From FamousPicturesMagazine

On May 4, 1970 the obscure Kent University jumped to the world’s attention when 13 students where shot, 4 killed, by National Guard members. The National Guard had been brought on campus in response to earlier violent protests. Student photographer John Filo captured his famous picture of then 14-year-old runaway, Mary Vecchio, as she crouched over the bleeding body of Jeffrey Miller. The picture has become a photo that visually symbolized the protests of the Vietnam War era.

Events leading to the May 4 shooting.

Vietnam Protest

Richard Nixon was elected to office in 1968 on the promise that he would remove American GI’s from Vietnam. Since the ’68 election tensions had slowly been rising in America and especially on University campuses. Events such as the exposure of the secret bombing campaigns in Indochina, the My Lai massacre in November 1969 and then in December of the same year the first draft lottery in decades did nothing to calm campus life. On April 30th, 1970 President Nixon in a televised announcement told America that US forces had 5 days earlier invaded Cambodia to destroy Vietnamese bases there.

Campuses across the country exploded in response to the acknowledgment of American forces opening a new front in Indochina. Students felt betrayed by Nixon. Instead of removing American forces from Indochina, with the Cambodian invasion, it appeared that Nixon was escalating the war. A growing war combined with the new draft system meant that there was a real risk of being forced to fight in a war that many saw as unjust and unnecessary.

Protests were organized throughout the US including Kent State University. At Kent a huge demonstration on Fri, May 1st and again the following Mon, May 4th was planned. The May 1st rally was held on the University Commons area (a open grassy area for sports rallies). Speeches against the war and the Nixon administration were given, and a copy of the Constitution was buried to symbolize how the constitution was dead because Congress had never declared war. (Congress has to approve the country going to war) As the evening fell the protest moved onto the downtown streets of Kent where many incidents between protesters and police occurred. The town bars were ordered closed by the major, which made the crowds even more unhinged as drunken youths spilled on to the streets. Eventually protest turned to riot and riot turned to violence with frustrated students smashing downtown store windows, vandalizing and looting stores. ↓ Article continues below ↓

For every action there is a reaction

Kent's Mayor, Leroy Satrom declared a state of emergency in the town and appealed to the Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes for help. Governor Rhodes responded by sending in the National Guard to bring order to the town. The Guard was able to deploy almost right away because the Ohio National Guard were already on duty in Northeast Ohio.

	They're the worst type of people
—Governor James Rhodes on the Vietnam protesters

The Guard arrived on campus on the evening of Sat, May 2nd to find a huge crowd of about 1000 students surrounding a burning ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) building on campus. Firemen where hindered in their efforts to put out the blaze by angry students. The wooden ROTC building would eventually burn to the ground. National Guard members spent the rest of the night arresting students and dispersing protesters with tear gas. No one was ever caught in regards to the arson of the ROTC building and there is much controversy surrounding who started the fire because the ROTC building was already abandoned, boarded up and scheduled for demolition. On Sun May 3rd, students awoke to their campus looking like a war zone with armed National Guard members everywhere, helicopters buzzing overhead and tanks stationed on University grounds. Sunday was a warm and sunny day and bemused students talked with Guardsmen occupying the campus. Governor James Rhodes gave a charged emotional speech where he gave a less than flattering portrayal of the student demonstrators: "They're worse than the brownshirts and the communist element and also the nightriders and the vigilantes … They're the worst type of people that we harbor in America. I think that we're up against the strongest, well-trained, militant, revolutionary group that has ever assembled in America."

In the speech the Governor also promised that he would get a court order banning future protests and gave the impression that something like martial law had been declared. Governor Rhodes actually had neither declared marital war or got a court injunction making campus demonstrations illegal but neither the National Guard or student organizers knew that. Sunday evening saw more protests and confrontations between protesters and guardsmen, exchanges between the two groups resulted with several students getting stabbed by Guardsmen bayonets.

May 4, Kent State Shootings

On Fri, May 1st, a protest was planned for noon on Mon May 4th and students attempted to follow through with the May 4 protest. However the University attempted to stop the event and handed out thousands of leaflets that said the protest was canceled. Despite the University efforts about 2,000 people gathered on the university's Commons. Kent University breaks the crowd into:

… about 500 core demonstrators were gathered around the Victory Bell at one end of the Commons, another 1000 people were "cheerleaders" supporting the active demonstrators, and an additional 1500 people were spectators standing around the perimeter of the Commons. Across the Commons at the burned-out ROTC building stood about 100 Ohio National

Even though the protest was going on the campus was still open, people where going to class, having lunch and doing University things.

