Content warning: This story includes photos from historical news events that may be triggering for some readers.
No matter your generation, you probably remember that one major news story when the world seemed to stop for the very first time. Your family gathered around the TV, and even though you were too young to grasp all the details, you knew this news was major. I remember the O.J. Simpson trial being all over the news. The verdict was even read over the intercom at my elementary school, which was NOT a normal occurrence.
1.
Boston Marathon Bombing, 2013: “I was 10 and working on my homework, but then I heard over the television about a bombing in Boston. At first, I thought it was an accidental explosion from a building, but then I heard it was a terrorist attack.”
“I went to a boarding school and there was a TV in the break room. My sister lived in Boston at the time (I live in the UK) and I remember seeing the news and freaking out until she rang me about 30 minutes later. She told me she’d rang our parents first to say she was okay but they had no idea what she was going on about because they didn’t watch the news in the daytime!”
2.
Sandy Hook, 2012: “I think I was 9. I was generally an ignorant kid, but I won’t forget my brother on the phone with my grandma, and she told us to turn on the TV to literally any news channel. It was honestly a sad time; it was so close to Christmas.”
3.
Michael Jackson’s Death, 2009: “I saw the news when Michael Jackson died. I was almost 11, and went to go tell my mom. She didn’t believe me and had to go look for herself.”
4.
Obama’s Inauguration, 2009: “I was in third grade and my school had an election; he won there as well, lol.”
“I remember watching Obama’s inaugural address with my family. I was very young, but it’s definitely the earliest historic memory I have.”
5.
Hurricane Katrina, 2005: “I remember knowing a huge storm was coming to Louisiana but thinking it would be OK. I was 10? I come downstairs one morning and my parents are watching CNN, and a lot of people were actually trapped in the storm. I couldn’t look away. Horrible. What happened with Katrina never should have happened.”
“I remember very vividly my dad calling me in to watch the news and telling me, “You are going to be hearing about the fallout from this storm for the rest of your life.” I had no idea he was referring to the government abandoning countless poor people and Black Americans in need. I thought he just meant, ‘Man, that was a lot of rain.’”
“The tsunami was the first time I really thought about what traumatic events must be like for the people affected; I was 9 at the time.”
7.
The 9/11 Attacks, 2001: “My first memory of the day is our third-grade teaching assistant bursting into tears. Our primary teacher left to console her. She told us, ‘Something has happened today that has upset Miss T. Your parents will be picking everyone up soon.’ I remember being really confused as to why our parents were picking us up over something that made Miss T. sad. When we got home, my parents gave me a brief rundown: ‘Bad people hurt a lot of other people today.’ I asked my mom years later when the topic of 9/11 came up, and her [Miss T.’s] brother did in fact pass away while he was trying to leave the North Tower.”
“I grew up about an hour south of NYC. I was a sophomore in high school at the time. We weren’t even told what was happening because so many of us had parents and relatives who worked at the Towers or in Lower Manhattan. Kids were being called to the office left and right, so we had a general idea, but we didn’t really learn the details until we got home and could watch the news. Several of my classmates lost family members that day. It really was a defining moment for us.”
8.
Y2K: “Every year on New Year’s I make a heartfelt post about the resilience and perseverance of those of us who survived Y2K and the attempted computer uprising.”
“I still have the generator I bought just in case. It’s never been used, still in the box.”
9.
Columbine Shooting, 1999: “I’m sure there are some events that I’m not remembering or really didn’t affect me, but I think it was the Columbine shootings. I was in elementary school and lived a bit longer than a two-hour drive away from Columbine High School at the time. It was the first big school shooting, and my elementary school went on lockdown.”
10.
Elián González,1999: “It was a big news event in Cuba because of how much Fidel Castro’s regime politicized it. And I’m his age, so I was always intrigued by this other kid being the center of attention for the news for months.”
