OldCoyote
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Post by OldCoyote on Nov 22, 2019 9:13:36 GMT -5
What were you doing when you heard the news?
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Value Buy
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Post by Value Buy on Nov 22, 2019 9:17:54 GMT -5
Sophmore year of highschool, in the gym changing rooms changing out of gym clothes for my next class when the rumor started running rampant. The Principal announced the shooting at the beginning of the next class.
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ken a.k.a OMK
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Nov 22, 2019 9:32:01 GMT -5
Just before school let out. 10th grade. Then the bell rang and everyone quietly left without talking.
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Miss Tequila
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Post by Miss Tequila on Nov 22, 2019 10:26:43 GMT -5
I wasn't born until the next decade. I do remember going to my granma's house after school and seeing the news that President Reagan was shot. I was 9 at the time so it didn't really hit me the severity of what happened, but I guess on some level it did as I still remember it.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Nov 22, 2019 10:31:27 GMT -5
JFK was assassinated November 22, 1963. Fifty-six years ago.
Eighth grade in some class. I just remember some kids crying in the school hallways.
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billisonboard
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Post by billisonboard on Nov 22, 2019 10:32:28 GMT -5
I was seven and don't have a memory of the shooting. I do remember being unhappy that all three television stations had the funeral on. I questioned why they couldn't have at least one still show cartoons.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Nov 22, 2019 10:34:53 GMT -5
I was seven and don't have a memory of the shooting. I do remember being unhappy that all three television stations had the funeral on. I questioned why they couldn't have at least one still show cartoons. I felt that way when Regean was shot. And the stupid OJ thing. No reason to pre-empt every program in the country because some famous guy might kill himself whole running away from a murder scene.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Nov 22, 2019 10:38:26 GMT -5
I was seven and don't have a memory of the shooting. I do remember being unhappy that all three television stations had the funeral on. I questioned why they couldn't have at least one still show cartoons. I do remember where I was when Lee Harvey Oswald was murdered by Jack Ruby. My family was is our dining room watching the live broadcast of Oswald about to be escorted out of the police department building. All of a sudden the backyard doorbell rang. My dad told me to get up and let whomever in. During the 30 seconds I was away from the TV screen, Jack Ruby appeared and shot Oswald.
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billisonboard
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Post by billisonboard on Nov 22, 2019 10:48:29 GMT -5
OldCoyote, I am curious about how you chose to title this thread. What, in your mind, is the "American Dream" that became " Gone" that day? (I know you and I go at each other at times but this is an honest question. I have my own thoughts on why it is a good title but want to hear your thinking before I voice them.)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2019 13:46:28 GMT -5
I was at work at when the news was announced. Somebody brought a TV into the office. When I went home at lunchtime, Whatsisname, the Father of My Children who worked at a local radio station, came home while I was there before he went to class. He'd ripped the first news off the teletype and brought it home. He said the bells on the teletype didn't stop between the time the news started and when he left (a couple of hours). I still have that teletype, faded but readable.
When the teletype bells started going off non-stop, he ran and grabbed it and read it cold on the air, being stoic all the while. When he saw Walter Cronkite crying on TV later, he commented that he really had a hard time keeping it together while reading it on the air and didn't blame Cronkite one bit for losing his composure.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Nov 22, 2019 14:28:56 GMT -5
I was a gleam in my father's eye. Although, I hope not at that moment. Because if his response to JFK getting shot was to get busy under the sheets than he is a sicko.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2019 15:06:31 GMT -5
I was 8 years old.
When I came home from school, my mom was crying.
She said the president was shot.
It's all I remember.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Nov 22, 2019 15:13:51 GMT -5
On This Date Fifty Five years Ago, An American Dream Gone!!
