Kent State Massacre

The Kent State shooting or May 4th Massacre was a very significant and controversial event in the 1970. This involved armed guardsmen firing 67 rounds in 13 seconds into a crowd of protesting students. This resulted in nine wounded students and four shot dead. This was a significant event as it began the nation-wide anti-war movement, opposing the war in Vietnam.
This dispute started when President Nixon released the statement in 1969 that the American forces are to bomb Cambodia in order to destroy Viet Cong sanctuaries, causing a nation-wide student strike. This was the largest contributing factor the lead to the event that was the Kent State Massacre. Soon after Nixon’s announcement, a portion of Kent State University students organised
Although so many lives were being lost in the Vietnam War, this event was upsetting to the public as “May 4th represented the war coming home to America.” (Four Dead In Ohio, 2010). There were two main perspectives during the conflict – the protestors and the authority. The protestors consisted of both students and non-students banding together to rally against the war in Vietnam. While the authority was not only the guardsmen, but the Governor James A Rodes and the Mayor of Kent at the time Leroy Satrom. This event was controversial as, even today, there are many unanswered questions including whether or not there was an order to turn and shoot the protestors, and if so, who gave the order. As well as why the guardsmen were necessary when protests were so common during the late 60s and early 70s. On Monday, May 4th 1970, the two perspectives conflicted in a conflict that resulted in four dead students and the beginning of a very influential time in
The mayor was informed of threats made to downtown businesses that radical protestors were going to cause devastation to the city and the university. So in order to keep the peace, Satrom requested Governor James A Rhodes to send in the Ohio National Guard. According to Ron Snyder, a National Guardsman who was at Kent State during the lead up to the rally, there was a “Definite lack of control” over the students (Snyder, 2010). However, “Those men weren’t put [there] to kill people. They weren’t brought here to wound and maim, to take life away. They joined the Guard to get out of Viet Nam.” (Anonymous, 2000). Never the less, the guardsmen were still trained like soldiers knowing “Never click the safety off your weapon until you were ready to use it,” stated by Art Krummel, a National Guardsman recounting his experience at Kent State in 1979. (Krummel, 2008). If this is what the guardsmen were taught, then why did they fire into the crowd of protestors on May 4th? This then lead to the conspiracy that there was an order to fire at the ralliers. The authorities claim that there was no order to shoot at the students, however, on May 4th, as the guardsmen were retreating up Blanket hill, a bank near the commons, they all stopped, turned in unison, and fired at the protestors. It’s this action that lead people to