Stolen from MM: First historical event you remember?

[jodinia]

Same for me, the Challenger explosion. I was in 1st grade and we were watching it on tv.

[mandymay]

The first World Trade Center bombing and the Oklahoma City Bombing. I know they were two years apart, but they mesh together in my memory. I was 9 and 11.

[mandymay]

Mar 6, 2014 16:55:45 GMT -5 game blouses said:

The LA riots. My 3rd grade teacher cried almost the whole next day. I lived about 20 minutes outside LA and everyone was terrified.

Oh yeah! I have to switch my answer to this, I guess. I remember how tense everything was around that time and how we had to cancel some field trips at school (this was a big deal to my 8 year old self).

[cinderbella]

Mar 6, 2014 17:12:11 GMT -5 thebreakfastclub said:

I have a vague memory of the Reagan assassination.  

I remember hearing about Three Mile Island in the years following, and since that happened in my home state, I thought it happened near my house.  

I have stronger memories of the 1984 Olympics (Mary Decker tripping especially ) and the 1984 election.   I really remember the Challenger explosion too.  

One of my strongest memories happened when I was 11 - Pennsylvania Attorney General Bud Dwyer killed himself on live TV during a press conference.   He was going to be charged with corruption/bribery.   The news showed it live one time, which I did not see.  

But they replayed him sitting at the table, waving a pistol, putting it in his mouth, and then cut away.   I can still see it plain as day in my mind, and this was 25+ years ago.    

I am also dying inside at the Princess Diana memories.   I think I was engaged to my college boyfriend when that happened.  
  

Holy shit. I just googled Budd Dwyer. Damn.

I think my first news event that I strongly remember was the kidnapping of Jacob Wetterling. He and his friend were out riding bikes in the country and he vanished. We were almost exactly the same age and I remember my mom crying every time he was shown on the news.

Eta..... He disappeared in 1989. I was 8, he was 11.

[Champagne Supernova]

I grew up in the Philippines and all I can remember was the People's Power Revolution in 1986. I was three year old.

The location where it all went down was pretty close to our house and I remember seeing military helicopters flying in the air.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Power_Revolution

[trafficgirl]

I was going to say Princess Di as that one is the most clear for me, but then I remembered that in 5th grade nearly the entire grade staged a walk out protesting the Gulf War. I was one of the nerds who didn't walk out because I didn't want to get in trouble.

FTR - I'm 33

[LaceyV]

I vaguely remember the OJ Simpson trial only because his wife's name was Nicole and that's mine name so I remembered hearing it. I was 7.

I more distinctly remember the OKC bombing because we planted a tree at my school afterwards.

[VeryViolet]

I remember really clearly being at my best friends house across the street and watching baby jessica come out of the well. It is really weird because I looked up the dates and I had just turned three so it may actually be one of my first memories too.

[cc]

Mar 6, 2014 16:43:02 GMT -5 nuggetbrain said:

The Challenger exploding.

This for me too. I was in elementary school and we were all gathered outside to watch it go off. (I live close enough to be able to see it in the sky) We saw it explode, but didn't fully grasp what happened until the teachers explained it to us. I remember going home and begging my parents to never become astronauts.

[UMaineTeach]

Oklahoma City bombing is what came to mind first. Home from school on April vacation, watching the news.

[curtains]

I vaguely remember the vietnam war ending because my dad was a hippy and hugely anti-war. 

I clearly remember Carter and my parents fighting into the night about the peanut guy... They may have meant Carter but all I thought of was:

[UMaineTeach]

Mar 6, 2014 17:06:30 GMT -5 loonylunalovegood said:

Mar 6, 2014 16:54:19 GMT -5 hungrycaterpillar said:

I don't know if this counts as historical... But princess Diana dying is the first new story I remember.

