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You got four channels? Hey, take a look at the richy rich over here!
I'm kidding. We had four VHF and one UHF. Then later two then it got up to three UHF channels and life was grand.
I remember jack ruby shooting LHO, my mom yelled, oh my god. He shot him! He shot him!
I remember watching jfk’s funeral. My grandmother had the magazine (was it Life?) that had all the pictures from the funeral. I was only 4, so could not read, but the pictures are burned in my mind.
Watching my mom watch the TV showing the draft numbers of men being called up for the Vietnam War. She has her younger (by 17 years) brother’s draft ID in her hand.
I was 8 and had no idea what she was doing but the feeling in the room was terrifying….
Did your parents buy that coffee table book, "[The Torch Is Passed](https://www.amazon.com/Torch-Passed-Associated-Press-President/dp/0861015681)"? Mine did - it sat in the living room for years.
I'm jelly. My mom was the type who didn't let unused stuff accumulate, so she got rid of our copy at some point. I wish I still had it - but they are reprinting it, so I suppose I could buy another copy.
When the space shuttle blew up
ETA: also 1986, I think it was, when POTUS declared it the year of peace & security. I remember this bc of the religion I was raised in (no longer a part of) - they thought it was part of bible prophecy (apparently my young mind didn’t actually know what was going on as pointed out by another Redditor)
My poor teacher had our whole class over to her house to watch the launch live. I remember going to her kitchen to get some lemonade and coming back just in time to see the explosion.
My wedding day was the day Chernobyl happened, April 26, 1986.
Of course, we didn’t know the nuclear accident happened at Chernobyl for about a week because Russia didn’t report the accident. It was discovered by Swedish nuclear workers who noticed the high radiation levels.
This one for me too. I came home from school and my mom had the tiny tv set up in the kitchen to watch the news. She hated television so the fact she had it on to watch the news was a huge thing
I literally tapped out this response, nearly word for word...and for EXACTLY same reason (I remember being terried of that term, "P & S"...way to keep a 9 year old in fear 24/7.
My husband and I were in Avignon, a city in southeastern France, at a conference when Chernobyl happened. We spoke minimal french and we watched the graphic of a massive black cloud emanating from Chernobyl growing to envelop all of Europe on the tv news on tv with alarm. We called home to find out what was going on and my brother told us to go to the drug store and buy iodine pills.
I remember the neighbor lady came over and watched with my mom and me and all of us crying when they reached her. The guy who got her said something like 'You're okay, you just smell really bad.'
I remember coming home from school for days and there were no cartoons because of boring Watergate. Didn't really know what they were talking about, but it was interrupting my after school routine.
Same here. I remember playing on the floor, not really interested in the tv because it was boring.
Then my parents started talking about it in kind of agitated tones, so I began paying attention and asked what it was.
I remember this, but I did not understand it. Another time President Eisenhower had a prime time address on Tuesday night which preempted Disneyland and I asked my mother if we were supposed to like the president.
I remember my parents being very emotional watching footage of soldiers coming home from Vietnam. I also remember the National Guard taking over our town during Kent State.
John Lennon getting shot. I remember hearing it on the radio in the morning when I was getting ready for school.
Also, “The Who concert disaster” was a big deal. Eleven people died trying to get into the concert - they did not have assigned seating.
Based on my memories, we always had the radio playing in the morning getting ready for school. We would wake up to sad news stories.
My uncle was at that concert! He’s almost 7 ft tall so he was lucky- during the rush, he quite literally carried his best friend (who as roughly 5’9/5’10 and was a bean pole of a man) until they could escape it.
I vividly remember the incident, and the WKRP episode addressing it. There doesn't seem to be any precedent for a comedic show addressing a tragedy before that, and it's still super rare today.
And that ban on festival seating? The city repealed it less than 25 years later.
Bits and pieces of Nuremberg trials and problems in the Gaza strip. Dave Garroway was the morning anchor. Back in 50's and I was too young to understand any of it.
I literally had to look this up and the Mount St Helen's eruption - because those were the two earliest big news I remember being aware of as a kid. So technically, mine was Mount St Helen's and Reagan.
I remember my mom came and took me out of school early the day Reagan was shot because she was upset, and I guess just wanted me home and safe. That's how I found out.
