As a spin off of this thread, have you ever been part of or witnessed what would could be regarded as a historical moment (for examle, in Dallas for JFK assassination, in Lake Placid for the “Miracle on Ice”, possibly some Dopers participated in D-Day, or were in the immediate area for the wedding of Charles and Diana…)? Did you know at the time that it would have such an impact? What were your thoughts?
The office I was working at two years ago was on the 11th story of a building on Broadway and 21st with an excellent view downtown. I got to work at 9 am.
On TV, I saw Jack Ruby shoot Oswald, but most of America did, too.
I’m guessing on TV doesn’t count… In person only?
I watched the QEII pull out of Hong Kong harbour for the last time, with the last British governor on board.
I was at Atlanta Stadium on April 8, 1974 to see Hank Aaron hit home run #715, passing Babe Ruth and becoming the all-time home run king. Not quite like being on the grassy knoll on November 22, 1963, but at the time, I thought it was pretty damn significant!
Does anybody remember Adm. Rickover the “father of the nuclear navy”? Well, I got to see him in action aboard the last submarine that he ever went out to sea on. Does that count?
I was at the Iranian hostages’ ticker-tape parade in NYC in early 1981.
And, like too many other people, I was in NYC on 9/11 and had way too good a view of the WTC from my office windows.
While we did watch Nixon’s resignation speech on a tiny portable TV, my family was on the lawn across the street from the White House at the time. I was 10. My parents, who hated Nixon with a passion, took us to DC that day just so that we could be there when history was being made.
I was nearly run over by Gerald Ford’s limo mere minutes before that.
Saw JFK in downtown San Antonio the day before his trip to Dallas.
I was four years old but remember it vividly, he was in a covered limo but I could see him waving to the crowd lining Houston street.
Got my picture in the paper waving a small American flag.
The next day was complete mayhem, I’d never seen my family so upset.
And I remember John John saluting at the funeral. He was about my age.
- As a very small girl, I saw Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. address a meeting in my town, I’m not sure what the meeting was, perhaps the NAACP, I was about 4, so it would’ve been 1964/65.
- I was also at the Iranian hostages ticker tape parade.
- I was at the Live Aid concert in Philadelphia in 1985.
- I was at the fateful World Series game in '86 to watch Bill Buckner’s fateful error.
If I had been home, I would’ve watched 9/11 unfolding from my living room window. I was in Denver, stuck in the airport. I still think I’m glad about that.
I was in Prague when Communism became officially dead as 200,000 people flooded into Wenceslaus Square waving banners and flags.
My wife was at MLK’s “I have a dream” speech. She says it had a tremendous emotional impact on her.
As for myself, I don’t think I’ve ever been at an event that in hindsight could be considered historic. About as close as I ever came was when Reagan came back to the White House for the first time after he had been shot. I was about 10 or so, and my family and I were standing just across the street from the Rose Garden, when two helicopters landed on the lawn. I saw him come down the steps of the helicopter and wave at the crowd. Then, as I recall, he looked directly at me, sort of pointed at me, and although I couldn’t hear him over the wash of the rotors and the cheering, I remember him saying “Good to see you, Paul” and giving a grandfatherly wink. Yep, that’s how I recall it happening.
—Was that you?
I can’t claim any for myself, but my father was in the crowd on the Louisiana State Capitol steps when “Uncle” Earl K. Long spoke his famous “socks on a rooster” line.
My route between home & work takes a few hundred yards from the western side of the Pentagon. I didn’t seen the plane hit but I did see the aftermath.
I was just a few blocks away from the World Trade Center when the planes hit it. My building was amongst the many that were evacuated in the aftermath.
I was in the auto shop when Bubb Rubb told us about the whistles.
I was in Hands Across America …
What?
I saw the Million Man March & the celebration on the Mall & swearing in of Clinton, actually come to mind. I saw some jets flying treetop l-o-w on thier way into DC on 9/11 & was just outside the cordoned off area and almost run over by Police cars rushing onto the scene when the crazy man shot 4/killed 2 inside the U.S. Capitol.
Not me, but a friend of mine was at the World Series game at Candlestick Park when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit. She said it was the most scared she’s ever been in her life. I believe it.
I witnessed the launch of Apollo 11.