I was sitting in my 5th grade classroom when we heard the news about President Kennedy being shot. Two brothers in our class who arrived at school after the lunch hour told us what had happened. Many of us started to cry. We had one old black and white TV in our school and the 5th and 6th grade students had permission to watch TV it they chose to do so. My memory was that I was thinking how horrifying it was that this had happened to our President and his beautiful wife and children. At home the TV was on and we all watched every minute of the next 3 days with the images of the First Lady and Caroline kneeling at the coffin in the Rotunda, the riderless horse named Black Jack in the funeral procession, the show, steady cadence being marked by muffled drums being seared into my heart and soul. I remember "John-John" saluting the men of the military. I remember the First Lady lighting the flame at Arlington.
Our family did get together for Thanksgiving that year because I grew up in an Irish Catholic family and John Kennedy was one of us. There were no bridge games that year, no parade watching, no loud laughter; just our big Irish family crying and telling stories about the President being one of us and how proud we would always be of John Kennedy.
I’m pretty sure for other families that went ahead and gathered on Thanksgiving that it was also more of an opportunity to gather to grieve together than a Thanksgiving celebration. There wasn’t a bone in the body of anybody I knew that felt like celebrating anything that Thanksgiving. Thanks for sharing your memories - and a view - from that perspective
My recollection is that my Irish Catholic friends and their families did indeed feel particularly close to President Kennedy. For them, it was like losing a member of the family.
I remember walking into my home room From gym class and some of the girls were crying, I had heard nothing of the assination and couldn't figure out what had happened, As everyone got into the class room the teacher told us that the President had been shot and that he had passed away as a result. All in that same moment came like a bolt from out of the blue. Who would do such a thing and why? To this day I still don't feel we know the truth about either of those questions. The result of which remains, after my 73 trips around the sun, that my trust in government has been completely hollowed out from things that happened to me since; in Vietnam, the CIA wars in Central America, The capture of Noriga in Panama, the bombing of Libya, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, it seems to never end, and often is caused by fear. Fear of the unknown, the primary thing the Republicans work on to do what ever they want with us, there canon fodder. How many more "riderless horses" does it take before voters actually vote to protect Democracy? How many suicides, how many mental health beds, how many 100% disabled before we stop counting the dead and start investing in the living, breathing people of this country and not the war profiteers?
I was in second grade and I remember being outside on the playground as all of the children talked about it. Then I went home from school and was shocked because as a young child, it was the first time I had ever seen my parents cry. The world had shifted.
Thank you for writing this. All I can add that was especially impactful for me was the starkness of the black-and-white television imagery…Jackie in a full veil, the children, …and the riderless horse.
Remembering: I was in high school home ec class. The janitor came to the door, called the teacher out into the hall, and when she returned, she told us in a soft, hushed voice, "I was just told that the President has been shot ... but they don't think it is anything serious, just in the arm, I think."
It wasn't very long until we knew the truth and school was let out.
While school was out, I spent a lot of time sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of our television, watching all the news coverage and then the funeral. My Dad, Mom, and I were strong Kennedy supporters.
Now - today, I don't think our country has ever truly recovered from the loss of President Kennedy, and then the losses of Bobby Kennedy and also Martin Luther King.
We have only to watch the House Republicans, to see example after example of Americans who have lost their vision of what America could be -- no vision, no compassion, no need for unity, only demands to cut taxes as they work to kill Social Security, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act while they try to break our nation's word on Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. In doing so, they risk our national security by making our nation look weak.
John F. Kennedy's historic words: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,” are still true today, and still necessary for us to live by.
Thanks for sharing these memories. I was in fifth grade when one of my teachers - a man - entered the classroom with tears in his eyes and informed us the president had been shot. All fifth and sixth grade students were allowed to walk to the one room in which a television was located and watch the broadcast (I think it was Walter Cronkite) until it was time for lunch. My family gathered on Thanksgiving Day, but it was a somber occasion, with adults wondering what would happen under the new president and if the USSR was behind the shooting.
My sixth grade class came in from noon recess to find our teacher crying. She was a stern individual so tears were startling to us. She had the radio on and though the transmission was rough with static, we learned that the president had died. She tried to help us understand what a tragedy this was for our country-we lived in a town where most people didn’t like the president because he was Catholic and a Democrat. To my family, this was a tremendous loss because he was “one of us.” Later, I remember watching in real time when Lee Harvey Oswald was shot as he was being transferred from jail. I was a kid, my dad had fought in WWII so we would be safe. I remember not feeling very safe anymore.