Fix Bayonets

General Canterbury the commander of the Guardsmen ordered that the demonstration be dispersed to prevent any more outbreaks of violence. The protesters where first told to break up through loudspeakers and when that didn’t work teargas was fired into the crowds. However, the wind that day quickly dispersed the gas making it unsuccessful in breaking up the rally. Canterbury then ordered the Guardsmen, with bayonets fixed, to march across the commons in an effort to break up the crowd. The crowd was forced up, Blanket Hill, and down the other side towards the parking lot and practice football field. The Guardsmen with little or no crowd control experience, soon became separated, with most of the men following the students directly. The 77 men who followed the students soon became trapped when their march lead them to a football field surrounded on three sides with a fence. Students at this time had still not dispersed and started to yell and throw rocks at the Guardsmen. There is some debate about how threatened this rock throwing was with protesters claiming that because of the distance only a few rocks hit the Guardsmen:

I did see one rock hit a Guardsman. And I say this because there were reports that came out of the press that fire hydrants had been thrown, Guardsmen had been bleeding and there was lots of lies afterwards, but I was right there, in the middle of it — nada — did not happen. But the one rock that I did see bounced off of a Guardsman’s helmet. And we’re talkin' like a long way away. These guys were way down in the field. And that was that. So the Guard were in a crouching position with their guns out to shoot. Like you would think the Continental Army was.

-Carol Mirman – Student present during the Kent State shootings

Premeditated?

The Guard stayed on the field for about 10 minutes and it was here that several Guardsmen could be seen huddling together as if planning something. The Guard then began marching back the way they came, off the practice football field and back up Blanket Hill.

When they got to the top of the hill 28 of the 77 Guardsmen started firing their rifles and pistols. Investigations after the Kent State Shooting determined that altogether between 61 and 67 shots were fired in a 13 second period. John Filo a senior photojournalism student at Kent was present, with his Nikkormat camera using Tri X film, when they started shooting. Like many students that day John assumed the Guard was using blanks and quickly ran towards the Guard to get pictures while dodging fleeing students running the other way:

When I put the camera back to my eye, I noticed a particular guardsman pointing at me. I said, "I'll get a picture of this," and his rifle went off. And almost simultaneously, as his rifle went off, a halo of dust came off a sculpture next to me, and the bullet lodged in a tree.

I dropped my camera in the realization that it was live ammunition. I don't know what gave me the combination of innocence and stupidity...but I never took cover. I was the only one standing at the hillside. … and turned slowly to my left, what caught my eye on the street was the body of Jeffrey Miller and the volume of blood that was flowing from his body was as if someone tipped over a bucket. I started to flee--run down the hill and stopped myself. "Where are you going?" I said to myself, "This is why you are here!"

And I started to take pictures again. And the picture I made then was of Jeffrey Miller's body lying in the street and people starting to come out of shelter, and then a picture where Mary Vecchio was just entering the frame. I knew I was running out of film. I could see the emotion welling up inside of her. She began to sob. And it culminated in her saying an exclamation. I can't remember what she said exactly … something like, "Oh, my God!"

Investigations would later try to answer the question, why did the National Guard open fire? The Adjutant General of the Ohio National Guard told reporters that a sniper had fired on the guards but this claim was proven untrue. The Guard themselves claim that they felt their lives threatened by the protesters yet none of the protesters were close to the Guard. Joseph Lewis the closest verified protester to the Guardsmen and was shot in the abdomen and left lower leg at a distance of about 60 feet. He was shot while standing still and giving a middle finger to the guard. Victims that day and the distance from the Guard line:

Killed

(estimated distance from the National Guard line):

Allison Krause (343 feet/105 meters)
Jeffrey Glen Miller (265 feet/81 meters)
Sandra Lee Scheuer (390 feet/119 meters)
William Knox Schroeder (382 feet/116 meters)

Wounded

(estimated distance from the National Guard line)

Thomas Mark Grace (unverified; between 60 and 200 feet/18 and 61 meters)
Joseph Lewis (71 feet/22 meters)
John Cleary (110 feet/34 meters)
Alan Canfora (225 feet/69 meters)
Dean Kahler (300 feet/91 meters)
Douglas Wrentmore (329 feet/100 meters)
James Dennis Russell (375 feet/114 meters)
Robert Stamps (495 feet/151 meters)
Donald MacKenzie (750 feet/229 meters)'

John Filo remembers if the Guardsmen cared about what happened after the shooting had stopped:

No. That was evident in that the squad that came over to examine the body of Jeffrey Miller was armed -- six or seven of them. No one even bent down to get a closer look. The sergeant who did not have a rifle rolled the body of Jeffrey Miller over with his boot. That incensed some people. The soldiers regrouped and backed away from the body and away from the crowd of people ... It could have taken 5 minutes. It is hard to calculate time.

