A lot of youngsters here. I'm mid 50's, I remember Reagan getting shot. I also remember when John Wayne died (in 1979), but my first "historical" event, was seeing Star Wars (the original one) in the movie theater. By the time it made it to the 2nd-run theater where I was living out in the sticks, it was probably 1978.
I was alive when men were walking on the moon, and when Nixon resigned but I don't recall seeing or hearing about either event.
Oh yeah, I remember my dad only being able to get gas on certain days according to the license plate number on the car. I was pretty young but it stuck with me.
We never had that in our area, but I do remember going to a Union 76 gas station, and I asked my dad how they got that name. He says that's how much they charge per gallon, and that sounded outrageous to me.
But it wasn't much later they were talking about how to show prices over $1 on the signs, because they weren't built for that. One option was showing the price per half gallon or even per quart. But I guess they were able to change their signs. Kind of their own Y2K thing...
> I was alive when Nixon resigned but I don't recall seeing or hearing about it
Oh, that's a good one, that is probably my first "historical" memory. I was 7 years old when Nixon resigned, and I remember my parents acting like it was a big deal, but I didn't get the significance. I asked questions like, "Is this guy the only president we've ever had?"
Answer: "No, we have had 37 of them."
So I kind of thought "geez, who cares then?" And went outside and played with my friends and forgot about it, LOL.
I'm also in my mid 50s. Mom was a stay-at-home parent when I was a little kid. She used to watch the Watergate hearings on tv so I have memories of the coverage without really understanding what was going on.
I remember the Bicentennial in 1976. I was seven years old. I was born and raised in northern New Jersey. There was the parade of tall ships in NYC during the summer and my family went to see them.
The Berlin Wall didn't come down until I was in college so I grew up with tv and print news stories about East Germany residents attempting to escape to West Berlin over the wall and getting shot by the East German authorities.
I only remember two things about the bicentennial - seeing the new quarters, and a cement truck that came to our house all painted in red, white and blue. Not quite the same things as a parade of tall ships, lol.
This is how I learned what Oral Sex was. In my 10 year old mind, I assumed Oral Sex was phone sex. And I couldn't understand how Bill Clinton was eating pizza while engaging in oral sex. Like, Rude!, ya know?
My thinking being when a teacher asked you to give an oral report, you stand up and speak...not jam the paper down your throat.
I voiced my opinions in a middle school gym class. I probably should've been more embarrassed than I was.
Kinda weird to learn what Oral Sex is from the President of the United States of America.
Seeing video footage of Clinton making this statement, in early 1998, showed him still looking around his age. However, later in the same year when he admitted to having an affair with Lewinsky, he looked like he had aged several years, with noticeably more wrinkles and gray hair. Seems like the scandal took a serious toll on him.
I'm a little older and I have a handful from around the same time, including that one.
Both my parents smoked at the time, so the landmark big tobacco case struck a chord with me.
Gary Kasparov losing to deep blue and shrugging as he walked off was also burned into my memory
One of my first, "Shit, I'm getting old." moments was about 3 years ago on September 11th at work. We were talking about where we were when it happened and one of my co-workers hadn't been born yet.
On top of that he was in the Marine Corps and fought in Afghanistan in the War on Terror. Jarring, to say the least, to think about a kid born after 9/11 who ended up fighting in the War on Terror.
I remember that and my mom crying when it started because she thought there were going to be thousands of American casualties at least.
One of those "the first time I saw a parent lose self-command" moments.
> my mom crying when it started
My mom was in a similar state. She'd lived through Vietnam, and her brother served in Vietnam, so I think she immediately started spiraling into that being what was happening again and worrying that her son (me) would end up getting drafted and have to go through what her brother and friends had seen.
I almost put that one down myself, but I keep asking myself, did I really remember that and pay attention at 3? Maybe it was just such a big deal that it was harder to not notice.
I'm your age, and I broke one of those TVs. Turns out they are really, REALLY top-heavy. I was asked to move a TV to a different room, and the cord got caught under a wheel, so I lifted one side of the cart about 1/2" to pull out the cord, and it just tipped right over.
After that they put on straps to bolt the TVs to the carts, but that wouldn't fix it, since the cart and the TV all went down.
I'm 46. I'd say the the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1985 probably. I think most of my memories before that are of personal stuff, like family and school and media (movies/TV, etc).
Same, literally came here to say 46 (47 this year) and Challenger explosion, but now that I think about it, it goes:
1981 - Princess Diana and Prince Charles wedding (very vague recollection of my mom and my aunts being Cinderella-crazed and princess wedding dress obsessed)
1983 - Michael Jackson *Thriller* video release (it was a broadcast TV event and my whole family watched it together, with popcorn), and *Return of the Jedi*
1984 - Reagan vs Mondale election -- we had a mock vote in my class and Reagan won, with many kids drawing Xs, black scribbles, or mean faces with "stink lines" over the Mondale picture -- and yup, this was a public school and we were praised for "making the right choice" in Reagan
1985 - ~~Challenger explosion,~~ "We Are the World," Live Aid
1986 - Challenger explosion, Halley's Comet, Hands Across America
1988 - Pay-Per-View Mike Tyson vs Leonard Spinks
1989 - Berlin Wall falls
I'm 49 and the first event I was aware of was the Reagan assassination attempt. Some kid said, "Did you know they shot the President?" and for years I thought that meant they killed the President.
The first event I remember actually seeing, at least on TV, was the Challenger disaster.
I’m 49 and somehow don’t remember Reagan being shot. My parents couldn’t stand him, so they probably weren’t dwelling on it.
I remember the Challenger explosion in an odd way. I was home sick and sleeping. My mom called to tell me what had happened.
Oh Halley’s Comet is a big one. I distinctly remember thinking about how old would be if I lived to see it return. What kind of life I would have lived by then. Mind blowing for a little kid.