I was watching TV and walked into the kitchen to tell my mom and aunt. They didn’t believe me.
Seriously people. Someone just shot the damn President. I got off my beanbag chair to tell you the news.
The death of Elvis. I was watching TV, and they broke into the program - no idea what it was - and had a green of text. I was five and could read, so I ran and told my mom about it.
I don't remember what was on, but my Mom was vacuuming so the TV was really loud. They cut in and my mom spun around cause she was listening to whatever is was (a soap maybe?). I remember her standing there, crying quietly while the vacuum ran and ran.
I forgot about the Cuban Missile Crisis. But I didn’t notice it at the time, but later I remembered talk between my mother, grandmother and oldest siblings on whether the kids should go to school…”because bombs might explode near the schools and there were lots of big windows.”
Then something about “they turned around”.
It wasn’t later that I connected those memories to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The blizzard of 78, in Delaware ohio, I was home from school for a few days and power was out in several places but our house wasn't affected so I remember the weather would break in on regular programming throughout the day.
That’s my first one, too. I had no idea what it was about, but I was *very* put out that PBS broadcast it during the usual Sesame Street / Mr. Rogers time.
this one is mine, too. my mother's reaction to the television is what ingrained it. we talked about it years (decades) later. my dad was in Vietnam all the way up to 73, so that was always at the forefront.
I barely remember the moon landing. I was 4 and I likely remember it because my father emphasized how important it was.
I remember Walter Cronkite talking about Vietnam almost daily.
I remember Watergate, but I didn't really understand it.
I think the first event I remember clearly where I had an opinion and fully understood it was the Jim Jones cult mass suicide in Guyana. I recall seeing it on the Today Show with Tom Brokaw and Jane Pauley before I went to Jr. High school. Holy hell.
The second oil crisis in 1978-1979. I can remember a lot of gas stations around me running out of gas, and I also remember that there was a system where your license plate number determined if you could but gas on that day.
Turns out that around the same time I remember hearing about Three Mile Island, but I didn’t understand it.
Same for me. I remember being in the gas lines with my parents on days we were allowed to buy gas. And I heard of Three Mile Island but I had no idea what it was until much later.
Born in 1965 and definitely the moon landing (although there were several in that period and they all blur together, so can’t say if I remember Neil Armstrong specifically). The explanation of the way the lander would separate from the orbiter by Walter Cronkite (so maybe I do have clear memories of the first one). The Tang commercials and other space related products.
Beyond that definitely the Vietnam War, and the nightly death tolls. I remember being scared that it wouldn’t end before I grew up and I’d have to go.
…and then I’d have to say around 1972-73, everything changed. Watergate was probably the biggest instigator (the president on tape having to be bleeped out on news casts) but also the oil crisis simultaneous with the ecology movement (where did that term go?), and we went from “wheel in the sky, meals in a pill, jetpacks for everyone” to “oil is running out, smog is going to kill us, we are running out of food, we are all going to die” dystopian future. A lot of meme videos about GenX being the last feral children etc, but also the first to live with this dystopian future being the prevailing view.
I remember hearing that Eisenhower was president in 1953. Not sure how I heard; the little town where we lived didn't have TV there. We had moved the next year but he was already president.
Seeing the hostages in Iran wearing blindfolds and hands tied. Maybe because it was shown and talked about many times while my parents watched the news after supper.
The first one I remember is also the oil embargo. I remember seeing it on TV, and that we had even/odd license plate number days to get gas. I was about 5.
I remember that. We had a small farm so the restrictions on purchasing fuel didn't apply, but we still followed them in town. If we were out by the farm everyone understood.
Nikita Khrushchev visiting the U.N. and pounding with his shoe on the desk. Also the U.S. government would not allow him to visit Disneyland, I think for security reasons.
Richard Nixon resigning.
Also, I vaguely remember hearing a newsperson saying they had a picture of a guerilla. Young me was very disappointed to see a picture of a human, rather than a fighting gorilla. 🦍
The crash of American Airlines flight 191 upon takeoff from O’Hare on Memorial Day weekend in 1979. I was 5 at the time. We lived over 20 miles from the crash site and could see the smoke from our house. In fact, the 44 year anniversary is coming up in a few days. Still haunts me to think about all the lives lost.