Calls for Revenge

The Guardsmen retreated from the top of the hill to rejoin the other National Guard members at the perimeter of the burnt ROTC building. By this time students had again began milling around the commons and what had happened started to sink in. Before the shootings there was some question on how much of a danger the students posed to Guardsmen but after the shooting there was no question with many calling for an all-out assault on the National Guard. 'It's gone too far'

With the students still not dispersed the Guard again approached and warned the faculty present that the students had to disperse immediately. It was then that the late, geology professor and faculty marshal, Professor Glenn Frank made an emotional plea to the students to break-up and leave the area. The speech was recorded by the news director at the student radio station, Bob Carpenter.

I don't care if you've never listened to anybody before in your life. I am begging you right now, if you don't disperse right now, they're going to move in. It will only be a slaughter. Please, listen to me. Jesus Christ, I don't want to be part of this. Listen to me...

--Professor Glenn Frank

The faculty through their pleas were finally able to get the crowd to disperse, Alan Frank the son of Professor Glen was there in the crowd that day, "He absolutely saved my life and hundreds of others," said Frank. Aftermath

University shuts down

While the bodies where being removed from campus and the wounded taken away by ambulance, Kent State University President Robert White was planning to shut down the University. A court injunction from Common Pleas Judge Albert Caris made the closure indefinite. Classes didn’t start again until the summer of 1970. Faculty at Kent made heroic efforts to allow students to finish their semester via papers mailed to instructors and classes held off-campus.

Nation wide protests

	... when dissent turns to violence it invites tragedy
—Nixon Whitehouse

The news of Kent State spread quickly across the nation and this incident is widely regarded as the sole reason behind the only nationwide student strike in history. Hundreds of campuses shut down with over 4 million students protesting.

The next Saturday had protesters assembling in Washington to protest both the Kent State shooting and the Cambodian invasion. As the numbers grew the White House grew afraid of another “Kent” on the Whitehouse grounds. They arranged to have two rings of D.C. transit buses parked bumper-to-bumper. Paranoid government officials saw the gathering through the eyes of cold war soldiers with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff claiming that the busses were set up, because “this same group that was at Kent” was plotting to get a student killed in front of the Oval Office.

Publicly President Nixon expressed regret at the student deaths, "This should remind us all once again that when dissent turns to violence it invites tragedy." He invited Kent State students to the White House stated that the shootings should never have happened. Yet he had earlier called student protesters “bums” and in the Whitehouse tapes it was revealed that he had asked the Secret Service to beat up student protesters, and felt that the Kent State victims “had it coming”.

Many in America shared this “had it coming” attitude and the incident further divided the country. Incidents erupted around the country. Anti-Vietnam supporters demanded that flags be flown at half mast in respect of the slain at Kent and on the other side pro-government supporters demanding that flag’s be raised from half-mast.

New Evidence

In 2010, the forty year anniversary of the shooting, new evidence emerged from the post Kent-Shooting investigation. In June of 1970 Attorney General John Mitchell told the public "there was no sniper". A report submitted to Attorney General John Mitchell in June 1970 stated "there was no sniper" who could have fired at the guardsmen before the killings. It was also revealed that six guardsmen told the FBI that their lives were not in danger and that "it was not a shooting situation."

However over time declassified FBI documents show that at least two bullet fragments were found in a tree and ground around the guards. Also, and perhaps the reason the information was suppressed, the FBI had a mole in the student protest movement. Terry Norman, a part-time student at Kent, was working for the FBI and was armed with a gun that the FBI were able to determine had been fired on that day.

Music Tributes

The events at Kent inspired poetry, plays, documentaries, but what probably reached the most was the music:

Most know of the protest song, “Ohio” written by Canadian songwriter

Neil Young and sung by folk rock group, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Beach Boys also had a song "Student Demonstration Time", whose lyrics

(sung to the tune of Leiber & Stoller's "Riot in Cell Block Number Nine.

Anti-War folk singer Holly Near wrote and performed "It Could Have Been Me".
English artist Harvey Andrews also released the song "Hey Sandy".
Kent’s own Halim El-Dabh, a music professor, wrote an entire Opera,

Opera Flies and Bill Dobbins graduate student at Kent composed The Balcony, edgy score performed by jazz bands.

