That Long Already
March 30th, 2006 - 12:00 am
Twenty-five years ago today, I was in sixth grade at Rossman. Sometime that morning, a first grader stopped me in the hall and told me that President Reagan had been shot. I told her I didn’t believe her. Then things got weird.
Doug Mataconis remembers, too.
I don’t have any clear memory of hearing about Reagan being shot. I do have clear memories of hearing about JFK and the Pope being shot.
JFK – My desk (second grade?) was near the teachers desk (in the back of the room) and everybody else was on some kind of typical elementary make-work kind of project (I was daydreaming, par for the course). Another teacher came in and whispered the news to my teacher (loud enough for me to overhear). Strangely enough, my brother’s class had just done the Lincoln asassination and he talked a lot about it at home, so I thought shooting presidents must be a pretty ordinary kind of occurence.
Pope – Staying in a motel somehwere in Texas or New Mexico. I noticed the hispanic maids were upset and running back and forth, I overhead one say “mataron al Papa” (they killed the Pope). I ran to turn on the news and found out that was an overstatement (fortunately).
But Reagan? Maybe it was on the news, maybe I was at work, I just don’t remember.
I remember Haig going on TV and declaring himself President. That sort of made me laugh/scared the hell out of me.
SNL had a great bit about it. They had Ronnie Raygun thinking he was in a movie about being president. His comment was, “Aren’t you supposed to use blanks? I liked the movie where I was governor of California much better.”
I was in 8th grade. The whole thing was surreal.
It wasn’t until months later that the world learned that Reagan almost died.
Thankfully, Reagan made it through, and would go on to be the greatest President since Lincoln.
I’ll take Reagan in his current condition over anyone we’ve had since.
JFK – Kindergarten, riding the bus home the driver had the radio news on and was very preoccupied. Arrived home, my mother had tv news on (not the norm) and was visibly upset. My neighborhood friends mothers all had their tvs on and were crying. Surreal beginning to the turbulent 60′s. Living in So. Cal, Watts riots, Robert Kennedy’s assasination, etc. all followed.
Reagan – I was on a picnic with a girlfriend and heard it on the radio when we got back in the car. First reaction was that this was the beginning of the assasination spree of the 60′s again. Thankfully, not so. I always felt affection for Reagan, and admired how he handled the attempt on his life.
I was working in a newsroom 25 years ago and upon hearing Reagan had been shot, thought back to Nov 63 when I I was in 5th grade. It was the same thought: the world has gone mad–and at age 5 I wasn’t aware of the tune by Cole Porter.
JFK – eleven months before I was born. I was not on the grassy knoll. The aliens do not have time travelling devices (besides, I’m a lousy shot).
Reagan, I don’t remember too well. I do remember getting out of bed at prep school one December morning for a history test, turning on the radio and hearing Lennon was shot. I was numb for days — kind of odd considering I don’t care for his politics.
I do remember Haig saying he was in charge here (at the White House), not that he was president. True that he was overstepping a bit, but I’d rather have that than let our enemies think we were confused and headless at that moment.
4th Grade, Principal walked in, took our teacher out in the hall, she came back in very distressed and told us what had happened.
As kids too young to understand anything, we cheered… I guess because anything that was not right was funny to us. Our teacher began to cry when we did this, and I realized this was a bigger deal than it seemed to us, but I didn’t know why.
I now believe that Reagan was the greatest President of my life, and is likely to still be when I’m 80.
Working, heard it on the radio, called Mom at work for Ronnie.
I miss him.
I was in eighth grade, and I remember two things: how wigged out we were, and the knuckleheads (Todd, I’m talkin’ to you) who boasted they wouldn’t have missed…
JFK – First grade I got to shake his hand. He was my hero. Second grade the teacher announced he had been shot and killed. Chaos broke out in the room. I just put my head down on the table and cried.
Reagan – My son was 1 or 1 1/2 and I was watching tv with him and saw the horror take place. It seemed very surreal. I called my Mom who immediately decided not to believe me until hours later. I too remember Haig suddenly thinking he was in like Flynn. Geez, where did that come from?
I was nine years old and was in Washington D.C. for my grandfather’s funeral. I heard about Reagan being shot from the UPS man as he was bringing boxes into my grandparents’ apartment building. Vividly captured in my memory.
Sixth grade, Mr. Holley’s class. School had just let out. One of the first-grade teachers walked in, pale and distracted, leaned against the door frame and said, “The President’s been shot.”
Five years later, the scene virtually repeated itself in Mrs. Stinson’s US History class, as she said, “The space shuttle blew up.”
Reagan — I was eight or nine years old. My parents were stereotypical 70′s liberals who hated Reagan. I got the news at school. When I walked home, I expected my mom to be happy, since she hated Reagan.
To my shock, my parents were glued to the TV set and looked very solemn. They had always been cynical and contemptuous of poltiics, but when the President got shot it really bothered them. That was the first time I understood the power of the Presidency.
My admiration for Reagan came much later, when I thought about the Cold War and realized that Reagan had been one of the only people with the balls to stand up to those thugs.
JFK – don’t remember the event itself, though I was six – what I do remember about that one was the nonstop coverage of the funeral on all the networks…
Reagan – don’t remember exactly where for that one, either, but it was somewhere on the Cal State Northridge campus…someone must have told me, though I don’t remember who…
Oddly, the one assasination where I remember exactly where I was was Sadat’s…turning right from Nordhoff on to northbound Reseda, on my car radio. Can’t say why that one stuck and the others didn’t, as I don’t hold any particular brief for Sadat…
Brian
I was at home, sick, helping my mom do laundry. I was watching some game show, when it was interrupted with the news. I thought my mom was going to pass out, she was that upset. The thing that sticks in my mind most was I was ironing my dads shirts and I ruined one for leaving the iron on it. You were riveted to the tv that day.
Space shuttle- Freshman in college, Wright State Univ in Dayton, shooting pool in the student union, noticed a crowd growing in the hall outside the lounge. Peeked over to see what was going on. Ran all the way across campus to tell my roommate. We were all education majors at the time.