It would be JFK’s assination for me. The school sent everyone home early and our mother was not home when me and my brothers got there. A neighbor had us come over and wait on her front porch. When my mother go home, she told us she was pregnant with my little brother.
I think the very first one is coming home from school and having my mother tell me that someone blew up a building in Oklahoma City, where I had roots before moving to Houston.
Or the end of the OJ trial, whichever came first. I don’t remember the beginning of it or knowing exactly why he was on trial. What I knew whas that he had done something bad and was on trial for it and had always been on trial for it.
I remember the Falklands War (1982), because I had a map of the islands on my bedroom wall and I can recall the TV news footage of Argentinian Skyhawks swooping over the fleet.
I wonder what it will mean the next time it hits 1,000…?
I have vague memories of TV footage of the Israeli-Arab war in 1973 but the first event that really stuck with me was the Apollo-Soyuz docking in 1975 and that historic handshake.
1976 Presidential elections. I was 4. I liked Jimmy Carter because he looked nicer than the other guy and because this guy at the farmers market had a puppet that was a Jimmy Carter charicature which looked like a peanut
I vaguely remember my family crowding around a radio and being very upset. I am convinced that was Pearl Habor. I remember WWII as far as knowing who we were fighting, watching news reels, blackouts (we lived close to Wright/Patterson, which I believe were separate back then). For a specific event that I’m sure about and knew what was happening, it would be the end of WWII.
So far the only thing I don’t remember was the bridge in Australia.
Damn, I know how to spell caricature. Losing my mind.
It was probably the Jack Sharkey-Max Schmeling fight in 1930. I only remember hearing it on the radio because my dad and the guy that roomed with us were so interested in listening. I was 7 going on 8.
Wow, Dave! I am impressed!
I was just reading thru this thread, marveling at how young the kids are reading and writing these days…
As best I can recall, the first news story I was aware of (on a day-to-day basis, with some sense of continuity) was the second Eisenhower campaign and the election.
I thought Americans were required to be either Republicans or Democrats, so I dutifully pondered the matter, cluelessly… Hey! Reminds me of choosing a candidate today and realizing I know nothing about the guys’ real agendas or who bid the highest when those agendas were being developed!
Ah, but I was so much older then…
I remember the accident at Chernobyl. I was four at the time and was trying to explain to my parents how it happened by attempting to draw the power plant. I’m sure they were amused.
Further back, I remember when the Challenger exploded. My older sisters were talking about it, and I thought it was something cool because it was called “Challenger.”
I remember my mom taking me with to go vote for Reagan. That would have been in '84, and my earliest CONFIRMED memory altogether is from August of that year when my younger sister was born.
I also remember hearing Peter Jennings mention Beirut alot when I was little. The barracks were bombed in '83, and I would have just turned 2, so it’s unlikely that Beirut was mentioned in reference to that. I have what might be memories from when I was two, but those might be fabricated.
I vaguely remember the 1979 General Election. I don’t remember much actual campaigning, but I do remember that Mrs Thatcher was on the news as Leader of the Opposition one day and as Prime Minister the next. (I watched a lot of TV news as a little kid)
I remember seeing the Mount St Helen’s eruption on TV and in the newspaper.
I vaguely recollect a memory of President Reagan being elected, and I definitely remember when he was shot.
I remember being very excited about the first Space Shuttle launch. We watched it on TV, and I had books about the Space Shuttle. My Dad and I made an airfix model of the shuttle.
I’m pretty sure that the earliest event I remember was the Challenger disaster - I’d turned seven just ten days earlier. I recall watching it in school, and knowing that the people inside the shuttle had died, but I’m not sure if I fully understood the concept of space exploration.
Other events that I recall soon after were the murders of Jennifer Levin by Robert Chambers during the summer of 1986 and the murder of Lisa Steinberg in 1987.
The Jennifer Levin murder really freaked me out, man. I recall being in the living room with a babysitter one night while she watched the infamous Robert Chambers video (He twisted the head off a Barbie doll, then said something like “Oops…I think I killed her!”) on “A Current Affair”. I remember being completely aware that this was a very scary man.
“Seal_Clubber Born; Conservatives Welcome New Whipping Boy”
Wow, I totally forgot about Mt. St. Helens until you mentioned that. I do remember it, mostly because I had an aunt named Helen and I was SO upset–I thought it meant her house was destroyed. To add to the confusion, my parents tried to console me by explaining that it was in Washington. However, we lived in Silver Spring (MD) at the time, so I thought it was Washington, DC–didn’t understand how two places could have the same name.
This is sort of embarrassing, but…
the death of John Belushi.
JFK assassination. A crossing guard told me about it on the way home from school.
Dare I post this?
I am not at all sure what year it happened or how old I was, but the earliest thing I remember as actually happening was the Jonbenet Ramsey murder. 1994 is the date that sticks in my head, and that would have made me 5 years old. However, I don’t think that’s quite right. Help, anyone?
Going back through my memory, I remember feeling like the OJ Simpson happened just a few weeks later, although I know that’s impossible—I think that was 1996, which would have made me 7.
An interesting note: my mom kept the TIME magazine from the month I was born (April, 1989) and if I’ve got it right, the cover story was about the Middle East and Desert Storm. She also has the one from two years later, 1991, which has a really big color picture of a soldier on the front. I remember seeing that as a little kid.
Damn, I feel young. And I’m not so sure it’s a good thing!
What I remember the most is local news.
October 1970 in Quebec. I was 6.
Because of “terrorist” actions, the Prime-minister sent the army to Quebec, revoked some civil rights (“mesure de guerre” for those of you who understand French!). I remember the restlessness of the adults around me, my dad holding my hand as the army walked down the strett towards the Parliment. I remember getting all excited because I thought it was a parade, but one look toward my dad’s face, I knew something was wrong.
It frighten me not because of what was happening because I didn’t really understand what it was, but you could feel something was tremendously wrong.
My first coherent recollection is that of ‘some war in the desert’ with then president Bush (Gulf War). That was the first thing I can remember from the medium of broadcast. The first news story I still remembered involved some bombing carried out by some faction of the IRA or another. I had them mixed up with the IRS, and confused my mom when she returned. Me, being proud of comprehending a news article, stated something to the effect, “They’re talking about the IRS blowing stuff up in the news.”
She was rather perplexed, until she read the article for herself.
Eisenhower giving some kind of speech on TV. I have no idea what it was about.