Kent State Tragedy

I to was in the area of Kent State University on that fateful day in May of 1970 and here is what I saw, heard, and felt at that time. I grew up in Portage County Ohio just 12 miles from the University. I had walked the impeccably groomed lawns on campus and have a sister who is a Kent State Alumni. But in the days preceding those events on May 4th, I remember how the downtown area of Kent was vandalized, burned, looted and destroyed by those who claimed to be demonstraters against a war and used terror tactics in there own way.

Many of the demonstration gatherings were not peaceful. There were no bricks, rocks or bottles lying around on campus to be picked up and used by students. They were ALL brought onto campus by many of those "innocent" students. The campus had been closed, classes cancelled and students ordered to leave the area to help curb the violence. Many did, but there were those who decided to stay knowing that there was going to be trouble and wanting to be a part of it. As a result of the civil disobediance of many students and the threat of destruction to an entire city and the immediate community surounding the University the National Guard was called in.

Who was at fault for the occurrances on May 5, 1970? Many would have you believe that it was the gun toting soldiers, or was it the students that were holding the campus hostage and destroying the grounds and surroundings?

Think about it. What type of responce would you want if you saw vandals destroying your business that you worked hard daily to make successful, or owned a house in the area where riots were occurring, because there was and still is residential housing around the campus.

Were all the students there creating problems, I would have a hard time believing that. Were all the national guardsmen on campus guilty of firing on the people on campus that day? The answer was and still is no. But through the timely and controlled manipulation of the masses by people with an agenda based on anarchy and disguised as protest, a confrontation leading to tragedy was set in motion. The fault lyes in the hands of a era when young adults were trying out there new found voice and freedom of expression, intollerance of a military operation which single handedly almost destroyed a generation of young men and the hopes and dreams of untold millions of people in this country and those people who were threatened by that new found outspokenness when it was used in a destructive manner.

If we proceed in this era being guided by those same type of people who manipulated the masses by telling us what we believe we want to hear and preach intollerance that any belief but there own is faulted, all I have to say is, "If we chose to blatantly disreguard historic events and not learn from them and apply that gained knowledge, then we are doomed to relive them." That is not my quote, but a paraphrase of one heard all my life and I have tried to apply it to my life daily. Not to live in the past, but to use the past to mold a more successful future for myself.

I too remember that day. We are talking about Ohio were midwestern values were installed into us each and everyday. I remember watching the news and couldn't believe something like was happening in Ohio. Ohio isn't California were we heard about the many protests. I teach my students everyday to be tolerant of those we don't agree with. That we live in a land where we can protest.

I too was in the area of Kent State University on that fateful day in May of 1970, and here is what I saw, heard, and felt at that time:
I grew up in Summit County just about 15 miles from the University. I had been to the impeccable groomed lawns of the campus the day and evening before the fateful shootings, and my X-wife is a Kent State Alumni. In the days prededing those events on May 4th, I remember how the downtown area of Kent was the center of organized prostest against the recent intrusion of American troops into Laos and Cambodia in order to "sneak" behind the front, infiltrate, wreak havoc, and then retreat via the same (safe) pathways. This "military" tactic was certain to expand the conflict to include those bordering countries as well in the Vietnam War which was becomming more and more recognized as an illegal and immoral conflict. I too witnessed the protest bonfires (some of which were in 55 gallon barrels strategically placed around the downtown area to attract attention), and some of which were in the streets themselves. Destruction and looting of privately owned stores and shops was minimal at best (I didn't witness ANY).
There was indeed a lot of electricity in the air, and tensions did exist. There was not so much tension as to prevent me and my friends from attending a couple of local bars and listening to the likes of the "Glass Harp" (with Phil Keagey), "The Numbers Band", and "The James Gang" (with Joe Walsh". (OK, so I don't actually remember which of those groups we saw on that particular night any more, if any of those).
The next day I was shocked to learn that the Governor (Rhodes I believe) had called in the National Guard to "secure" the area, and Martial Law had been declared. The only problem was - nobody knew or understood exactly what "Martial Law" meant. Many students were NOT informed of the closing of classes, and went to class as usual. Upon finding their classrooms locked up, what was there to do? How about listening to the protestors who were speaking to crowds with loudspeakers? As American citizens we have the right to assemble, and the right to protest our Government when they are doing things that we don't like or agree with ----- NOT in a condition of "Martial Law". Who knew? Not me! Not anyone that I know of!
The National Guard were under orders NOT to load ammunition into their weapons. They were there to make a "presence", and to disperse the protestors. The commander moved the guard onto the baseball field - where they were pinned in by the fences. They fired tear gas into crowds of protesters and students, some of which were thrown back at them. The militia were downwind, and caught the brunt of the tear gas attack. It was at this point that several of them decided to load their weapons (without having been given orders to do so), and began firing into the crowd. One of those killed was known to have thrown a tear gas canister back toward the militia. People who had coke bottles, rocks, or other objects began throwing them at the guard.
In this "War for Peace" four promising people were brutally killed, and countless others were wounded.
The contention that someone was: "telling us what we believe we want to hear and preach intollerance that any belief but there own" is false.
The Kent State (and Jackson State - remember Jackson State???) tragedy is a huge blemish on the face of American History. Killing our own talented, intelligent, and independent thinking sons and daughters because they had the audacity to exercise their rights of free speech, assembly, and protest the government! That is the history of Kent State as I know it to be, and any lessons learned in order to not repeat it should be based on the facts.

