Before that was listening to the radio for " The Inner Sanctum", The Creaking Door" and “the Bickersons”, Burns and Allen, Jack Benny Show. etc.
5 yrs old JFK. I remember sitting and watching the TV where they were showing the ambulance pulling up to the hospital. I remember the funeral and little John standing beside his mother saluting as his Daddy’s casket went by.
I am bugging off of the people saying the O.J. verdict. I remember the event clearly, but I had no idea that people were seeing it as a historical event in any way! Wow.
I remember Mandela being freed. I was about 15 at the time, and it was the first time I personally celebrated a moment that was considered historical.
I also remember the Rodney King verdict and the riots that followed. I was about 18 I think, and I remember upstate NY having little mini riots on our Main Street, as I tried to make it back to work from lunch.
My earliest memory of a historical event was in 1950 when I was six-years-old. There are two events that I remember - the antics of Senator Joe McCarthy in ousting communists left, right and center and the start of the Korean conflict. The McCarthy accusations were more memorable to me because I didn’t know what a communist was but everyone said they were bad and I was scared that there were so many of them about. It was the year that I first started to read the newspapers for more than sports news and the comics.
The start of the Korean war was memorable in that, late in 1950, in my small town the troops were gathered and loaded into trucks to go the the airport for a flight to other major mustering points. I walked a half a block to the main road to the airport to see all the trucks go past. It seemed like the convoy went on forever.
JFK’s assassination. I was 3. I remember watching the funeral procession on TV, especially the black horse with the boots turned backward.
What I don’t precisely remember but was told by mom, dad and grandpa was that I had a little rocking chair and I always pulled it up in front of the TV to watch my cartoons. I pulled it up, sat down, all ready to watch Underdog, Beanie & Cecil, etc, and instead, there was all this *GROWN UP *stuff on. They said I crossed my arms over my chest and muttered “Well son of a bitch”.
Iran-Hostage crisis. My 5th-grade teacher had a running tally of days the hostages had been held on our chalkboard, and every day she would update the number.
the death of Elvis. i was crying, because i knew his music and felt the loss. i remember seeing the mourners on TV. very sad for a little boy who loved his music…
I attended a campaign rally for George Bush in the fall of '88, but I don’t recall the election itself. I do remember the fall of the Berlin Wall, which was a big deal in my household because my mother was born in East Germany. I was seven years old at the time.
Was the death of disco a historical event?
I remember the February 26, 1979 solar eclipse. I was six, and my teacher said that the next eclipse in our area that would be as impressive as that one would be at a point that for me was unimaginably far in the future–probably 2012. I ended up not getting a turn to look in the camera obscura box. It was like “All Summer in a Day”.
I can remember the Apollo 4 launching in 1967. It wasn’t a particualrly noteworthy historical event but my family was visiting Florida and we saw the launch live.
I think it is the moon landing. I was alive when Kennedy was shot, but not too old and I just don’t really recall. But the moon landing is still pretty vivid in my memories.
As a space enthusiast, it’s really interesting how many of these Earliest-Remembered Historical Events are space-related. I’ll have to bring this up the next time someone says why are we sending astronauts into space when the poor children have no pudding.
Me, I remember August 8, 1974 like it was yesterday. My mom sat me down in front of the TV and said “Mr. Nixon is resigning and Mr. Ford is going to be our president - you’ll want to see this.” I was 5.
This is only the latest example of the astounding fact that numerous people in this thread have early memories of these sorts of things at the age of six or less.
Well. Maybe it is only astounding to me. As I posted earlier, my historical event memory happened when I was 10.
I’ve always thought there was something wrong with me. I don’t really remember anything prior to age 10. And when I think I do, it is usually a “memory” that is associated with some rare photo of me as a young child. I ask myself if I really remember that happening or if I simply remember the photo.
I’ve had people say they remember things when they were two or three years old! Sheesh. Not me. My brain apparently decided that nothing before age 10 was worth taking up long-term memory storage space.
Yep most of my early historical memories happened around 1972 which would make me 4 1/2 to 5 years old. No idea why that is. I have a hard time remember the names of people I have lived with as an adult.
I find this hard to believe. Most people’s memories start when they begin school. Surely you remember some things from lst or 2nd grade. How about your teacher?
Secretariat winning the Triple Crown. It was news in my family. We watched in a stable with friends on a tiny television. I don’t know why we weren’t in their house…maybe they wanted the horses to share the excitement. There was champagne. My sister and I were given our own glasses with about a half teaspoon in them.
The first event I can remember that others might consider historical is President Nixon resigning. I was no more than vaguely aware of Watergate investigations and stories prior to that, but I can place myself right back at the foot of my parents’ bed with the red and orange bedspread watching that speech.
I was born in '68. I have very clear memories from about 4 years old on, with one or two snippets from ealier. My sister is 4 years older and can’t really tell you anything from before she was 10.
I remember the Apollo 12 mission, and Nixon giving a press conference on TV. With Nixon it was funny because I was very sick and looking forward to Gilligan’s Island when asshole Nixon comes on instead, I was anticipating Mary Ann and got Tricky Dick. Boy was I pissed off.
You’re certainly not alone in your skepticism. And I agree with you that most people remember things starting when they head off to school, and many remember things earlier than that. I cannot explain my own lack of early childhood memories.
I have no visual memory of my teachers. I don’t even know their names.
I remember a couple of songs on the radio that might be quite early – Purple People Eaters, and Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. (Research done just now indicates that these were hits in 1958 and 1960 respectively. I was six in 1958.)
Woo hoo! I have proof of remembering something when I was six!
I recall seeing the Beatles on the cover of Life magazine as they were breaking up; I was about 5 or 6 and I think that was the first time I was aware of them as people, although I knew some of their songs*
My earliest political memory would be of the 1972 Nixon-McGovern election.
*I have a very early memory of playing on the floor with my Fisher Price peg people and singing the first two lines of “Hard Day’s Night” over and over again, which must have been maddening for any grown-up who might’ve been listening.
For me, Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon.