62 years ago JFK Killed

Pepper

Pepper

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NYC
Wanted to remember him on this sad occasion. Will never forget pride felt for this man and his gracious family.
I was 14, it was a Friday. Was sophomore in high school. Wasn’t a truant yet.
JFK. His Death. Vietnam. The Beatles.
World changing. Me growing up.
Camelot
Sorry can’t write more.
 

I was 16 and a Junior in high School. The assistant principal, Marion Shambaugh, made the announcement over the PA system. It was a follow up to his earlier announcement that Kennedy had been shot. He said "I regret to advise you that at the President is dead." I remember thinking at the time that using the word "advise" seemed kind of strange, but then Shambaugh was a strange little dude.

Later in the school newspaper he was quoted as having said "I regret to inform you that the President is dead" I mentioned this to a friend of mine that they had gotten his quote wrong and he said said "No, he said "inform". Well I know what I heard and he didn't say "inform", he said "advise." That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
 
JFK.jpg

Sir Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of Britain and the first honorary citizen of The USA, called the assassination of President Kennedy a monstrous act. "The lost to the United States and to the world, is incalculable," he said. "Those who come after Mr. Kennedy must strive the more to achieve the ideals of World Peace and human happiness and dignity to which his presidency was dedicated."
 

@Trade I was also 16 and a junior in high school school.

We were a small rural school and did not have a PA system, but I was driving to school and I remember turning the radio on the car and hearing about JFK.

I was still sitting there when everybody started coming out of school and I remember a couple of the kids came up and asked me if my car wouldn’t start. Turning the car radio up, I said listen to what happened and we were just all in disbelief.
 
My friend called me and told me the news. I was 18 years old. I didn't believe her until I turned on the TV and saw the news. It was so sad and the town went quiet. It seemed like everyone was mourning him. The funeral was really sad with John Kennedy Jr. saluting his father's coffin as he was so little and so was Caroline.
 
At the time it seemed like no big deal to me. They had a replacement lined up and I figured nothing would change as far as the government was concerned. They had already tried to scare me just the year before with that Cuban Missile crisis and it turned out to be nothing, right? So the only negative reaction I had at the time was being pissed off that regualr TV was pre-empted for three whole days with all that funeral hullabaloo.

However the replacement guy decided to escalate the Hell out of this little far off war somewhere that I had barely heard of because if we didn't stop those commies over there the next thing we would know they would be storming the beaches of California like we need on D-day. So by the time I graduated all of us dudes had the draft hanging over our heads like the Sword of Damocles.
 
I was only in third grade but I remember the intense news coverage and the sense of loss from so many everyday people.

No matter how you feel about the Kennedy’s they have been an amazing part of American history.

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They are an American version of Royalty, a true American dynasty.
 
As a 3 year old, there was something significant of the moment, that stuck in the memory.
Confirmed by my parents, I recall where I was when the News broke on the BBC.
(My Mothers words of "Oh my god, he's been shot" in chilling shock, being something that one cannot forget)
In the subsequent years the tales of conspiracy, repeated news reels with limited TV channels - in the UK, both this and the othrer major incidents of the decade were brought straight into the living room by to the attention off enthralled populas.

The tale of what was, what may be have stirred the imagination throughout the time thereafter, and will no doubt continue.

The lone gunman explanation has long been proved as impossible, with the subsequent public execution, closed Warren commission hearings, delayed release of "the vast majority of this Collection being declassified - makes one wonder what has been held back - and why?
 
Pepper said:
Wanted to remember him on this sad occasion. Will never forget pride felt for this man and his gracious family.
I was 14, it was a Friday. Was sophomore in high school. Wasn’t a truant yet.
JFK. His Death. Vietnam. The Beatles.
World changing. Me growing up.
Camelot
Sorry can’t write more.
Click to expand...
I remember, I was around 11 years old. It was so devastating 😞 to everyone.
 
I think we were all so shocked by his death that it took a long time for us to accept that a new world order had been put in motion.

I had just turned 12 when it happened, and it was just so unbelievable that the US President had been assassinated in the US itself, and by person or persons unknown, not by a foreign power, but by an American (or two or three).

I think the world changed that day, from one of optimisim for the future, to one of sadness and pessimism. Kennedy for us in the UK was a breath of fresh air. A new young handsome man, with massive charisma and charm, who seemed to embody for us all that was good about the free world. He was the President who seemed to represent all of our hopes and aspirations, no matter which country we lived in, and we loved him.

So to see him murdered, live on TV was absolutely terrible. It was as though the devil himself had declared war on ordinary decent human society, and not only was injustice done, it was demonstrably seen to be done. Seemingly as a way of demoralising us all into submission to the new normal of hatred and death.

FDR said that December 7th would live on in infamy. I think that Nov 22nd will as well, for those of us who were alive at the time. It's been a stain on society ever since, that not only did it happen, but that Americans allowed it to happen, and didn't immediately root out the conspirators who'd carried out JFKs execution. As to those who maintained it was a lone gunman, I think we all knew immediately that more than one person was involved, so it was an insult to our intelligence to present us with a patsy in the form of Oswold, and then the theatre of having him murdered live on TV by Ruby.
 
BJintheUK said:
I think we were all so shocked by his death that it took a long time for us to accept that a new world order had been put in motion.

I had just turned 12 when it happened, and it was just so unbelievable that the US President had been assassinated in the US itself, and by person or persons unknown, not by a foreign power, but by an American (or two or three).

I think the world changed that day, from one of optimisim for the future, to one of sadness and pessimism. Kennedy for us in the UK was a breath of fresh air. A new young handsome man, with massive charisma and charm, who seemed to embody for us all that was good about the free world. He was the President who seemed to represent all of our hopes and aspirations, no matter which country we lived in, and we loved him.

So to see him murdered, live on TV was absolutely terrible. It was as though the devil himself had declared war on ordinary decent human society, and not only was injustice done, it was demonstrably seen to be done. Seemingly as a way of demoralising us all into submission to the new normal of hatred and death.

FDR said that December 7th would live on in infamy. I think that Nov 22nd will as well, for those of us who were alive at the time. It's been a stain on society ever since, that not only did it happen, but that Americans allowed it to happen, and didn't immediately root out the conspirators who'd carried out JFKs execution. As to those who maintained it was a lone gunman, I think we all knew immediately that more than one person was involved, so it was an insult to our intelligence to present us with a patsy in the form of Oswold, and then the theatre of having him murdered live on TV by Ruby.
Click to expand...

Everybody remenbered where they were when they heard the news. Everyone except one prominent official. That was a clue.
 
I was 11 and in 6th grade. The class clown came into the room and said the President had been shot. Of course, being a cut-up, no one believed him. When I got homd from school my mom was watching the news on TV. I remember the image I saw first was the flag on top of the Capitol dome flying at half staff.

I just looked at the Dealey Plaza cam. There's about 50 people milling around.

Dealey Plaza Cam
 

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