I think it’s strange I have no specific memories of that day. I was in 2nd grade in a very small town school in the Midwest.
I think my world/life view was already skewed from television. I think I remember thinking, “People get shot or die all the time; what’s the big deal?” Probably watched too many westerns.
Then, when Ruby shot Oswald I thought, “Good guy shoots bad guy.” That’s how it worked in westerns. Again, I thought, “Why is everyone upset about that?”
What I do specifically remember was... there was absolutely nothing else on television for at least a week. Maybe 2 weeks.
Sorry, but that’s what a dumb kid raised on TV thought at the time.
I asked my older brother - who was in Jr High in the same school building. He said one of the girls had a transistor radio and heard it during lunch period. When she told the teacher she was reprimanded for saying such a horrible thing. Soon, they all learned the truth.
I was just 2 months past my third birthday and remembered some of that day!
I was at mom’s friend’s home where she would babysit while my mom did her weekly errands. (She always gave me a Twinkie after lunch! My mom never had store-bought treats.)
I remember my mom coming back in from errands and she and her friend were so upset. And then that evening with mom and dad and my much older siblings, watching it on the little TV that my parents had.
Years later (High School?) I was talking with my dad about Kennedy. He said how he thought he was a bad President and an even worse person. I replied - “But Dad - he was killed!”
Dad just shrugged his shoulders. School only taught us the good stuff about JFK, and he was just this good-looking young President that was killed that made him a likable and heroic figure.
I wish my old man had talked to me more about politics as a kid.