WHERE WERE YOU WHEN...?
Where were you when you heard?
I was sitting at the lunch benches at George Washington Carver Elementary School in Long Beach, California. There was an announcement that came out from those gigantic bell-shaped outdoor speakers all the school used to have. The announcement was simple. “President Kennedy has been shot in Dallas, Texas. Please remember him in your prayers.” (Times sure have changed, haven’t they?) I was sitting with my friend, Seth Kravitz. Seth was very smart and pretty politically savvy. He took the announcement very seriously. Soon the bell rang for us to return to our classrooms.
I was in Mrs. McKee’s fifth grade class. We met in one of those mobile bungalow classrooms that the Long Beach schools put in the playgrounds when the Boomers exploded the capacity of the school buildings. As I went up the four steps into the classroom I could see that Mrs. McKee had been crying. Her eyes were all red and puffy. The regular schedule was being suspended while we awaited word from the office. Mrs. McKee began reading a Readers Digest version of PT 109. We didn’t have long to wait. She got about half way through the article when the intercom speaker buzzed and the voice said, “President Kennedy has died of wounds received from an assassin’s bullet.” Mrs. McKee broke down in tears. She couldn’t go on. She asked me to come to the front and sit on the stool and finish the story for my classmates.
What do you remember? These are the things that stick in my mind. Walter Cronkite choking up. Endless new commentary. The backwards boots in the black horse’s stirrups. John John’s salute. Sobbing crowds of people.
I look back on that day and think that it was all over before I really had a chance to take part. Yes, Viet Nam was still to come and there was still a lot to do in the Civil Rights movement. But that was the beginning of the end. With Bobby and Teddy and Martin still around there was still hope. They got Bobby and Martin and Teddy never could live up to his brothers anyway. The party would never again stand for the things it once stood for no matter how hard we tried to pretend. Camelot closed for business. Those who came after could only say, “I knew Jack Kennedy” or “You’re no Jack Kennedy.”
No, John Kennedy was not a perfect man. As a result of investigative reporting and the opening of sealed documents, we know that. In fact, he may not have qualified as a good man. He was an unfaithful husband. He consorted with mobsters. He was an immoral man. But something bigger than John Kennedy died on this date, 43 years ago. I always wonder what might have been.
I just wish we would have had a chance to find out.
Thanks for stopping by.
3 Comments:
I was a bit younger, but I do remember that Hermosa Drive School let everyone go home that sad day. My most vivid memory was the live TV feed of the shooting of Oswald by Jack Ruby.
Today, on Thanksgiving I'm most thankful that we still have Senator Ted Kennedy still with us...and bothering us with no end in sight.
I remember that moment vividly. I was at recess at Ahtanum Grade School and Nathan Watt told me the news. If I went back there I could find the exact spot on the playground where I had stood.
I don't remember what happened at school after that but I remember our whole family gathered around the black and white Magnavox as the world stood still for the next four days.
I was in Mrs. Hahn's 3rd grade class at Pearl Harbor Elementary School. Given our location we did more "under the desk" drills than a lot of stateside schools. We were expecting a bomb, but not this one. I was deeply in love with Mrs. Hahn and, although I don't think I fully comprehended what had happened, it made me profoundly sad to watch her weep.
I wish I had kept our LP of Vaughn Meader's "First Family." I guess if I really wanted a copy they sell for only a few dollars on eBay.
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