I was sitting in my 5th grade classroom when we heard the news about President Kennedy being shot. Two brothers in our class who arrived at school after the lunch hour told us what had happened. Many of us started to cry. We had one old black and white TV in our school and the 5th and 6th grade students had permission to watch TV it they chose to do so. My memory was that I was thinking how horrifying it was that this had happened to our President and his beautiful wife and children. At home the TV was on and we all watched every minute of the next 3 days with the images of the First Lady and Caroline kneeling at the coffin in the Rotunda, the riderless horse named Black Jack in the funeral procession, the show, steady cadence being marked by muffled drums being seared into my heart and soul. I remember "John-John" saluting the men of the military. I remember the First Lady lighting the flame at Arlington.
Our family did get together for Thanksgiving that year because I grew up in an Irish Catholic family and John Kennedy was one of us. There were no bridge games that year, no parade watching, no loud laughter; just our big Irish family crying and telling stories about the President being one of us and how proud we would always be of John Kennedy.
I’m pretty sure for other families that went ahead and gathered on Thanksgiving that it was also more of an opportunity to gather to grieve together than a Thanksgiving celebration. There wasn’t a bone in the body of anybody I knew that felt like celebrating anything that Thanksgiving. Thanks for sharing your memories - and a view - from that perspective
My recollection is that my Irish Catholic friends and their families did indeed feel particularly close to President Kennedy. For them, it was like losing a member of the family.
That is what it felt like. Not a single one of the members of our family had ever met anyone from the Kennedy family, but we felt like we knew them.
I remember walking into my home room From gym class and some of the girls were crying, I had heard nothing of the assination and couldn't figure out what had happened, As everyone got into the class room the teacher told us that the President had been shot and that he had passed away as a result. All in that same moment came like a bolt from out of the blue. Who would do such a thing and why? To this day I still don't feel we know the truth about either of those questions. The result of which remains, after my 73 trips around the sun, that my trust in government has been completely hollowed out from things that happened to me since; in Vietnam, the CIA wars in Central America, The capture of Noriga in Panama, the bombing of Libya, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, it seems to never end, and often is caused by fear. Fear of the unknown, the primary thing the Republicans work on to do what ever they want with us, there canon fodder. How many more "riderless horses" does it take before voters actually vote to protect Democracy? How many suicides, how many mental health beds, how many 100% disabled before we stop counting the dead and start investing in the living, breathing people of this country and not the war profiteers?
Toss in Nixon too.
Another example of how the events of November 1963 affected folks in a long lasting way. Thanks for sharing, Steve.
I was in second grade and I remember being outside on the playground as all of the children talked about it. Then I went home from school and was shocked because as a young child, it was the first time I had ever seen my parents cry. The world had shifted.
Thanks for sharing, Sue.
Thank you for writing this. All I can add that was especially impactful for me was the starkness of the black-and-white television imagery…Jackie in a full veil, the children, …and the riderless horse.
Thank you. I still remember the haunting TV images, too. From most of that week’s coverage.
Remembering: I was in high school home ec class. The janitor came to the door, called the teacher out into the hall, and when she returned, she told us in a soft, hushed voice, "I was just told that the President has been shot ... but they don't think it is anything serious, just in the arm, I think."
It wasn't very long until we knew the truth and school was let out.
While school was out, I spent a lot of time sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of our television, watching all the news coverage and then the funeral. My Dad, Mom, and I were strong Kennedy supporters.
Now - today, I don't think our country has ever truly recovered from the loss of President Kennedy, and then the losses of Bobby Kennedy and also Martin Luther King.
We have only to watch the House Republicans, to see example after example of Americans who have lost their vision of what America could be -- no vision, no compassion, no need for unity, only demands to cut taxes as they work to kill Social Security, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act while they try to break our nation's word on Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. In doing so, they risk our national security by making our nation look weak.
John F. Kennedy's historic words: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,” are still true today, and still necessary for us to live by.
Barry,
Thanks for sharing these memories. I was in fifth grade when one of my teachers - a man - entered the classroom with tears in his eyes and informed us the president had been shot. All fifth and sixth grade students were allowed to walk to the one room in which a television was located and watch the broadcast (I think it was Walter Cronkite) until it was time for lunch. My family gathered on Thanksgiving Day, but it was a somber occasion, with adults wondering what would happen under the new president and if the USSR was behind the shooting.
Thanks for sharing your memories, John.
My sixth grade class came in from noon recess to find our teacher crying. She was a stern individual so tears were startling to us. She had the radio on and though the transmission was rough with static, we learned that the president had died. She tried to help us understand what a tragedy this was for our country-we lived in a town where most people didn’t like the president because he was Catholic and a Democrat. To my family, this was a tremendous loss because he was “one of us.” Later, I remember watching in real time when Lee Harvey Oswald was shot as he was being transferred from jail. I was a kid, my dad had fought in WWII so we would be safe. I remember not feeling very safe anymore.