This Day, 1963.

I was studying in the library (Calvin College, Grand Rapids), when a student came to the table and said, "The President has been shot!" I replied, "Okay, what's the punch line?" thinking it was some kind of macabre  joke. He made it clear - no joke. I quickly left the library for the Commons and a TV. A friend recalls me stepping into a classroom and saying, "The President's been shot!" (I don't recall that moment), but I remember lots of tears that day in the Commons. And then at home in the following days - no one doing anything. As if the nation was paralyzed. My parents were Republicans; I don't recall their reaction, if any, but we had TV on the entire time. Nor do I recall any specific emotion on my part, but I recall being distressed. Did I weep? I don't know. But I weep today. His death, a serious loss to our political health and vision.