The sixties and ' 70 were turbulent times in the United States . The nation was fighting an unpopularwar in Vietnamthat was prompt a wave of objection . In 1970 , tension came to a fever pitch when tragedy struck on one college campus . On May 4 , member of the OhioNational Guardshot into a bunch of antiwar protestors at Kent State University , killing four pupil and wounding nine .
To understand the context of the tension , let ’s tot up up the background on the war . Vietnam , which had recently defend for its independence from France in the forties and ' 50s , had split into the Communist North ( Viet Cong ) and non - Communist South , which sought a more popular government . The United States had bit by bit increase its living for South Vietnam so as to preventCommunismfrom spreading in Asia . Richard Nixon gain the 1968 presidential election based partially on his hope ofVietnamization– transferring combat obligation from U.S. soldier to the South Vietnamese .
On April 30 , 1970 , President Nixon seemed to be betraying such promises about reducing U.S. involvement in the state of war when he herald that he sent troop into Cambodia , where the Viet Cong had its headquarters . Opponents of the warfare interpret Nixon ’s announcement as a step back , and it straightaway prompted antiwar protests across the country , specially on college campuses .
Kent State University in Kent , Ohio , was one such campus where tense protests were held . The campus was a relatively improbable context for the dramatic outcome that unfold over the span of four days leave up to the cataclysm . Compared to nearby Ohio State University , the Kent State bookman eubstance was generally less liberal and more gloomy - collar [ rootage : Lytle ] . However , it ’s cerebrate that out-of-door agitators helped intensify the violence and vividness of the protest .
As protest became more het up , the Ohio National Guard was summoned to Kent . These guardsmen became the center of the controversy for their decision to fire into the crowd . Many of these unseasoned hands were no older than the student contestant and had joined the Guard in edict to dodge the draft .
But the actual story of what happened at Kent State begins a few sidereal day before the tragic shootings get hold of place . It begins on Friday , May 1 – the twenty-four hours after President Nixon made his announcement about sending troops into Cambodia .
Events Leading Up to the Kent State Shootings
On May 1 , 1970 , pupil at Kent State halt an antiwarprotest , just as many other pupil at schools around the country did . Kent students gathered on the campus common at noontide and buried the U.S. Constitution . This symbolic enactment was meant to symbolise how Congress was violating the document by wag a warfare that it had never formally declared [ seed : Lewis ] . Before the crowd broke up , the bookman decided to play again for another exchange on Monday .
That dark , the town of Kent was restless . After claver the bar and becoming more and more raucous , crowds build bonfires in the street , broke window and threw bottles at law cars . The apprehensive mayor of Kent , Leroy Satrom , declared a state of emergency in the Ithiel Town and called Gov. James Rhodes for help . In an action that inadvertently exacerbated the situation , Satrom also closed the bars . As a result , supporter spilled out into the street and joined the rioting crowds . Finally , the police force broadcast the crowd usingtear gasand encouraged students to retort to campus .
On Sunday , the college campus was filled with about 1,000 guardsman . However , the atmosphere was surprisingly friendly and relaxed , and many students chatted with the guardsmen . But that all changed when Gov. Rhodes go far in Kent and held a public press group discussion during which he call up tearing protesters " the bad type of the great unwashed that we harbor in America " [ source : Chermak ] . The governor also suggested that he would do something unprecedented and seek a court club to announce a state of emergency . He never did make the contract , but most of the guardsman and university officials assumed thatmartial lawhad taken core . This misunderstanding gave the Guard control over the campus .
Tragedy at Kent State
Sunday Nox , protesters rioted and throw off rocks at guardsmen ; several apprehension were made . The stage was set for a rally on Monday , May 4 . The rally had been planned since Friday , but on Monday cockcrow , university officials with the opinion that the campus was under martial law issue 12,000 flyers to send word students that all rallies were banned [ source : Lewis ] . Student protesters defied the monition and begin gathering in the commons around 11 A.M.
