On Pearl Harbor day Tuesday, the Mister and I started talking about defining moments of a generation and news that makes everyone stop. Like most other Americans my age, I know where I was when I learned that the Challenger exploded (at school in 8th grade) and when I found out about the world trade center collapsing (listening to NPR, wondering why the news was different then it had been an hour earlier as I prepared to go to biometry class and fly to Washington D.C. that day). Perhaps a bit more personal and local, I returned home from a high school graduation ceremony to learn of the tanks entering Tianamen Square (I studied Chinese and was on my way to China in the summer of 1989) and I learned of the Columbine shootings while at work in Denver. I was at a Model UN competition when Nelson Mandela was released (most of us thought it was a ploy to change the nature of the debate on South Africa) and, along with the rest of my German class, was absolutely shocked at the speed with which the Berlin wall came down once it started to crumble. Perhaps foolishly, I know exactly where I was when I learned of Princes Diana's death (at a cabin, from my brother on the phone, thinking he was telling a joke when he started "have you heard about Princess Diana").
I know where my parents were when Kennedy was shot and think they watched the moon landing. My grandfather spoke to me about Pearl Harbor and the end of the war.
I'm curious, in general, what specific historical events you remember as being a big deal when you learned of them. For those of you older than I am, I'm also wanting to know about specific events in the 1950s. The 60s are full of them (although I'm unsure how much press things like the Cuban Missile Crisis received, nor do I know if any one protest/riot/march felt momentous to a big audience). How about the 50s? Sputnik? Particular space events? MacArthur's dismissal?
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12 comments:
Obama's election, 9/11, the Berlin Wall, the Challenger.
All of yours - though I don't remember the moment of learning Princess Di's death, I remember where I was that week and watching the funeral. Or the moment of the Columbine shooting - I can't place the year of that. But the Oklahoma bombing - I was walking through the UNL East Campus union and saw there was a bunch of commotion on the news on the TV, but didn't stop to watch, then as soon as I got in my building to the grad offices a fellow grad student called to tell me. He was home eating lunch and saw the news. We had a snow day the day the Challenger blew up - I was watching the launch, looked away right before it blew up, looked back when the newscaster was reporting in horror. And I remember the Columbia blowing up b/c it was on NPR Sat. morning and a salesperson called and asked how I was and I said not good and told him. Wow, never had a saleperson end the call so quickly and politely. And they had NPR on at Checkers so I continued to listen to the news while shopping. ** I wrote the following then looked up the date and it doesn't match - what other funeral am I confusing?** Then Regan's funeral was the same week as the astronauts' funerals, I was home sick that week so was glued to the TV. **I had to look up the years - 2003 for Columbia, 2004 Regan.
Oklahoma City bombing I was in Scotland and I saw it on the news that night, but it didn't feel like a pivotal event to me. A big ferry went down in the Baltic about the same time that felt like it impacted me more.
Not sure whose funeral you're remembering as the same week as the Columbia explosion.
We watched the troops invade Iraq on tv during the Gulf War my first year of college, I was on the a train trip to California in 2003 when the Iraq war started and I remember Katrina hitting and not being as big a deal as predicted (for about half a day) but none of those were quite the same "event".
My third grade teacher was crying when we came in from recess and learned that Reagan had been shot. Pope John Paul II was shot the day my family first flew to Europe and with our poor sign language communication skills we learned he was dead.
Regan wasn't a world stopping event for me, I just remember watching the funeral. I must have been home sick that day to have seen it.
I vaguely remember the hostages being freed during the Carter administration, and sensing it was a big deal but not quite understanding it. January 20, 1981, I was not yet 9.
I think Okla. impacted me b/c it was a far off place when I lived in PA, but living in the midwest was still new to me and Okla. was suddenly very close.
Oh - the Haiti earthquake Jan. 12 2010.
M's mom went into labor after hearing that Bobby Kennedy was shot. The Lyons paper ran both stories. We just got a copy from the library last time we were there.