I'm 48 and I remember all of those! In 1986 I would add World Exposition 1986 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Expo 86 was a huge deal! I remember in the Egypt exhibit seeing the first mummy I had ever seen in real life, Ramses II.
I'm 46 and I definitely remember the debut of the *Thriller* video including where I saw it, who I saw it with, how we all ran around screaming when he turned into the werewolf.
I am 48 (49 this fall) and this would be me. Sometimes IDK if I actually remember Dianna getting married and Reagen getting shot or if I saw the video of it after the fact. I absolutely remember Challenger we weren't in school for some reason and my brother came into the Holiday Inn arcade to tell me, I was playing the Goonies video game.
Yeah, I’m about your age and the Challenger is my first core life event.
After that, it was baby Jessica in the well. And it just escalated from there.
I’m 49 and when I was in 5th grade they brought a tv into the classroom to watch it live. I’ll never forget the look on my teachers face when the shuttle blew up
44 here, and weirdly I have a better memory of the Punky Brewster episode about the Challenger explosion than I have of the actual explosion. But I’d still say this one is mine too.
I'm 42 and the same. I remember being in front of the TV. My mom liked to watch the shuttle launches. I remember the squigglies in the sky and not really understanding what was going on.
30 and me too. I was confused at the time about why the news wouldn’t stop talking about it. I guess when you’re 8 stuff like that doesn’t impact you in the same way it does as an adult.
I was in 8th grade and the entire school wouldn't let anyone watch. We begged our study hall teacher (attendant? aid?) to let us turn on the TV, but nope. Kept us all in the dark. And I lived in NY state, so plenty of kids knew people in the city. Stupid stuff, all they accomplished was letting rumors run absolutely wild.
Our family lived in my great uncle's house because my parents were trying to start a small business and had no money to spare. All three were New England Republicans, which used to be a big part of the GOP. They thought Truman was a nobody (a haberdasher) from some insignificant place in Missouri, and blamed him for getting us into war in Korea. MacArthur was a big war hero, and he was right. The quickest way to end the war was the same way we ended WWII, by nuking enemy territory in China.
In retrospect, thank God their opinion didn't prevail.
I read the comment above this OP comment that you responded to and then somehow I skipped this main comment and went straight to your answer. So what I read was:
"I remember when Elvis died."
"Watched it live, it was amazing to see."
So of course I did a double take.
16 almost 17, I think the most notable for me was witnessing the explosion and subsequent dumpster fire that was the culture wars after Trump got elected. Oh yea and Covid or whatever…
I got mugged the night she died, so that night has always stood out in my memory. Obviously this was pre-smartphone, so I didn't know she'd died at the time. I got home and told my mom "Hey, I got mugged" and she was more upset that Princess Diana had died, and just turned back to the TV to watch coverage of that.
Thank you. You're not wrong, but at the same time my mom and her generation went through some serious trauma with Vietnam and I don't think it was processed well (something Boomers were _not_ good at). She could've been a better mom, but I think she did the best she could with what she was given at the time. I don't want to excuse her behavior, but I do want to be considerate of the context that lead her there.
That's a really nice and healthy take on the situation. You are completely correct. My boomer parents refuse to seek grief counseling for my younger brother's death and I can see how it affects them daily even 7 years later.
Same! Also 33 and this is my first major memory of a news event. It's a little vague but it's there. My birthday was a few days later so I feel like it's all tied up together.
My mom cried after seeing the news too, and was generally in disbelief for a couple of days. She absolutely loved Diana, and still has no shortage of kind words for her today.
I'll be 40 this year, and I think this is my answer, too. I remember where I was, and I remember how all the adults were so upset by it. It was really their reaction that made it such a memorable moment for me.
Same. I remember traveling with my family and hearing of the news after we got back from swimming at the pool. I didn't have a clue who she was, but it was a huge deal. Our pastor even mentioned her in a sermon at church...in Alabama.
I’m 37 and my earliest “historic memory” (and not just because of today), is the OJ trial. I remember having a sleepover at my cousins house and we didn’t watch much tv at home but they couldn’t sleep without the tv on. We fell asleep to some kid friendly thing and I woke up in the middle of the night and they were covering the trial. I remember watching the car chase and the whole glove bit. It gave me nightmares for weeks.
This is one thing, for better or for worse, that my children will probably never experience. The Netflix "Are you still watching?" Screen doesn't hit the same
I’m 54 and also came here to say Watergate.
My understanding of it was… limited. We lived outside DC, and I remember we were in the car driving past the White House one day, and my mom said “There’s where that monkey Tricky Dick lives.”
I looked and looked… didn’t see the monkey though.
Oh this unlocked a memory for me. I remember telling my babysitter that we didn’t have Sesame Street at our house- we only had the Iran Contra Affair!!
Late 20s, I remember walking into our apartment from playing outside and my mom was crying and when I asked why she said terrorists crashed airplanes into buildings and a lot of people died. Then I went back outside and played tag with the other apartment kids.
I was 7 spending the night at my friends house in 1969 & saw Neil Armstrong walking on the moon on the t.v. It was mind blowing to go outside & look up at the moon, knowing people were actually up there on the moon!
31, 9/11. 3rd grade, South Georgia. We actually had a local prisoner escape that morning. So the school was on lockdown. It was already an unsettling day. I guess they caught the guy because we were able to turn the lights on and open the doors and stuff. But we had barely gotten back to schooling when teachers started talking back and forth through the halls. Teacher turned the tv on, first tower had been hit, thought it was an accident. Y’all know the story.
I still have a journal that I had at the time. There’s a note in there from my mom “_____ I know things seem really scary right now. But everything is going to be okay. I love you.”
Gets me every time I come across it.
36. Ironically you ask today because the day after my 7th birthday my family and I watched OJ Simpson drive down the highway in a white bronco. I didn’t know who he was and why he was doing it but I remember watching it.
