Where were you Nov.22,1963?

FatMan · November 17, 2003 8:45AM

I was in Mrs. Winter's Kindergarten Class at Shackamaxon Elementary in Scotch Plains, NJ. We were all called to the auditorium where the Principal annouced the assasination. I remember everyone was crying. We were all sent home early.

kieferscoins · November 17, 2003 8:46AM

I was born in 1982!

Cameron Kiefer

DHeath · November 17, 2003 8:58AM

I guess to me at least the Kennedy half is the most American of coins, and reminds me of a much simpler time. Collectors love history, and that coin is part of the living history of all of us that remember where we were when our generation lost it's innocence. I'm glad I remember.

a2labmom · November 17, 2003 9:05AM

my parents were just 16 years old...I wasn't to come along for another 4 years...

CHESSNUTDOG · November 17, 2003 9:08AM

Sitting in my 12th grade english class in an airforce base in Newfoundland. We cancelled our basketball game that night...Mike

hjohn74 · November 17, 2003 9:25AM

I was -11, but my dad told me he was out hunting and heard about it when he got back home.

construct · November 21, 2003 10:11AM

I was in kindergarten. I was really scared that the Russians would be invading any minute.

Bobk · November 21, 2003 10:24AM

Walking home from school. I met one of the neighbors and she said, "the president has been shot".

razorface1027 · November 21, 2003 10:31AM

Probably locked in my bedroom...I was 3

mercurynut · November 21, 2003 10:38AM

That was 23 months before I was born so I must have just been the apple of somones eye.

Newmismatist · November 21, 2003 10:40AM

Freshman, Univ of Michigan - Ann Arbor (GO BLUE! - beat OSU!)

I heard the news that the President had been shot in Dallas just as I was getting ready to go to my Biology class - (a few minutes before 1pm EST) - Devestating News - Cut class & continued to listen to the radio news - then heard Walter Cronkite announce that President Kennedy was dead - It was shocking. The whole campus (& I think the whole country) came to a standstill - the UM-OSU football game scheduled for the next day was cancelled - Nobody could make any sense of what happened in those first hours - watched TV reports pretty much non-stop for the next 2 days - saw Ruby shoot Oswald - It was a sureal nightmare - there was great concern that the Russians were behind the assassination - In less than 5 years America went from the Optimism of JFK to what seemed like a descent into the depths of Hell: the escalation of the Vietnam war, the demonstrations, the weekly casualty reports (500 deaths a week), & then the 1968 Democratic convention where it seemed like America exploded and was at war with itself. JFK's assassination forever changed America - a whole generation lost its innocense at that moment.

razorface1027 · November 21, 2003 10:43AM

That was 23 months before I was born so I must have just been the apple of somones eye.

Do you remember that old joke...What were you b-4 you were born?.............

bigindie · November 21, 2003 10:43AM

My parents were 15. I was over 10 years off.

Dollars · November 21, 2003 10:53AM

I myself was three at the time, I have not memory of it

My lady was 11, she states that they told her at school. Many cried. Was sent home for the day from school. Went she got home she found her mother in front of the radio crying. Her mother quit smoking that day and never picked it up again. Now her mother is one of the important people in my life.

Listen to the elders and learn from what they have lived

Dave
In Laurel
MD

MrKelso · November 21, 2003 10:58AM

4th Grade, the principle came in and told us that the President had been shot in Dallas. He lead us in a prayer and sent us home to be with our families.

pmh1nic · November 21, 2003 11:02AM

I was in school (5th Grade) when the news came that President Kennedy had been shot.

FC57Coins · November 21, 2003 11:13AM

I was 6 years old - living in Havana, Cuba at the time. I was playing between my house and the neighbor's house when my mom told the neighbor what had happened.

coinkat · November 21, 2003 11:15AM

Nemismatist is right... most if not all of the college football games for that Saturday in November of 1963 were cancelled and played sometime the following week. Not to take anything away from the thread and as hard as it may sound to believe but the OSU-Michigan game of 1963 did not have an impact on the Big Ten Championship. Illinois beat Michigan State to play Washington in the Rosebowl.