This is the definition of the American Dream. What Is the American Dream? The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American Dream is achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, rather than by chance. KEY TAKEAWAYS The term was coined in a best-seller in 1931, "Epic of America." James Truslow Adams described it as "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement." The American Dream was aided by a number of factors that gave the United States a competitive advantage over other countries. Homeownership and education are often seen as paths to achieving the American Dream. www.investopedia.com/terms/a/american-dream.aspSo, because Kennedy was shot, opportunities dried up? What do you mean?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2019 16:47:37 GMT -5
weltschmerz , in those Camelot days it was a feeling, a sense of well-being, where people just knew we were headed in the right direction with him at the helm. Granted, he was born to wealth and privilege, but I think we felt that he understood that all of us weren't as fortunate as he and that he wanted to make it possible for all of us. Possibility. Maybe that's the word. The day he was assassinated was one of those times when we all knew that nothing would ever be the same. There were a lot of things that needed to be and were changing back then, but it was a feeling that everything good had suddenly come to a grinding halt. There had been an aura over America, giving us all hope for our future, the future of our families and friends and neighbors, And then it was gone. Just like that. And what we knew, that nothing would ever be the same, was right. It wasn't. It hasn't been. It never will be. It's different, sometimes better. We seem to have lost our optimism. That American dream, maybe. The optimistic dream. ETA: This has got my super brain coagulating (Bugs Bunny!). In those days, we felt like anything was possible. An education was affordable (yes, it was). You actually could work your way through college and do it in four years. With that degree in hand, there were any number of places we could find a job because most companies would hire any degree because it meant we had intestinal fortitude and stick-to-it-iveness, and they were willing to hire us and train us in job to which we were suited. We could afford a house and raise a family without bankrupting ourselves or going into never-ending, exploding debt. We knew that our lives were going to be better than the lives our parents had and that our children's lives would be better than ours. It didn't work out that way. The hope and optimism evaporated little by little. Now it's mostly gone. ETA: Another thing. Churches didn't lock their doors.
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mmhmm
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Post by mmhmm on Nov 22, 2019 17:28:48 GMT -5
I was at home, dressing my daughter for a trip to the grocery store when the news was announced over television. It wasn't announced the president was killed, only that he had been shot. I called my husband to let him know Nobody in his office had yet heard. Then, I collapsed in tears and sat transfixed for the rest of the day. Needless to say, we didn't make it to the grocery. As @missrigby said, a dream died that day. We lost our innocence along with our optimism.
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billisonboard
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Post by billisonboard on Nov 22, 2019 18:06:12 GMT -5
FWIW JFK’S APPROVAL RATINGS: 1963
Kennedy started the year still enjoying the post-Cuban missile crisis bounce, but the numbers had started to slip. By September, his approval rating had slid to the mid-50s, the lowest of his presidency. A small rebound of 2 points in the following months did not establish a strong pattern. Significantly, the disapproval rating climbed steadily throughout the year, which might have posted an intensifying problem had Kennedy lived to contest the 1964 presidential election. link
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Nov 22, 2019 19:26:31 GMT -5
weltschmerz , in those Camelot days it was a feeling, a sense of well-being, where people just knew we were headed in the right direction with him at the helm. Granted, he was born to wealth and privilege, but I think we felt that he understood that all of us weren't as fortunate as he and that he wanted to make it possible for all of us. Possibility. Maybe that's the word. The day he was assassinated was one of those times when we all knew that nothing would ever be the same. There were a lot of things that needed to be and were changing back then, but it was a feeling that everything good had suddenly come to a grinding halt. There had been an aura over America, giving us all hope for our future, the future of our families and friends and neighbors, And then it was gone. Just like that. And what we knew, that nothing would ever be the same, was right. It wasn't. It hasn't been. It never will be. It's different, sometimes better. We seem to have lost our optimism. That American dream, maybe. The optimistic dream. ETA: This has got my super brain coagulating (Bugs Bunny!). In those days, we felt like anything was possible. An education was affordable (yes, it was). You actually could work your way through college and do it in four years. With that degree in hand, there were any number of places we could find a job because most companies would hire any degree because it meant we had intestinal fortitude and stick-to-it-iveness, and they were willing to hire us and train us in job to which we were suited. We could afford a house and raise a family without bankrupting ourselves or going into never-ending, exploding debt. We knew that our lives were going to be better than the lives our parents had and that our children's lives would be better than ours. It didn't work out that way. The hope and optimism evaporated little by little. Now it's mostly gone. ETA: Another thing. Churches didn't lock their doors. I felt that way about Obama. Now HE'S gone, and look at what you're stuck with. The antithesis of everything that is good.
