This day

[Max5s]

How many of you were around on this day in 1963?

[Nightposter]

I was home from school during lunch, when the news broke... didn't go back to school until after thanksgiving break.....

[Dalila di Capri]

I was yet to be born.

However I watched the recent JFK specials on the History channel.

What a devastating blow to Americans this or any assassination of a president must be.

[tOkie]

We were let out of school for the rest of the day. I remember the local news was on all day with moment by moment broadcasting of every possible event. There was some footage, now long destroyed, of the gurney in the hallway at Parkland Hospital. They would play the audio from the motorcycles and squad cars that were scouring Oak Cliff for the gunman-men. I remember the camera they were using outside was focused on the entry of the underground parking garage of the Dallas Police Dept. The local channel would show that shot when they were not showing the news studio. You have to remember, back at that time, the "newsroom" was just one corner of the building that didn't have any nearby windows. It was not even what we see now as a "set"...just a desk and one chair. No backdrop, no multiple anchors, nothing like it is today.

Anyway, the camera that they had on the police garage...that would be the same garage where the now famous film of Jack Ruby stepping in and shooting Lee Oswald was taken. The garage entry faces west right into Dealy Plaza. That building is currently part of the Dallas Country Courts. The courts took it over when the city built a new police building several years ago. Standing in front of that garage entry and looking north about 100 to 125 yards, you are looking at the grassy knoll. Just about 100 yards west of the grassy knoll is the triple viaduct, the very same one there in 1963.

I suppose you can tell I am from Dallas. I was born there and spent a majority of my life growing up in and around the area. I was a courier for many years in the late 1980's and again in the early part of this new century. The south west corner of the building that sits across the street from the old police station is the spot where my great great grandaddy, John Neely Bryan, built his cabin and settled the town that was to become Dallas. This spot is just 50 or so yards from the grassy knoll. That is where he had his livery and feed store.

[Bella Morte]

My hubby was 1 year old. I wasn't even a glimmer in my moms eye yet.

[Bluestone]

As everyone knows, I'm from Canada, but that didn't matter. JFK was idolized in Canada just as he was in the States. I was in grade school when the live feed of the news of the JFK assassination came over the school P.A. system. I was 12. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Within hours, everywhere you went... the shopping centres and all other buildings, there were large photos of Jack Kennedy in the windows with a black border around it. Our nation was also in shock and mourning. We were glued to the television, watching the replays of the shooting and following the breaking news. It was long before CNN, and all of the major news networks just cancelled their regularly scheduled programming to follow the story. A few days later, I saw Lee Harvey Oswald shot live on our family's black and white TV by Jack Ruby. Those were probably the first real deaths that I ever saw. Those memories will always stay as fresh in my mind as if they'd happened yesterday.

Blue

[mresoteric]

I remember it well .

[kevin67]

I was 18 at the time, and working in a bank in Manhattan when the news came across the radio. People were in shock and crying and wondering how this could happen. Later on millions of people witnessed the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV. Like Blue, it was the first time I saw anyone shot, and I couldn't believe what I had just witnessed.

The incident always left me without a sense of closure, as it did for many others, as to what actually was the truth behind these two deaths.

Whatever the truth was, the incident was definitely a wake up call to the nation. Our notion of Camelot and the perfect world we thought existed were gone. Our dreams of the future were shattered. We recovered as a nation, but the scars are still there.

[Peter]

I hadn't quite turned four, but I remember the day because of the effect it had on my father. All I knew was that someone important had been killed. I do remember watching the funeral and asking lots of questions. I don't know whether my father welcomed or resented the distraction. It was probably the moment when I first started thinking about the world outside of my immediate family.

[Max5s]

Thanks for an interesting collection of responses. I also remember the day fairly well. We got the news around noon and were sent home from school shortly afterward. All 3 TV networks shifted to exclusive coverage of the event for several days.

The US has had several president's die in office; Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy from gunfire; Harrison, Wilson and F. Roosevelt from disease. T Roosevelt and Reagan were both shot and survived, Ford was shot at and at one point, the White House was under attack. So about one out of every six presidents have actually been in the line of fire. Makes me wonder if I'm living in a third world nation at times. (J/K)

[tOkie]

Thanks for an interesting collection of responses. I also remember the day fairly well. We got the news around noon and were sent home from school shortly afterward. All 3 TV networks shifted to exclusive coverage of the event for several days.

The US has had several president's die in office; Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy from gunfire; Harrison, Wilson and F. Roosevelt from disease. T Roosevelt and Reagan were both shot and survived, Ford was shot at and at one point, the White House was under attack. So about one out of every six presidents have actually been in the line of fire. Makes me wonder if I'm living in a third world nation at times. (J/K)

Not a 3rd world, just a nation that once believed that Volkswagens, conceived by one of the most evil people ever, were the coolest vehicles on earth.


damned pinko commeez

[Bluestone]

Makes me wonder if I'm living in a third world nation at times. (J/K)

Not a 3rd world, just a nation that once believed that Volkswagens, conceived by one of the most evil people ever, were the coolest vehicles on earth.

damned pinko commeez

I assume that was said with tongue in cheek, tOkie. Obviously, there's nothing evil about the German people, just some of their leaders and henchmen during the early part of the last century.

Blue

[tOkie]

Of course, Blue


Although, I have never, nor will I ever, own a Volkswagen





damned German engineering




farhvergnugen indeed!

[Bluestone]

One of my favourite cars was a VW Rabbit. It was blue... of course It was really peppy, and very well engineered. Used to zip around as a student in that little bomb! The repairs were expensive though, so I've been buying American/Canadian ever since.

Blue

[Max5s]

I had a blue VW for may years. Fun car and easy to work on. And I had one made before the Kennedy assassination as well (getting back on topic--LOL).