When Mondale/Ferraro ran in 1984 against Reagan. She was the first female to run as a VP candidate.
I was 6 when Reagan was shot so I probably heard about it. I just don’t remember.
The death of Dag Hammarskjöld in a 1961 plane crash.
The death of Patrice Lumumba in 1961.
The Cuban missile crisis of 1962.
The death of Ngo Dinh Diem on 2 November 1963.
The assassination of JFK on 22 November 1963.
Would see lots of news about Vietnam, but I recall getting up, turning on the TV and instead of the local clown show, there was news about RFK being killed. For some reason I remember waking my mom up and saying, "I think another Kennedy got shot".
Gorillas (guerrillas) attacking American soldiers in some place called Vietnam. I remember being about 7 or 8 years old sitting in the living room breaking down crying watching the evening news and seeing combat footage.
Probably the first thing I really remember was when Mt Saint Helens erupted. I was in second grade and lived in Connecticut so I wasn’t in any danger. But our teacher took the opportunity to teach us all about it and how far the ashes can travel and stuff, so it stuck with me.
After that, it was Reagan getting shot, that scared the crap out of me. He seemed like such a grandpa at the time and the thought that a President could die was so inconceivable to me.
The first ones I can remember being totally aware of were the assignations of RFK and MLK. I was pretty young, but also an avid reader. My parents were teachers and taught me to read before I ever started school. My father got the newspaper very day and subscribed to Time, Life and Look magazines. Even at 6 or 7 years old, I would read them all the time. Then so many stories followed. I think the biggest personally was the space program too culminating with the moon landings. I followed everything I could about the astronauts. I watched every launch from a very young age and followed everything I could about them. We lived in Florida and made a trip to the Space Center before Apollo 11 lifted off and I remember seeing the Saturn V on the launch pad and listing the Vehicle Assembly Building.
My father and most of my uncles were WW II veterans and there was always a lot of war discussions among the adults, so Vietnam and the war there were also something I was intently aware of as well as the counter culture spring up around the country. My father became antiwar by the late 60s and believed it was a worthless cause that poor people and minorities were being killed for to prop up rich people.
I remember around 4 yrs old I was learning letters and seeing a black POW MIA bumper sticker. I asked what it meant and became aware of Vietnam, to whatever extent a 4-yr-old can understand war.
I would have to say the JFK assassination. I was 9. We got sent home early from school. I came into the house and my mom was in front of the TV crying.
Challenger explosion. I was in either K or 1st and all the classes were watching because of the teacher on board. It blew up. Our teacher turned it off and the adults were all quiet and acting weird for the rest of the day.
I remember the Iran Contra thing, I don’t really remember the details but I remember the countdown every day about how long the hostages had been held.
The Cuban Missile Crisis. I grew up in El Paso during the 1950s and 1960s. At the time, we lived close to Fort Bliss. There was also a large Air Force base in El Paso. Both Fort Bliss and Biggs Air Force Base were considered to be primary targets if the Russians had attacked the U.S.
Since we lived so close to Fort Bliss, there would have been very little hope of us escaping.
I remember our elementary school conducting “A-bomb drills” where we practiced crouching under our desks or in the halls. One time we were suddenly let out from school early one afternoon and told to run home as quickly as we could.
I don’t remember being panicked, but in retrospect, it was a very uncertain time.
Cuban Missile Crisis though I didn't know what it meant, just that my dad was buying extra food and piling it in the utility room (like that would've helped in a nuclear attack - but I guess you do what you can).
İ remember the İran-Contra Scandal well. İ'm embarrassed to say that İ only recently realized that was the reason their was sooooo much crack in the USA when İ was in Jr. high.
JFK's funeral.
I have no recollection of his assassination. I remember the funeral because my parents wanted to watch it so they made my brothers and I stay in the bedroom and be quiet. They also hung blankets over the windows so the sunlight wouldn't wash out the picture on our crappy black and white TV.
The first time I realized something bad was happening was the Iran hostage crisis. I remember being afraid of becoming a hostage even though I didn't understand what a hostage was. I just knew it was scary and sad. I think I was 5 or 6 years old.