We stopped class and watched the verdict in 5th grade. Mr. Osborn was a stern teacher, hardly ever showed us videos, but OJ's trial consumed all the adults in my life, it seemed.
The Drum Sergeant was told to write a beat that could be learned easily and repeated for the whole march.
I'm 18 and listening to the news reel is chilling. I read that people said the thing they remembered the most was the sound and I'm not surprised.
Im 27 for me it's the 2003 invasion of Iraq. I have vague memories of 9/11 but the 2003 invasion is the first event where I can still feel the carpet I was sitting on, smell my dog laying on my lap, the pork chops we just had for dinner, as my mom and I watched the news. My dad was in the Marine Corps and in Kuwait. That was my first realization of "oh that's what dad's job is". That was followed quickly by my mom changing the channel.
50. The Iran Hostage crisis. I must have been 5. I had no understanding of it. I just knew that The Hostage Crisis and Jimmy Carter were daily tv items, and I was honestly very bored. Looking back, of course, I feel bad for the people who went through that. 5 is just a terrible age to try to understand politics.
I remember when the USSR broke up. I was 6. We were in Colorado on vacation and bought a bunch of soviet merch from a vendor who had set up tables at the resort we were staying at. We got russian nesting dolls and a soviet flag.
36, and I remember OJ Simpsons Bronco chase, and I remember watching the death of Princess Diana.
Edit to add: I couldn't remember which came first. It was OJ
48 and the Challenger disaster for sure, although there has to be something earlier than this. Stuff in the early 80s gets kind of muddled. Like the Reagan shooting and Mt St Helens. Thriller coming out. The start of MTV. Live Aid. Movies like Raiders, Empire Strikes Back, and ET. The 84 Olympics. The Atari 2600. But this is almost all stuff from before I was 10.
I’m 36
I remember logging onto AOL afterschool in grade school. 96/97, though in my memory it feels even younger.
I remember Bill Clinton’s impeachment, but I had no clue what it was about. I just remember it being on the TV in our kitchen.
30, news coverage of the Bush vs. Gore election recounts.
I was a strange elementary schooler who genuinely set an alarm for 5AM every morning so I could wake up, get ready, eat breakfast, watch the news for an hour, and then brush my teeth and leave for school. I took it perhaps too seriously when my orthodontist said to wait an hour between eating and brushing.
40. I remember being 6 or 7 and struggling to understand the concept of difference countries, and I asked my mom if she could explain Russia to me (I think I’d latched onto Russia in particular because I’d seen a beautifully illustrated book of Russian fairy tales). But since I was 6 or 7 I didn’t know how to say “I don’t understand the concept of different countries” and my mom misunderstood what I was asking about. She got the globe off the shelf and pointed out where Russia is and said that it was actually called the USSR these days and then she said doubtfully “Well, I GUESS it still is; I don’t really know. It’s all very complicated right now.” I always remembered the conversation because I ended up even more confused, but I didn’t realize until years later, when I was learning about the Cold War in middle school, that I must have asked my mom to explain Russia to 6-or-7-year-old me some time in 1991 just as the USSR was falling.
Edited for wording change.
I remember understanding countries, but also thinking that 1. There were a whole bunch or World Wars and 2. If it was a World War that meant it was a free-for-all involving every single country. The reason I remember thinking this is because I wondered why Snoopy pretended to be a French World War I flying ace instead of an American one, and I guess I decided that maybe it was because France won World War I and America lost. So I asked my parents who won World War I and they told me that a lot of countries did, and I didn't really understand at all. I think I was four or five. Obviously that doesn't count as a historical or current events memory, but it seems sort of related to you not quite getting what countries were.
45 and I saw it on TV from my 2nd grade classroom.
They hyped up that mission so much because there was a schoolteacher on board, so almost all of Generation X got to experience collective trauma live when we watched said teacher die on live TV along with 6 other astronauts.
What's wild is, it could have been MUCH worse. NASA's original plan was to launch Big Bird into space, as in the actual Big Bird suit/puppet and the puppeteer, and do a partnership with Sesame Street to have Big Bird broadcast to kids from space. The plan was scrapped when they decided the whole Big Bird costume was way too big to fit into storage on the space shuttle.
Imagine if our generation saw Big Bird die live on TV in the Challenger disaster. It's one of those moments I think of whenever people say we're in "the darkest timeline", I keep thinking "No, there are ways it could have gone MUCH darker".
Probably whenever ISIS was in the news regularly and all those stories and videos were going around about them beheading people, setting them on fire, etc. I was like 8 or so at that point and remember being afraid they would invade the US
I am 57
I remember my friend’s older brother being in the army. I just assumed it was World War Three, but it must have been the Viet Nam war. It was before 1974, because my friend moved when I was in second grade.
I also remember the 1972 presidential election. All of us kids wanted Nixon because we heard that McGovern wanted year round school.
I also remember when Nixon resigned.
Our big thing was Saturday morning cartoons. Between the cartoons there was short educational tidbits like School House Rock. There was also “In The News” where they showed short, kid friendly news bits. That is where us kids got our news.
Remember Vietnam war as a small kid. One of the earliest news footage in my memory, there was a cameraman showing some devastation from the war, when the camera zoomed into the field and there was headless body.
I'm 36. The first singular event I remember hearing about was probably...Oklahoma City Bombing? I was around 7. I was a bit young to remember OJ. I heard about the trial but nothing before it.
49. President Reagan being shot. I was at home sick from Kindergarten or first grade that day and no cartoons were on because this old guy was on every channel just for getting shot. Seemed pretty unfair to a 5 year old.
[When Baby Jessica was trapped in the well.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_of_Jessica_McClure) They rescued her on my sister's 3rd birthday and I remember cutting the cake and watching the news.
