Do you remember what you where doing 50 years ago?

[Richard Farrant]

It is funny when that question is asked, because I can vividly remember, I would have been about 12 and was at Boy Scouts night. My Dad came to collect me and he told the Scoutmasters the news that had just come in.

[Lang]

It really was a significant event. An "untouchable" American president being assassinated shocked the world (although he was not the first).

I was in Fremantle unloading a truck on the dock and there was an American submarine alongside. Interesting talking to the sailors. Of course there was shock that their President was shot but signs of distress were little.

Most of those I talked to were of Republican leaning and although there was huge affront that the leader of their nation had been killed, Kennedy personally was not particularly liked and even then they realised his public relations machine outstripped reality - the John and Jaquie show.

He did have really good speech writers.

I thought it was interesting that these American servicemen would freely talk critically of Kennedy only hours after the reports came in. They claimed his real achievements were few, even civil rights reforms were forced on him by public outcry far ahead of his plans and his atomic brinkmanship and support of foul dictators around the world were brought up.

His death was seen as some sort of attack on the free world at a time when the fate of the planet rested in the hands of two men and gained much more significance internationally than it would today. It certainly shocked and even panicked a lot of people.