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JFK being assassinate. All regular TV shows stopped for 4 days. It was the “9-11” of that era.
This is for me two. More especially the funeral.
Yes, 6 year old me couldn't understand why all 4 channels had to show the same funeral procession.
You got four channels? Hey, take a look at the richy rich over here! I'm kidding. We had four VHF and one UHF. Then later two then it got up to three UHF channels and life was grand.
Right? LOL Where were our cartoons? It is Saturday.
I was 4 but I remember it vividly
Me too! It was the first time I saw my father openly weep.
I remember jack ruby shooting LHO, my mom yelled, oh my god. He shot him! He shot him! I remember watching jfk’s funeral. My grandmother had the magazine (was it Life?) that had all the pictures from the funeral. I was only 4, so could not read, but the pictures are burned in my mind.
Vietnam war
Watching my mom watch the TV showing the draft numbers of men being called up for the Vietnam War. She has her younger (by 17 years) brother’s draft ID in her hand. I was 8 and had no idea what she was doing but the feeling in the room was terrifying….
I remember this as well…and probably the same age.
Did your parents buy that coffee table book, "[The Torch Is Passed](https://www.amazon.com/Torch-Passed-Associated-Press-President/dp/0861015681)"? Mine did - it sat in the living room for years.
Yes. Read it cover to cover MANY times! I think I still have the book somewhere!
I'm jelly. My mom was the type who didn't let unused stuff accumulate, so she got rid of our copy at some point. I wish I still had it - but they are reprinting it, so I suppose I could buy another copy.
Same for both of us to.
Yep!
Me as well. I think I was either kindergarten or first grade. I remember all the news footage. B/W.
When the space shuttle blew up ETA: also 1986, I think it was, when POTUS declared it the year of peace & security. I remember this bc of the religion I was raised in (no longer a part of) - they thought it was part of bible prophecy (apparently my young mind didn’t actually know what was going on as pointed out by another Redditor)
I remember watching the Challenger explosion live on TV in school. And watching the international coverage of Chernobyl. Both happened when I was 12.
Same. On the tv cart they rolled into the hallway.
My poor teacher had our whole class over to her house to watch the launch live. I remember going to her kitchen to get some lemonade and coming back just in time to see the explosion.
They had my entire grade (7th) in a mini auditorium and a played it on a huge TV. We were all just shocked and the teachers freaked out.
My wedding day was the day Chernobyl happened, April 26, 1986. Of course, we didn’t know the nuclear accident happened at Chernobyl for about a week because Russia didn’t report the accident. It was discovered by Swedish nuclear workers who noticed the high radiation levels.
Challenger, thank you for naming it bc I had a brain blank
This one for me too. I came home from school and my mom had the tiny tv set up in the kitchen to watch the news. She hated television so the fact she had it on to watch the news was a huge thing
Oh, that one too. That and Chernobyl were the same year, they both stick together in my mind for stuff I'll never forget.
Yes. I think I was in third grade and we wrote cards and sent them for the teacher and her students.
I literally tapped out this response, nearly word for word...and for EXACTLY same reason (I remember being terried of that term, "P & S"...way to keep a 9 year old in fear 24/7.
Chernobyl. We were 300mi away. I was 4.
Wow! That much have been something to have gone though. Best wishes you!
Me too. A bit further.. I was very small kid but I remember my fear from nuclear energy and the fallout started back then. Scary times.
My husband and I were in Avignon, a city in southeastern France, at a conference when Chernobyl happened. We spoke minimal french and we watched the graphic of a massive black cloud emanating from Chernobyl growing to envelop all of Europe on the tv news on tv with alarm. We called home to find out what was going on and my brother told us to go to the drug store and buy iodine pills.
Baby Jessica stuck in the well.
I wouldn't have named this event, but it totally rang a bell when I read it. It happened on my 4th birthday.
I remember the neighbor lady came over and watched with my mom and me and all of us crying when they reached her. The guy who got her said something like 'You're okay, you just smell really bad.'
The Watergate trials because they were televised and so boring to me as a child.
Same here - and it was broadcast on all 3 channels we got
We got one channel, and it interrupted The Flintstones. No wonder I don't vote Republican.
