November 22, 1963, is always in black and white: black as in the color of Dad's Chevrolet parked in the almost white concrete driveway, home early from work on a weekday afternoon; white in the pale faces stained with tears on the television over black suits that turned into black mourning; and the black-and-white irrevocable images on the screen: Walter Cronkite and Chet Huntley and David Brinkley and Ron Cochran telling us that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated.

Fifty years later I can remember it still, and can answer the inevitable question to those my age, "Where were you?"

The classic coverage by Walter Cronkite on CBS (the first bulletin was issued during an episode of the serial drama As the World Turns. Part 1 of this coverage is all As the World Turns; if you want to get directly to the coverage, start with Part 2).

Edwin Newman doing the news on November 26, 1963 (dig the Chase and Sanborn commercial).

A tribute to John F. Kennedy one year later, hosted by Frank McGee and broadcast on NBC's Monitor weekend radio program, November 22, 1964.

David Wolper's 1964 Film Four Days in November

Labels: history, memories

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:45:00 PM

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