{"id":9088,"date":"2014-12-08T22:33:13","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T22:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=9088"},"modified":"2023-05-16T14:38:52","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T18:38:52","slug":"34th-anniversary-of-ex-beatle-john-lennons-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/34th-anniversary-of-ex-beatle-john-lennons-death.html","title":{"rendered":"34th Anniversary of Ex-Beatle John Lennon\u2019s Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

For one generation, the tragedy of 22 November 1963 is an indelible memory\u2014they will always remember exactly where they were when they first heard the news that President Kennedy had been assassinated. For many people in the following generation, the date of 8 December 1980 has the same lasting impact\u2014that awful moment when they first heard that John Lennon had been shot to death. Today is the 34th<\/sup> anniversary of his murder.<\/p>\n

\"photo:<\/a>
Photo: John Lennon performing with the Beatles in 1964. Credit: VARA; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As shocking as the loss of President Kennedy was, the mind can at least grasp that, as a powerful political figure, it is not surprising that he had enemies. Whether Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman or his death was part of a complicated conspiracy\u2014as many believe\u2014history teaches us that influential world leaders always have opponents.<\/p>\n

What makes the death of John Lennon so hard to comprehend and accept\u2014even 34 years later\u2014is that his murder was so senseless. The craziness of Beatlemania, and the fury provoked by his remark that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus, was long behind him. In fact, for the five years before his murder, Lennon had basically dropped out of sight, retiring from the frantic pace of the music business in 1975 to enjoy ordinary daily pleasures most of us take for granted: taking care of the house, raising his son, baking bread, chatting with his wife Yoko Ono over dinner\u2026for five years John Lennon was a contented househusband.<\/p>\n

\"Beatle<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 9 December 1980, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then in 1980, he went back into the recording studio to make music again. He and Ono\u2019s album Double Fantasy<\/em> was released on November 17, and its first single, \u201c(Just Like) Starting Over,\u201d was on the airwaves. The album\u2019s tone and Lennon\u2019s outlook in recent interviews were optimistic and upbeat. Just three weeks later he was murdered.<\/p>\n

\"'Screwball'<\/a>
Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 9 December 1980, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Lennon and Ono left their New York City apartment building \u201cthe Dakota\u201d to go to the music recording studio around 5:00 p.m. on 8 December 1980, a fan named Mark David Chapman shook Lennon\u2019s hand and asked his idol to sign his copy of Double Fantasy<\/em>. Lennon obliged him. Chapman then hung around the entrance to the Dakota and waited.<\/p>\n

\"Thousands<\/a>
Centre Daily Times (State College, Pennsylvania), 9 December 1980, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lennon and Ono returned at 10:49 that night. After they got out of the car, Chapman fired four bullets into Lennon\u2019s back. Although police rushed the mortally wounded singer to a nearby hospital, John Lennon was pronounced dead at 11:07 p.m. Killed by a deranged fan\u2026 just as he was making his comeback\u2026just as he was about to step into the security of his own home\u2026it was, and is, too much to comprehend.<\/p>\n

\"Gunman<\/a>
Daily Advocate (Stamford, Connecticut), 9 December 1980, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Historical newspapers (https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/gbnk\/newspapers\/<\/a>) are not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors\u2014they also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers\u2014or, as in the case of this story, perhaps events that you yourself lived through. If you were alive in 1980, where were you when you first heard the news that John Lennon had been killed? Please share your stories with us in the comments.<\/p>\n

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