What's your earliest memory of a historical event?

[Willis Jackson]

I remember the 1988 winter Olympics. Most of my friends remember the Challenger explosion (Jan '86) but I don't. I was born in 1981.

My mom remembers sitting on my grandfather's shoulders and seeing Harry Truman speak during the 1948 campaign.

[karinothing]

I remember the Challenger. Or well. I remember drawing a picture of it exploding and getting a talking to by my parents.

[Deleted]

The summer Olympics in 1984. I had Mary Lou Retton stirrup pants. After that, I would say its the Challenger explosion and then I have scattered memories about the iran contra hearings and the election of 1988.

[lb2006]

The challenger - from elementary school.

AND....hurricane hugo. Also in elementary school. We were without power for 9 days.

[Deleted]

The Challenger (I'm 34)

[ddi741]

I remember the hostages being freed from Iran. I was in elementary school and we ran aroud the playground yelling "they're free, they're free".  I was 8 so I had no real concept of what we were happy about, just that these people were free and we were happy.  This was 1981.

[elcjet]

Challenger (also 34).......but it's fairly vague.

[twodogsandababy]

I remember watching the Kuwaiti oil fires burn. I remember my parents and aunts and uncles all crowded into my grandmas living room watching.

[heyrebekah]

I'm 36. I remember the 1984 election -- coloring in the states on a big dry erase map in our living room.

I remember all the hoopla surrounding the Challenger before the launch, and a TV being wheeled into our classroom, but I do not remember seeing the actual explosion.

[Chuppathingy]

The Berlin Wall coming down. I was 6 or 7 at the time and lived very nearby. My father brought home a chunk of it that is on my desk at home now. One side has purple spray paint on it.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using proboards

[Deleted]

Challenger. Born 1981.

[ddi741]

Oh I also remember Regan being shot. That was also in 1981.

[jene]

The Berlin Wall coming down

[Deleted]

Mar 6, 2014 11:53:29 GMT -5 lb2006 said:

The challenger - from elementary school.

AND....hurricane hugo. Also in elementary school. We were without power for 9 days.

Oh yes, I remember Hurricane Hugo really well. I was in 3rd grade I think.

[qwerty]

Mar 6, 2014 11:56:36 GMT -5 ddi741 said:

I remember the hostages being freed from Iran. I was in elementary school and we ran aroud the playground yelling "they're free, they're free".  I was 8 so I had no real concept of what we were happy about, just that these people were free and we were happy.  This was 1981.

I remember this as well. Not a historic event but I remember going with my parents to vote in the 70s where they had those machines with the curtains and the levers you pull to cast your vote..

[savan]

I remember the Challenger because we were supposed to go on a field trip to the space center and it was cancelled. I also remember discussing the Berlin Wall coming down in school.

[mrshandy]

The Berlin Wall or the fall of the Soviet Union. I remember asking my Dad about why the Soviet Union broke up and he said something about there not being any food in the grocery stores.

[ladygrey]

Mar 6, 2014 12:00:37 GMT -5 @carmensandiego said:

Challenger. Born 1981.

Same.

[sporklemotion]

The earliest events I remember are the Bicentennial and the Carter/Ford election in 1976. I was born in 1971. The Challenger explosion is the first event that I can remember vividly-- where I was when I learned about it, etc. the others I remember experiencing but couldn't tell you exactly how I learned of it. I was at a friend's house-- it was midterm week and we were going to go to the mall.

[dottyblue]

Another who remembers the Berlin wall coming down. It happened the day before my 9th birthday. I think I just have a really poor memory, because I was OLD for that to be my first historical event memory.

[magdala]

Blizzard of '78. I was young and got in big trouble sledding out of the second story windows with my then teen-aged uncles. It was great fun; but Mom and Grandma were furious.

[Deleted]

I remember my sisters and neighbor and I deciding we were going to have a pro-George H W Bush rally on election night. I was 7. I think we started it close to when the polls closed in KS and it may have technically been illegal since we were one house away from a polling location. Also I think as adults were are at 3/4 Democrats (not sure about my youngest sister--she's squirrelly.)

[cookies]

I remember voting for Walter Mondale in my mock class election.

[Deleted]

Local history--I remember a horrible storm when I was barely 5 that did hurricane type damage and shut off water to my hometown for 2-3 days and electricity for I'm not sure how long. I also remember a blizzard that same year.

[winnied]

I was born in 1987 and the first thing I remember is the Oklahoma City bombing.

[mbcdefg]

My first grade teacher explaining that we'd moved into a new decade in 1990, after we came back from Christmas break.

Tying yellow ribbons on the trees outside school during the Gulf War. And doing an AIDS walk every year.

The earliest Olympics I remember actually watching is the 1992 Barcelona/1994 Lillehammer. Mostly for the opening ceremonies, lol.

I was sheltered from a lot of TV and current events for a lot of my childhood, so even if I were to remember Challenger and the Lockerbie bombing and stuff I probably wouldn't have been allowed to watch it anyway.

I was born in 1983.

ETA: and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, mainly because our cable TV service was knocked out for a while (we lived about 10 miles away).

[countthestars]

Hurricane Andrew and the Ryder truck exploding under the WTC.

ETA:  Born in 1985.  After some googling, I'm wondering if it was the OKC bombing I am thinking of (Ryder trucks were used in both).  I remember ducking in the car when we saw a Ryder truck drive by :?

[ebeth]

challenger. we watched it live. for some reason me and sibs were home with my mom that day and I remember her rounding us up and turning on the TV to watch the space shuttle take off and then not really knowing what to do when it blew up.

[ijack]

challenger (I'm 36). I remember we all went into the library to watch it on tv (it was a roll cart) and then it just exploded and the whole school was watching.

[Marmee]

The influx of Vietnamese refugees after the war, in the late 1970s. I was very young (born in 1975). I remember because it affected me personally.