Good Morning...Four Dead in Ohio

[Okla-homey]

May 4, 1970: Four students killed at Kent State University

Thirty-nine years ago today, at Kent State University, 100 National Guardsmen fire their rifles into a group of students, killing four and wounding 11.

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John Filo's iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of Mary Ann Vecchio, a fourteen-year-old runaway, kneeling over the dead body of Jeffrey Miller after he was shot by the National Guard.

This incident occurred in the aftermath of President Richard Nixon's April 30 announcement that U.S. and South Vietnamese forces had been ordered to execute an "incursion" into Cambodia to destroy North Vietnamese bases there. In protest, a wave of demonstrations and disturbances erupted on college campuses across the country.

At Kent State University in Ohio, student protesters torched the ROTC building on campus and Ohio Governor James Rhodes responded by calling on the National Guard to restore order.

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Under harassment from the demonstrators, the Guardsmen fired into the crowd, killing four and wounding 11. The Guardsmen were later brought to trial for the shootings, but found not guilty.

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President Nixon issued a statement deploring the Kent State deaths, but said that the incident should serve as a reminder that, "When dissent turns to violence it invites tragedy."

The shooting sparked hundreds of protests and college shutdowns, as well as a march on Washington, D.C., by 100,000 people. The National Student Association and former Vietnam Moratorium Committee leaders called for a national university strike of indefinite duration, beginning immediately, to protest the war.

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At least 100 colleges and universities pledged to strike. The presidents of 37 universities signed a letter urging President Nixon to show more clearly his determination to end the war.

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[swardboy]

And the torching of ROTC buildings hasn't been a significant issue since....

[TUSooner]

I was pretty hawkish as a 13yo back then. I disliked all those anti-Amercan protesters; I still think they were wrong-headed. But anybody who says those silly kids deserved to be shot dead needs a foot up his ***.

[AlbqSooner]

I was pretty hawkish as a 13yo back then. I disliked all those anti-Amercan protesters; I still think they were wrong-headed. But anybody who says those silly kids deserved to be shot dead needs a foot up his ***.

Kent State, perhaps more than the '68 Democratic Convention, radicalized more "hawkish" young men and women than any other incident during that time period IMO

[fadada1]

I lost a Basic Training buddy in that action. He was a Huey crew chief/door gunner. Talk about a job that took guts. Bet it was fun though. ;) I learned later these units were told they WERE NOT IN CAMBODIA. :rolleyes:

my cousin did three tours as a fighter pilot (2 off a carrier). he mentioned to me that he had many missions that were "not in cambodia... or laos." strange how there was a lot of that.
;)

[olevetonahill]

nm/ fu

[Jello Biafra]

i see a bunch o fights coming from this one...

i concur with swardboys statement though...haven't been too many problems with the ROTC buildings since...