Have You Witnessed A Major Historical Or Current Event?

[BillyT]

I was around for ALL of the things mentioned above.

I'd like to add The Cuban Missile Crisis.

We came really, Really, close to blowing up the planet!

And the teachers telling us to get under our desk when the bomb comes.

 

[G-Lexington]

As far as experiencing firsthand...no.

I was at a couple of events that warranted local news coverage. I was at a water park when a freak wind uprooted several tents, severely injuring a few people. (I ended up dragging one of the lesser injured people out from under it.) And I was riding the light rail when it struck and killed a bicyclist. There's probably a few more of that ilk, but those are the two I remember.

Lex

 

[frankfrank]

I'll only "count" these if I saw them on LIVE COVERAGE of some kind. I have never been AT any kind of historic event in person, so I can only consider what I saw live. Will only retain the first mentions of these things...

Mount St. Helens going burp. NO, after-the-fact.
The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and aftermath. YEAH, I saw its occurrence from the World Series point-of-view on TV, which quickly went into earthquake coverage. I have actually felt two non-eventful earthquakes in my lifetime.
The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. ​NO, ibid. NO, ibid..
The attempted assassination of Ronald Regan. NO, ibid.
The fall of the Berlin wall. YES, SAW SOME OF THE EVENTS LIVE on the telly.
The election of Barack Obama. YES...among a handful of other presidential elections. I tend to be watching.
The resignation of Richard Nixon. YES, DEFINITELY - I was "in for the evening" at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio during the week that I was sent there for government Auditing school.
Walter Cronkite's last newscast and Dan Rather taking over the anchor desk. No, missed it.

I didn't witness first hand anything important but was alive and affected by the news of several important events. I was stunned and saddened by the assassination of John F. Kennedy; I was alive when Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated, but was in the military at the time, away from home, and didn't realize the importance of this event; These two, I only saw coverage after the fact. Likewise, the RFK assassination only nine weeks after MLK, I saw it VERY SOON with coverage after the vent, but not as it happened. I was listening to my radio upstairs when my dad yelled up to me that Oswald had been shot, so I didn't see that live either.

I was joyful when a Polack was made Pope John Paul II instead of another Italian
I was watching when the white smoke was released so, yes.; and I was jarred and had a array of emotions by the attack and collapsing of the World Trade Center buildings. Only soon after. I had been up until about 4AM, and I was sleeping on my van on a side street in Essex (Baltimore) MD, and as soon as I turned the radio on to WBAL one of the first things I heard was "Now that both towers of the World Trade Center have fallen..." uh...WHAT???

Strange added personal anecdote: On September 9 (going into the 10th) 2001, I stayed at a place called the Valencia Motel in Laurel. Forward three or four days and I'm in somebody's living room in New Jersey, and I see the Valencia Motel on TV...uh, huh???? The terrorists on the plane that went down in the Pennsylvania field HAD BEEN STAYING at that motel...and that INCLUDED the same night that I was there.

I guess that would count as a reasonably "close" encounter with history.

Landing on the Moon

YES did see that live on TV. No, I wasn't there.

None first hand.
The riots of the '60's and the moon landing. Saw some of the riots live; of course that was a multiple series of separate events. I also saw the Rodney King riots in 1992 as soon as the coverage started, but the actual beating was never broadcast in real time. I'm not sure I remember correctly that I saw the concrete-block-smashed delivery truck driver live; was it?
I saw our first non-elected President take the oath of office. First and only. No...I have no idea now what I was doing at the time.
I saw the USA withdraw from Vietnam. No, later coverage.
Reagan being shot No, ibid.
The Challenger explode YES, I was watching that launch on TV.
...and the collapse of the Soviet Union Some, but can't remember how much, I saw as it happened.
Clinton get impeached and his treasonous signing of NATA and other trade agreements Another "here and there" YES...as this was an ongoing event (leading to impeachment) and another series of events...
Bush steal the election YES...MANY of the ongoing events AS they got reported.
Bush and Cheney use that attack to lead America in to war against Iraq (which left room for ISIS) bits and pieces - long ongoing lead-up...the other, up to but excluding bin Ladin, are also ongoing...only later did I find out how truly fateful September 18, 2007 almost was.
The Global economy nearly go over the Cliff
Obama saving that economy
Obama starting health care reform with the ACA
Obama saving the US auto industry
Obama taking out Bin Ladin Can't remember if I saw the very start of coverage or not.

One that I can add for myself that I saw live (on TV), as it happened, and not mentioned here otherwise, was the destruction of the Branch Davidian complex in Waco - often simply called "Waco" for short.

Also, in 1985, I saw live coverage of the earthquake in Mexico City as soon as it started.

 

[Telstra]

As far as experiencing firsthand...no.

I was at a couple of events that warranted local news coverage. I was at a water park when a freak wind uprooted several tents, severely injuring a few people. (I ended up dragging one of the lesser injured people out from under it.) And I was riding the light rail when it struck and killed a bicyclist. There's probably a few more of that ilk, but those are the two I remember.

Lex

Anyone saw stuff on video or TV is firsthand is it not ??

 

[NotHardUp1]

The events I experienced in any way other than spectator by media are few.

The first is probably too subtle for many, but the integration of the public schools happened when I was in elementary school. It didn't mean much at first, as race didn't mean much to a first grader. My life was unstable as a child for other reasons, so school just became one more of them. I think the first grade in 1967 was all white, but I honestly only remember 3-4 classmates anyway, as I was enrolled in a cross-town (poorer) school the next year due to Mother moving to a different rental. The 2nd and 3rd grade years were in mixed classes which didn't seem odd to me, although I think I became more aware of differences socially and culturally at that age.

