Where Were You When President Kennedy Was Shot?

From the readers of Dear Abby, America’s iconic advice columnist, remembrances and testimonials from the historic day in 1963 when JFK was assassinated.

In October 1992, Dear Abby asked her readers, “Where were you when President Kennedy was shot?” More than 300,000 people took the trouble to respond. While several responses were published in December 1992, it became obvious that no single column could do justice to that question.

In letters and postcards from all over the world, ordinary people described memories that were fascinating, ironic, poignant, and even humorous—some memories so vivid “as if it were yesterday.” The letters reflect a less hectic time—a time when children came home from school for lunch; women ironed a lot; college men and women lived in separate dorms; and people watched black-and-white TV. This book captures some of the more unusual and touching stories of how life was in the '60s. Stories come from people in their eighties and nineties. and those who recall that tragic day as their “first childhood memory.”