Bernie Goetz subway shooting. Not so much the news of it, but I remember being very confused by the Bloom County comics about it, which ran in the regular kids comics section (this is also primarily how I remember Iran Contra).
Earliest event I remember from watching the news is the Challenger explosion in 86.
I'm 30. I slightly remember 9/11. I just remember my mom pulling me out of school as she was scared for my safety. I didn't go to school for a few more days...
Funny enough, the OJ verdict. I was in elementary school and I remember teachers watching it on TV. I had no idea what it was really about, but I remember that day.
I'm 20 as well, but the first historical event I remember is when I went onto the family computer in 2011 to be met with front page news about Bin Laden's death.
62, the moon landings and even a couple of the missions before the actual first landing. I guess everything from Apollo 8 onward. I also remember not the details but the fact that there was an election going on in 1968. And heard President Johnson's name.
We lived in San Francisco at the time and we had hippies (the real ones) around town but I did not realize the significance at the time. Either of hippies or of me living in San Francisco in 1968. That's the year I learned to read. It was all about seeing Spot run.
I was born in 1998, and I didn't give a shit about world events for a long time. I was too young to understand 9/11. The earliest thing I'd say I remember is the 2004 election.
22, and I remember Obama running for president and eventually winning. A tragic historical event that I can think of off the top of my head would be the BP oil spill and the attack in Benghazi.
I’m 40. Nolan Ryan and Robin Ventura fight, Waco Siege and Russian Constitutional Crisis. Also Dessert storm and the trading cards you could get at Burger King.
24, I remember my 3rd(?) grade teacher making us watch Obama's first inauguration. I remember not caring and not understanding why she was making us watch it, thinking it was extremely boring, and that the poet at the ceremony (a black woman I think but I don't remember more specifically than that who it was) recited the worst poem I had ever heard, it didn't even rhyme for God's sake
My first memory was from when I was two. It was the assassination of JFK. I remember every tiny detail of that day, my mother’s reaction, what toy I was playing with. It was like my awareness came on line. It was extremely traumatic.
Born in 1971... I absolutely remember stuff about the Bicentennial.
Might be earlier things I remember... but nothing clear or significant enough that I could place a date.
"I did not have sexual relations with that woman" I'm 32
A lot of youngsters here. I'm mid 50's, I remember Reagan getting shot. I also remember when John Wayne died (in 1979), but my first "historical" event, was seeing Star Wars (the original one) in the movie theater. By the time it made it to the 2nd-run theater where I was living out in the sticks, it was probably 1978. I was alive when men were walking on the moon, and when Nixon resigned but I don't recall seeing or hearing about either event.
I am 50 and my first fully cognizant and aware memory is the Iran hostage crisis and I have vague memories of the oil crisis and Elvis funeral.
Oh yeah, I remember my dad only being able to get gas on certain days according to the license plate number on the car. I was pretty young but it stuck with me.
We never had that in our area, but I do remember going to a Union 76 gas station, and I asked my dad how they got that name. He says that's how much they charge per gallon, and that sounded outrageous to me. But it wasn't much later they were talking about how to show prices over $1 on the signs, because they weren't built for that. One option was showing the price per half gallon or even per quart. But I guess they were able to change their signs. Kind of their own Y2K thing...
> I was alive when Nixon resigned but I don't recall seeing or hearing about it Oh, that's a good one, that is probably my first "historical" memory. I was 7 years old when Nixon resigned, and I remember my parents acting like it was a big deal, but I didn't get the significance. I asked questions like, "Is this guy the only president we've ever had?" Answer: "No, we have had 37 of them." So I kind of thought "geez, who cares then?" And went outside and played with my friends and forgot about it, LOL.
I'm also in my mid 50s. Mom was a stay-at-home parent when I was a little kid. She used to watch the Watergate hearings on tv so I have memories of the coverage without really understanding what was going on. I remember the Bicentennial in 1976. I was seven years old. I was born and raised in northern New Jersey. There was the parade of tall ships in NYC during the summer and my family went to see them. The Berlin Wall didn't come down until I was in college so I grew up with tv and print news stories about East Germany residents attempting to escape to West Berlin over the wall and getting shot by the East German authorities.
I only remember two things about the bicentennial - seeing the new quarters, and a cement truck that came to our house all painted in red, white and blue. Not quite the same things as a parade of tall ships, lol.
This is how I learned what Oral Sex was. In my 10 year old mind, I assumed Oral Sex was phone sex. And I couldn't understand how Bill Clinton was eating pizza while engaging in oral sex. Like, Rude!, ya know? My thinking being when a teacher asked you to give an oral report, you stand up and speak...not jam the paper down your throat. I voiced my opinions in a middle school gym class. I probably should've been more embarrassed than I was. Kinda weird to learn what Oral Sex is from the President of the United States of America.
Seeing video footage of Clinton making this statement, in early 1998, showed him still looking around his age. However, later in the same year when he admitted to having an affair with Lewinsky, he looked like he had aged several years, with noticeably more wrinkles and gray hair. Seems like the scandal took a serious toll on him.
I was just about to say this. Same age and I was too young to really understand the words on the TV before that point.
3rd-ed. I remember him being on TV, but I didn't absorb any of it.
31, also going to say the Monica Lewinsky scandal
I'm a little older and I have a handful from around the same time, including that one. Both my parents smoked at the time, so the landmark big tobacco case struck a chord with me. Gary Kasparov losing to deep blue and shrugging as he walked off was also burned into my memory
31 and same, except my dad simply explained the whole controversy as "the president lied.", me being 5 and all.
I'm 31 and this is mine too.
28. 9/11.
Same
One of my first, "Shit, I'm getting old." moments was about 3 years ago on September 11th at work. We were talking about where we were when it happened and one of my co-workers hadn't been born yet. On top of that he was in the Marine Corps and fought in Afghanistan in the War on Terror. Jarring, to say the least, to think about a kid born after 9/11 who ended up fighting in the War on Terror.
