I was a geology major in college and was in a mapping class. I was standing on the side of a busy road and someone stopped their car and said, "The President is dead. Someone shot him." For a moment, I thought he meant the President of the college.

I was in junior high (7th or 8th grade), and we were all called to the gymnasium for the announcement, and then we all went home early.

I was only a little over 2 at the time, but my mother told me that when the funeral was on TV I kept touching the screen and saying, ”Poor John John”.

I was a freshman in high school and in the nurse's room since I felt ill. When my mother came to pick me up she told the office staff.

i would have been in 5th or 6th grade. i remember the announcement over the PA system, it was so shocking and confusing. the sadness came later, during the funeral.

I was at recess in the 8th grade, Catholic School. The lunch room lady came running out of the cafeteria yelling, ”the President has been shot!”.

Three days earlier our mother had taken us out of school to see him when he was visiting Tampa. (We never were taken out of school for any reason, this was the exception.)

I was a junior in high school. The announcement was made over the loud speakers. I cannot recall, but I guess we went home early

I was in third grade. The cooks in the school kitchen were listening to the radio as they worked and reported the news to the principal.

I was a junior in college and I was walking up the street with a friend as neither of us had a class that afternoon. A store we passed had a sign in the window. As a side note, Less than two years later, Robert Kennedy spoke at our commencement and he actually handed me my diploma.

Freshman in high school biology class. Another teacher came into the room (which was unusual) and told our teacher. Everyone was just stunned of course with no further details. The announcement came over the intercom shortly after and school was dismissed for the day.

I was in French class. I was a high school junior. The announcement came over the intercom but no one could quite figure out what was going on. Whoever was in charge sent a radio broadcast on the intercom and it wasn’t clear. I remember my teacher’s face going from annoyance to shock. We were sent home early.

I also remember watching tv when Ruby shot Oswald.

I was in my crib taking a nappy. 9 months old.

I didn't exist. Mom had just had my brother in August. They were on post at the bank.

Having been though the Regan assassination attempt, I would think it would've been completely frightening to be married to a military person with a brand new baby. But she's gone and I can't ask her.

Was it scary to those who lived through it? Then, Bobby and Martin? It must've been a confusing time. Hugs!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rwn8hIyiHvI

I was in my senior year of high school and was attending cosmetology school that day. Someone rushed into the school to tell us what happened and most of us left and went to a nearby store which sold tvs and had them in the window display. There was a crowd of people trying to watch and everyone was just stunned. A very sad time.

I heard it on the BBC radio news. We had no TV. Noon in Dallas was evening here so I wasn't in school. I knew who he was and that it was a momentous event.

p.s. You did cosmetology as a school subject? We had neither cosmetology classes nor intercoms.

My school did something special for the 6th graders on Friday afternoons. We had "clubs". You didn't get to pick; you were just assigned. Our club was for math, and a professor from the college next door came to teach us. When he came in at 2PM, he told us, and we all cried, even the boys.

Another memory. My cousin had her first baby on 11/19, and on 11/24 we were going to see her. While we were in the car, Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald.

I was 6, and tbh I don’t remember anything except the tv on a lot when I got home from school. I do, oddly, remember when Ruby shot Oswald, and I asked my dad why, and he said because Oswald had shot the president. I said, then it’s good Ruby killed him. Dad said, it’s never good for anyone to kill anyone.

My parents kept many newspapers and the Life and Look magazines about it in an end table drawer in the living room. For years I would look through them, sitting on the living room floor.

I was grocery shopping with my Mom, and someone in the meat department had a radio playing. When it was suddenly announced that the President was dead, I think we all went into shock and the store became very quiet and somber. It was a very sad time for our country. I watched Jack Ruby shoot Oswald on TV, which was another shock.

I wasn't born - not even thought of.

My parents lived in Washington DC at the time, and they had vivid memories of that day, and the days that followed. They were along the processional route.

