{"id":31011,"date":"2018-05-04T10:47:28","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T14:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=31011"},"modified":"2022-05-02T09:59:14","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T13:59:14","slug":"kent-state-student-protesters-shot-by-national-guard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/kent-state-student-protesters-shot-by-national-guard.html","title":{"rendered":"Kent State Student Protesters Shot by National Guard"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Kent State Shootings, when the Ohio National Guard shot 13 unarmed students on the campus of Kent State University on 4 May 1970, killing 4, was the culmination of rising tension on both the national and local fronts over American involvement in the Vietnam War. The shooting of college students on an American campus shocked the nation, and in the newspaper reports and vivid photographs of frightened, bewildered students it seemed to many that the violence of the war had come home to America.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), 5 May 1970, page 8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ending the war in Vietnam had been a heated issue during the 1968 presidential campaign, and when Republican Richard Nixon won, peace advocates tried to be mollified by Nixon\u2019s promise to end the war. In November 1969 the chilling story of the My Lai Massacre was revealed, and repugnance at this bloody deed fueled increased anger at the war. Then, on 30 April 1970, Nixon admitted in a televised address to the nation that American troops had invaded Cambodia. Rather than the war ending, it seemed to be expanding and getting uglier.<\/p>\n

That was the national backdrop to the rising tensions that exploded on the campus of Kent State University (KSU). Locally, the unrest began the day after Nixon\u2019s Cambodian admission, when 500 KSU students demonstrated against the war in the center of the campus on May 1.<\/p>\n

That night, a small riot broke out in downtown Kent, with smashed windows and looting. The mayor declared a state of emergency and asked for help on May 2, and that night Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes sent in the National Guard, who used tear gas and bayonets to break up another demonstration on campus. The two sides were at it again the next evening, May 3, when tear gas and bayonets were again used to break up a student demonstration on campus. All this set the scene for the violence on May 4.<\/p>\n

\"Map:<\/a>
Map: a printed map detailing the locations of structures, troop movements, bullet hole locations, and locations of casualties at the Kent State shooting of 4 May 1970. Credit: President’s Commission on Campus Unrest; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What happened that day is reported in the following three newspaper articles, providing a wealth of detail and many eyewitness descriptions.<\/p>\n

\"Front<\/a>
Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 5 May 1970, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These three articles were published by the Plain Dealer<\/em> on the front page of its 5 May 1970 issue.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 5 May 1970, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is a transcription of this article:<\/p>\n

4 DEAD, 10 HURT AT KSU<\/strong><\/p>\n

Campus Is Evacuated<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Michael D. Roberts
\nStaff Writer<\/p>\n

KENT \u2013 Only the rumble of patrolling military vehicles was heard on the deserted Kent State University campus here last night after a day of violence in which four students were killed by gunfire of the Ohio National Guard.<\/p>\n

At least 10 others were wounded after the troops fired about 50 rounds from M-1 rifles into a crowd of campus demonstrators.<\/p>\n

It was the most tragic and bloody campus confrontation in the country since anti-war demonstrations began to erupt over Vietnam.<\/p>\n

President Nixon said late yesterday that he would order a Justice Department investigation if the state so requested. Gov. James A. Rhodes, meanwhile, asked for the FBI to make an investigation.<\/p>\n

Two hours after the shootings, University President Robert I. White ordered classes at the school, which has been racked by disorder since last Friday, suspended indefinitely.<\/p>\n

Portage County Prosecutor Ronald Kane closed the university for an indefinite period, armed with an injunction from Common Pleas Judge Albert Carris.<\/p>\n

By nightfall, 19,000 students and faculty had evacuated the campus.<\/p>\n

Businesses in the city of Kent were closed and the approaches to the city were cordoned by police and guardsmen.<\/p>\n

A curfew went into effect in Kent at 6 p.m. It will extend until dawn.<\/p>\n

Officials at Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna listed the dead as:<\/p>\n