racy: I enjoy your posts so much.
I was born in 1955, fairly close to your target group. I was in third grade. The principal came on the loud speaker and announced that the president had been shot. Teachers were coming in to each other's rooms and were very upset.
It was fairly close to the end of the day...I don't remember the rest of school time, but I remember riding home on the bus and thinking, "What does this mean?" When I got home, my two older brothers were fuming because our piano teacher was making us take our normal Friday lesson. She was such a cold fish, and didn't see any reason to miss out on her fees. My 16 year old brother was furious and very upset. My other brother, 12 at the time, had passed out literature for Kennedy.
Ours was a sad household. I mostly remember watching every minute of the tv coverage and that Thanksgiving was quite subdued that year. The most horrific thing I remember (and I talked to her later about this) was that my mom was in a neighboring community giving IQ tests to elementary students, and some of the students and teachers actually cheered when the assassination was announced. Sad sad
I have sense become rather an assassination afficianado if there is such a thing--such a horrific, scary event in our country's violent history
Episode 12 captured so many of the emotions of that day.....The "Grownups" were sad....the children were bewildered.....brilliant job by the MM writers

Racy: I've said these words on another thread in the past, but I'll repeat. I was in my 20's, working in a corporate environment (not advertising) when JFK was killed. When I heard about the tragedy at my office, I cried to the first guy I saw, "what's going to happen?" and he coldly said that we'll just get a new president. I wanted to slap his face.

Racy: I forgot to mention that I also saw the shooting of Oswald by Jack Ruby while I was watching TV about Kennedy. The whole thing was horrible.

I already posted this. Where did it go?

My bestfriend whispered to me in class that the President had died and she had heard the teachers talking about it in the hall.

Hi

I was in 4th grade in a Catholic school (I survived that) in New York - they closed the school and sent us home early. One of the things I remember is that there was virtually no one outside once the news hit, it was as though people were afraid to be out there. There were 24 hour gas stations and other businesses that had to go out and buy locks so they could close down - years later you would still hear people say "(X place) hasn't been closed since Kennedy was killed". Until 9/11 there wasn't a strong enough reason.

I saw Oswald killed on live TV as we all sat on our living room floor watching the non-stop coverage of those events.

Like the eclipse episode, 723, watching Mad Men has brought back a lot of memories of those days of my childhood.

I'm bummed that there is a season finale for this show...I wish it could just go on year round.

I was in 6th grade....my mother just cried all day long.

Why do you care what 6 and 7-year-olds remember? Any memory they have would be distorted.

Hi. I was born in 1954. Close enough? I was nine when it happened. That day in school I was on a special assignment in the library in the afternoon and did not return to my class till just before three. When I returned I noticed the class sitting motionless. My best friend looked up at me and said, "Joe. Kennedy was shot! They shot Kennedy." I looked at my teacher, who was a young lady of about 25 and she was holding back tears unsuccessfully. We got our coats and left.

Doing homework that weekend on the kitchen table my dad suddenly leapt to the floor and shouted, "They shot him! Right there on the TV! They shot him!" Never saw him react like that.

Even back then, many people doubted the official story. Particularly after Ruby shot Oswald the rumors were flying. Oswald did not act like your typical assassin. Ruby was... basically a small-time hood. Didn't add up.

The funeral procession was one of the saddest things I've ever experienced watching TV. Unbelieveable. The sight of Jackie and the kids, in particular little John John, was devastating. Don't know what effect it had on me. In those days there was no care taken to see to childrens needs after such a crises as there is now. We just lived through it. A few months later, unbelievably, the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan, and between those two events, the world was never the same. Not even close. The world of Mad Men came to a crashing, brutal end.

I was ironing and watching a 13" black and white tv when the news came on. I stayed glued to the tv for the next several days -- the event was so traumatizing that I've never gotten over it, probably because it came when I was so young and impressionable. I've read every Kennedy assassination book out there practically to understand the horrible turning point but still don't know what really happened to him.

As an aside, a few years ago, while doing family genealogy, I discovered that James Leavell, the man in the white suit and hat that was on Oswald's right when he (Oswald) was shot, was a distant cousin of my now ex spouse. Small world.

November 22, 1963, I was aptly sitting in my junior high school American History class. Mrs. Nesbit was a tough but good teacher. Mid-way through her lesson another teacher walked in and whispered something in her ear. Our teacher uncharacteristically excused herself from the class, and five minutes later wheeled in a large black & white TV from the AV room. After plugging it in, Mrs. Nesbit bravely stood before us to announce what had happened to our President. She turned on the TV and we listened as our worlds fell apart. Innocence died that day. We were all young, around 13 and dealing with the awkwardness of puberty, but that was OK because JFK had been keeping the rest of our world safe. We loved him, we loved his family. Television brought the Kennedys into everyone's home. For the first time, Americans felt like they had an intimate relationship with a Presidential family, so the assassination of JFK was very, very personal to us. The silence of the grief was palpable. Everything changed. Life was now fragile. Presidents can get killed. And, since the Kennedys, we have not allowed a relationship with that level of intimacy with any other First Family. It hurts too much.

I have watched the MM assassination episode probably five or six times. It's so REAL in presentation, I cry at each viewing. The most realistic scene is when Betty, after viewing Oswald's assassination, stands up in anguish and says, "What is going on?" That's what we were all asking.