It is interesting to note that 40 years later that we are not closer to a resolution to this... while I am willing to acknowledge the single bullet theory is possible, it is still highly unlikely.

I remember where I was and the day was sad beyond belief only to be followed by days that were even more surprising for obvious reasons.

segoja · November 21, 2003 11:29AM

The amazing aspect about this thread (besides the fact it has nothing to do with numismatics...surprised no one has mentioned that it spawned Russ's favortie series) is how our country has changed.

The talk about priciples and teachers leading the class in prayer and the national anthem seems like yesteryear. How a few folks can change the will of the majority still amazes me.

By the way I was 7 months old without a care in the world.

MJCoin · November 21, 2003 11:31AM

I was 6 years old, and can remember it like it was yesterday. I don't remember the actual assasination event but on the day Lee Harvey was shot, I was watching TV with my father, my Mother was in the kitchen. The news broke to Lee Harvey being led through the police station, and I was watching when he was shot. My father started shouting to my mother, and even though I was just 6, I was stunned. Later I saw the funeral procession, I watched it all. It still gives me chills to this day.

lordmarcovan · November 21, 2003 11:31AM

I was (-2) at the time. A mere twinkle in me daddy's eye, I was.

PS- I do remember the moon landings, though, even though I was still a pre-K rugrat at the time.

nepbrs44 · November 21, 2003 12:09PM

1st grade I remember the nuns crying
Wait! Was that the first grade or purgatory???

With those Nuns same difference I guess?

DanC · November 21, 2003 12:57PM

4 years old. I remember something DREADFUL had happened. I didn't understand at the time.

Now -- 40 years later - I do understand.

btw...

A. Oswald did NOT act alone.

B. The "kill" was made from the front (storm drain near the "grassy knoll")

C. Conspiracy? Duh.

razorface1027 · November 21, 2003 1:00PM

Indeed...Office of State Security...

beartracks42 · November 21, 2003 2:33PM

I was in Washington Court house, Ohio, hunting pheasants with my brother and two friends. One of the saddest days that I can remember. I was 21 years old at the time.

oreville · November 21, 2003 3:02PM

I was in 5th grade in Ms Kriss class in William B Ward elementary school New Rochelle, NY and remember the principal's announcement over the PA system. I believe he also included a short broadcast from the radio to let us know he was not fooling. We were stunned and numbed. We all left school early that day without saying a word. My mother who was as striking as Jackie was crying when I got home. My father was stoic as he was a fellow Navy Captain in the Pacific in WWII. That was the first time "current events" was really CURRENT to me. I was sickened by the whole thing.

We lived in the city that Dick Van Dyke and Thomas Paine made famous. Only two years later when RFK ran for Senator of New York, I took a close-up picture of him (which I have saved to this day) and was enthralled with him.

However, after his death, I learned fast about politics in Chicago in 1968.

DHeath · November 22, 2003 2:31AM

Nov.22nd,1963 at 12:30 in the afternoon.

Thanks for all the replies.

Conder101 · November 22, 2003 2:50AM

I was just under 3 years old at the time and I don't remeber the assasination or Oswald being shot. But the funeral procession is just about my earliest memory. (Earliest was my brothers first birthday the month before.)

<< <i>It is interesting to note that 40 years later that we are not closer to a resolution to this... while I am willing to acknowledge the single bullet theory is possible, it is still highly unlikely. >>

I'm willing to admit to it being possible, but that bullet they "recovered" from Connley's stretcher wasn't it. A bullet pass through Kennedy, through the bones of Connley's wrist and lodge in his thigh just drops out on the stretcher on its own and isn't deformed by the passage through the wrist? I don't think so.

Another thing I have never understood. The President coming to town was a big thing. The motor route was lined with people and then like now people are shutterbugs. A event like that you will find a LOT of people taking pictures. Eight millimeter movie cameras were very popular back then as well. The TV crews were filming the event as well and in their film you see lots of people with cameras. All we ever see is the Zapruder film and a little TV footage of the cars racing away. You mean to tell me that during that 6 second period EVERYBODY had picked that time to stop taking pictures? There had to be at least a couple thousand people there. There should have been dozens of still shots and at least a few films of the event. Maybe Zapruder's was the best but where are all the others?