I was in Mrs. Huntley’s first grade class. The principal came over the loud speaker to announce what had happened then played what was on the radio. They dismissed us early. I remember standing in the bus line and seeing the sixth grade girls crying. Didn’t sink in until I got home and found my Mom in tears. I recall looking through the pages of Life magazine over and over in the weeks after.

No idea. I was four. My parents kept adult things in the adult world. My dad would have been a Lieutenant in the USAF, in grad school. They made a conscious effort to keep the five of us out of my dad's life and what it might mean one day.

Arcy this is the first time I’ve heard anyone else here say ”they kept adult things in the adult world.” My parents did that and THAT WAS A MISTAKE.

Parents, be sensible please. My mother was very private and rarely shared things. She told me once that her sister, my aunt, lost a baby, then she clammed up and left the room. I was about 5 and for years I couldn’t figure out why my aunt didn’t go LOOK FOR her baby. I know it sounds dumb but that’s what I thought. When I finally figured it out, I was mad at mom for not just telling me that the baby died.

Sorry - way off topic. I feel better now though.

i was a Jr in high school. English class. The principal announced it over the intercom. At first he said the president had been shot. I was hoping he was still alive. Then he said, "I repeat, President Kennedy has been assassinated."

I was 3 so i don't remember nor do I recall my parents reaction. I would be interested though in those of you who remember the Kennedy years telling me how you felt when he was running for and was elected president. Your feelings about optimism, hope and such.

I do have one particular memory of that day. To show that my nature then was the same as it is now, it was an odd thing that caught my attention.

I was just a little kid in school, at an age when an awareness or interest in the broader world that existed beyond my own little bubble hadn't developed. I'd hear or read superficially of current events in the news and rather than developing any in-depth understanding, they would just bounce off. Like with most or all kids. More on this in a second.

There was an announcement on the school-wide intercom. that Kennedy had been shot and school was over for the day. I remember the teacher speaking for about 5 minutes of his initial reaction and suggestions for what we should do. The girls began crying and that continued for several minutes before he said we should go home.

I approached a girl I knew better than others and asked why she was crying. She said "I heard other girls crying and figured that's what I should do". That's the memory of that day that sticks with me most.

Post script - realizing in my retirement years that there were many events and issues in the world that happened when I was young and oblivious/disinterested in such things, I've found great pleasure in revisiting these times by reading books on topics that at some time in my youth were major matters. Events, people, national/international matters of significance, etc. that I paid little or no attention to at the time that were really important. I recommend doing this, it's been both eye-opening and a lot of fun.

I was 13 and in 8th grade, and that the shooting, and then his death were announced over the loudspeaker. I remember that my mother picked me up from school, because it was so upsetting to her. This was a significant national event to experience- I remember the television being on for days, watching Ruby shoot Oswald in real time, and watching Jackie, Caroline and John Jr. at the funeral. I had nightmares about it. I actually remember quite a bit from that weekend; it was just heartbreaking. I still feel that somehow everything took a turn for the worse after that event- (although I was definitely a big fan of the ‘60s!). a certain innocence was lost.

I once read that John Jr, when asked what he remembers about his father and those days, said he doesn’t know what he actually remembers, and what has become memories because there is so much information. He was just a tot, so that makes sense. and, he had known pretty much only life in the First Family, the White House and the bustle, people coming and going and Daddy traveling and everything, seeing military marches, so perhaps that day, even with his birthday party mixed in, didn’t feel so different from other days.

littlebug, there are many ways children misinterpret what they hear. Mom told me DH's father was an engineer so I thought he drove a train...she told me Dad was a tool maker so I thought he made hammers and saws and such. And our neighbor was having a baby so I asked how the baby came out. Mother said there's an opening in the body, so I thought there was a big zipper across the abdomen that opened.

I was in grade school and they sent people around to all the classrooms with the announcement in the form of what they called ”call slips” then. I remember my teacher asked if it was a joke. In my young mind it was so beyond reality. The assassination of our President was just not something that could possibly happen in 1963. That day is frozen in time. I still remember exactly what I was wearing.

So many tragedies in that family.

