What tragedy is etched more strongly in the minds of most Americans: JFK’s assassination or 9/11?

25 comments

1. 9/11 because most of us lived through it.

2. Pearl Harbour

3. 9/11 since it is far more recent.

4. Pointless question, there are two generations difference between the two. I remember 9/11, wasn’t even born when Kennedy was assassinated. I can’t compare.

5. 9/11 easily

6. 9/11

7. 9/11 was more recent and more people were alive for it. Also more tragic considering the number of people who died.

8. Most older americans who remember JFK’s assassination were children or teens at the time. Everyone else were not alive or far too young to remember. Very few who were adults ar the time are still alive. I think for most people 9/11 is the one most etched in their minds, as it affected not only the ones who remember JFK, but every other generation born since who were old enough to have a memory of 9/11. Even the Americans who were adults during JFK’s assassination were very much alive to witness 9/11.

9. 9/11 just because there aren’t many people on here who remember JFK’s assassination. That doesn’t mean 9/11 is objectively worse.

10. Depends on the person’s age to be honest. For my generation (child IN the 80s) it would probably be the Challenger disaster. My mom was un 5th grade for Kennedy’s assassination.

    For my kids, they weren’t alive for either, so the pandemic and all its shenanigans are gonna be their generational memory.

11. Probably DC getting burned to the ground during the War if 1812.

    /s

12. 9/11 changed our way of life.

13. Impossible for most people to compare. JFK was assassinated 60 years ago, so most Americans alive today weren’t even a twinkle in their father’s eye when it happened.

14. 9/11 changed Air travel/security globally, among many things.

    No debate for me.

15. Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra for me.

16. It might be a generational difference. 9/11 would probably be stronger, because it was more recent and it was an attack on US soil that resulted in nearly 3000 people dead that day. Thousands more have been diagnosed with cancer as a result of exposure to the attacks.

    https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-attacks

17. Majority of people weren’t alive when JF was assassinated. Even if someone was 15 they’d be 72 now.

    The majority of 15 year olds wouldn’t have strong opinions about JFK. They just aren’t there yet. So I’d say for almost everyone, 9/11 is way more strong. Add that conservatives didn’t like JFK. ALmost no one felt unaffected by 9/11. Conservatives and liberals alike felt attacked.

18. Most Americans? Most of us were not alive for JFK.

19. I barely remember anything about Kennedy other than dad digging a “bomb shelter” (more commonly known as a hole in the ground with dirt covered plywood for a roof) in a hillside that we later filled with garbage. 9/11 arguably has/had a much larger social and global impact, and more people died.

    Edit before sending: Before anyone needs to ask, the bomb shelter was for the Cuban missile crisis under Kennedy’s watch.

20. Pearl Harbor was probably the more impactful event in people’s minds. It certainly had more far reaching consequences than either of the other two.

    It’s impossible to compare though. It’s a big span of time between all three events. Which one you remember more almost certainly depends on age.

    I wasn’t born when Kennedy was shot and I was in college on the east coast when 9/11 happened and the guy next door had a father that worked in the first tower above where the plane hit. He happened to not be at the office that morning. There was no way we could have known that at the time because phone calls to NYC were totally screwed up. He didn’t find out until later that evening when his uncle emailed that his father was still alive.

    So I felt it a lot more than a president that was assassinated that I only knew from history class.

21. You’re comparing a tragedy that happened 59 years ago (over half a century!) to a tragedy that happened 21 years ago. Of course 9/11 will be more strongly on people’s minds.

22. I’m almost 40 and my *parents* don’t even remember JFK’s assassination. Might as well compare it to the last ice age.

23. 9/11 had a lot more tangible effects: 3000 dead, TSA, the Patriot act, etc. Kennedy’s assassination had a lot more emotional effects, I think, coming on the heels of WW2, the great depression, it must have seemed like the light at the end of the tunnel really was a train. I was born in 64, but the whiplash of dashed hope is something everyone understands.

24. Only about 10-15% of Americans alive today are old enough to remember the Kennedy assassination, so it doesn’t play as big a role in our lives anymore. I remember it being much more present for people in the 80’s. I don’t think 9/11 weighs on people’s minds in the same way, but it’s impacts are so much more present. The Kennedy assassination was a single moment, done and over in a moment. When you talk about 9/11, you have to talk about everything that came after: war in Iraq and Afghanistan, DHS, and a huge change in how domestic security is considered and encountered. In some ways, 9/11 is still happening. So, I don’t think the instant of the planes striking the towers hits in quite the same way.

25. Not only is 9/11 more recent, therefore more people remember it, but it is one of those markers in history that forever divided time into pre-9/11 and post-9/11.

    JFK’s assassination was big, but it didn’t start a war, or permanently change the way people lived their lives.