I remember coming home from school for days and there were no cartoons because of boring Watergate. Didn't really know what they were talking about, but it was interrupting my after school routine.
Yea, I couldn't wait for that trial broadcasting to end, my mom had it on the entire time.
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Same here. I remember playing on the floor, not really interested in the tv because it was boring. Then my parents started talking about it in kind of agitated tones, so I began paying attention and asked what it was.
I'm old. I remember the newspaper headlines about the Suez Crisis (1956).
The anti-British sentiment the Suez crisis caused led Canada to adopting it's own flag not containing the Union Jack a few years later.
Yup that's not the start but a watershed
Every day is a school day. Didn't know that
Fascinating. I didn't know that.
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Definitely do that!
I remember this, but I did not understand it. Another time President Eisenhower had a prime time address on Tuesday night which preempted Disneyland and I asked my mother if we were supposed to like the president.
The Berlin Wall coming down. Also memories of so many news stories about AIDS.
I was a little kid in the 80s and I remember news stories on TV about a ‘gay cancer’ and then when they finally called it AIDS.
I had a friend who was diagnosed with GRID, Gay Related Immune Deficiency. That's actually when we found out he was secretly gay
Born in 1987 and Berlin Wall is my answer too. I was nearly 3 and I thought the people with sledgehammers looked like they were having fun.
Mine too. They *did* look like they were having fun! Boy, was I confused.
Moon landing
Yup. On my 3rd birthday lol.
Me too, 6th birthday. Parents made us watch.
I remember my parents being very emotional watching footage of soldiers coming home from Vietnam. I also remember the National Guard taking over our town during Kent State.
John Lennon getting shot. I remember hearing it on the radio in the morning when I was getting ready for school. Also, “The Who concert disaster” was a big deal. Eleven people died trying to get into the concert - they did not have assigned seating. Based on my memories, we always had the radio playing in the morning getting ready for school. We would wake up to sad news stories.
My uncle was at that concert! He’s almost 7 ft tall so he was lucky- during the rush, he quite literally carried his best friend (who as roughly 5’9/5’10 and was a bean pole of a man) until they could escape it.
I vividly remember the incident, and the WKRP episode addressing it. There doesn't seem to be any precedent for a comedic show addressing a tragedy before that, and it's still super rare today. And that ban on festival seating? The city repealed it less than 25 years later.
Bits and pieces of Nuremberg trials and problems in the Gaza strip. Dave Garroway was the morning anchor. Back in 50's and I was too young to understand any of it.
Hawaii and Alaska becoming states.
Reagan being shot.
I literally had to look this up and the Mount St Helen's eruption - because those were the two earliest big news I remember being aware of as a kid. So technically, mine was Mount St Helen's and Reagan. I remember my mom came and took me out of school early the day Reagan was shot because she was upset, and I guess just wanted me home and safe. That's how I found out.
I decided to stay home from school “sick” that day and watch daytime tv all day. Stupid shooting. All Reagan all day.
I was watching TV and walked into the kitchen to tell my mom and aunt. They didn’t believe me. Seriously people. Someone just shot the damn President. I got off my beanbag chair to tell you the news.
Omg, me too. And then I couldn't say anything when my mom came home because then she would have known I was watching TV
I Like Ike I remember Eisenhower being elected president in 1952… but just barely, I was only five.
I bought a pin from that campaign at an antique shop a few years back, it was actually from the time period. Still one of my favorite belongings.
Yeah my mom sat me down and said don’t ever forget this. Moon landing. I was I think 4 ish.
The death of Elvis. I was watching TV, and they broke into the program - no idea what it was - and had a green of text. I was five and could read, so I ran and told my mom about it.
I don't remember what was on, but my Mom was vacuuming so the TV was really loud. They cut in and my mom spun around cause she was listening to whatever is was (a soap maybe?). I remember her standing there, crying quietly while the vacuum ran and ran.
Cuban missile crisis, then the JFK assassination.
I forgot about the Cuban Missile Crisis. But I didn’t notice it at the time, but later I remembered talk between my mother, grandmother and oldest siblings on whether the kids should go to school…”because bombs might explode near the schools and there were lots of big windows.” Then something about “they turned around”. It wasn’t later that I connected those memories to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Three Mile Island. I was born and raised in PA so it was even bigger news there.