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sesfw
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Post by sesfw on Nov 22, 2019 19:34:00 GMT -5
A friend and I were preparing to go Christmas shopping when the news came that shots had been fired on the motorcade. We went shopping and left our DHs at home babysitting.
We didn't hear of the death until we returned a couple hours later.
The rest of the weekend was a blur and I remember very little
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kadee79
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S.W. Ga., zone 8b, out in the boonies!
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Post by kadee79 on Nov 22, 2019 20:48:32 GMT -5
I was at work, at a retail clothing store. I had gone to the basement to get some invoices from the receiving clerk so I could enter them & get them paid...we heard it together on her radio down there. Bet I made it to the 3rd floor offices faster than any employee before me since the PA system was up there & our office manger announced it to the entire store.
I don't remember much more than that other than sitting transfixed in front of the tv that night and nearly every downtown store put up memorials to him in their display widows. Town was draped in red/whit/blue...and this was in central Ill., Decatur.
It was the day that the US went dark!
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Nov 22, 2019 23:42:15 GMT -5
I was a gleam in my father's eye. Although, I hope not at that moment. Because if his response to JFK getting shot was to get busy under the sheets than he is a sicko. It's not so weird. Many people respond to death with a re-affirmation of life.
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OldCoyote
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Post by OldCoyote on Nov 23, 2019 9:24:47 GMT -5
OldCoyote , I am curious about how you chose to title this thread. What, in your mind, is the "American Dream" that became " Gone" that day? (I know you and I go at each other at times but this is an honest question. I have my own thoughts on why it is a good title but want to hear your thinking before I voice them.) Geee's Bills, Way back when we thought that We knew everything, could change the world, I thought that John Kennedy was the greatest thing that could ever happen to this Country. " Ask not what can the Country can do for you, But what you can do for your Country" `Of course the only President that I knew of at that time was Eisenhower, an old bald headed man, Wow, look that young Kennedy! Vietnam was not on the full view screen yet, How Kennedy stood up to those "BAD" Russians, (School and media propaganda) during the Cuba Crisis!! Kennedy pushing of the Black Rights, (Part of which I didn't understand, because the Black and Mexican families that lived down the road from us, were well,, one of us. We played together rode the bus together went to school together.) I once got into a debate with an old man over why I thought Bobby Kennedy would make a great president!! the old man was probably 40! In there. " Was tear down this wall! and By the end of this decade, put a man on the Moon! So now We have been thru many Presidents, several wars,, Annnd, No one has beat, Put a man on the Moon!!
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Nov 23, 2019 9:46:21 GMT -5
Four score and fifty five years ago...
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djAdvocate
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Post by djAdvocate on Nov 23, 2019 19:27:14 GMT -5
What were you doing when you heard the news?
sleeping 14 hours a day, learning to crawl.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Nov 23, 2019 21:33:31 GMT -5
What were you doing when you heard the news?
sleeping 14 hours a day, learning to crawl. And still cutting mustard in your diapers.
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dezii
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Post by dezii on Nov 24, 2019 5:13:34 GMT -5
I was at work..salesman at a drug wholesaler...called the office and told my boss I was going home..he had no problem...I remember we stayed in front of the TV watching it all...still can hear those muffled drums on the way to Arlington as they brought Jack to his resting place...by the weekend, we were all so down...called some friends..couples and we all went to the local bowling alley..place was packed...seem everyone we knew was there trying to unwind....The depression was unbearable.. A true story... Years later for some reason my sister in law..Izzy and I got into a discussion about that time. She was going to some womans college in Virginia...Her school kept the flags on campus at full staff and she told me a delegation went to the schools head office...the President...asked him to lower the flags to half staff...He refused saying People die every day.. I guess not everyone felt the same about Kennedy as those who supported him...
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