Much like Dedtired. And a few days later while watching TV at my friend’s we saw Ruby shoot Oswald. All of this was so shocking and sureal. At that young age, no experiences like it.

Years later, even now, I‘m metaphorically scratchg me head, asking myself, did I really see Jack Ruby shoot Oswald on live TV?!?! Stunning. There was no category for filing THAT!

I was in Mississippi at the time in grade school and it was lunch. A friend and I were walking by the office where the people had the radio on and we accidently heard the first announcement that he had been shot. We went back to our room and the teacher came in to say it was just a campaign stunt. He had himself shot to get the "sympathy vote". I thought that sounded improbable. Of course they then announced over the speaker that he had died and she was embarrassed. He wasn't popular in the deep south of course. We were sent home and there were days of solemn music. People were unnerved. It was reassuring that the transfer of power went so well. Tough times all together.

Really? I was told in political science classes, he was highly popular in coal mining areas of the Appalachians. Specifically, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia...

For those interested, there’s an excellent piece in The New Yorker today, “The Intimate Reality of the JFK Assasination” by Adam Gopnick.

I spent a summer on a French homestay in Normandy in the early 1970s. JFK was quite beloved, and there were roadside plaques and such for him.

Rob, those states are not "Deep South". Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and the coastal Carolinas are a different sort of south. When I moved to the Kentucky, Tennessee area after college in Mississippi to me and my friends I was moving to the north. I suppose you could make the divide by who seceded when. Virginia is different as well. It is Virginia. Kind of like Texas is Texas.

In terms of who killed JFK, I found one that makes sense to me. He was killed by friendly fire. Two different kinds of ammo...two different guns. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Error

Here's a link on the topic to an article from the politically conservative Heritage Foundation

Because of Southern Democrats, support of Civil RIghts Acts was greater among Republicans than Democrats

The comment I was responding to was about whether or not JFK was popular in Southern states. I documented political facts and events that happened soon after his death that suggest objective evidence to answer the question.

The topic and the question were political, not personal, not sociological, not anything else.

Rob, you should read Elmer’s article. It is fact-based from what I can tell, based on the political make-up of fhe congress at the time. I found it interesting, just as Elmer pointed out in his original post. And BTW, I’m born and raised in the South, and am a lot older than you.

It’s funny how we might have paid little to no attention to the way things were or happened back when they actually happened. But it is fascinating to read about them now that there are more people actually bringing some truths to light. The war in Vietnam is one great example.

Elmer, if interested, I’d highly recommend the book about 3 women correspondents in Vietnam, ’You Don’t Belong Here’, by Elizabeth Becker.

I was 8 years old and in the third grade. I was at recess when word spread quickly on the playground. We were dismissed and I ran home.

I have now asked, and have an answer. I'm not exaggerating. If you wanted to know military intelligence on how to proceed in the 90s, in the middle east, you called him, and he gave you information on how to proceed. He KNEW. He led the information units.

On that day, the Navy went to defcon 1. This was on the heel of the Bay of Pigs. They had no idea who shot the President. So I wasn't far of in my thinking

Outside Playing, thanks for the book recommendation. I'll try it after I finish the one I'm currently reading, which sounds like it has a similar plot line but in a different context: The Sisterhood, by Liza Mundy, It tells the story of how extremely capable and driven women had to work hard to break up the CIA's old boy network culture to open employment opportunities to the other half of the population. Women who, in many roles, could offer superior aptitude and insights for situations and tasks than men could offer but for which they were long denied the opportunities to try.

rob, you're welcome to ignore anything I say. I provided factual information .You can choose to ignore it. There's no need to repeat what's already been provided.

Sorry, no.

Can’t recall where I was in other life. Lots of people are not sure about the “facts” of the event that happened. A lot of mysteries and we may never know exactly who were behind JFK’s assassination.

Sharing this moving paragraph by John Updike from 1963, posted by a friend of mine. He captured the horror so beautifully.

Thanks for your book recommendatiom, Elmer. I’ll check it out.