Where were you when President Kennedy was assassinated?

Abstract

A total of 182 Americans and 215 Canadians were asked to remember what they were doing 12 years earlier when they learned that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Subjects rated the clarity of these memories and their recollections for events which occurred close in time to this incident. Results showed that Canadians (84% recall) remembered their activities equally as well as did the Americans (90% recall). The only significant difference in stated recall between Americans and Canadians occurred in the reports of the youngest Americans (18-22 years) over their Canadian counterparts. No differences in clarity of recall were found among subjects for recollections of such contextual factors as place, time, or company. All subjects reported clearer memories for personal activities closest in time to learning of the critical event. However, respondents 23-27 years old, in contrast to younger and older subjects, suggested a decrement in clarity of memory for activities 1 h or more removed from the critical news event relative to their high clarity of recollection for activities at the moment of hearing about the assassination. © 1978, The Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.