Two of the most famous people I ever saw in my life in person were JFK and Micky Mantle. I saw JFK while attending church at St Francis in Hyannis while on vacation with my folks in the summer of 1962 (actually attended the same mass) JFK and Jackie came out either before or after the mass to wave to everyone in a roped off area. People let get up front to the roped off area and and he was about 40 to 60 feet away.
Anyway when he was assassinated I was 8 years old in 3rd grade.We were told school was closing early but no reason why. I remember watching the news coverage of the assassination all weekend (that was all that was on,we only got like 3 channels on TV) but I remember being fascinated by the coverage even then. I remember watching Oswald getting shot live on TV.
I believe that it was the one event that spurred my interest in politics for rest of my life.
JFK was a democrat that was a tax cutter and was for a strong military. By todays standards he would be known as a right wing waco tea partier, which tells you how much the democratic party has devolved.