Where were you 50 years ago when JFK was shot

[Atticus Finch]

...as I was reading the thread, I noticed that either people weren't born yet or they were kids or in high school.

Yep. When you're talking about where a person was fifty years ago, those would be the major options. And I predict that as time goes on, the later options will be less frequently reported.

AF

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

Give this woman another drink on me with a dash of caramel,Bartender...

LOL!

Yep. When you're talking about where a person was fifty years ago, those would be the major options. And I predict that as time goes on, the later options will be less frequently reported.

AF

Yes indeed, life marches on.

 

[Widebrim]

LOL, I wanted to see who would be the first person to catch that outrageous untruth

That was a good one.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yes indeed, life marches on.

Indeed, and it marches faster than we realize. There are people posting in this thread who will live to see the day when there's nobody left who was alive when JFK was shot.

 

[Atticus Finch]

As I read through this thread I notice many people alive in 1963 remember JFK's funeral at least as much as his death. Oddly, I remember being told of his death as if it were yesterday, but I have only a vague memory of the funeral. In fact, I don't know if I remember it at all, or if I just remember seeing clips of it replayed in the years since. I do remember Oswald being shot. I didn't see it live but I remember my grandmother calling us long distance and franticly telling us to turn on our TV.

AF

 

[HudsonHawk]

Indeed, and it marches faster than we realize. There are people posting in this thread who will live to see the day when there's nobody left who was alive when JFK was shot.

I remember in high school government class discussing the rapid loss of living Spanish-American War veterans. Today, there are no WWI veterans still living, and the number of WWII vets still alive is decreasing at a very rapid pace.

I remember talking to one of my ex-fiance's grandmother when Jimmy Stewart died. She described how he was one of the last of "her" generation...almost all of the politicians, popular singers, movie stars, celebrities, etc, that were representative of her years on the planet were gone. It was a very lonely feeling, she said.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I remember in high school government class discussing the rapid loss of living Spanish-American War veterans. Today, there are no WWI veterans still living, and the number of WWII vets still alive is decreasing at a very rapid pace.

The people who were adults at the time of JFK's death, if still living today, would be about the same age the WW1 vets were when I was a child. For some reason that thought chills me to the bone.

WW1 didn't seem like ancient history when I was growing up -- but now that the link of knowing people who were there is gone, it might as well be as ancient as the Wars of the Maccabees. It won't be long before the death of JFK is as remote from the people living as the death of Lincoln is to us today.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Only 20 more years till they open the files.

 

[Widebrim]

I remember in high school government class discussing the rapid loss of living Spanish-American War veterans. Today, there are no WWI veterans still living, and the number of WWII vets still alive is decreasing at a very rapid pace.

That reminds me a grade school teacher of mine who read a book about the Spanish-American War. At the end, the book mentioned that such a vet might be living in your neighborhood (they would have averaged around 85 years of age at that time). That small statement sent me years later on a search for the last few survivors. I received a list from a Spanish-American War group, containing about only ten names. Two of them were in my area, and I was able to meet and interview them (they actually served during the Philippine Insurrection, though). Upon finding the name of the last American survivor of San Juan Hill (aged 102), I flew to Florida where I met and interviewed him. The latter was definitely one of the greatest events of my life, even now. Sorry for being a bit off-topic.

 

[Atticus Finch]

An eighteen year old in 1963 would have been born in 1945 and would be 68 today. So anyone any younger than retirement age now would have been of school age or unborn when JFK was killed. Obvious, but still hard for me to get my head around.

AF

 

[GHT]

Not born until 1974, so Kennedy was already history by the time I became aware of it. THe first president I remember being shot was Reagan. My parents would remember JFK being killed, but I doubt it would have had quite the same emotional resonance for most on this side of the Atlantic.

The reaction to Kennedy's death, here in the UK, was similar to that when we heard of the Twin Towers atrocity. If you google: Was JFK an Anglophile, you will find he was, very much so. And he was respected from both sides of our political wings.

Ten-pin bowling had crossed the Atlantic, and by 1963, it had reached the zenith of it's craze. I was in such a ten-pin bowling alley, when his assassination was announced over the intercom. A deep shock seem to descend on the place, all the previous ambience just dissolved. My friends and I couldn't even finish our game. We joined all the crowds outside, everyone was talking about it.
I was 17 at the time, that just about makes me one of the oldest loungers, I reckon. Here's Kennedy entering The House of Commons with his sister, Katherine and brother Joe jnr, in September 1939. They were about to hear Chamberlain's declaration of war.