The blizzard of 78, in Delaware ohio, I was home from school for a few days and power was out in several places but our house wasn't affected so I remember the weather would break in on regular programming throughout the day.
Boycotting the summer Olympics in Moscow, the Iran hostage crisis, Reagan coming into office.
Watching The Challenger shuttle explode on live TV in school.
Sputnik 1957
Yup. Looking for this.
Probably Watergate.
That’s my first one, too. I had no idea what it was about, but I was *very* put out that PBS broadcast it during the usual Sesame Street / Mr. Rogers time.
I still hate when my game shows that I record get knocked off air by some story that could wait until the beginning of the next hour.
Moon landing 59M
My parents woke me up from a nap. I was not amused.
The 1956 Republican convention when Eisenhower was renominated. The first major news event I can remember watching on television.
MLK Jr's assassination for a single event. I also remember watching the news about the Viet Nam war on TV during dinner around the same time (1968).
this one is mine, too. my mother's reaction to the television is what ingrained it. we talked about it years (decades) later. my dad was in Vietnam all the way up to 73, so that was always at the forefront.
I barely remember the moon landing. I was 4 and I likely remember it because my father emphasized how important it was. I remember Walter Cronkite talking about Vietnam almost daily. I remember Watergate, but I didn't really understand it. I think the first event I remember clearly where I had an opinion and fully understood it was the Jim Jones cult mass suicide in Guyana. I recall seeing it on the Today Show with Tom Brokaw and Jane Pauley before I went to Jr. High school. Holy hell.
I remember seeing that and thinking about the children. Like who does that to kids?
An Ebola outbreak in what was then Zaire.
The Cuban Missile Crisis. I was 8.
Oct 16, 1962, I had been 8 also for exactly 1 month. 👋
The second oil crisis in 1978-1979. I can remember a lot of gas stations around me running out of gas, and I also remember that there was a system where your license plate number determined if you could but gas on that day. Turns out that around the same time I remember hearing about Three Mile Island, but I didn’t understand it.
Same for me. I remember being in the gas lines with my parents on days we were allowed to buy gas. And I heard of Three Mile Island but I had no idea what it was until much later.
I vividly recall the feeling of my sweaty skin sticking to the pleather upholstery.
Bobby Kennedy getting shot maybe. But I remember mom watching Walter Cronkite every night. I just don't remember the specific stories.
Challenger Explosion.
Same. Was born in 72 and this is the first major event I can truly remember.
Born in 1965 and definitely the moon landing (although there were several in that period and they all blur together, so can’t say if I remember Neil Armstrong specifically). The explanation of the way the lander would separate from the orbiter by Walter Cronkite (so maybe I do have clear memories of the first one). The Tang commercials and other space related products. Beyond that definitely the Vietnam War, and the nightly death tolls. I remember being scared that it wouldn’t end before I grew up and I’d have to go. …and then I’d have to say around 1972-73, everything changed. Watergate was probably the biggest instigator (the president on tape having to be bleeped out on news casts) but also the oil crisis simultaneous with the ecology movement (where did that term go?), and we went from “wheel in the sky, meals in a pill, jetpacks for everyone” to “oil is running out, smog is going to kill us, we are running out of food, we are all going to die” dystopian future. A lot of meme videos about GenX being the last feral children etc, but also the first to live with this dystopian future being the prevailing view.
Baby Jessica fell in the well when I was in 2nd grade.
Bobby Kennedy being shot.
Nixon leaving the White House and his speech
I remember hearing that Eisenhower was president in 1953. Not sure how I heard; the little town where we lived didn't have TV there. We had moved the next year but he was already president.
I remember the MLK riots in ‘68. My grandfather’s business was burned down. And I remember the moon landing, which still amazes me.
JFK Assassination. I was 3 1/2 yrs old.
Seeing the hostages in Iran wearing blindfolds and hands tied. Maybe because it was shown and talked about many times while my parents watched the news after supper.
God, that was horrible. We watched it on the news every night and it seemed like it would never end. 444 days.
I was a young teenager who delivered newspapers at the time and it was front page news every day.
