According to a poll released Friday by Louis Harris and Associates, 85 percent of respondents who were around in 1963 can remember where they were, what they were doing or who they were with when they heard the news from Dallas. That's about the same number that recall their whereabouts at the time of the Oklahoma bombing and the O.J. acquittal in 1995. But when it came to Diana's death on the night of August 31, an overwhelming 97 percent found the incident had been seared into their memories. Harris says that is "about as close to everyone as you can get in a public opinion survey."
And if that does a disservice to the President's memory, how must the ghost of Elvis feel? Only 46 percent could bring to mind their location when they heard about the King's death a mere 20 years ago. The same number was true for the killing of Martin Luther King 10 years earlier. Bearing in mind these fading memories, perhaps 85 percent for the JFK assassination isn't so bad. The real question, of course, is how many remember being on the grassy knoll.