By noon , the commons country was filled with almost 3,000 the great unwashed . Yet , only about 500 of these people were alive protestors . Another 1,000 were n’t actively participate – they just came to show their reenforcement for the mass meeting . about 1,500 more lined the circumference of the crowd , watching the rally and mill around . It was n’t exactly an antiwarprotest ; rather , evidence suggest that students were there to protest the guardsmen on campus .
The highest - grade officer , Gen. Robert Canterbury , fruitlessly dictate an end to the rally , calling out to protestors with a loud hailer as he was driven around the commons in a landrover . As the crowd became increasingly rowdy and threw John Rock at his jeep , Canterbury dictate his hands to debase their weapons and usetear gas . The guardsmen drive the protesters past the commons and up and over the steep Blanket Hill into the Prentice Hall parking lot and a practicefootballfield . get themselves cornered in the field by a fencing , guardsmen retreated back up the hill . When they reached the top , 28 guardsman ( out of about 70 ) turned and start out fire their grease-gun . Although most fired into the air or ground , some shot direct into the crowd . In the span of 13 seconds , guardsman open fire between 61 and 67 shots [ generator : Lewis ] .
Four student were killed by gunshot : Allison Krause , Jeffrey Miller , Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder . Scheuer and Schroeder were n’t participating in the protest – they were but walking to class [ source : Chermak ] . Nine more multitude were wounded , one of whom , Dean Kahler , was paralyzed .
The disaster could have led to even more bloodletting had it not been prof Glenn Frank , who was acting as a mental faculty marshal to keep peace during the protest . He successfully plead with the students for 20 minute not to fire the guardsmen any further .
Although we know these facts about what hap , we do n’t know why it happened . What instigate some of the guardsman to fire into the crowd ? Investigations and drawn - out legal battles attempted to answer this question .
Aftermath of the Kent State Shootings
The news of the Kent State University shot blow out of the water the public . The school was closed for the rest of the semester , as were hundreds of other colleges across the country . The next weekend , 100,000 people gathered in Washington , D.C. , toprotestthe troop being send into Cambodia . When singer / songwriter Neil Young saw the photo taken at the fit , he wrote the Sung " Ohio " in memorialisation of the tragedy .
The Nixon administration seemed to point finger’s breadth at the dissenter for chivy the guardsman . PresidentNixon ’s reply to the shootings was simply , " When dissent plough to violence , it invites catastrophe , " which strike many as inhuman [ source : Lytle ] . Nixon ’s Vice President Spiro Agnew said the tragedy was " predictable . " And the chairperson ’s speechwriter , Ray Price , expressed sympathy for the guardsman , calling them " a crew of frightened kidskin with artillery " [ source : Wells ] . concord to a Gallup Poll , most of the American public believed the demonstrator were primarily to blame [ source : Polner ] .
The guardsmen who shoot into the crowd claim they did so in self - defense ; they felt their lives were in danger . They testified that the objector elevate on them in a threatening way that warrant shooting . Some historians who ’ve investigated the shootings have accused the guardsman of conjure to shoot into the gang before they retreated back up Blanket Hill .
A presidential commission that investigate the topic close that the tragedy was " unneeded , groundless and inexcusable " [ source : broadsheet ] . And a 1970FBIinvestigation into the shootings find oneself that the guardsman were not in peril and they " fabricated " this defense [ germ : Polner ] .
The case went through court in several trials . The judge in the federal trial dismissed it ahead of time on because of the weak case brought against the guardsmen . An Ohio grand panel put blame on the university official and demonstrator , but not the guardsman . The polite test was appeal several times before it was settle down out of court in 1979 . The victim and the families of the scholarly person killed received the corporate marrow of $ 675,000 , which the State of Ohio pay [ reservoir : Bills and Bills ] . The reparation amount with a signed statement from the guardsman in which they expressed their regret of the catastrophe . No official excuse was ever supply .
Today , there ’s much debate about who is to blame for the Kent State shooting . Nevertheless , all political party match that it was an avoidable tragedy .
