How You Heard the News About JFK?

[Auburnwine]

Allow me a small, non-wine indulgence, but I was just reminded that Saturday will be the fortieth anniversary of the assassination of JFK. It is a defining historical experience for many people of my generation.

I was sitting in the left front corner of Miss Sadie Thompson’s 7th grade English class at Belle Glade Junior High. Stanley McWhorter, sitting in the back, suddenly announced: “President Kennedy’s been shot.” Stanley had been listening to his transistor radio through an ear piece. He brought the radio to the front of the class and we all listened to the news.

It is hard to imagine that that was forty years ago – and it is even harder to realize how much the world has changed since then.

[winoweenie]

My memory of the day found me in Denver standing in front of the Brown Palace waiting to meet a friend for lunch when the loudspeaker used by the valets parking announced the horrible news.We went into the Captians Lounge and proceeded to get layered while listening the account on radio. Flew back to Wichita 3 days early. WW

[wondersofwine]

I was in college at the University of Nebraska. Heard about it at a beauty shop and went home and had a good cry. I had written my senior paper in high school about Kennedy as a candidate for President. The administration didn't cancel the Nebraska U-Oklahoma game that weekend and I was torn about whether to attend or not. I thought the game should have been rescheduled after the President's funeral. But I knew if I stayed home from the game I would probably listen to it on the radio, so I went. ROTC guys had black drapes on the flag staffs as they marched in. Also, the day after the assassination I went to interview a professor for a yearbook item, and found him in tears in his office listening to the radio. (Nebraska won the game--I think their first win over Oklahoma in football in years!) My sorority had sponsored a semi-official rally for the football team a few days before the assassination (with some NU band members leading a parade through campus and downtown Lincoln). The regular bonfire/pep rally was canceled out of respect for the tragedy, so our informal one was the only pep buildup to the game.

[newsguy]

well, i didn't "hear the news" per se, but the images on TV from JFK's funeral are my earliest memory. i was 15 months old at the time, and i remember sitting in front of our television in the den and seeing the pictures that showed him lying in state at the capitol, and later, the funeral procession down pennsylvania avenue. my father worked at the white house in the 60s and 70s and i sort of grew up there.

[This message has been edited by newsguy (edited 11-19-2003).]

[Bucko]

And not to denigrate the man, but I was shocked at the amount of drugs he took. I just watched a 3-hour special and they unfolded quite a story of blatantly hiding the truth from the American public. Steroids, pain pills, amphetamines -- all supplied by the medical profession I'm ashamed to say. No candidate could ever get away with that today.

[Georgie]

In sixth grade...our principal made the announcement at the end of an assembly that had been going on.

[Innkeeper]

We had been married for three months. I was on my first assignment in the Air Force as personnel officer for the communications squadron on Robins AFB, GA. Bev was teaching first grade in the school the government had just opened on base so black and white kids could go to school together. We were both sent home. We just sat there stunned, watching things unfold on TV, holding hands. I agree, our country has never been the same.

[hotwine]

College senior.... caught a news bulletin from Walter "Crankcase" upon returning home from class. Stayed glued to old B&W tube the rest of the day. Couldn't believe it.

[Kcwhippet]

I was at work and someone turned up their radio and yelled out for everyone to listen. We spent the rest of the day listening to radio reports from Dallas totally stunned and in complete disbelief. Someone said it must be a joke like the War of the Worlds broadcast. I wish it was.

[Bucko]

BTW, I was in the lunch room at the Jr. High School. We heard a wave of rumors, blew them off, than a teacher came in and turned on the TV. Walter Kronkite himself was laying it all out, and Walter was the gospel. We suddenly became speechless and were drawn to the TV like a flame, similar to the first moon launch with NASA. It was a sad day.