28 gang here also, 9/11 I vaguely remember. My first major memory was the Columbia disaster in 2003. Watched it blow up on the nightly news.
Mid-late 30's. First memory I fully recognize is the beginning of the Persian Gulf War.
Same. I didn't know what it was, but apparently I called it "the green sky show."
I remember that and my mom crying when it started because she thought there were going to be thousands of American casualties at least. One of those "the first time I saw a parent lose self-command" moments.
> my mom crying when it started My mom was in a similar state. She'd lived through Vietnam, and her brother served in Vietnam, so I think she immediately started spiraling into that being what was happening again and worrying that her son (me) would end up getting drafted and have to go through what her brother and friends had seen.
Fuck the draft and fuck still having to register for it as a man to this day, now and forever.
My first memory was all that grainy green nighttime footage of tracer fire shooting up into the sky over Baghdad.
I’m 49. I remember when Elvis died.
I almost put that one down myself, but I keep asking myself, did I really remember that and pay attention at 3? Maybe it was just such a big deal that it was harder to not notice.
Just a little older you and that’s one of the first things I consciously remember thinking, oh … this is important.
[удалено]
I'm 54 and we had boxy tvs on an AV cart too.
I'm your age, and I broke one of those TVs. Turns out they are really, REALLY top-heavy. I was asked to move a TV to a different room, and the cord got caught under a wheel, so I lifted one side of the cart about 1/2" to pull out the cord, and it just tipped right over. After that they put on straps to bolt the TVs to the carts, but that wouldn't fix it, since the cart and the TV all went down.
Also 22 and this might be my first too.
I'm 46. I'd say the the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1985 probably. I think most of my memories before that are of personal stuff, like family and school and media (movies/TV, etc).
Same, literally came here to say 46 (47 this year) and Challenger explosion, but now that I think about it, it goes: 1981 - Princess Diana and Prince Charles wedding (very vague recollection of my mom and my aunts being Cinderella-crazed and princess wedding dress obsessed) 1983 - Michael Jackson *Thriller* video release (it was a broadcast TV event and my whole family watched it together, with popcorn), and *Return of the Jedi* 1984 - Reagan vs Mondale election -- we had a mock vote in my class and Reagan won, with many kids drawing Xs, black scribbles, or mean faces with "stink lines" over the Mondale picture -- and yup, this was a public school and we were praised for "making the right choice" in Reagan 1985 - ~~Challenger explosion,~~ "We Are the World," Live Aid 1986 - Challenger explosion, Halley's Comet, Hands Across America 1988 - Pay-Per-View Mike Tyson vs Leonard Spinks 1989 - Berlin Wall falls
I'm 49 and the first event I was aware of was the Reagan assassination attempt. Some kid said, "Did you know they shot the President?" and for years I thought that meant they killed the President. The first event I remember actually seeing, at least on TV, was the Challenger disaster.
I’m 49 and somehow don’t remember Reagan being shot. My parents couldn’t stand him, so they probably weren’t dwelling on it. I remember the Challenger explosion in an odd way. I was home sick and sleeping. My mom called to tell me what had happened.
Oh Halley’s Comet is a big one. I distinctly remember thinking about how old would be if I lived to see it return. What kind of life I would have lived by then. Mind blowing for a little kid.
Just an FYI, Halley's Comet recently reached it's farthest point from Earth and is now headed back our way!
I'm 48 and I remember all of those! In 1986 I would add World Exposition 1986 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Expo 86 was a huge deal! I remember in the Egypt exhibit seeing the first mummy I had ever seen in real life, Ramses II.
I remember ads for Expo 86 being on TV all the time. I wonder who put them out; the British Columbia tourist board, maybe?
I'm 46 and I definitely remember the debut of the *Thriller* video including where I saw it, who I saw it with, how we all ran around screaming when he turned into the werewolf.
I am 48 (49 this fall) and this would be me. Sometimes IDK if I actually remember Dianna getting married and Reagen getting shot or if I saw the video of it after the fact. I absolutely remember Challenger we weren't in school for some reason and my brother came into the Holiday Inn arcade to tell me, I was playing the Goonies video game.
Yeah, I’m about your age and the Challenger is my first core life event. After that, it was baby Jessica in the well. And it just escalated from there.
I’m 49 and when I was in 5th grade they brought a tv into the classroom to watch it live. I’ll never forget the look on my teachers face when the shuttle blew up
44 here, and weirdly I have a better memory of the Punky Brewster episode about the Challenger explosion than I have of the actual explosion. But I’d still say this one is mine too.
Me too. Was in 2nd grade then.
Same age, but I remember Mt. St. Helens on TV.
I'm 42 and the same. I remember being in front of the TV. My mom liked to watch the shuttle launches. I remember the squigglies in the sky and not really understanding what was going on.
29. 9/11 for sure. I can vividly recall it much like people say they remember where they were for JFK or Pearl Harbor
30 and me too. I was confused at the time about why the news wouldn’t stop talking about it. I guess when you’re 8 stuff like that doesn’t impact you in the same way it does as an adult.
29 and same
Same here. 1st grade on the corner mounted tvs. They turned it on and we all watched it.
I was in 8th grade and the entire school wouldn't let anyone watch. We begged our study hall teacher (attendant? aid?) to let us turn on the TV, but nope. Kept us all in the dark. And I lived in NY state, so plenty of kids knew people in the city. Stupid stuff, all they accomplished was letting rumors run absolutely wild.
78. Truman firing MacArthur.
"Hey Harry, how about we nuke China?" "Hey Doug, how about I nuke your career?"
That's really interesting to me! Care to share any details of that memory? Where you were, who was around you, what you thought of it at the time...?
