Today’s prompt: What major historical events do you remember?

The earliest major historical event that I can remember was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

My family was Catholic, and I went to Catholic school. We were so proud of Kennedy, the first Catholic president. My father cut JFK’s picture out of Life magazine and framed it. It hung in the hallway for many years.

I was in sixth grade. I remember the principal coming to the door of our classroom and talking to our teacher, Mrs. Stout, in hushed tones, and her very serious reaction. When the principal left, Mrs. Stout told us that President Kennedy had been shot, and he was dead.

Needless to say, this was shocking news. Why would anyone shoot our beloved president? How could such a horrible thing happen?

We were told we would not have any more instruction for the day, and were given the choice of waiting for the school bus or walking home. I chose to walk home. It was five miles, but I walked it frequently enough that it wasn’t a big deal. All the way home I pondered the president’s murder. How was I going to break this news to my parents?

When I got home, my parents were not surprised to see me. I blurted out that someone shot the president, but they already knew. They were following the news coverage on our black-and-white TV.

Two days later, my father was watching television and started shouting, “They shot him! They shot him!”

My mother and I said, “We know, Dad.”

But he said, “They shot Lee Harvey Oswald!” He had witnessed it live, in real time, as the police were leading the handcuffed suspect through the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters and Jack Ruby stepped forward to shoot him. I couldn’t believe that these two violent acts had taken place in such rapid succession.

This was during the Cold War, a time when the United States and the USSR were very distrustful of each other. At school we had regular air raid drills, practicing the emergency procedure for bombings. (We would either duck under our desks or grab our coats, go into the hallway, sit on the floor and cover ourselves with our coats; or if we had several minutes warning, we would go into the basement of the attached convent, where we would shelter in place until it was safe to come out.) I thought this would be the perfect time for the Communists to attack us, during this transition period when former vice president Lyndon B. Johnson was easing into his new role as president. I felt we were in great danger.