I was attending Akron U at the time of the tragedy, my friend's boyfriend Dean was shot and survived. I remember being outraged and feeling grief over the shootings. Also I remember many of us were disturbed and angered that students were vandalizing store fronts, etc as teddybear314 wrote. Still, the young kids did not deserve to be shot, killed and maimed.

Have we learned from history made on this day?

I am an NIU alum and employee. For me, one of the most disturbing pictures of our recent tragedy was pictures of Police with automatic weapons on MY campus. Kent State is my frame of reference, as I had to explain to my younger colleagues. Those shots just made me angry. I couldn't figure out why, then it dawned on me. I was in prep school in SE Pennsylvania and in DC for the May day riots. As sated in one of the earlier comments we DO need to LEARN from history! Thanks for letting me vent a little.
Dave

Unfortunately, there will always be violent natured people, who take every opportunity to do damage to people and property. Were the demonstrators at Kent State violent? No doubt some were. Was the National Guard justified in firing at the demonstrators. No doubt they were NOT. Just my opinion, of course. If you are in EONS, you were "there". You were aware of the Vietnam War and the protests, and the loss of innocence for an entire Nation.
Kent State was another shock in an all too long sequence, beginning with the assasination of JFK. Unfortunately, no lessons were learned on either "side". This may explain the apathy of many young people, who view politics as a joke; and any form of protest as a waste of time.

Thank you all for your thoughtful comments. Rickydale, your comments were right on and very thought provoking. I agree with your comments wholeheartedly.

I was only 18 and in California with my new husband who was in the Navy at Mare Island. My memories of this time were from the news of the day and folks I knew who were there. Teddybear, you were all of 16 at this time. Maybe your recollection of this was influenced by what the adults around you were saying and how they were responding to this event rather than what you saw or actually believed.

It is an undisputed fact that the Governor went over the top on this one by calling int he National Guard and declaring 'Martial Law". Yes, who would've known what that meant? That they were instructed not to load and fire and some did is quite disturbing. These students did have the right to assemble and the right to free speech. These students did not have weapons. If they threw gas bombs, they were the ones the Guard hurled already at them! I still insist it was a tragic day in very unsettling times.

Gee, I was 16 so I didn't understand the difference between a peaceful demonstration and one which required the police to be called in to regain control? If you read my comments you will find that I did not support the shootings but I DID attempt to show that the students held a partial responsibility for the outcome on May 4th.

As for my age, I graduated from high school at the age of 17, was looking forward to having 1 year of life as a civilian before the possibility of being drafted. I was taught by my teachers and my parents to listen to the facts at hand, weigh them and to draw my own conclusions just as you do. My conclusion on this episode in history was and still is that it could have easily been avoided if the students as well as the city and state governments had acted differently. Those national guardsmen were the same age as those students that were shot and feared for their lives after being pummeled with bricks and rocks while they were stationed inside the baseball field. Tear gas was burning their eyes and lungs and it is very difficult to see through the cloud of smoke emitted for the containers. Since I am assuming that you have never been in a situation where you felt that your life was in immediate danger to the point of death, you can not possibly understand a level of fear that intense.

As for martial law, how is it that a junior in high school knew the meaning of "Martial Law" yet several hundred college educated students did not?

Were the students really unarmed and wishing to aoid confrontation?
Why did they start breaking windows, setting fires and throwing bottles and rocks at police on the night of May 1st ? Why did they bring the rocks, bottles and bricks they threw at the National Guard with them onto campus.

If you don't think that rocks and bricks are weapons then I think you should revisit the events which happened in LA after the Rodney King verdict was handed down. It only took 13,000 Army, Marine and National Guard soldiers to regain control of the situation. There were repeated airings of a white truck driver being drug from his truck and repeatedtly being struck in the head with a brick resulting in his hospitalization. A weapon maybe? Yet those individuals charged with the attack held the defensive position that they were caught up in the atmosphere of the moment.

Translation: It wasn't my fault that I almost killed that man, I was just doing what everyone else in the mob was doing.

As for the freedom of speech, lets look at it.

First Amendment – Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause; freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly; right to petition

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
(copied from the US Constitution)

Nowhere does it say that we have the right to assemble and run rough shod over a community. The word PEACEFUL disolved that.

My college history professor said all reporting immediatly after an event is squed in the direction the media wishes. The actual truth begins to emerge after about 15 years, and the truest reporting actually occurs after about 50 years post event when the majority of mitigating facts are known. The unfortunate factors controlling the understanding of ALL the facts are that the records of the Kent State Shootings Investigation are permenantly sealed so all we have are the reportings given immediately after that tragidy.

Ratching up the tension for political gain.

I wish I hadn't lost a copy of the old fashioned faxes my prof. at Northern Ill. distributed to us. It was a letter from another english prof. teaching at Kent State. It was a cry for help and reason.

The president of Kent State and the Gov. of Ohio kept increasing the tension on campus. We know the result.

I bless the President of my campus who did everything to defuse the after effects. We had a day of rioting with serveral campus police vehicles set afire. We were midwestern kids - screaming out the window such things as "Hey stupid! Stop if your only increasing my tuition next year."

After that we had a huge (as in close to the entire campus) march. The organizers put their bodies between the group and every window we walked past. Our instructions were to march peacefully and take down anyone with a club or stone. As far as I know no one was "taken down". We just walked in silence and sorrow.

What can I say. Most of us were working our way through school.