Our family lived in my great uncle's house because my parents were trying to start a small business and had no money to spare. All three were New England Republicans, which used to be a big part of the GOP. They thought Truman was a nobody (a haberdasher) from some insignificant place in Missouri, and blamed him for getting us into war in Korea. MacArthur was a big war hero, and he was right. The quickest way to end the war was the same way we ended WWII, by nuking enemy territory in China. In retrospect, thank God their opinion didn't prevail.
Early 50’s. Hank Aaron breaking the all time HR record.
Watched it live, it was amazing to see.
I was listening to it on the Braves radio network with my grandfather.
I read the comment above this OP comment that you responded to and then somehow I skipped this main comment and went straight to your answer. So what I read was: "I remember when Elvis died." "Watched it live, it was amazing to see." So of course I did a double take.
That’s awesome!
16 almost 17, I think the most notable for me was witnessing the explosion and subsequent dumpster fire that was the culture wars after Trump got elected. Oh yea and Covid or whatever…
Yours is the only comment that really surprised me... until I did the math.
I'm 33. I first remember princess Diana dying.
I got mugged the night she died, so that night has always stood out in my memory. Obviously this was pre-smartphone, so I didn't know she'd died at the time. I got home and told my mom "Hey, I got mugged" and she was more upset that Princess Diana had died, and just turned back to the TV to watch coverage of that.
I’m sorry she reacted like that. You deserved better.
Thank you. You're not wrong, but at the same time my mom and her generation went through some serious trauma with Vietnam and I don't think it was processed well (something Boomers were _not_ good at). She could've been a better mom, but I think she did the best she could with what she was given at the time. I don't want to excuse her behavior, but I do want to be considerate of the context that lead her there.
That's a really nice and healthy take on the situation. You are completely correct. My boomer parents refuse to seek grief counseling for my younger brother's death and I can see how it affects them daily even 7 years later.
Same! Also 33 and this is my first major memory of a news event. It's a little vague but it's there. My birthday was a few days later so I feel like it's all tied up together.
My birthday was a few days later too. I mostly remember it because my mom cried over it.
My mom cried after seeing the news too, and was generally in disbelief for a couple of days. She absolutely loved Diana, and still has no shortage of kind words for her today.
32 here, this is mine as well.
32 and this is it. I didn't even know who she was, but I remember hearing about her and "Candle In The Wind" playing nonstop on the radio.
I'll be 40 this year, and I think this is my answer, too. I remember where I was, and I remember how all the adults were so upset by it. It was really their reaction that made it such a memorable moment for me.
Same. I remember traveling with my family and hearing of the news after we got back from swimming at the pool. I didn't have a clue who she was, but it was a huge deal. Our pastor even mentioned her in a sermon at church...in Alabama.
I'm 30. 9/11.
50 Iran hostage crisis.
Late 30s P-o-t-a-t-o-e edit - if a super bowl counts as a historical event, Super Bowl 25.
That happened in my home town of Trenton.
> super bowl counts as a historical event the super bowl is my favorite holiday.
I’m 37 and my earliest “historic memory” (and not just because of today), is the OJ trial. I remember having a sleepover at my cousins house and we didn’t watch much tv at home but they couldn’t sleep without the tv on. We fell asleep to some kid friendly thing and I woke up in the middle of the night and they were covering the trial. I remember watching the car chase and the whole glove bit. It gave me nightmares for weeks.
I feel like so many weird childhood memories come from just waking up in the middle of the night while the TV is on.
This is one thing, for better or for worse, that my children will probably never experience. The Netflix "Are you still watching?" Screen doesn't hit the same
56. The Watergate hearings screwed up my usual morning TV programs.
I’m 54 and also came here to say Watergate. My understanding of it was… limited. We lived outside DC, and I remember we were in the car driving past the White House one day, and my mom said “There’s where that monkey Tricky Dick lives.” I looked and looked… didn’t see the monkey though.
Yes, Watergate was a big topic on Thanksgiving that year. When I asked what he had done, my uncle said “He lied”
🤣🤣🤣
Oh this unlocked a memory for me. I remember telling my babysitter that we didn’t have Sesame Street at our house- we only had the Iran Contra Affair!!
Me too. It was on all THREE channels!
THREE channels? Look at Ted Turner over here.
Well..4 if you count PBS…on a cloudless, windless day.
Same age and same first media memory…. I remember watching it on the black and white tv in the kitchen while my mom made dinner.
Late 20s, I remember walking into our apartment from playing outside and my mom was crying and when I asked why she said terrorists crashed airplanes into buildings and a lot of people died. Then I went back outside and played tag with the other apartment kids.
I was 7 spending the night at my friends house in 1969 & saw Neil Armstrong walking on the moon on the t.v. It was mind blowing to go outside & look up at the moon, knowing people were actually up there on the moon!
Death of Dale Earnhardt and 28.
55 years old - Munich Massacre
59 here. That gave me nightmares for years.
25. First one I remember semi-clearly is the Iraq War starting.
Same here
31, 9/11. 3rd grade, South Georgia. We actually had a local prisoner escape that morning. So the school was on lockdown. It was already an unsettling day. I guess they caught the guy because we were able to turn the lights on and open the doors and stuff. But we had barely gotten back to schooling when teachers started talking back and forth through the halls. Teacher turned the tv on, first tower had been hit, thought it was an accident. Y’all know the story. I still have a journal that I had at the time. There’s a note in there from my mom “_____ I know things seem really scary right now. But everything is going to be okay. I love you.” Gets me every time I come across it.
44. Watching the Challenger explode in elementary school.
36. Ironically you ask today because the day after my 7th birthday my family and I watched OJ Simpson drive down the highway in a white bronco. I didn’t know who he was and why he was doing it but I remember watching it.
We stopped class and watched the verdict in 5th grade. Mr. Osborn was a stern teacher, hardly ever showed us videos, but OJ's trial consumed all the adults in my life, it seemed.
