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27 November 2014

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Memoryshare

You are in: Oxford > Memoryshare > Where Were You When...

JFK

JFK moments before his death

Where Were You When...

There are many moments in the 20th century that people ask "Where were you when..?" The assassination of JFK is probably the most asked.

On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets as his motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was the youngest man elected President; he was the youngest to die.

But what was it about JFK? Why do people still ask, "Where were you when...?"

Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio Oxford looks back at the events and asks what relevance the story of JFK has today.

Thomas Tate grew up in the States and now lives in Oxford and tells us what he remembers from the day.Ìý We also have audio from the Pacifica Radio Archives based in Los Angeles - the oldest public radio collection in the United States. Find out more by listening below and by clicking on the link on the right.Ìý Many thanks too to Joanne Griffith.

Your Memories:

Pauline - Oxford

On 22nd November 1963 I was ten hours ahead of the UK and even more ahead of Dallas.Ìý My husband was stationed in north Malaya and I was up and about getting ready for my part-time job as secretary at the British Army Children’s School when I heard the Â鶹ԼÅÄ world news about Kennedy’s assassination.Ìý When I called to my husband about what had happened he found it hard to believe and had to hear it for himself.Ìý

When I got to the school I asked the Head what he thought of the news and he hadn’t heard the news that morning and was stunned.Ìý He thought I must have misheard and went off to check what I had told him.Ìý Everyone found it difficult to believe that this had happened.Ìý Kennedy seemed to be what the USA needed at the time. He had a good group of advisors etc around him, all more or less of an age.Ìý He was the only one who stood up to the Russians (the Cuba missile crisis) although he must have been chewing his nails at the time in case he got it wrong.

One always wonders ‘what might have been’.Ìý

Lee Harvey Oswald’s death seemed very convenient at the time and still does.Ìý Why a low-life like Ruby should take it upon himself to shoot Oswald and die in the process is really unbelievable, even if he was dying of cancer as the reports said at the time.Ìý Someone must have been frightened of what Oswald might or might not say as there was a Texan faction that didn’t like Kennedy’s government and I’m sure that Ruby didn’t die in vain, no doubt his family received quite a nice death benefit payment.

Gordon Clark - Chandler, Arizona

FROM 1965 THROUGH 1968 I LIVED UP ON MORRELL AVE AND FELL IN LOVE WITH OXFORD.Ìý BEEN BACK MANY TIMES AND WILL BE BACK SOON.Ìý LIVING IN CHANDLER, ARIZONA SE OF PHOENIX.Ìý LISTEN TO YOU ALL AS OFTEN AS I CAN WHILE HERE WORKING ON THE CPU.Ìý KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.Ìý MY WIFE JOAN JUST GOT OF THE HOSPITAL THIS AFTERNOON (MONDAY) AFTER A SERIOUS OPERATION AND ALL WENT WELL.Ìý GLAD TO HAVE HER HOME.Ìý

last updated: 05/02/2008 at 13:16
created: 20/11/2007

Have Your Say

Where were you when..?

The Â鶹ԼÅÄ reserves the right to edit comments submitted.

Marcus R Davidson
JFK's assassination. I was in Salisbury, Rhodesia, watching the 10 pm News on Rhodesian Television when the lead story was what had happened in Dallas.Every night the programme would be followed by a Topic for Tonight of 5 minutes duration.Unbelievably, instead of a Newsreader simply reading agency reports as they flooded in, they stuck to their scheduled preparation and went ahead with a feature about the sugar beet problems of Cuba!Journalist colleagues of mine tuned in to Americian Forces Network (AFN) and listened to the unfolding events.Some weeks later an LP record was released under the title "Four Days Which Shook the World" containing actuality of reporters in Elm Street, interviews with witnesses and even the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald - live - as he was being taken from jail.I still have that recording.M R Davidson

Michael Edney
I was watching 'Emergency Ward 10' on the TV, when a news flash interupted the programme. The rest of the evening was devoted to updates and re-runs of the events leading upto the fatal shooting.

Linda Rogers
I was on a tv show called Ready Steady Go in Kingsway London and they haltedthe show to announce the assassination of JFK

GORDON CLARK
I HAD TAKEN A 1/2 YEAR OFF FROM COLLAGE TO EARN SOME MONEY WORKING WITH THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RR IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. IT WAS A COLD GREY MORNING WITH A LIGHT SNOW FALLING COVERING EVERYTHING CREATING A QUIET, BEAUTIFUL, ROMANTIC ENVIRONMENT. ABOUT 10-10:30 AM WORD CAME OVER THE RADIO OF A SHOOTING IN DALLAS. I WAS WORKING ALONE ON A LOADING DOCK MOVING RAILROAD EQUIPMENT OUT OF A FREIGHT CAR. AFTER ABOUT 20 MIN I WENT BACK INTO THE OFFICE AND HEARD THE NEWS THAT PRESIDENT KENNEDY WAS DEAD. I WAS 20 YEARS OLD AND VERY MOVED BY PRESIDENTS KENNEDY DEATH. I REMEMBER SITTING ON A BOX ON THE LOADING PLATFORM AS THE SNOW ACCUMILATED ON ME AS I SAT AND THOUGHT OF THIS TRAGIC EVENT. I BAGAN TO THINK OF MY LIFE AND WHAT I WANTED TO DO AND WHAT MY NEXT MOVE WOULD BE. I SAT THERE AND CRIED SOME AND COMMITTED MYSELF TO MAKE THIS A BETTER WORLD. EVER SINCE I HAVE WORKED TO THAT END AND FIRST BY JOING THE U.S.A.F WHICH BROUGHT ME TO R.A.F.B. UPPER HEYFORD AND OXFORD. I LOVED IT THERE AND STILL DO. I MISS IT VERY MUCH. IN MY LIFE I HAVE WORKED MOSTLY IN COMMUNICATIONS AND HAVE VOLUNTEERED AS A MEDIC FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS AND AT LOCAL HOSPITALS HELPING PEOPLE. I WISH I COULD HAVE DONE MORE.

mr clive smith
I WAS A 15 YEAR SCHOOLBOY ON AN OUTWARD BOUND COURSE IN THE LAKE DISTRICT , WE WERE TOLD THE TERRIBLE NEWS AS WE STOOD ON THE STAIRCASE OF PATTERDALE HALL , TAKING EVENING PRAYERS OUR INSTRUCTOR SAID PRESIDENT KENNEDY HAD BEEN ASSASINATED .I REMEMBER BEING SO SHOCKED AT THE NEWS I JUST CRIED , TO ME AT THE TIME KENNEDY WAS THE HOPE OF A NEW AND BETTER WORLD .

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