Where I Was 40 Years Ago

[madprof]

I was in afternoon 9th grade history class, (New Lebanon NY, Albany Area);
the teacher,
Mr Salls, normally loud & quite animated, was sitting silently at his desk;
the whole class was silent.  everyone knew something had happened, noone
knew what.

with cold-war fears were still in our young minds, my first thought was
that nuclear war had broken out.

Then the news of JFK came over the loud speaker.
Mr Salls made a few hushed comments, & said to just read your text books, no
lecture today.   that detail alone told me the immensity of murder of a
president.
Thank God it was not nuclear war, but was a new heavy issue, that I needed
to
understand.

got home, & the Albany stations (especially WRGB 6) had begun coverage,
muted & respectful, as details trickled in.

WTC / 9-11 struck me harder, but the  national reaction to JFK's death
was a severe personal lesson  on how 1 person(s) and a violent method
(read that: gun in the wrong hands) can so terribly affect the nation,
and the world.

-Madprof