Kent State University Incident Essays - Portage County, Ohio, Ohio

Kent State University Incident The End of the Innocence After a long period of fighting a defensive war in Vietnam, on April 29, 1970, President Richard Nixon launched a full scale attack in Cambodia, which greatly accelerated America?s involvment in this conflict. The reaction from the American college student population was one that led into great controversy and heated debates. When Nixon announced his decision on the following day, many people were upset, and thousands of people protested. The end result of one particular protest was bloody, and a perfect example of what terrible shape our country was in during that period of time (Guard Fired in Self Defense). Thoughtless mistakes such as the ones made on that day will often have a snowball affect that lead into problems for all persons envolved. On May 3, 1970 students of Kent State University rallied to protest Nixon?s announcement. There was violent protesting all through the night. Windows were broken, cars were destroyed, and the ROTC building was burned to the ground. When the firemen arrived, their hoses were taken by students and used aganist them. At that point Governor James Rhodes called for the National Guard to come in and protect the campus(Four Deaths at Noon). The following day Kent State University was under the protection? of the Ohio National Guard. Around noon on that day, students fromed in protest. They were told to disperse, but refused. The first action of the National Guard was to release tear-gas grenades upon the masses of students (Guard Fired in Self Defense). These grenades were marginally successful, and only caused a temporary retreat. The students then responded by throwing concrerte, rocks, and everything else they could find. This was the first of a group of poor decisions that led to the bloody disaster of May 4, 1972 and all of the other problems associated with the disaster (Kent State Continued). From a distance of about sixty feet from the crowd of students, a member of the National Guard believed that he heard sniper fire. In response to these alleged shots, he opened fire on the students with his M1 .30-06 caliber rifle. He was immediately backed up by several of the men in his squad, all of whome were shooting the same rifle except for one man who shot a military issue Colt .45. When the smoke had cleared, ther had been about thirty-five shots fired, and four of the students were dead. It is unknown exactly how many others weere injured, but sources report from eleven to fourteen students and onlookers. These lives were shed due to judgment. It is nothing more than that. However, had this incident been handled in a better manner, there would have been much less of a shock wave of emotions sweeping through the country. (Olson) The following day Governor Rhodes was accused by the campus senate of bringing the troops in for political reasons, and the entire nation was outraged about what had happened. There were countless protests held against the war and this incident. Also, memorial ceremonies were held all over the country. Nixon released a couple of statements that showed no sorrow for the victims, but rather implied that that they got what was coming to them. His basic argument was that violence would only end in tragedy, and that people should demonstrate their feelings peacefully if they felt it necessary to demonstrate them at all. After a lengthy investigation, there there were several inditements handed out, but they were not given to the shooters. The people charged with crimes were the protesters. Eventually there was a hearing for the shooters, but they were found not guilty. They argued that they had been afraid for their lives and were left with no option. Again the nation was outraged. At this point a massive student strike was launched. At schools all over the country students made violent protests against the government, but there was nothing that could be done (Olson). Nixon had been warned in a letter signed by thirty-seven university and college presidents of the potential danger of students when he launched his attacks, but he was seeing the results now on full scale. He used