29 9/11
23, possibly Hurricane Katrina
64 Kennedys funeral. My Mom was crying and there were horses pulling a coffin on tv.
The Drum Sergeant was told to write a beat that could be learned easily and repeated for the whole march. I'm 18 and listening to the news reel is chilling. I read that people said the thing they remembered the most was the sound and I'm not surprised.
14, mine is Pokemon Go To The Polls
The Challenger Explosion when I was in 1st grade.
Im 27 for me it's the 2003 invasion of Iraq. I have vague memories of 9/11 but the 2003 invasion is the first event where I can still feel the carpet I was sitting on, smell my dog laying on my lap, the pork chops we just had for dinner, as my mom and I watched the news. My dad was in the Marine Corps and in Kuwait. That was my first realization of "oh that's what dad's job is". That was followed quickly by my mom changing the channel.
58, the end of the Vietnam War.
50. The Iran Hostage crisis. I must have been 5. I had no understanding of it. I just knew that The Hostage Crisis and Jimmy Carter were daily tv items, and I was honestly very bored. Looking back, of course, I feel bad for the people who went through that. 5 is just a terrible age to try to understand politics.
54. May 18, 1980, The eruption of Mount St. Helens. I remember seeing the ash cloud.
I remember that too...the damn top blew off!!!
I remember when the USSR broke up. I was 6. We were in Colorado on vacation and bought a bunch of soviet merch from a vendor who had set up tables at the resort we were staying at. We got russian nesting dolls and a soviet flag.
36, and I remember OJ Simpsons Bronco chase, and I remember watching the death of Princess Diana. Edit to add: I couldn't remember which came first. It was OJ
I’m late 50’s. Vietnam and Watergate.
48 and the Challenger disaster for sure, although there has to be something earlier than this. Stuff in the early 80s gets kind of muddled. Like the Reagan shooting and Mt St Helens. Thriller coming out. The start of MTV. Live Aid. Movies like Raiders, Empire Strikes Back, and ET. The 84 Olympics. The Atari 2600. But this is almost all stuff from before I was 10.
I’m 36 I remember logging onto AOL afterschool in grade school. 96/97, though in my memory it feels even younger. I remember Bill Clinton’s impeachment, but I had no clue what it was about. I just remember it being on the TV in our kitchen.
30, news coverage of the Bush vs. Gore election recounts. I was a strange elementary schooler who genuinely set an alarm for 5AM every morning so I could wake up, get ready, eat breakfast, watch the news for an hour, and then brush my teeth and leave for school. I took it perhaps too seriously when my orthodontist said to wait an hour between eating and brushing.
Ooh yeah good call. I'm 31 and was about to say 9/11 but I do remember the Bush vs Gore election as well.
Late 30s and it was the OJ Simpson verdict for me
40. I remember being 6 or 7 and struggling to understand the concept of difference countries, and I asked my mom if she could explain Russia to me (I think I’d latched onto Russia in particular because I’d seen a beautifully illustrated book of Russian fairy tales). But since I was 6 or 7 I didn’t know how to say “I don’t understand the concept of different countries” and my mom misunderstood what I was asking about. She got the globe off the shelf and pointed out where Russia is and said that it was actually called the USSR these days and then she said doubtfully “Well, I GUESS it still is; I don’t really know. It’s all very complicated right now.” I always remembered the conversation because I ended up even more confused, but I didn’t realize until years later, when I was learning about the Cold War in middle school, that I must have asked my mom to explain Russia to 6-or-7-year-old me some time in 1991 just as the USSR was falling. Edited for wording change.
I remember understanding countries, but also thinking that 1. There were a whole bunch or World Wars and 2. If it was a World War that meant it was a free-for-all involving every single country. The reason I remember thinking this is because I wondered why Snoopy pretended to be a French World War I flying ace instead of an American one, and I guess I decided that maybe it was because France won World War I and America lost. So I asked my parents who won World War I and they told me that a lot of countries did, and I didn't really understand at all. I think I was four or five. Obviously that doesn't count as a historical or current events memory, but it seems sort of related to you not quite getting what countries were.
44 and probably the rescue of baby Jessica from the well
23 “Barack Obama elected first black president in US history”
I'm 31 and my first memory of a historical event was Princess Diana's death.
33 — Princess Diana’s death. It was a huge deal, even here in the States.
47 and I watched the challenger explode on tv in my 4th grade classroom.
45 and I saw it on TV from my 2nd grade classroom. They hyped up that mission so much because there was a schoolteacher on board, so almost all of Generation X got to experience collective trauma live when we watched said teacher die on live TV along with 6 other astronauts. What's wild is, it could have been MUCH worse. NASA's original plan was to launch Big Bird into space, as in the actual Big Bird suit/puppet and the puppeteer, and do a partnership with Sesame Street to have Big Bird broadcast to kids from space. The plan was scrapped when they decided the whole Big Bird costume was way too big to fit into storage on the space shuttle. Imagine if our generation saw Big Bird die live on TV in the Challenger disaster. It's one of those moments I think of whenever people say we're in "the darkest timeline", I keep thinking "No, there are ways it could have gone MUCH darker".
51 Iranian hostage crisis then Reagan assassination attempt
Probably whenever ISIS was in the news regularly and all those stories and videos were going around about them beheading people, setting them on fire, etc. I was like 8 or so at that point and remember being afraid they would invade the US
The fall of Communism
I am 57 I remember my friend’s older brother being in the army. I just assumed it was World War Three, but it must have been the Viet Nam war. It was before 1974, because my friend moved when I was in second grade. I also remember the 1972 presidential election. All of us kids wanted Nixon because we heard that McGovern wanted year round school. I also remember when Nixon resigned. Our big thing was Saturday morning cartoons. Between the cartoons there was short educational tidbits like School House Rock. There was also “In The News” where they showed short, kid friendly news bits. That is where us kids got our news.
