. didn't let the kids from 16th St. walk home with them. The worst thing for me was we couldn't play over-the-line after school.
My Mom was home and was torn. She was a die-hard Nixon Republican, but knew assassinating the President was a bad thing for our country. Sad day.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

This day always reminds me of one of my favorite SNL sketches.

The Forum - SNL Transcripts Tonight

 

[micropolitan guy]

He said Connolly was also dead?

Yes, it was very early in the process and may have misunderstood things.

 

[JakeandElwood]

Also a great book by Stephen King.

 

[DanOregon]

Betweend the annual visit to the Perpetual flame by family members and Pearl Harbor vets throwing a wreath in the harbor - those photos with captions were MUST runs in newspaper A sections for decades. I'm kind of hoping the 20th anniversay of 9/11 next year will be marked by ending the AUMF that was passed just a week later.

 

[BTExpress]

So what's the security protocol for when a president is speaking outdoors these days? I keep thinking about the Las Vegas mass shooting.

 

[Rockbottom]

A fine, fine Stephen King book.

rb

 

[Jake from State Farm]

I can still hear the funeral dirge when the horse drawn carriage carrying the casket went down the street

 

[Deskgrunt50]

When I visited Dallas, I was struck by how small Dealy Plaza is. After seeing it on TV and clips over the years, it was much bigger in my brain.

 

[Scout]

When I visited Dallas, I was struck by how small Dealy Plaza is. After seeing it on TV and clips over the years, it was much bigger in my brain.

And how accessible the escape route is right behind the grassy knoll.

 

[micropolitan guy]

I was asleep when RFK was shot, and traveling with my family when MLK was shot, so I didn't learn of those incidents right away.

The only other historical "never forget where I was when it happened" incidents in my life are the moon landing, the Kent State murders, and 9/11. Not even the two shuttle crashes compare to those.

 

[Neutral Corner]

I was in the second grade. The other first grade teacher (not Mrs. Baxter, my first grade teacher, bless her) heard it on the radio and ran down the hallway screaming and crying. That's my most vivid memory, that and the wall to wall coverage on the TV afterward. The funeral cortege, the horse with the boots reversed in the stirrups, John-John saluting. Seeing the clip of Jack Ruby shooting Oswald over and over.

 

[Jerry-atric]

When I visited Dallas, I was struck by how small Dealy Plaza is. After seeing it on TV and clips over the years, it was much bigger in my brain.

My friend, that was my feeling, as well, the two times I have visited.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I wasn’t born yet but my mom told me about that day in school. I remember that on the 25th anniversary, A&E showed the real-time CBS News coverage with Cronkite all afternoon.

 

[goalmouth]

Dealy is tiny, but Oswald had help. Get a job at the book depository, with a perfect line of sight, at the exact right time? C'mon. And, with the memory of bullets whizzing over his car, it wasn't long before LBJ rescinded JFK's orders to cut our Vietnam efforts. And I am definitely not given to lunatic conspiracies.

And RIP to Officer Tippett, who was also killed.

I saw the JFK limo at the Henry Ford museum recently (and the Rosa Parks bus and Lincoln assasination chair). It was rebuilt with a hardtop and continued to be used by POTUS, which was beyond horrifying to me.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Aldous Huxley and CS Lewis also died that day.

 

[britwrit]

I can still hear the funeral dirge when the horse drawn carriage carrying the casket went down the street

How RFK went out in 1968 was almost as dramatic. He lay in state for two days at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, the whole city coming out to pay its respects. Then carried on a train down to Washington, as hundreds lined the tracks to watch.

It's a crime against humanity that this country taught the Kennedy clan how to put on a really great show.