Kent State Shooting

At Kent State University in Ohio, there was several memorable events. Like the destruction of protestors launching a demonstration that included setting fire to the ROTC building causing the governor of Ohio to dispatch 900 National Guardsmen to the campus. On May 4th, 1970 was a tragic event for Kent State University. During that day an altercation occurred with twenty eight guardsmen opening fire on a crowd causing the killings of 4 students and wounding nine others. Almost 500 colleges were shut down due to this fatal shooting around the United States of America. “The Justice Department initially declined to conduct a Grand jury investigation. The actions of the guardsmen had been “unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable.” A Grand jury indicted eight of the guardsmen, but the charges were dismissed due to the lack of evidence. The Kent State shootings became the focal point of a nation deeply divided by the Vietnam War. Since the tragic event, the Kent State shootings were the subject of the 1970 song "Ohio" by the group Crosby, Stills, Nash, and young.

The Kent State shooting has sadly been one of the many fatal shootings throughout history in America. There are growing rates in mass shootings in America today as we know. They are becoming more common in our daily news sadly. We have many Anti-shooting, and many rallies to end war on certain topics. This just happened to be one for the Vietnam war. .

The Kent State shooting played a major role in Nixon’s resignation from presidency and the public’s opinion of the Vietnam War. The students that were protesting started when Nixon announced intervention into Cambodia. Outraged students met on campus the very next day to show that they didn’t agree with the presidents decision. During the shooting students threw containers of tear gas back at the guardsmen. Some students threw rocks as the soldiers left. Protestors would shout “Pigs Off Campus!” (Axelrod et al. 256) Many of the soldiers sent to settle the frustrated protestors were weekend warriors who chose the guard to avoid ending up in Vietnam. Mandy soldiers lacked training for combat and crowds. Most soldiers were confused by the actions of the students and weren’t sure how to react. The student protestors refused the guards orders to disperse which resulted in the guardsmen throwing tear gas toward the rioting protestors. The protestors consisted of upper class and middle class residents.

In a students’ perspective, the Kent State Shootings were for a horrible reason and the protest was not wild at all. The students believed that their protest was for a good cause and that they should not have to break it up. An article says, "They were informed that a ban on student gatherings had been called. They were then ordered to disperse by the National Guard and police. When they failed to do so, tear gas was launched, and the guardsmen moved in. Several students were beaten and even bayoneted as the guardsmen dispersed the crowd"(“The Kent State Shootings: May 4, 1970"). They believed the protest was under control, so they continued. However, this resulted in the National Guard taking matters to the extreme by beating and using weapons on the students. When the National Guard was called in to calm the protest, they were very aggressive and angry. They also came in looking for violence and one article says, "Sunday, May 3rd was a day filled with contrasts. Nearly 1000 Ohio National Guardsmen occupied the campus, making it appear like a military war zone"(“The May 4 Shootings at Kent State University: The search”). The National Guard came into the protest looking to break it up using violence. Their violence resulted in the deaths of four students and the injuring of many. The students view the Kent State Shootings as

We live in a country that is often faced with violent and devastating events that forever stay cemented into our minds. Most stories on the news inform us about the most recent robberies, assaults, frauds, etc. However, one of the most shocking and disastrous types of stories the news updates us are those about shootings. One of the most infamous shootings happened almost 50 years ago in a small town in Ohio where U.S troops attacked protesters on the grounds of Kent State University, killing four students and leaving nine others wounded .

During the sixties, American people saw the rise of the counterculture. Counterculture was a group of movements focused on achieving personal and cultural liberation, mainly embraced by the decade’s young adults. Because many Americans were members of the different movements in the counterculture, the counterculture influenced American society as a whole. As a result of the achievements the counterculture movements had made, the United States in the 1960s became a more open, more tolerant, and a more freer country. In 1969, close to half a million self-described hippies,peace makers, and Aquarians made an expedition from mainly San Francisco to Woodstock in upstate New York. The Woodstock Music and Arts Festival was called an Aquarian Exposition and hailed as three days of peace and music, over 400,000 people attended; it was peaceful. However, life outside of the woodstock festival was not. America seemed to be dividing as a country. The war in Vietnam went on for roughly another 15 years. American boys were still being sent to Southeast Asia by the newly elected President, Nixon. The increasingly unpopular war intensified a campus protest movement. Burning draft cards and peace marches became daily fare on the evening news. And not all of the demonstrations were peaceful. The summer after Martin Luther King was assassinated, riots broke out in 125 cities including, Chicago, Baltimore, NYC, Kansas City, and Cincinnati. Meanwhile, at the Democratic convention in Chicago, the anti-war movement tore the Democratic Party in two. Both critics and fans agree that Woodstock has become part of the mythology of the 1960s, even if the actual event didn't necessarily represent the musical or political taste of most of the young Americans adults at this time. Some say it symbolized the freedom and idealism of the 1960s. Some argue that Woodstock represented much of everything that was wrong with the sixties: a glorification of drugs, a loosening of sexual morality and a socially corrosive disrespect for authority.