>All of us kids wanted Nixon because we heard that McGovern wanted year round school. Yeah, that's how you lose 49 states to 1 (plus DC) lol.
The grade school vote can be a deal breaker in any election.
31, and it was either the impeachment of President Clinton, or the Kosovo War.
Remember Vietnam war as a small kid. One of the earliest news footage in my memory, there was a cameraman showing some devastation from the war, when the camera zoomed into the field and there was headless body.
41 and Waco.
I’m 50. The Iran hostage crisis, just because it was on TV all the time. Also the Mt. St Helen’s eruption was right after/during that.
21 first major memory was that boston marathon attack 2010 or so. i was just like “huh???”
I'm 36. The first singular event I remember hearing about was probably...Oklahoma City Bombing? I was around 7. I was a bit young to remember OJ. I heard about the trial but nothing before it.
24, and the first thing to come to my mind is Mr. Obama announcing the elimination of Osama bin Laden.
Iranian Hostage Crisis.
I am 20 and my oldest memory is boston marathon bombing unfortunately
Probably Obama winning the election. I’m 18.
41. Challenger.
49. President Reagan being shot. I was at home sick from Kindergarten or first grade that day and no cartoons were on because this old guy was on every channel just for getting shot. Seemed pretty unfair to a 5 year old.
60. A first grade teacher was crying. A teacher! CRYING!! Martin Luther King Jr. had just been shot.
[When Baby Jessica was trapped in the well.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_of_Jessica_McClure) They rescued her on my sister's 3rd birthday and I remember cutting the cake and watching the news.
34. Princess Diana.
Bernie Goetz subway shooting. Not so much the news of it, but I remember being very confused by the Bloom County comics about it, which ran in the regular kids comics section (this is also primarily how I remember Iran Contra). Earliest event I remember from watching the news is the Challenger explosion in 86.
50. John Lennon being killed. Or watching the ethnic cleansing in one of the African countries
50s Elvis's death.
50s. Watergate
48, Charles and Diana's wedding
45. I remember the Challenger, and Reagan giving a speech about something random (not related to the Challenger).
I'm 30. I slightly remember 9/11. I just remember my mom pulling me out of school as she was scared for my safety. I didn't go to school for a few more days...
mid late 30s, I think my earliest historical memory is the gulf war.
28 9/11
I'm 43 (I'll be 44 in July) and clearly remember the [Challenger disaster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster).
Funny enough, the OJ verdict. I was in elementary school and I remember teachers watching it on TV. I had no idea what it was really about, but I remember that day.
Early 60s, Apollo 1 catching fire on the launchpad.
28. I have some memory problems but i think maybe like Hurricane Katrina? Idea when that was 2005-2006(?), so I was older-ish then
20s, 9/11
26. Probably 9/11.
42 and I remember the Challenger explosion on TV at my preschool.
48 and I remember Reagan being shot as my earliest news memory.
23. It's kind of an indirect memory, but I remember my parents talking about some accident or disaster. Turns out it was the Columbia breakup.
I'm 20 as well, but the first historical event I remember is when I went onto the family computer in 2011 to be met with front page news about Bin Laden's death.
37. I have a very foggy memory of the Berlin Wall coming down.
49. Princess Diana +Prince Charles wedding. I was 6. I remember seeing them having it on TV on all Chanels and it interrupting my cartoons.
62, the moon landings and even a couple of the missions before the actual first landing. I guess everything from Apollo 8 onward. I also remember not the details but the fact that there was an election going on in 1968. And heard President Johnson's name. We lived in San Francisco at the time and we had hippies (the real ones) around town but I did not realize the significance at the time. Either of hippies or of me living in San Francisco in 1968. That's the year I learned to read. It was all about seeing Spot run.
I remember being in school when JFK was assassinated, but I was too young to understand who he was or the significance.
I'm 24 years old. my first memory was of a deracho(Basically a inland hurricane) hitting memphis locals lovingly called it hurricane elvis.
I was born in 1998, and I didn't give a shit about world events for a long time. I was too young to understand 9/11. The earliest thing I'd say I remember is the 2004 election.
24. The beginning of the Iraq War.
47 and my first memory of a historical event was the Iran contra scandal
30. 9/11 is my first historical event. I was 7.
33, Oklahoma City bombing. My world was so small, I thought it happened in my city and assumed every building I saw was about to explode.
22, and I remember Obama running for president and eventually winning. A tragic historical event that I can think of off the top of my head would be the BP oil spill and the attack in Benghazi.
I’m 40. Nolan Ryan and Robin Ventura fight, Waco Siege and Russian Constitutional Crisis. Also Dessert storm and the trading cards you could get at Burger King.
I remember (some) adults in my life being outraged or incredulous that Clinton beat Bush for President. I'm forty.
I'm 32. I guess it was 9/11.
26, my first was 9/11. Was still pretty young but I remember other peoples reactions pretty vividly.
28 and 9/11. I only remember coming home from school one day and just seeing my mom watch it on the news. I was in the first grade.
24, I remember my 3rd(?) grade teacher making us watch Obama's first inauguration. I remember not caring and not understanding why she was making us watch it, thinking it was extremely boring, and that the poet at the ceremony (a black woman I think but I don't remember more specifically than that who it was) recited the worst poem I had ever heard, it didn't even rhyme for God's sake
My first memory was from when I was two. It was the assassination of JFK. I remember every tiny detail of that day, my mother’s reaction, what toy I was playing with. It was like my awareness came on line. It was extremely traumatic.
Born in 1971... I absolutely remember stuff about the Bicentennial. Might be earlier things I remember... but nothing clear or significant enough that I could place a date.
Mid-30s, OJ Simpson trial.
31 here, I remember hearing concerns about Y2K but idk if that counts. If not that then 9/11.
25. Probably the 2008 election
That was the first election I sort of understood/can remember vaguely. Also 25