What was the first newsworthy issue that you remember?

Maybe 9/11. I can't think of any major event from the 90's.

yes, i remember the Kennedy shooting. I was in 7th grade at the time.
but before that i also remember the Bay of Pigs scare, and how we all practiced preparing for the air rade that never came.
"Duck and Cover" was the word of the times.

and knowing which of your friends had an actual air raid shelter in their back yard!
(yup there were sub terainian concrete bunkers in suburban backyards in those days.)

July 20, 1969.

The earliest big news story that I remember is Clinton and Monica Lewinsky or the Bosnian conflict, I don't remember which came first.

I'm still looking for something worth reading. Most of what I see online is about homosexuality, same-gender marriages, and celebrities coming out of the closet.

Grandpa4 said:

I'm still looking for something worth reading. Most of what I see online is about homosexuality, same-gender marriages, and celebrities coming out of the closet.

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I wonder what they were doing in the closet Grandpa? Looking for a mop, or a broom?

My first clear memory of a news item was the Cuban missle crisis. My parents had gone to the store and bought all these canned foods and water. We had a place to go that was underground and me and my brother started helping move the goods there. I remember starring at those canned goods stacked against the wall and wondering if we would all live through it. Or even if we wanted to! But yes, lots of folks had underground shelters, and after the crisis when our family moved to another town, we built the very first personal family fall out shelter in Midland Texas. Those were scarry times. Kennedy was LIKE JOHN WAYNE to me, the way he made the Russians blink. But now I think, dear Lord what if he hadn't? wow.

pdudgeon said:

yes, i remember the Kennedy shooting. I was in 7th grade at the time.
but before that i also remember the Bay of Pigs scare, and how we all practiced preparing for the air rade that never came.
"Duck and Cover" was the word of the times.

and knowing which of your friends had an actual air raid shelter in their back yard!
(yup there were sub terainian concrete bunkers in suburban backyards in those days.)

Click to expand...

I was in second grade at recess, playing tetherball on the playground when they announced that Kennedy had been shot on the loud speaker. I remember my two biggest fears at that time - getting bombed by the Russians (didn't happen, but we did have a bomb shelter in the basement), and having an earthquake (which did happen, but mostly just caused a large crack all the way down the middle of our long driveway). I did know somebody who had a 3 story bomb shelter under their garage.

I have hazy memories of 9/11, but not of the terrorism itself but the impact it had and the way everyone reacted to it. I remember my preschool teachers crying, everyone being picked up early that day, all the military people with guns at the train station, and how there was this palpable sadness and tension. We went to a memorial event. I remember strangers hugging and comforting one another. I was too young then to comprehend what had happened, and was shielded from news coverage as much as possible. I remember learning about it in depth in school years later and everyone crying in class.

My first vivid memory is of the Queen's Golden Jubilee in London the summer of 2002. We were there for it, and it was spectacular. There were huge screens and cameras set up in Hyde Park and in Commonwealth countries around the world, and festivities were kicked off by a massive sing-along to All You Need is Love. All the streets were decorated with Union Jack flags and banners, and it was a stirring sight. We had a picnic at St. James Park and then attended this public concert in front of Buckingham Palace. I got to see the Queen.

In late the 1940s when I was about six I was playing on a vacant lot with friends when we found a box full of watches. We walked down the street with about six watches on either arm. The police came and asked us where the watches came from. It was on the news the next day. We had found the stash from a recent jewelry store robbery.

Hurricaine Katrina

Richard Nixon leaving the White House and Gerald Ford becoming President.

The death of George Reeves.

"Superman committed suicide!" was the headlines in June of '59. I was crushed. At age 4 I could not understand how that was possible. 2 of his fellow cast memebers Noel Neil (Lois Lane) and Jack Larson (Jimmy Olson) spent the rest of their lives trying to prove his death was NOT suicide (although Larson initially believed it was).

chandraclaws said:

I was in second grade at recess, playing tetherball on the playground when they announced that Kennedy had been shot on the loud speaker. I remember my two biggest fears at that time - getting bombed by the Russians

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That was the 2nd big news maker I remember. I was in 3rd grade and they sent us home from school early without explaination. High Schoolers were crying (they never let them out the same time as us) and I asked one why. He said the president had been shot.

Aside from Jesus good news?
I remember the papers making a huge deal over The royal wedding, for me it was when Prince Andrew marrying Fergie. That was in 1988.
I remember cuttting out pictures from the newspaper, which was black and white in those days. I liked the dress.

The Challenger explosion.

I was walking into a restaurant to pick up lunch and a guy with this big smile on his face looked at me and said, did you hear the one about the Challenger exploding?
I thought it was a punchline thing so I go, no, tell me. And then he did. The real news. To this day I can't figure out why he had that big toothy smile on his face as he delivered the news.

Terribly sad day.

Watergate for me, although at the time I wasn't sure what the event had to do with water or gates