TV appearance of Lincoln assassination witness

[roo_ster]

http://kottke.org/11/08/tv-appearance-of-lincoln-assassination-witness

(via nationalreview.com)

In 1956.  My dad was in or had just graduated high school and could have spoken with him. 

"Six degrees of Kevin Bacon, my hienie."  Two degrees: (hypothetically) my dad and Mr. Samuel Seymour.

[RocketMan]

Being five years old at the time of witnessing the assassination, I wonder how much he actually remembered?  How many details actually stuck with him, given how fallible and faint young memories can be.

[makattak]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304520804576341482658082052.html

Memories that last by the age of ten last like any other memory. Especially:

Traumatic events, such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, also tend to become seared in children's memories. In a study titled "I Was Very, Very Crying," published in Applied Cognitive Psychology last year, Dr. Peterson and colleagues interviewed 145 children aged 2 to 13 who were treated in a hospital emergency room for injuries. Children who recalled crying a lot at the time were more likely to remember specific details two years later.

[280plus]

I remember where I was when I heard Kennedy got shot. Waiting in line to go to the boys room in kindygarten. Don't ask me why.

[HankB]

Interesting . . . my Dad told me that when he was a youngster, he met an old man who was a veteran of the Civil War.

Sort of brings history home and makes it a little less, well, remote.

[MrsSmith]

I very specifically remember my grandparents whom I saw for the last time at the age of 3. No pictures either. Described them to my uncle and he was amazed at how well I remembered them.

[Monkeyleg]

I was in 7th grade and in science class the afternoon that Kennedy was shot.

The only thing this man remembers about the event was Boothe's fall to the stage.

It's hilarious to see the big "Winston" cigarette logo front and center on the host/guest's desk.

[CNYCacher]

I had a memory of visiting someone related to my father when I was very young, and being told there was a robot in the basement and asked if I would like to see it.  I also remember being held in my father's arms while we looked at the robot in the basement and someone coming down the basement stairs and saying "So, this is the new <my last name>!"

Growing up i had a hard time convincing my parents of this because they couldn't think of anyone who had a robot.  Until one day my mom asked my dad "Didn't your uncle so-n-so have some kind of robot?" My father thought about it and then realized that yes, uncle so-n-so did have a kind of electronic expirimenty-roboty-thingy, and he remembers taking me to the basement to see it, "but you could not have remembered that!  You were too young!"

Dates on family photographs put my age at just over 11 months at the time of the visit. When i was 18 months old I was burned in a kitchen accident, up to 3rd degree burns on 10% of my body.  I have no memory of that.   I have a vivid memory of looking through the glass at the maternity ward to see my newborn sister, which makes me 19 months old.

When I was in college, I went with my parents to visit my father's uncle and we went to the basement to see the "robot" as it was still down there.  just a clump of wiring, motors and sheet metal, but very similar to how I remembered it.

[Hawkmoon]

I was a sophomore in college when JFK was shot. I was standing in line in the student center cafeteria when the news came over a television playing in the background.

The background instantly became the focus of everyone's attention.

[Tallpine]

One time, quite a few years ago when she was still alive, I was talking to my grandma about remembering when my mom got stopped by police somewhere after dark, in her old (well, not old then) pickup with the three of us in the cab.

I said that about all that I could remember was looking up at the dome light on in the cab and the policeman outside the window.

My grandma was surprised because she said that happened between Austin and Lubbock when I was about a year old! 

[K Frame]

Apparently Mr. Seymour died several months after appearing on this show, in part from complications from the fall he took in his hotel.

Date of death? The 91st anniversary of Lincoln being shot in Ford's theater.

Hum.... OK, Wikipedia says the 91st anniversary of Lincoln being shot, but Find a Grave says he died on April 13, the day before Lincoln was shot.

[Nick1911]

It's hilarious to see the big "Winston" cigarette logo front and center on the host/guest's desk.

This was very striking to me as well.

[geronimotwo]

funny, i was just telling a friend about a specific memory i had from when i was two.  now i can't remember what it was!