Before this incident occurred President Richard Nixon announced on April 30, 1970 that the United States had invaded Cambodia and needed to draft 150,000 soldiers. This provoked countless protest on many campuses around the country. One of the most eventful protest during this time was at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. At the time of the protest twenty-eight guardsmen fired at a crowd wounding nine students and killing four (“Kent State Incident,” n.d.). But the Justice Department declined an investigation on the incident. Instead the President Commision on Campus unrest did state that the action of the guardsmen was uncalled for and unwarranted. No charges were given to the guardsmen who fired at the crowd because there was not enough evidence provided (“Kent State Incident,” n.d.). Protest can become dangerous depending on the

The Kent state shooting occurred in Ohio, at Kentucky State University in 1970. It involved the shooting of four unarmed students by Ohio National guard. Shortly after Richard Nixon attempted to gain the support of the American People to invade Cambodia's borders, numerous students across all the states started to protest against his quick expansion. Once threatened, the Federal government felt the need to use military force to oppose the students, minimize violence and vandalism. Nevertheless, several Americans felt that their constitutional rights were violated since the government was attempting to dismiss their perspectives on the aftermaths from the war in Vietnam. During one of the protests, particularly in Kent State a shooting occurred

The Kent State shootings were a true American tragedy. The situation appeared to be taken somewhat lightly due to the ideology that the students were the “bad” people. I was baffled by the general public’s belief that these students deserved their fate. The women’s awareness that two of the students who had no inkling that the situation would escalate to that magnitude somehow deserved to die seems incomprehensible, moreover she then comments on the appearance of these students and the beliefs of her likeminded counterparts as contributing factors to their deaths.

Members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on the unarmed students in Kent University on May4, 1970, widely known as the Kent State massacre or the Kent State shootings, is one of the most significant event in American history. This event criticise the democracy that Americans are traditionally proud of and, peaks the anti-war sentiment to result over four millions of students protested and more than 850 universities and collage closed follow by the rest of the school year. Four were killed and nine had suffered wounds after the thirteen seconds shooting by twenty-eight guardsman. According to the students, it was unreasonable for the guardsman to fire into the crowd. It was all the National Guard’s fault and they were told to do so by the officer. However, the guardsman said they were put in a life threaten situation during their duty and therefore, open fired as to protect themselves. Whether if the guards were ordered to be shot or fired in

A prime example of their effort was Nixon's tempered response to Hanoi's refusal of the July, 1969 ultimatum. Instead of unleashing the full fury of American military might, Nixon was restrained by "the latent power of the movement and its allies in Congress and in the media," (Small, 420). This scenario stands as a strong testament of the Antiwar movement in shaping public opinion to such a level that transformed American foreign

Richard Nixon, the following President after Johnson, recommended Vietnamization, which removed American soldiers and gave the South Vietnam greater responsibility to fight their war. President Nixon sent American forces to annihilate supply bases of the Communist in Cambodia. In between 1968 to 1973, the struggles were made to end conflict under diplomacy. Later on in January of 1973, the agreements of Vietnamization were reached; the U.S. troops were detached from Vietnam, and prisoners from the U.S were liberated. South Vietnam fully surrendered to the North, which lead to Vietnam being reunited.

In the beginning of his presidency, Nixon lacked the capability of reaching agreements with the Vietnamese and ending the war, displaying his weaknesses in war matters. Nixon campaigned with the promise of ending the war, but prolonged it 6 years longer than he intended, much to the public’s dismay. Nixon’s weakness and lack of skills in foreign affairs and war caused many more years of this unpopular war. However, he had a plan for a peaceful deliverance out of war, rather than an immediate withdrawal. Ultimately, with the help of his strategy, Vietnamization, Nixon delivered the U.S. out of the Vietnam

The Anti-War movement had begun ever since the Cold War, but it flared up after the U.S began bombing North Vietnam. The Students for Democratic Society (SDS) began protests all across the country,but most of them took place on college campuses. All around the country, there was billboard burnings and other visual acts that clearly showed the discontent of the people with the Johnson Administration. By 1968 these protests had gone all the way to the attention of the government.

Peace talks began to rise after the three year aerial bombing against North Vietnam; at this same time, Nixon began “vietnamization” which was the slow removal of US troops from Vietnam. American people became very uncomfortable and against the war when events such as: The Tet Offensive, The Invasion of Cambodia, and the Leak of the Pentagon Papers came upon to the public. Enormous anti-war protests were held throughout the whole country against the war effort in Vietnam. This was known as the anti-war movement. This continued until January 23 when the US passed the Paris Peace Accords which restored peace and ended the direct involvement of the US in the war. This, however didn’t end the war since both South Vietnam and North Vietnam were still seeking to control the majority land of Vietnam. Even though Nixon wasn’t allowed to directly or indirectly be involved in the war, he ordered the secret bombings of Cambodia in 1970. This then caused that the power of the executive branch limited. After the US completely backed off from the war, North Vietnam became more aggressive and eventually invaded South Vietnam completely by entering with great force to Saigon and destroying the South Vietnamese. The