“That year, my older brother was cast as a rat in the local production of The Nutcracker. My parents had the news on, and I heard them referring to [Bill Clinton] as the ‘king of rats’ for what he did to his wife. I asked who the Rat King was, and my parents told me, “The president. Bill Clinton. He’s a rat.’ I spent all day on the playground the next day telling every kid I could that MY brother was going to be in a ballet with the president! One kid tattled on me for fibbing, and the teacher pulled me aside and told me I shouldn’t tell lies. I defiantly informed her I was not lying! My brother was one of the rats and my momma said Bill Clinton was going to be the Rat King! My parents had enough to discuss at the parent-teacher conference.”
12.
Princess Diana’s Death, 1997: “I was 5, and walked into the living room where my mom was crying. It’s my first-ever memory of my mom being that sad. I distinctly remember thinking I had to be a big boy and comfort my mom, because that’s what she did for me when I was sad. I had no idea who [Princess Diana] was, but I did know that Diana is a family name on my mom’s side, so I remember thinking it was a family member I hadn’t met yet.”
“We came through the tunnel [where the car accident that led to Princess Diana’s death occurred] a few hours before this happened, coming home from holiday. The news was breaking when we got home, and I thought, we could have been caught up in that!”
13.
O.J. Simpson Trial, 1995: “I was 5, when this happened and the only thing I really remember was hearing the local news talk endlessly about O.J., and being confused as to why orange juice was so important to be on TV all the time.”
“I called my mom from the pay phone in the middle school cafeteria to get the verdict update. I broke the news to the whole seventh grade.”
14.
Selena Quintanilla’s Death,1995: “Selena Quintanilla’s murder. I was only 5, but me, my mom, and my older sister were devastated. We would blast her music and dance around the house and idolized her. RIP 🥀”
“My mom reacted in such a way that me and my sister to this day are huge Selena fans. Gone too soon. 💜”
15.
Oklahoma City Bombing, 1995: “I was 6. It was spring break in Tulsa (where my family and I lived) and my parents dropped me and my siblings in OKC for the week with my grandparents. The windows rattled when it went off, even though their house was miles away.”
“I heard the boom from my elementary school 20+ miles away. And then the adults were trying to stay calm while secretly freaking out as they tried to confirm if parents were able to pick up their kids.”
“Same here. It was the first big news thing I actively remember. My parents having CNN on pretty much non-stop and all that night vision tracer footage.”
17.
Tiananmen Square, 1989: “I saw coverage from the local US Chinese news of the scene a few weeks before the tanks rolled in. It was brief footage of people sitting around singing and talking. Over the next few weeks, they showed more and more people in other cities standing around with signs. My Chinese school teacher was teaching us about the history of the May Fourth movement in 1919 where people were in Tiananmen Square protesting against imperialism. Little me, I thought that must be what those people were doing in the news. Little did I know…”
“To be fair, I also thought potato was spelled with an ‘e’ at the end up until then.”
20.
Baby Jessica, 1987: “I could not understand why they couldn’t just put down a ladder and get her. Then I saw the tube they got her from, and I was so confused. My parents had to show me our well and explain how it works, [for me] to understand.”
“I was only 5 at the time. But I can vividly picture my parents and their friends, family, and neighbors randomly stopping by our house and watching the events unfold over the length of the rescue efforts. We had a giant satellite dish in our backyard and had CNN, which I think was still very new at the time, and I believe the only 24-hour news network then. So we were probably one of the few families in the area with access to uninterrupted and constant coverage of the rescue efforts. I remember a bunch of people gathered around when she was finally rescued and everyone happy and cheering.”
21.
The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster, 1986: “I was in first grade, but we got to go to the second grade classroom because they had a TV. We got to have a ‘pillow day,’ so we all had our jammies on and our fave stuffies. Then we all gathered to watch… The second grade teacher pulled it together really quickly and talked with us about how sad this terrible accident was, and had us draw pictures of how we felt and talk in small groups about what happens when the ‘whole world’ shares a tragedy, and about how strong and brave the astronauts were.”
