JFK Assassination 50th Anniversary

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As a history teacher, these types of anniversaries come and go and some of them are big enough to share with our students.  I hope that today a lot of teachers spent the time to go over the events of that day. Last week, my students and I started a DVD that I really enjoy showing to students about the assassination.  I like it, because it explains everything well and in ways that they can understand.  It also goes through the conspiracy theories and basically allows the viewer to decide for themselves--which is what I want my students to do. This great DVD is tricky to get now because it is a Peter Jennings Report from 2003, which was made to commemorate the 40th anniversary. However, I was able to get it from Amazon.

So I also like this DVD because the interviews are well done.  They find people involved in the investigations, the hearings etc. to give their take on what happened.  I am excited to add to the end of our viewing some of the clips that ABC News has been doing this week--and I want to see what NBC News has been doing too.

But to wrap up today, I had a stark realization today.  Growing up, I knew that the assassination was a big deal.  I wasn't even thought of when it happened---my mom was only a few months old.  But I understood the question, "Where were you when you found out the president had been shot?" because I knew the question, "Where were you when 9-11 happened?" My students can barely remember 9-11, and their parents might not have been alive, it depends on the kid.  Because they were trying to figure out why there was so much hype....even after he had died.  So I did my best bringing it to reality for them, and I think I got to at least a couple who were like,"Well if nothing else, history has a tendency to repeat itself."

So I guess I will end with this...how do we explain the national phenomeon that seems to surround historical events like this without thinking like you are ending a not really funny story--"I guess you just had to be there."