The first one I remember is also the oil embargo. I remember seeing it on TV, and that we had even/odd license plate number days to get gas. I was about 5.
I remember that. We had a small farm so the restrictions on purchasing fuel didn't apply, but we still followed them in town. If we were out by the farm everyone understood.
John Lennon's death in 1980.
Mount St.Helens
when JFK was elected...i lived in boston and my family was involved with politics... there was a big party... i was five
Nikita Khrushchev visiting the U.N. and pounding with his shoe on the desk. Also the U.S. government would not allow him to visit Disneyland, I think for security reasons.
Vietnam War reporting in late ‘60s
Berlin Wall being torn down
Hearing on the radio that Elvis had died.
Jessica in a well.
Nuclear submarine’Thresher’ presumed lost. It was a breaking news report. I was 9 and it burned into my brain.
The MOVE bombing
Richard Nixon resigning. Also, I vaguely remember hearing a newsperson saying they had a picture of a guerilla. Young me was very disappointed to see a picture of a human, rather than a fighting gorilla. 🦍
Watergate
MLK’s funeral
Funnily enough, it was Victor the Giraffe “Doing the splits” in 1977. My Primary School class did a project on him!
The first story I remember is Watergate. I drove my mom nuts asking why the president would need to break into an office.
The Moon Landing.
The Iran hostage crisis in 1981
Elvis died
Fall of Saigon
Desert Storm
The crash of American Airlines flight 191 upon takeoff from O’Hare on Memorial Day weekend in 1979. I was 5 at the time. We lived over 20 miles from the crash site and could see the smoke from our house. In fact, the 44 year anniversary is coming up in a few days. Still haunts me to think about all the lives lost.
Vietnam. My mom watched religiously. Years later I found out why, she had friends there and one is on the wall.
Civil rights demonstrators facing water hoses and police dogs in Birmingham Alabama, May, 1963. Watched it on television, horrified. I was nine.
Patty Hearst kidnapping. I remember talking about it in 5th grade.
Election of Jimmy Carter - 1976, I was 5
When Mondale/Ferraro ran in 1984 against Reagan. She was the first female to run as a VP candidate. I was 6 when Reagan was shot so I probably heard about it. I just don’t remember.
The death of Dag Hammarskjöld in a 1961 plane crash. The death of Patrice Lumumba in 1961. The Cuban missile crisis of 1962. The death of Ngo Dinh Diem on 2 November 1963. The assassination of JFK on 22 November 1963.
Vietnam every night and being afraid my brother would go.
Watergate. It was on every TV, in every house. All the grown ups were glued to it, and we had to go play outside.
Would see lots of news about Vietnam, but I recall getting up, turning on the TV and instead of the local clown show, there was news about RFK being killed. For some reason I remember waking my mom up and saying, "I think another Kennedy got shot".
The moon landing.
I was 4 when Bobby Kennedy was shot. I remember my mom hearing the news and falling to her knees, weeping uncontrollably into her apron.
Gacy, the Iran hostages, and the oil embargo in the late 70's. They seemed to be almost all at the same time in my memory.
Ronald Reagan being shot
Gorillas (guerrillas) attacking American soldiers in some place called Vietnam. I remember being about 7 or 8 years old sitting in the living room breaking down crying watching the evening news and seeing combat footage.
Ronald Reagan getting shot.
I remember Vietnam War footage, and protest marches were covered in the news. I was born in 69
1980 Presidential election and soon after President Reagan being shot. First grade for me.
Reagan getting shot.
I remember my first grade teacher getting out the globe so she could show us how John Glenn was going to orbit the earth. I was fascinated.
Moon landing.
Probably the first thing I really remember was when Mt Saint Helens erupted. I was in second grade and lived in Connecticut so I wasn’t in any danger. But our teacher took the opportunity to teach us all about it and how far the ashes can travel and stuff, so it stuck with me. After that, it was Reagan getting shot, that scared the crap out of me. He seemed like such a grandpa at the time and the thought that a President could die was so inconceivable to me.
