Watching the news, during the 70's, my dad would always say, among other things, "goddamn communists!". I asked him what a communist was and he told me they think everyone should make the same wages and nobody can get rich. I couldn't see what the problem was.

holly

I was 6 when JFK Sr. was killed. I thought the President lived under the dome of the capitol building. Sitting there in the center his President chair. Nothing else in the room. I couldnt understand how oswald got past the guards, climbed up the outside of the building, thru the large arched glassless windows and shot the President.

Pat

When I was about 7 or 8, I started hearing people call JFK, "Jack," instead of, "John," like I'd always heard before. I knew he had a brother, but at the time I didn't know his name, so I just assumed that Jack was the brother. I think I even commented that it would have been funny if Jack had married Jackie. Little did I know...

XiuZan

I believed the Frank Prudue of chicken fame and Ed Koch, former mayor of NYC, were brothers.

And my mom told me it was true. She still laughs about it.

Anon

When I was in the fourth or fifth grade I learned that The Washington Post was considered the authoritative newspaper regarding politics and the government. I thought the paper was in Washington state, not Washington, D.C. I never understood how a newspaper way out west could be considered the authority on the federal government in the northeast. That misunderstanding persisted until I was in high school.

Jon

I used to believe that there weren't any private quarters in the White House. That is, that the president and his family actually lived in the big ballrooms and such.

Anon

I used to believe that everyone in the United States voted using electronic voting booths of the style used here at home (in central New York state). In fact, I believed this until the 2000 presidential election, and was flabbergasted to learn it was not true!

Anon

I used to think the the whitehouse was right off the highway near my house, I live in Wisconsin;)

Paulette

Back when President Bush Sr. was in office I had to be about 5. I remember my dad was watching him make a speech on TV and he started laughing. I asked him why he started to laugh at Bush and he told me, "No reason, he's just a good man." So everytime Bush said something (Even though I had no clue what 'Desert Storm' was or even the 'budget') I laughed at him becuase I thought it would make him more chairismatic....

Mike

as a small child in the early seventies, i was desperately aware of shortages and the need to understand our resources: gasoline, climate change, CFC's, water (we lived in southern florida), solar cells, recycling, all these things blended together for me. When I heard that Nixon and Brezhnev were getting together for S.A.L.T. talks, I was astonished: i couldn't imagine that scarcity exteded to salt as well. I asked my father on the way to school that morning why salt was so inexpensive , seeing how it's so scarce. He fixed me with an odd little look, and then said that there was plenty of salt to go around. Well, why are they making such a big fuss and having salt talks then?" I asked, exasperated as only a small child can be. I give my father major parent-points for not laughing in my face there and then. Instead, he explained that it stood for Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.

heidi schmidt

When I was a child we listened to the radio for our news, and I remember hearing several times about how President Truman was having a Steak Dinner for visiting royalty. I knew steak was pretty scarce in our house so that would have been a nice treat. Of course, now I know he was hosting STATE Dinners for people.

MerryMarjie

I remember my Grandpa talking about the Cold War - and I always thought that it was a war at the south pole because that was the coldest place I knew of.

Jill

Abraham Lincoln invented all the WORDS. He wrote the dictionary by candle light in his log cabin. (Lincon Logs were so named in his honor.)

Maryk

When I was very young, I would hear about the "Iron Curtain" and I thought it was a gigantic metal drapery between countries and no one could go through it.

AK

I didn't fully grasp the idea of a "secret ballot":

One election year Dad mentioned that no one knows who you vote for. I took that to mean, "including yourself". So I said, "Can't you just walk in there, bang your fist on the table and demand that your vote goes to [a particular candidate] ?"

Some time later I realized the true meaning of the "secret ballot".

Tom