I used to always wonder what was going to be my generation’s Kennedy assassination, the moment that everybody knew exactly what they were doing when they heard. I remember thinking first that it was going to be the OJ verdict, then Columbine happened and I thought “oh, this is it.” Then, of course, 9/11.
I think the first “event” I really remember was OJ and the Bronco - my family didn’t have air conditioning and it was super hot so my mom and I were sleeping in the basement, and I remember staying up late to watch the “chase”.
Ah thanks for this. I was thinking mine was 9/11. I was in 7th grade. But I definitely remember OJ and Columbine too. It’s just, you know. 9/11 absolutely overshadows those.
I also remember the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in ‘89, but I’m from Alaska so maybe that’s why. I vaguely remember the Challenger explosion but I had just turned 6. I remember things from high school and early college much better…Ross Perot running for president, the OJ stuff, the Gulf War, Princess Diana dying, etc. But none of those is like 9/11, where I remember exactly where I was when I found out. The others are all general memories. That one is precise.
Challenger, definitely. Like others, I was home sick, so was watching the launch live. I was very much into it because I had hoped to go to Space Camp and had been saving money and planning for it. (Never actually did it.)
Another biggie was definitely the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan.
And of course, the most significant of them all: who shot JR?
Reading these, and since this is an election year, I think my first national exposure was the Kennedy/Nixon campaign. That was a divisive event.
Also, WW2 was still big. I knew kids who were maimed by unexploded ordinance which then exploded, untimely. Kids - my brother among them - were still memorizing plane silhouettes. Kids were encouraged to play war games, with toy guns, with an idea that we needed to stay prepared. And amidst all of that was of course polio.
Switching gears, I almost put the wedding of Charles and Diana. It was a big deal in my family - my toddler niece dressed in her version of a bridal gown while she watched with her grandmother, who grew up in England. I doubt that my niece actually recalls the wedding. I’ll have to ask . . .