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50th Anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination

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Aloysius J. Gleek:

--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on November 18, 2013, 10:58:45 pm ---I was a 7th grader just entering middle school and I was very overwhelmed. I was standing at my locker in the basement of my school just trying to deal with all my books, coat, and other belongings when I heard a clattering on the stairs. I was scared because there was no one else around. Suddenly, Kirstie Alley, who was a year or two older than me, burst into the hall and yelled at me, "Kennedy was shot". I just gaped at her, not able to take it in. "What?" I squeeked. "Kennedy was shot!" she repeated and moved on. I was mostly shocked because she had disrespectfully said "Kennedy" instead of "President Kennedy". I had no idea that he was mortally wounded. (Maybe I thought she was a drama queen way back then!)

--- End quote ---




I was a 3rd grader. Just a few weeks prior, JFK visited New York one day for some reason (I was only 9 years old and stupid, don't know why) and the entire school was to stand outside on a corner and watch him go by. The entire school--except for MY class. The Nun (sorry, nearly all our nuns were mean) decided we were too noisy that day, so she and we sat in our classroom, in silence, hands folded, in the otherwise deserted school.

So. It was just a few weeks later that JFK was shot in Dallas. And there we were, again, sitting in silence until we were told that we were leaving early. I remember how shocked I was when I got home in the early afternoon and found my mother and her sister, my aunt, were watching the news on the black and white set. I remember the funeral on the same black and white set. I remember how all the adults were so sad and stunned--

Hard to believe that MLK and RFK were killed only four and a half years after that.

Penthesilea:
I'm born in 1968 so obviously don't have anything to contribute. But I wanted to say thanks to all who shared their memories. Very interesting.

Luvlylittlewing:
I was in 1st grade and our family was just about to move to Oakland from Oklahoma City.  As far as the assassination goes, I didn't know what was happening, only that my mom was crying her eyes out!  You couldn't say anything bad about the Kennedy family in my house: my parents worshipped them. 

serious crayons:
I was in first grade and remember our teacher leaving class for a few minutes and then coming back to announce it. I knew it was a big deal because she almost started crying. "He was shot ... in the head," she said, her voice breaking, as if the location of the wound was what made it really awful. Seeing my teacher react that way kind of freaked me out more than the news itself.

When Ronald Reagan was shot, I heard the news while standing in a book store. Suddenly I choked up, just as my teacher had about 20 years earlier. And I wasn't even a Republican! Suddenly, I understood my teacher's reaction.



--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on November 18, 2013, 10:58:45 pm ---Suddenly, Kirstie Alley, who was a year or two older than me, burst into the hall
--- End quote ---

I didn't know you went to school with Kirstie Alley.

Aloysius J. Gleek:




[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVNKNz-lc6k[/youtube]
Conductor Erich Leinsdorf breaks the news of
Kennedy's assassination, plays Beethoven's 3rd

Uploaded on Feb 7, 2012 

The radio microphones were present at a Boston Symphony Orchestra concert at an extraordinary moment in American history.

On November 22, 1963, conductor Erich Leinsdorf was leading the regular Friday afternoon BSO concert at Symphony Hall. Before the program began, it had been reported across the nation that president John F. Kennedy had been shot by a sniper while riding in a motorcade in Dallas. It was known, too, that his injuries were serious, but that was all the information that was available.

During the first half of the concert, what was feared became confirmed: Kennedy's wounds were fatal. Monitoring news reports backstage at Symphony Hall, orchestra officials determined to continue the concert, but with a change in the program. Librarians pulled orchestral parts to Beethoven's "Eroica" funeral march from the shelves and brought them down to the stage door. After learning of the tragedy himself backstage, Leinsdorf walked back onstage, relayed word to the audience, and led the BSO in a work in tribute to the nation's fallen leader.

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