Where Were You When...? Trivia Quiz

Answer: the Boxing Day tsunami

The Boxing Day tsunami killed nearly a quarter million people and spawned a worldwide relief effort. The distractor answers either occurred before the origin of electromagnetic media or in the case of the Kinshasa epidemic, never happened (thankfully).

The Shansi, China earthquake of 1566 may have been the deadliest natural disaster in history with around 800,000 dead. The Peshtigo, Wisconsin wildfire was the deadliest fire in US history (2,000 dead) but is known almost exclusively by disaster buffs.

It occurred on 8 October 1871, the same day the Great Chicago Fire (300 dead) started, which got all the coverage.

Answer: 1 January 2000

The much feared "Y2K Bug" failed to materialize, and we're still waiting for the Second Coming. It was a spectacular party, though. If you're still unclear on why it was a year early, remember that all calendars start with year one. This means that all subsequent decades, centuries and millennia need also to be "1" years, e.g. 1951, 1801, 1001.

The twenty-first century, and third millennium of the Common Era therefore began on 1 January 2001. All those zeroes just caught the general imagination.

Answer: President John Kennedy's assassination

JFK's murder literally stunned the United States. It was confusing and rather frightening for kids, watching adults stunned to silence or tears. The emotional response wasn't limited to the US. Even as determined a foe as Nikita Khrushchev is reported to have been distraught. As a young philatelist, I recall collecting Kennedy memorial stamps from 32 countries.
For the record, none of the other events listed actually occurred.

Answer: the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon

The plaque read "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind." The Lunar Excursion Module was likely the most delicate vessel ever used in exploration. The astronauts had to exercise care not to accidentally kick or poke a hole in its thin metal skin.

Answer: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

Most Americans had never heard of Pearl Harbor, and many would have been hard pressed to find Hawaii on a world map, but everyone knew what it meant. The United States was going to war. The news spread with astonishing speed in that largely pre-electronic time.

By the time President Franklin Roosevelt addressed Congress the following day, nearly every American knew why. Several generations of Americans recalled receiving the news until their final days.

Answer: the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I

The Space Age began on 4 October 1957 with the launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial earth satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (now Kazakhstan). The cause for unease in the western alliance was the implication that the Soviets possessed missile technology that could deliver a thermonuclear weapon anywhere on Earth.

The Soviet Union exploded its first H Bomb in 1955, almost three years after the United States. The first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was launched by the US in 1958. Yuri Gagarin's orbital flight, another Soviet first, occurred in 1961.

Answer: US stock markets crash

The American stock markets were uneasy in October 1929 after British markets crashed in September. Margin calls in mid-October led to increased selling, culminating on 29 October when millions of shares were dumped on the markets in a full fledged panic. Using American style numbers (1000 million equals a billion) the 16 billion dollars of wealth that essentially vanished in the panic was sufficient to tip the US economy into the Great Depression. Using the Consumer Price Index to extrapolate, the loss corresponded to roughly 1.74 trillion 2018 US dollars. For the record as of mid 2019, the US dollar has never been officially devalued. World War II began in 1939.

Interest has been charged on commercial loans since at least the Italian Renaissance.

Answer: the al-Qaeda attacks on New York City and Washington DC

In addition to the loss of life and physical damage, the attacks of 11 September 2001 (usually called 9/11 in the US) had a profound psychological impact on Americans. What many Americans failed to understand was that much of the world had been similarly jarred. I learned that the following year.

In Germany on business for the first anniversary of the attacks, I wore a small American flag lapel pin as commemoration. The response stunned me. So many usually reserved Germans felt the urge to shake an American hand that day, that I wound up spending the evening with my right hand packed in ice.

Answer: the fall of the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961, and most baby boomers were sure it would outlast them. Relentless western pressure, including stirring speeches by Presidents Kennedy and Reagan, the liberalizing influence of Mikhail Gorbachev, and instability in Eastern Europe caused by the immense popularity of Pope John Paul II had created a pregnant moment in history.

The final straw came with a bungled announcement by the East German government that some border restrictions would be lifted. Within hours, thousands of East Berliners demanded to be allowed to cross into West Berlin and after initial hesitation the guards, lacking clear instructions, let the crowds through. Later some East Berliners began to attack the hated wall, joined immediately by their West Berlin brethren.

The wall was ripped to pieces in a single night (half a dozen clear openings for foot traffic created), with its formal demolition completed in 1992.

Answer: VJ Day

While there was profound rejoicing on VE (Victory in Europe) Day (8 May 1945), the real global celebration came with VJ (Victory over Japan) Day, a little over three months later, which signalled the end of organized combat in World War II. There is photographic evidence of spontaneous demonstrations of happiness in Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Canada, China, Korea, and Australia as well as the famous scene in Times Square in New York City and the rest of the United States.

The end of the bloodiest war in human history was well worth the joy.