First and/or most significant historical moment you recall

[OmerV]

The first hugely significant historical moment I at least somewhat clearly recall being aware of and paying attention to at the time it happened was the lunar landing/moon walk in 1969. I remember being huddled around a small black and white TV with poor reception, and being amazed that a man was actually about to set foot on that bright orb I could see in the sky every night.

But for me the most significant historical moment that I feel dramatically impacted me and my view of the world was 911. A lot of people say hearing about the Kennedy assasination was the individual moment they will always clearly recall where they were and what they were doing, but I was only 1 1/2 years old at that time. For me that moment was finding out about the plane flying into the first tower, then watching the rest unfold on tv thereafter. I can’t imagine the collective population of a country being more stunned and horrified than the citizens of the US were at that moment.

 

[RodeoJake]

Back when I was a boy living outside Houston, the Cuban Missile Crisis scared the heck outta me. I remember hearing adults talking about Houston being one of the cities targeted. People were getting bomb shelters. I remember the mass panic of impending nuclear war hitting close to home.

 

[OmerV]

Back when I was a boy living outside Houston, the Cuban Missile Crisis scared the heck outta me. I remember hearing adults talking about Houston being one of the cities targeted. People were getting bomb shelters. I remember the mass panic of impending nuclear war hitting close to home.

I can imagine that would have been very scary. This is the kind of thing I hoped to get from this thread. Thoughts from people that recall events and feelings I’m not old enough to have experienced, and also from younger posters who have a different perspective than myself.

 

[Runwildboys]

I'm with you on the ones you stated, but I want to add in Watergate. Just finding out that our government could be corrupt was shocking and disheartening for me at that age.
Next, the Iran hostage situation. That was a very tense time that ended with a feeling of relief and pride in our armed forces.

 

[OmerV]

I'm with you on the ones you stated, but I want to add in Watergate. Just finding out that our government could be corrupt was shocking and disheartening for me at that age.
Next, the Iran hostage situation. That was a very tense time that ended with a feeling of relief and pride in our armed forces.

I remember watching Nixon give his resignation speech. That was a very dramatic moment.

 

[OmerV]

I'm with you on the ones you stated, but I want to add in Watergate. Just finding out that our government could be corrupt was shocking and disheartening for me at that age.
Next, the Iran hostage situation. That was a very tense time that ended with a feeling of relief and pride in our armed forces.

The hostage crisis seemed to go on forever. Lead story on the national news every night. It was pretty dramatic watching that unfold.

 

[Runwildboys]

The hostage crisis seemed to go on forever. Lead story on the national news every night. It was pretty dramatic watching that unfold.

It's a good thing we didn't have the internet then.

 

[lukin2006]

The fall of the Berlin Wall.

 

[Runwildboys]

I gotta say, the long awaited killing of Bin Laden seemed anticlimactic.

 

[OmerV]

It's a good thing we didn't have the internet then.

I think about that sometimes. We might have very different perceptions of significant events had the internet been around.

 

[cowboyec]

•Reagan asassination attempt
•Challenger disaster

both times I was in school when they occured...for Reagan they brought a tv into our class and I think let us out early.

 

[cowboyec]

living here in Okc...the April 19th bombing downtown is a moment I'll never forget.
at the time,I was living in a apt not far from there...I still remember the sound from it.

 

[OmerV]

•Reagan asassination attempt
•Challenger disaster

both times I was in school when they occured...for Reagan they brought a tv into our class and I think let us out early.

I was watching the Challenger live when it happened. I was by myself, stunned, nobody to talk to. Of course that was before cell phones and the internet so people weren’t calling, emailing or texting. So I sat in silence, staring at the TV.

 

[Runwildboys]

I was watching the Challenger live when it happened. I was by myself, stunned, nobody to talk to. Of course that was before cell phones and the internet so people weren’t calling, emailing or texting. So I sat in silence, staring at the TV.

Yeah, that was one of those times where disbelief sets in immediately. You think you must've misunderstood what you just saw.

 

[OmerV]

Yeah, that was one of those times where disbelief sets in immediately. You think you must've misunderstood what you just saw.

That’s exactly right. If I hadn’t been listening to the TV and had just seen the video I might have convinced myself there had to be some other explanation for what I saw.

 

[Trouty]

I was watching the Challenger live when it happened. I was by myself, stunned, nobody to talk to. Of course that was before cell phones and the internet so people weren’t calling, emailing or texting. So I sat in silence, staring at the TV.

Geez, brother.

This post hit me to the bone

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

•Reagan asassination attempt
•Challenger disaster

both times I was in school when they occured...for Reagan they brought a tv into our class and I think let us out early.

Our school didn't even mention it. We were getting ready to go home and our teacher dismissed us and said Reagan was shot. that's the first I heard of it. Now when the hostages were released they did announce that on the intercom.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

I honestly don't remember. I have a slight remembrance of watching the astronauts walking on the moon. I do remember when Nixon resigned because we were in the process of moving to a new house. I remember the hippies protesting the Vietnam War. The older you get the more it all runs together. lol

 

[Runwildboys]

I honestly don't remember. I have a slight remembrance of watching the astronauts walking on the moon. I do remember when Nixon resigned because we were in the process of moving to a new house. I remember the hippies protesting the Vietnam War. The older you get the more it all runs together. lol

But at the same time, you realize just how important those events were to you, and how much they shaped who you are now.

 

[timb2]

Charles Manson followers outside his trial scared me as a child. Women with shaved heads and scratched swasitkas on their foreheads.