- The killings marked the height of escalating tensions between protestors and police in Kent, Ohio, during the spring of 1970.
- Despite how the culture views the tragedy today, the majority of Americans sided with the National Guard shortly after the incident.
- To this day, nobody knows exactly why the guardsmen decided to open fire on the crowd of students.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Kent State massacre, in which the National Guard killed four students during a protest against the Vietnam War.
The killings forever changed America. In addition to spurring millions of students nationwide to protest, some historians say the tragedy played a role in the downfall of former President Richard Nixon, and influenced Congress to pass the War Powers Act in 1973, which limited the president's powers to wage war.
In Kent, Ohio, the massacre of May 4 was the culmination of an especially tense week between protestors and police. It started on April 30, when Nixon announced the U.S. would be invading Cambodia — a move that came 10 days after the president had announced the withdrawal of 150,000 troops from Vietnam.
On May 1, about 500 students protested on the campus commons; they buried a copy of the U.S. Constitution and posted a sign on a tree that read: "Why is the ROTC building still standing?" On May 2, the ROTC building was set on fire, possibly by fringe activists not involved with the campus protests. According to the report of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest:
"Information developed by an FBI investigation of the ROTC building fire indicates that, of those who participated actively, a significant portion weren't Kent State students."
The National Guard arrived in Kent shortly after the building was set ablaze. During a press conference the next day, Ohio's Republican Governor Jim Rhodes pounded on a desk and called the protestors "the worst type of people that we harbor in America."
May 4 was a Monday. Student protest leaders had called for a rally to be held on the campus commons around noon. Earlier that morning, the university had distributed thousands of leaflets declaring all rallies to be illegal, as the National Guard now controlled campus.
Between 11 A.M. and noon, several hundred demonstrators faced off with about 100 guardsmen, who wore gas-masks and carried M-1 military rifles. In total, there were approximately 3,000 people at the scene — 500 demonstrators, 1,000 "cheerleaders" who supported the active protestors, and about 1,500 spectators, according to Kent State University.
Here's how Jerry M. Lewis and Thomas R. Hensley, Kent State professors of sociology and political science, respectively, once described what happened next:
"Shortly before noon, General Canterbury made the decision to order the demonstrators to disperse. A Kent State police officer standing by the Guard made an announcement using a bullhorn. When this had no effect, the officer was placed in a jeep along with several Guardsmen and driven across the Commons to tell the protestors that the rally was banned and that they must disperse. This was met with angry shouting and rocks, and the jeep retreated. Canterbury then ordered his men to load and lock their weapons, tear gas canisters were fired into the crowd around the Victory Bell, and the Guard began to march across the Commons to disperse the rally. The protestors moved up a steep hill, known as Blanket Hill, and then down the other side of the hill onto the Prentice Hall parking lot as well as an adjoining practice football field. Most of the Guardsmen followed the students directly and soon found themselves somewhat trapped on the practice football field because it was surrounded by a fence. Yelling and rock throwing reached a peak as the Guard remained on the field for about 10 minutes. Several Guardsmen could be seen huddling together, and some Guardsmen knelt and pointed their guns, but no weapons were shot at this time. The Guard then began retracing their steps from the practice football field back up Blanket Hill. As they arrived at the top of the hill, 28 of the more than 70 Guardsmen turned suddenly and fired their rifles and pistols. Many guardsmen fired into the air or the ground. However, a small portion fired directly into the crowd. Altogether between 61 and 67 shots were fired in a 13-second period."
Ultimately, four students were killed, and nine were injured. The dead were: Miss Allison B. Krause, 19, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Miss Sandy Lee Scheuer, 20, Youngstown, Ohio; Jeffrey G. Miller, 20, Plainview, N.Y., and William K. Schroeder, 19, Lorain, Ohio. Eight Ohio National Guardsmen later faced criminal charges, but all were acquitted.
"There is no evidence from which the jury could conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants acted with premeditation, prior consultation with each other, or any actively formulated intention io punis or otherwise deprive any students of their constitutional rights," a federal judge wrote in 1974.
Some details of that spring afternoon remain murky. But what's clear is that America was violently polarized in 1970. The nation was five years into the Vietnam War, which had already killed thousands of young draftees and helped spawn the counterculture movement and its accompanying protests — some peaceful, some violent.
A culture war was escalating. It was between, broadly speaking, young Americans who felt disillusioned by the violence and status quo, and a more conservative swath who felt the war was a necessary — or even patriotic — cause. After all, young American were dying abroad on behalf of their country: Was it all for nothing?
Today, the Kent State massacre is widely viewed as a tragic misuse of state power. But it's worth recognizing that the killings occurred amid a broader culture war. In the aftermath of Kent State, for example, public opinion polls show that the majority of Americans (58 percent) supported the guardsmen. This support sometimes manifested violently.
For example, during the "Hard Hat Riot" of May 7, construction workers in New York City beat student protestors who were trying to shut down Wall Street; some of the "hard hats" even chased students back to Pace University and invaded buildings. The riot marked a symbolic turning point in which the Nixon administration was able to win over some working-class Democrats who had grown fed up with the anti-war movement. "These, quite candidly, are our people now," top aide Patrick Buchanan told Nixon.
May 4, 1970: The end of the '60s
Some historians say May 4 was the day the '60s died. But there were also other days when the fiery optimism of the 1960s may have burnt out. In 1968, during an anti-segregation protest on the campus of South Carolina State University, the South Carolina Highway Patrol killed three black student protestors, and shot more than 20 protestors as they tried to run away. In 1969, police shot and killed a 25-year-old protestor during a demonstration near UC Berkeley. And on May 17, 10 days after Kent State, police in riot gear killed two students during a protest at Jackson State, a historically black college.
To this day, nobody knows exactly why the guardsmen decide to fire on the unarmed students at Kent State.
"No one knew the national guard had real bullets. We were completely shocked. It just never occurred to anyone that they would actually have bullets to shoot people. It may sound naive but we talked about that for years afterwards," said Lou Capecci, a former Kent State student who attended the May 4 protest.
In looking back on what happened on May 4, 1970, perhaps it's worth considering who Allison Krause, a freshman who was shot and killed that day, once wrote on a final exam in response to the question: "What is the point of history?"
"Dates and facts are not enough to show what happened in the past. It is necessary to analyze and delve into the human side of history to come up with the truth."
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