Kent State Shooting (May 4, 1970)
At 12:00 pm on May 4, 1970, approximately 2,000 students from Kent State University gathered on the University Commons for an anti-war rally, despite the attempts of the administration to shut down the operation. Just before the protest began, Companies A and C, 1/145th Infantry and Troop G of the 2/107th Armored Cavalry, Ohio National Guard urged the students to disperse or face arrest. when it became apparent that the protesters had no intent of leaving, 77 men from Company A and Troop G began advancing on the crowd, who retreated up the hill. The guardsmen kept advancing, and by this point many of the protesters had left, but some still remained, angrily throwing stones and other items at the officers. at 12:24 pm, Sergeant Myron Pryor fired the first shots into the crowd of students, and was shortly joined by 28 other guardsmen. Four students were killed and at least nine others were wounded that day. Faculty members stepped in immediately after the shootings to try and reason with the angry students in order to prevent them from staging an all-out assault on the officers. After about 20 minutes of speaking by faculty members, disgruntled students and National Guard alike dispersed from the area, ending the violence for the day.
What transpired on May 4 was not an isolated incident. In the three days prior to the shooting, there were a series of protests, riots, and threats to local city officials and businesses by anti-war protesters. On May 2, Mayor Satrom of Kent City requested of Ohio State Governor Jim Rhodes that the National Guard be sent. Rhodes, who approved this request, referred to the protesters as "probably the most vicious form of campus oriented violence yet perpetrated by dissident groups," and vowed to "eradicate the problem," in a speech made at a press conference on May 3.
The events centered around the protests at Kent State University were a gruesome insight into how American citizens reacted to the war in Vietnam. The contrast between the beliefs of the protesters, who were entirely opposed to the war as a whole, and the beliefs of some of the government officials involved, like Governor Rhodes, who claimed the student protesters were un-American and determined to crumble higher education in the state of Ohio, shows just how divided certain members of the country were on the issue.
What transpired on May 4 was not an isolated incident. In the three days prior to the shooting, there were a series of protests, riots, and threats to local city officials and businesses by anti-war protesters. On May 2, Mayor Satrom of Kent City requested of Ohio State Governor Jim Rhodes that the National Guard be sent. Rhodes, who approved this request, referred to the protesters as "probably the most vicious form of campus oriented violence yet perpetrated by dissident groups," and vowed to "eradicate the problem," in a speech made at a press conference on May 3.
The events centered around the protests at Kent State University were a gruesome insight into how American citizens reacted to the war in Vietnam. The contrast between the beliefs of the protesters, who were entirely opposed to the war as a whole, and the beliefs of some of the government officials involved, like Governor Rhodes, who claimed the student protesters were un-American and determined to crumble higher education in the state of Ohio, shows just how divided certain members of the country were on the issue.