The big change happened my 4th grade year. Mother had us living in the poor side of town, so I went to Carver, a previously all-black school. I remember being one of about 3 white people in my class and feeling constantly under threat at recess and lunch, not because I feared blacks (as I lived in a predominantly black part of town), but because I was picked on and bullied and slapped by a couple of the guys who were aggressive. They used racist language to bully me, but looking back, a bully is a bully is a bully. The fact that racism was part of the bullying didn't make it any worse than any kid who gets bullied like that. There were much bigger and worse things going on at home, so it was a minor memory, but part of my perception of the social disintegration that was the late 60's. I think I'll always hate that era. The country was coming apart at the seams.

The next event would be the Iran Hostage Crisis. When I went to college in 1979, I attended a state school three hours away to study Pre-Pharmacy. That March (1980), a speaker was due to give a lecture on campus, the former Ambassador Hoveyda of Iran. He had served as Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations. The speech was a buzz on campus due to the hostage crisis ongoing in Tehran, which is why he was invited to speak.

My personal circle was heavily peopled by Syrians, Iranians, and Arabians, so I was aware of the trouble brewing before the speech. Muslim students from the entire region and several universities flocked to the speech, and we knew something was odd when FBI or Secret Service officers were on stage before hand, eyeing the crowd. Before the speaker was introduced, an agent or officer announced that the speech would proceed with the audience expected to not be disruptive. Ambassador Hoveyda began, but was immediately heckled and it became persistent from multiple sources, none of whom looked familiar, all of whom were thought to be disrupters who drove in. The speech erupted into arrests and none of us got to hear the ambassador, so the protestors won. It felt like I was touching history. My best friend that year was Iranian.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19800310&id=ibhMAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1foDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3749,3793999&hl=en

 

[Taralen]

I was 4 years old and I saw the repercussions of the LA riots. All the Eddie's Liquor stores had busted windows and were looted and stuff. I saw many decimated buildings and remains of exploded cars and tires stolen.

I also couple years later witnessed the damages of the Northridge earthquake. Also experienced and saw a big aftershock that happened later in the afternoon. We were in a supermarket and a big portion of the roof of the building came apart and tore off.

Finally, I also saw the OJ Simpson car chase. At the time we were living steps away from a 91 exit ramp and we saw all the police cars chasing him.

 

[kgeo1960]

I think we all are in the middle of a major current historical event, the rise of the Trump campaign and the rise of the Fascist movement in America. What has been slowly bubbling beneath the surface has been given permission by Trump to come spewing through with all of its hateful garbage in tow.

 

[medic1]

I have seen many memorable events. The most important one for me was voting in our referendum on independence. I had the feeling of being very much part of history.

Great thread topic.........

 

[rareboy]

I've witnessed everything through television from the Kennedy assassination onwards....so all of the above.

 

[pankola6]

The one that comes to mind is the fall of the Berlin wall. I was living in Luxembourg at the time and my mom flew to Berlin with my sister and I and we partook in the hammering of the wall.

 

[Willie Boy]

Why do you say that? I think someone who actually wasn't "at liberty to say" wouldn't outright state that all the time.

Why do you think that? Would you prefer we be rude and not answer the question?

 

[peeonme]

This to me was interesting, I was 4 years old when this took place.

 

[Willie Boy]

This to me was interesting, I was 4 years old when this took place.

You were four when Lincoln was assassinated?

 

[zombiekiller]

The GOP collectively commit political suicide by nominating Trump.

 

[eastofeden]

So many..on TV of course....

A few that stand out after all these years.....

The day Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone were killed by Dan White...they came to mind a few days ago when I heard Donald Trump encouraging people to kill Hillary Clinton...

AIDS.....watching so many people die

The day Marriage Equality become a reality in the USA

The Day JFK...and MLK...and then Bobby Kennedy...were assasinated.... ...again...Donald Trump

The day the Challenger blew up....

9/11

 

[peeonme]

You were four when Lincoln was assassinated?

I can't comment on it....

 

[MTLDude]

Quoted from memory: "On this day start a new chapter in Humanity's History, and you will be able to say: 'I was there'" Goethe

I remember the fall of Berlin Wall, on the happy side.
I remember the fall of the Twin Towers, on the sad side.

 

[G-Lexington]

I guess watching it unfold on TV is "firsthand experience", but it does introduce a sort of "layer" between me and the event. It sort reduces it to the level of a really powerful movie or TV show, even if I'm well-aware that this is real life.

Someone mentioned the LA riots. I was attending college in the Inland Empire at the time, so one might say I was nearby and yet a world away. We watched on TV as the police rolled out tanks (sorry - "rescue vehicles") and so forth. But that's not what I remember most about that day. I mainly remember my friend on the phone to his father, who lived in Koreatown, asking if his father wanted us to cone protect his home. (His father said, "No. If rioters show up, they can have everything except Grandpa." They didn't show up.) And I remember a bunch of students "spontaneously" taking to the streets and marching and yelling slogans. None of this was newsworthy, but I feel I actually experienced those.

Lex

 

[Charon]

9/11 and Obama becoming the first black US president.

 

[DantheManFL]

I saw most of those events on TV, but the only one I witnessed live was the Challenger Disaster. I worked at a tech company at the time. A large group went outside to watch the launch. When we realized it had exploded, the crowd gasped, and several people were crying.