This would be a good question for my dad but he would probably come up with a couple dozen examples. I'll see what he says. He has lots of stories about events during the civil rights movement which affected him deeply.
Moments that stand out to me are definitely 9/11, but also the 1989 Oakland earthquake, the Rodney King beating (1991) and subsequent riots, the Berlin wall falling, and the 1999 WTO protest in Seattle.
An interesting question: after some thought I think that as one ages, the most important are still the ones experienced when younger--only one in recent memory is World Trade center coming down. Prior to that McCarthy hearings, perfect game by Larson in world series, Kennedy's death, moon landing. On a personal basis, the drought in the 1950's in Kansas had a big effect. It may also be that being a history major and actually studying history over a long period tends to diminish some of the events in our own time.
some ol' man
Great conversation topic. The Challenger accident was a defining moment for me and I began questioning what vocation to pursue. I remember climbing into bed after school and watching Tom Brokaw reporting on our b&w tv (we were a bit late to get color!) I realized my interest in space exploration, I think it's a fitting legacy to those brave explorers.
I remember Princess Di's death as I was with my mom and we talked about how sad it was; she was in treatment for cancer and I think we both were appreciating the fagility of life. There are so many people robbed of life too early but as Elizabeth Edwards reminded us, we must cherish our numbered days!
Wish there were more celebrations that marked our memories rather than tragedies. My parents rented a TV to watch the moon landing!
I was a junior in high school when Kennedy was assassinated, a pretty big deal at the time.
More recently I was at work on 9/11. With a tv in the library it was an amazing sight, and hard to believe, watching the airplane hit the building and watching the tower collapse.
Marieke- I'd love to hear your father's list as well.
Ol' man-- I believe that age certainly plays a role, but I'll have to quiz you some more about history major status. What I'm talking about is more visceral than intellectual.
Salsis-- I know where I was when I first heard about the Haiti earthquake--reading a post from Erin asking if you were okay.
Erin-- early labor?
Ad astra-- Interesting, I think of you as being astronaut material long before the Challenger explosion (but then I'm not sure how long I really knew you before then and in my memory you always had a color tv). The bias towards tragedy is largely just because very bad things can happen very suddenly, but good usually takes time and rarely becomes an "event". There was something very unusual about the speed at which the Berlin wall came down because it was (at least as far as reported in the media) so very sudden.
Prairie Quilter-- Thanks for commenting. I didn't have tv reception as of 9/11 and I'm not sure, to date, I've actually seen the footage of the buildings collapsing.
Very interesting post and comments! Cause I'm from Texas, I guess, I remember when Baby Jessica was rescued. They announced it a high school football game. :)
I remember watching the game when Mark McGuire broke the record. I was helping Linda and Max with some house repair and we wrote it on the exposed wall that was going to be covered up.
I remember the OJ Simpson car chase, mostly because it was so boring and all the channels were showing it and I had to go for a walk I thought it was so stupid. (I could have read a book, I suppose.)
I remember hearing about the awful tsunami and wondering why no one was talking about it. It took a few days for the news to really break in the U.S.
Oh...and Michael Jackson's death because I heard it on the streets of Chicago but when we looked it up on my friend's iphone, it wasn't showing up on the internet yet. So maybe word of mouth beat the internet.
Janet-- I actually had to look up baby Jessica. Not on my historical radar at all.
There are a series of events that I explicitly remember because of associations, but didn't necessarily think them as big historical moments.
My parents and I were driving to Seattle to see my brother (and just miss meeting my now sister-in-law for the first time) when we stopped in Steamboat Springs for shakes and the OJ car chase was all over the news.
Several events I recall because they happened at or near Christmas-- the Tsunami, JonBenet Ramsey's murder, and the US invasion of Panama. The Mister and I were both clogged with head colds and couldn't sleep Thanksgiving morning 2008, so watched the 5 am news which was mall traffic reports interspersed with bombings in Mumbai. It was also the morning that we learned of Dianthus's (then Mervivian Alloicious) existence.
My brother (not normally who one would think is first to know of celebrity news) told me of Michael Jackson's death.
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