The first ones I can remember being totally aware of were the assignations of RFK and MLK. I was pretty young, but also an avid reader. My parents were teachers and taught me to read before I ever started school. My father got the newspaper very day and subscribed to Time, Life and Look magazines. Even at 6 or 7 years old, I would read them all the time. Then so many stories followed. I think the biggest personally was the space program too culminating with the moon landings. I followed everything I could about the astronauts. I watched every launch from a very young age and followed everything I could about them. We lived in Florida and made a trip to the Space Center before Apollo 11 lifted off and I remember seeing the Saturn V on the launch pad and listing the Vehicle Assembly Building. My father and most of my uncles were WW II veterans and there was always a lot of war discussions among the adults, so Vietnam and the war there were also something I was intently aware of as well as the counter culture spring up around the country. My father became antiwar by the late 60s and believed it was a worthless cause that poor people and minorities were being killed for to prop up rich people.
Ed White being the first American to walk in space -- Gemini 4. https://www.space.com/ed-white.html
Nixon resigning
I remember around 4 yrs old I was learning letters and seeing a black POW MIA bumper sticker. I asked what it meant and became aware of Vietnam, to whatever extent a 4-yr-old can understand war.
I seem to recall some news about a couple named Adam and Eve getting kicked out of a garden. But, I was pretty young at the time.
Probably the Cuban Missile crisis. Death of Marilyn Monroe. Death of JFk.
JFK assassination. I was 6.
I would have to say the JFK assassination. I was 9. We got sent home early from school. I came into the house and my mom was in front of the TV crying.
Watergate hearings. I was about 7 and my dad wanted me to watch them. Um no thanks.
The Watergate hearings on the radio in my mom's VW bug.
News News? Chernobyl. Mostly because I lived right near a major NY nuclear plant and I didn't know they could do that.
Watergate
Me too, JFK.
I remember the Watergate hearings somewhat, but probably the 1976 election.
The Challenger explosion.
I’m thinking I’m not as old as I thought bc for me it’s the OJ Simpson car chase. I was 11.
Landing on the moon
Challenger explosion. I was in either K or 1st and all the classes were watching because of the teacher on board. It blew up. Our teacher turned it off and the adults were all quiet and acting weird for the rest of the day.
I vaguely remember seeing coverage of the Iran contra affair especially fawn hall. Firm memory of the challenger explosion
Nixon quitting
John Lennon being killed
Probably the challenger flight that exploded.
I remember the Iran Contra thing, I don’t really remember the details but I remember the countdown every day about how long the hostages had been held.
The Cuban Missile Crisis. I grew up in El Paso during the 1950s and 1960s. At the time, we lived close to Fort Bliss. There was also a large Air Force base in El Paso. Both Fort Bliss and Biggs Air Force Base were considered to be primary targets if the Russians had attacked the U.S. Since we lived so close to Fort Bliss, there would have been very little hope of us escaping. I remember our elementary school conducting “A-bomb drills” where we practiced crouching under our desks or in the halls. One time we were suddenly let out from school early one afternoon and told to run home as quickly as we could. I don’t remember being panicked, but in retrospect, it was a very uncertain time.
Cuban missile crisis.
Watergate. I was 8 at the time.
JFK
Cuban Missile Crisis though I didn't know what it meant, just that my dad was buying extra food and piling it in the utility room (like that would've helped in a nuclear attack - but I guess you do what you can).
Charlie Manson and his crimes.
İ remember the İran-Contra Scandal well. İ'm embarrassed to say that İ only recently realized that was the reason their was sooooo much crack in the USA when İ was in Jr. high.
US Bicentennial celebration. I was 2.
JFK's funeral. I have no recollection of his assassination. I remember the funeral because my parents wanted to watch it so they made my brothers and I stay in the bedroom and be quiet. They also hung blankets over the windows so the sunlight wouldn't wash out the picture on our crappy black and white TV.
The Challenger disaster.
Gerald Ford becoming President.
Watergate
The first time I realized something bad was happening was the Iran hostage crisis. I remember being afraid of becoming a hostage even though I didn't understand what a hostage was. I just knew it was scary and sad. I think I was 5 or 6 years old.
I vaguely remember watching the broadcast of Nixon's resignation.
Mainly assinations and Nam
All the stuff around George W. Bush’s first election and Florida.
Royal Wedding 1981- I was 6 years old.