Kent continues to inspire with Industrial band Skinny Puppy released

a song entitled "Tin Omen" (‘89 album Rabies)

Gerald Casale, Bob Lewis and Mark Mothersbaugh all alumni of Kent State University in the 70’s and who went on to found DEVO give the shooting as inspiration of the theory of de-evolution.

Photo Edit

An altered version of the picture has over the years been published instead of the real Filo Pulitzer Prize Winner. The altered version appeared as recently as May 1st, 1995 in the LIFE magazine article, "Caught in time" Pg 38

Can you spot the difference? Hint - its not the missing pool of blood at the bottom of the picture, which while lightened can still be seen.

The pole! The pole is missing.

The unedited version most seen

The altered version as seen in LIFE magazine May 1995

In Memory of

Kent State University sponsored an official annual tribute until 1976 when the administration announced it would no longer support an official University commemoration. It was here that the May 4 Task Force was created. Made up of students, and community members the May 4 Task Force task is to organize a commemoration every year to those that died during the Kent State Shooting.

It wasn’t until 1990 that a physical memorial for the events of May 4, 1970 was dedicated. The memorial was shrouded in controversy and in the end, only 7% of the design was constructed. A 1978 sculpture of the biblical Abraham set to sacrifice his son Isaac was also deemed too controversial and was not allowed on campus. (The statue eventually went to Princeton University)

On Kent Campus a work of land art, Partially Buried Woodshed, by Robert Smithson commissioned in January 1970 had an inscription allowed it to be associated by some with the Kent State Shootings.

Comments

Robert Walker Says:
Apr 23 2010 3:06 am

The Steve Miller Band also recorded a song regardin the events at Kent State and Jackson state: Kent-Jackson Blues. Robert A. Walker M.A., Kent State University, 1982 Ph.D., Kent State University, 1989
Dave Says:
May 04 2010 8:42 pm

I was 24 at the time. I recall all summer long you could not turn on the radio without hearing 'Four Dead In Ohio'.
This goes to prove the Nixon adage: 'If the government does it it is not illegal'.
Looking at things now I can't think we've learned the lesson which May 4th 1970 taught us.
Dennis Smith Says:
May 06 2010 9:00 pm

I'd like to know what happened if anything to the man in Charge that gave the Order to fire or just Fired First.
kyle rea Says:
May 09 2010 4:51 pm

we aint learned shit. what the fuk we doing in iraq and afghanistan. war begets war. one gets what they give, a universal law.
jerry Says:
May 09 2010 5:50 pm

why is the pole missing in tue edited picture
Dean Lucas Says:
May 13 2010 11:12 am

The pole was edited out so as to not distract from the subject of the photo.
admin Says:
May 13 2010 11:40 am

Eight of the guardsmen were indicted by a grand jury. The guardsmen claimed to have fired in self-defense, a claim which was generally accepted by the criminal justice system. In 1974 U.S. District Judge Frank Battisti dismissed charges against all eight on the basis that the prosecution's case was too weak to warrant a trial. Larry Shafer, a guardsman who said he fired during the shootings and was one of those charged told the Kent-Ravenna Record-Courier newspaper in May 2007: "I never heard any command to fire."
Shawn Rorah Says:
May 14 2010 9:05 pm

It is surreal to think that something like this happened at all. There is more than enough blame to be shared by all in this tragedy. I know what it is like to have photographs and gravesites as the only means of continuing friendships. I only hope that Americans, politicians and citizens, majority and minority, take these events and there end results and learn from them. Let it burn in. Never repeat it. SR
KAREN MANLEY Says:
Jul 01 2010 10:13 pm

Nothing has changed. Watch the movies-The End of America, Freedom to Fascism, & The Corporation. Every American citizen needs
to watch these and do one thing a day to change things, even if it is just boycotting Wal-Mart!
I was just a kidin 1970. I think I was14 or 15. I remember at the Memorial/Protest at San Diego State, there were guys in suits taking pictures of us as we passed around a bucket to raise money to buy food for the protestors who had locked themselves in the ROTC building there. One guy was taking the American flag off the pole and was assaulted by one of the football team jocks. The police came and tho we were witnesses to the assault, they let the jock go. Even at the protest here before the Bush 2 Administration sent our troops to Afghanistan, the suit guys were now videotaping us and on buildings with telephoto lenses. They are worse now than then.
My first protest sign is, and always will be true, folks. "APATHY KILLS!"

Search

Kent State Shooting