This is not the first one I remember, but it's the first one that really hit me hard. I was in 7th grade and an absolute mess over it. I remember sitting on the floor in front of our super old TV in the kitchen (the nice TV was in the living room, lol) and just bawling over it. 

summer '97 would have been between 7th and 8th grade. I remember we were at camp and all we have up there is a radio. I woke up heard it on the radio news that my parents were listening to, I figured I heard wrong and went back to sleep. I woke up several more times to hear it again and again. When I finally got up, I asked if she was dead, to confirm. I don't remember beyond that.

[curtains]

Wow - going through this post makes me realize how much a few years in age makes a difference. I was out of college and considerng marrying the wrong guy when princess di died

[berbles]

Wait. I lied. I VERY distinctly remember Kurt Loder announcing Kurt Cobaine's death. That was a few months before OJ's trial.

1994 was apparently the year my brain turned on. LOL

[lilafowler]

Edict of Nantes.

Damn I'm old.

[olegregg]

The fall of the Berlin Wall. I mostly remember them selling pieces of it at a local department store  :?

ETA actually, I do remember the 1988 election, I went into the voting booth with my mom. That was also the day my grandfather died, so I've always equated it with that rather than an historical event.

[lilafowler]

For real though-I think it was Princess Diana and Charles' wedding. I remember watching it with my mom and being amazed at how long her train was!

That was...1981? I was 4/5

[sandyapples]

OJ trial I guess? I remember watching the white bronco going down the highway. According to Wikipedia I would have been almost 12.

[10outof9]

The Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. I was 3 and a half, and it's actually my earliest distinct memory. My dad was picking me up from my grandparents' house and we were in their kitchen, on the way to the back door when it started.

[demelza]

Operation Desert Storm

[catbus]

Mar 6, 2014 19:37:26 GMT -5 toledo said:

Mar 6, 2014 19:05:41 GMT -5 catbus said:

Why the shock at the first memory being Princess Diana's death, but not at the earlier people who said the Lewinsky scandal? Princess Di died in '97, but the Lewinsky scandal didn't come to light until '98.

i think i was a little incredulous that supposedly little kids were that tuned in to a sex scandal involving sperm on a blue dress and a cigar-dildo.

Well, it was all over the news. Inescapable. The media are not concerned with being family friendly when they can have huge ratings. I was 14-15 when that all went down (LOL) but even so, I didn't understand all the subtexts. Like, I didn't "get" the cigar part until a friend spelled it out for me.
Edit: and also, damn, some people apparently have no memories of major news events before age twelve... Even if my parents were the shielding type, I think by that age they would have been less cautious.
I answered the post on MM; my earliest news memory is the fall of the Berlin Wall, when I was nearly six.

[kaybee85]

Probably the infamous OJ Simpson car chase in the white Bronco. My parents were watching the news live - this would have been when I was in 3rd grade. I also remember doing a classroom vote of Bush vs. Clinton. I voted for Clinton, because Bush already had a turn. lol that was first grade.

[aeme]

I don't know if this counts, but I think I was 4 or 5 and my mom and I witnessed a plane exploding in mid-air. We were walking out of a Zany Brainy in the Philadelphia region when it happened. I think some Congressman or Senator was on it. Maybe someone else remembers this?

[azurely]

Oklahoma City bombing in 1995

[janiejones]

Berlin Wall.
I was born in 81.

[luvvy]

Baby Jessica?

[sonrisa]

When Charles and Di got married. (Specifically I remember being really bored when Blue Peter traced her lineage for us - Blue Peter was a British children's show aimed at the Sesame Street crowd.)

[Deleted]

The Challenger. I was in third or fourth grade.

[Deleted]

Mar 6, 2014 21:13:46 GMT -5 luvvy said:

Baby Jessica?

Me, too.  I remember Challenger being relevant in conversation, but not the actual event.  But I definitely remember Baby Jessica.

[luvvy]

Yeah, we didn't really have a tv when we were little. I was very sheltered but I was fascinated with baby Jessica.