“I was in kindergarten! I remember the teachers also being excited, and they put two classes together to watch. Then I remember the teacher turning off the TV really quickly and saying she would be back. They were all out in the hall talking and so upset. I don’t remember them explaining it to us, but it’s definitely burned in my memory.”
22.
Chernobyl Disaster, 1986: “Weird event for a 6-year-old. I didn’t understand why my parents would not let me play outside for some time.”
“That’s one of the first memories that stuck with me, too. I also remember watching the news with my parents some time later, while living in Germany, not sure how long after the catastrophe. They showed pictures of disfigured small children or babies. My parents tried to shield me from seeing this, but it was too late. And even though I can’t fully describe it, the blurred memory of the image and the feeling of simultaneous shock and sadness was my first thought.”
23.
Ronald Reagan Assassination Attempt, 1981: “Reagan getting shot was the first thing I remember. Came home after school and Mom was watching it on the news. She rarely watched the news and it was not the normal news time back in the day.”
“My parents were not fans of Reagan but both understood it was a horrible thing to happen. I wasn’t old enough to understand politics yet and was shocked it happened. I’m 100% against any assassination as it ends a human life and it is the act of one individual to decide the fate of the rest of the country… I would never advocate for this on anyone.”
24.
The Royal Wedding, 1981: “I couldn’t wrap my head around how a human could be the Prince of ‘whales,’ but I was all in to the idea.”
“I remember being at a friend’s house and her mom watching it. I just wanted to see the dress, I remember thinking it took sooooo long to get to that part.”
“This is my earliest memory. I was only 2. I remember it turning dark in the middle of the afternoon and when the ash started coming down, it felt like night was literally falling. I was very scared.”
26.
Elvis’s Death, 1977: “I was 5. My parents weren’t big Elvis fans so they weren’t personally upset, but I was confused over whether he was a King or a singer.”
“I was 4 back then. I didn’t watch the actual news, but I remember my parents kept the news clippings from periodicals of the day it was published.”
27.
Nixon’s Resignation, 1974: “I remember my mom calling me into the living room and telling me I should watch his speech because it was history being made. I was just a kid and didn’t know what was going on.”
“This. I was too young to have any comprehension of Watergate, but I remember Nixon resigning.”
28.
Watergate, 1972: “I had no idea what it was. I pictured a deep canal filled with water with a giant gate that kept the water from flowing.”
“Yep, same here. I was 9 and remember asking my mom what Watergate was.”
29.
Moon Landing, 1969: “I was 7. I was allowed to stay up late, and my older sister took a picture of the TV screen as Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. She still has that picture.”
“My parents bought our first-ever color TV to watch the moon landing. The video from the moon landing was in black and white, of course, but the launch and return and all the rest of the coverage were in color.”
30.
MLK’s Assassination, 1968: “I remember my mother reacting in horror to the news that Dr. Martin Luther King had been assassinated.”
31.
JFK’s Assassination,1963: “My first conscious memory is my mom coming into my bedroom to tell me the president had been killed. I’m not sure why she was telling a 3-year-old, but I was the only other person in the house, and maybe she just had to talk about it. Then I remember the horse in his funeral procession and the backwards boots in the stirrups.”
“I was 5, and I remember my mother crying and being very upset. I didn’t really understand at the time, but when a 5-year-old sees an adult crying, deep down you know something bad happened.”
32.
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: I was only about six at the time, and, of course, didn’t have a clue about what was going on, but the grown-ups were very concerned, groups of them, huddling around the wireless. What I remember was how weird it felt, people acting differently.”
33.
Vietnam War: “The Vietnam draft. Older siblings going to kill against their will. All for nothing.”
“I remember watching battle scenes on the evening news with Walter Cronkite.”
“You are just a few years older than me. I was born in ’55. I did, however, have a set of three View-Master reels of her coronation!!!”
What’s the first major news event you remember? Let us know in the comments.
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