Sixty Years Ago

[Neutral Corner]

I was in second grade. My first grade teacher ran down the hall screaming that the President had been shot. I don't remember whether school let out early or not, probably did. I spent the weekend glued to the television. THE "where were you when...?" for my generation.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Half-day kindergarten, and when my mom picked me up, we went to the beauty shop.

I remember the women wailing and crying upon Cronkite's report to this day.

 

[maumann]

Reading that scroll is like taking me back in time. That's the way I found out the US had beaten the Soviets at Lake Placid in 1980, by patiently waiting by the AP machine that clacked out stories one character at a time.

1. When they say "rip and read," that's literally what you did. You used a ruler -- or the edge of a table -- and ripped the paper into sheets. We usually had nails on a board that we'd sort by national/local/business/sports/entertainment, etc. You'd grab the latest pile and sort them. If you had time, you'd usually try to rewrite for clarity and your own cadence.

2. William Clay Ford was officially named owner of the Lions that same day. Sort of got lost in the day's events, but here we are 60 years later and the Lions are finally competitive.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

It was way before I was born. My Mom said she was working at her job at a store in Manhattan when the news hit. She said she went home from work early, and that people on the subway to Brooklyn were crying. She said she and my aunt went to St. Patrick's Cathedral to pay their respects, were on line for hours, and that people on line were fainting.

I've never asked my Dad about the exact day that JFK was shot. But Dad did say that he went to the Giants/Cardinals game that Sunday at Yankee Stadium with my uncle. (When Pete Rozelle said his biggest mistake was not postponing the games). Dad said the game was strange as there weren't any announcements over the PA system.

Apparently, my grandfather was very against them going to the game, then afterward, didn't speak to my father for a while because he was so angry.

 

[maumann]

Half-day kindergarten, and when my mom picked me up, we went to the beauty shop.

I remember the women wailing and crying upon Cronkite's report to this day.

A few of us are applying for Medicare this year! (Raises hand.)

 

[MileHigh]

 

[da man]

My father turned 30.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

My father is a similar age to some of you; he was 8. He's told the story to me of hearing the news; was walking home from the school when a neighbor shared the news. Vividly remembers seeing Oswald shot on live TV and his sister screaming.

I have mixed emotions of this day, because I'm beyond sick of the mythmaking the surrounds Kennedy and the conspiracy nuts, my father among them. He got me into the conspiracy theories through Stone's (fictitious) film when I was young. We made it down to Dallas on a trip to Oklahoma* when I was around 10. Luckily (and thanks a lot to getting into journalism) I was able to see through the BS as I aged.

But as someone who was a month shy of his 10th birthday on 9/11, I try to be understanding to my dad and others of his generation. I imagine it was much like having your own father being murdered, which makes the deification that occurred after his death more understandable. But I hope a more nuanced view of Kennedy will take hold later this century after all those who were alive (and emotionally attached) at the time die.

*We were in OK to visit my uncle Dallas, whose birthday is today. He turned 18 on 11/22/63. Happy 78th, Uncle Dal! You better believe he's sick of hearing about his name and birthday coinciding with the assassination.

The conspiracy Stone posits in JFK is so wide ranging it verges on a majority of the population. But there are two factors which still argue strongly that Oswald didn't act alone, and they're not forensics, a rabbit hole it's easy to fall into when discussing the assassination. 1. We've had a lot of sad experience with lone assassins since then, and of all of them, Oswald is still the only one to deny it. "I'm a patsy," was his last public statement. 2. 48 hours later, Oswald is murdered in a police station. That fact is why 80 percent of the American people have consistently said they believe Oswald did not act alone. fork, LBJ didn't think so. Use the "what if this was some other country" test and apply it to the events from Oswald's arrest to his murder. Would you be inclined to believe that country's government's version of events?

 

[maumann]

Amazing how Walter Cronkite was able to ad-lib so deftly, with only scraps of information available being handed to him from every direction at once, some correct, others not so. There's no one I can think of who could hold that kind of composure under stressful conditions like that now without resorting to opinions and heresay.

And the fact that he felt like he needed to remove his glasses to talk to the camera was fascinating as well. He also chokes up just after reading the official announcement.

He was one of a kind.

 

[MileHigh]

Many years ago on Nov. 22, A&E would air NBC's coverage of the assassination beginning at the very minute it broke into regular programming in 1963. It was fascinating.

 

[Starman]

I have never believed anyone other than Oswald was involved in the shooting. Just a misguided, angry man with a rifle, the location to shoot from and the skill to make what most who know about these things (I don't) consider an easy shot.

I think Oswald carried out the assassination on his own, but I believe he was manipulated and maneuvered by other actors who wanted JFK gone for a number of reasons.

I believe Oswald was rubbed out by one of those actors -- probably not the ones responsible for the JFK murder itself, but they needed him to go away.

 

[swingline]

Jack Ruby, "nightclub owner."