 

[stevew443]

The people who were adults at the time of JFK's death, if still living today, would be about the same age the WW1 vets were when I was a child. For some reason that thought chills me to the bone.

WW1 didn't seem like ancient history when I was growing up -- but now that the link of knowing people who were there is gone, it might as well be as ancient as the Wars of the Maccabees. It won't be long before the death of JFK is as remote from the people living as the death of Lincoln is to us today.

I used to talk to my grandmother about her grandfather. She knew him well when she was a child so she had many stories to tell about him and relayed the stories that he used to tell her, so it was almost as if I knew my grandmother's grandfather. He was born in 1812, so this boy born in 1952 can almost feel a direct link back to 1812 because I took the time to listen to my grandmother. We have to learn to listen when we are in the presence of history.

 

[Benny Holiday]

This is one of the most interesting threads I've ever seen in the Observation Bar. Thank you all for your contributions, especially those who actually saw JFK in person! I wasn't born, but my Mum turned 25 the day before the assassination. Her recollection was that it was huge shock here in Sydney Australia at the time, and that the years since haven't diminished the impact of that awful event on the world. It was, in a way, the 'beginning of the end', as though the hopes and dreams the USA represented to the Western world would never be so bright or optimistic ever again. Then came Vietnam . . . this all from Mum's perspective.

 

[Benny Holiday]

We have to learn to listen when we are in the presence of history.

Steve . . . so excellently put. Thank you.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I didn't get to meet or see JFK in person...but I did get to meet Robert Kennedy and talk to him for about 30 min. during his trip to Indiana a few weeks before he was assassinated. That one hit me hard as well. That period in history was strange and quite tragic. John..Robert..and MLK. Almost too much....
HD

 

[Stearmen]

As I read through this thread I notice many people alive in 1963 remember JFK's funeral at least as much as his death. Oddly, I remember being told of his death as if it were yesterday, but I have only a vague memory of the funeral. In fact, I don't know if I remember it at all, or if I just remember seeing clips of it replayed in the years since. I do remember Oswald being shot. I didn't see it live but I remember my grandmother calling us long distance and franticly telling us to turn on our TV.

AF

JFKjr. commented before his death, he could not tell how much he actually remembered and how much he had seen on TV through the years. At first I thought that was stupid, but then I realized, I was picturing the funeral procession in color. I imagine, every one here (except for LaMedicine, who saw the procession in person,) saw it on a small Black & White TV. I did not see any color footage until the mid 70s! Now, I have to stop and think to see it in B&W!

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

JFKjr. commented before his death, he could not tell how much he actually remembered and how much he had seen on TV through the years. At first I thought that was stupid, but then I realized, I was picturing the funeral procession in color. I imagine, every one here (except for LaMedicine, who saw the procession in person,) saw it on a small Black & White TV. I did not see any color footage until the mid 70s! Now, I have to stop and think to see it in B&W!

Well I can say I vividly recall JFK Jr.'s death back in the late 90s because I actually was alive when that happened, lol. That one seemed completely unavoidable though.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Yeah... flying a light plane over the ocean after a couple of lessons with your leg in a cast. Who could forsee anything going wrong?

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

Yeah... flying a light plane over the ocean after a couple of lessons with your leg in a cast. Who could forsee anything going wrong?

Well you know how it is. The people who warned him that it was a bad idea probably were working class Joe Schmoes whose opinions didn't matter. Working in corporate America I've learned that a lot of powerful people are dead set on doing things their way or nothing else.

 

[Tomasso]

Yeah... flying a light plane over the ocean after a couple of lessons with your leg in a cast. Who could forsee anything going wrong?

Actually, he had a good amount of flight expierience but he lacked an instrument rating
which allows a pilot to 'fly blind'. He hit a 'black hole' which without the use of instruments will cause all but the luckiest of pilots to go down. What would have been an uneventfull flight in daylight turned tragic at nightfall. He had intended to arrive at his destination well before dark but the tardiness of his passengers (wife and sister inlaw) delayed take off. Yes he displayed a serious lack of judgement by trying to beat sunset but he was not quite the buffoon you discribe.