John F. Kennedy Assassination

The 44th Anniversary

Published on November 22, 2007 By Larry Kuperman In Current Events

On November 22nd, 1963 at 12:30 PM CST in Dallas, Texas, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States of America, was shot and killed.

There are moments and events that define generations. December 7th, 1941, the day that Pearl Harbor was attacked was one. September 11th, 2001 was another. If you were alive on those days, days which may have begun as ordinary days, you will remember the moment when you heard the news. Life would go on for most of us, but in retrospect, our world's would be changed. We would always remember where we were when we heard the news.

I was a young boy, leaving public school and on my way home when I heard the news This was in the Bronx, in New York City. People were shouting to each other across the city streets. There was a certain disbelief, of skepticism. Had it really happened? Impossible, who would have shot the President? A half an hour after the President was shot, he was pronounced dead. By that time, I was home and glued to the TV (black and white, of course) and my mom had the radio on as well. Then there was a sense of fear and uncertainty. What would happen next? Were the Russians or the Cubans to blame? Was this the beginning of an atomic war?

At 2:38 PM CST, Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office and we had a new President.

Lee Harvey Oswald would be arrested and two days later, we would be shocked to see him shot down as he left the Dallas Police Headquarters. Jacob Rubinstein, a nightclub owner better known as Jack Ruby, would be convicted for that murder and would die in prison in 1967.

Camelot had ended and the world was sadder and grayer.

Comments

adnauseam

on Nov 22, 2007

Hi Kupe,

I remember the day so well. Even as a young South African (aged 16), I was completely shocked. I remember coming home from church and waking my mother up to tell her the news. We had no TV in SA then but we listened to the radio and we felt stunned--such was Kennedy's allure.

Larry Kuperman

on Nov 22, 2007

Thanks, adnauseum.

It is hard for anyone who did not live through those times to understand how much the world changed on that day. It was just over a year after the Cuban Missile Crisis (October of 1962) perhaps the closest that we have been to a nuclear war. But the crisis was over and the world was optimistic. And then the assassination and all the mystery surrounding it.. It was devastating for a generation.

Dr Guy

on Nov 22, 2007

I was at after school activities (my mother was single and sent us to a school that would keep us until she got off). It was a warm day. Norfolk Va. I ran inside to get a drink of water with my friend Brian. The secretary was crying. We asked her if she was ok. She said the president had been shot.

I was 7. It was my cousin's birthday. And we were going over to her house after school to have cake and ice cream. We never did.

Trudygolightly

on Nov 22, 2007

I was a Junior in high school, between Spanish Class and History class....

and then my mom and I watched in horror as Jack Ruby shot Oswald, scary how vivid my memories still are of this horrible day in our history.

Daiwa

on Nov 24, 2007

Eighth grade, Harper Elementary, sitting in a social studies class as I recall. We were glued to the tube for the next several days & saw Ruby shoot Oswald live. It was very surreal.

writerdirectorproducer

on Jan 05, 2008

Really Inez?

writerdirectorproducer

on Jan 05, 2008

This is all well and good; but imagine a world only its a ring but its a world; ring world man

Adventure-Dude

on Jan 11, 2008

I wasn't even born yet

But I'm sure it's like 9/11 is for me.

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