Kent State Massacre. May 4, 1970

The shootings Four students two of them women were shot to death on the afternoon of May 4, 1970 by a volley of National Guard gunfire. At least 8 other students were wounded.

President Nixon’s statement. " This should remind us all once again that when dissent turns to violence it invites tragedy. It is my hope that this tragic and unfortunate incident will strengthen the determination of all the nation's campuses, administrators, faculty and students alike to stand firmly for the right which exists in this country of peaceful dissent and just as strong against the resort to violence as a means of such expression."

Important Info. Gov. James A. Rhodes called on J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to aid in looking into the campus violence. A Justice Department spokesman said no decision had been made to investigate. At 2:10 that afternoon, after the shootings, the university president, Robert I. White, ordered the university closed for an indefinite time, and officials were making plans to evacuate the dormitories and bus out-of-state students to nearby cities.

Info. Cont. Robinson Memorial Hospital identified the dead students as Allison Krause, 19 years old, of Pittsburgh; Sandra Lee Scheuer, 20, of Youngstown, Ohio, both coeds; Jeffrey Glenn Miller, 20, of 22 Diamond Drive, Plainsview, L.I., and William K. Schroeder, 19, of Lorain, Ohio. At 10:30 P.M. the hospital said that six students had been treated for gunshot wounds. Three were reported in critical condition and three in fair condition. Two others with superficial wounds were treated and released.

Info. Cont. Some of the students who were shot had been protesting against the American invasion of Cambodia, which President Richard Nixon announced in a television address on April 30. Other students who were shot had been walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance. Others had burned down an ROTC building.

Info. Cont. There was a significant national response to the shootings: hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of four million students, and the event further affected the public opinion—at an already socially contentious time—over the role of the United States in the Vietnam War.

Reaction around the world. It was not just a mere coincidence, there must have been a reason for the Ohio National Guard to open fire on innocent, unarmed students, right? One would think so, but it appears that the reason they opened fire was because students were protesting.

What this led to The Kent State Shootings, or as they are better known as The Kent State massacre preceded even the most gruesome of events. It preceded events such as columbine, and more recently the VA Tech shootings. Did we not learn anything from the Kent State Massacre.

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