The tragic events that unfolded at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, emphatically signaled the end of a turbulent decade of antiwar protest that polarized many college and university campuses during the 1960's. The primary factor that ignited the Kent State demonstrations was President Richard Nixon's decision to "hasten" the conclusion of the Vietnam War by authorizing a brief military incursion into the neighboring country of Cambodia.

    Nixon's momentous decision was made public on Thursday, April 30, 1970. The President's seemingly contradictory course of action--to end the war by expanding it--immediately created problems. Student protests over the Cambodian incursion came quickly. Within days, some type of protest had occurred at almost two-thirds of the colleges and universities in the United States. Most of these demonstrations were peaceful; however, at more than one hundred universities, protests turned disorderly and violent.

    At Kent State, a brief, peaceful rally was held on the University Commons--a sloping field near dormitories and major pedestrian walkways--at noon on Friday. The first serious disorder started on Friday evening, near the Kent State campus. At approximately 11:00 P. M., students attempted to barricade a street on which several bars and other commercial businesses were located. In addition, a bonfire was started in the middle of the street, and students began to harass passing motorists and pedestrians. Initially, city police did not intervene. However, as complaints mounted, officials decided to close the bars, hoping that students would retreat to the campus. Instead, angry patrons left the bars and began to congregate in the streets. Soon, antiwar chants were raised, and some students hurled rocks and bottles at the police as well as at fellow students. Some in the crowd of about twelve hundred people broke store and office windows. The police chased the crowd toward the campus and, at about 2:00 A.M., finally dispersed it with tear gas. Sixty arrests were made, and the damage to businesses in downtown Kent was estimated to be in excess of thirty thousand dollars.

    All day Saturday, the Kent State campus was relatively calm. However, local merchants in downtown Kent claimed that they received numerous threats against their stores. At about 8:00 P.M., a crowd began to congregate on the Commons, and within an hour, more than one thousand students were present. People began to throw rocks at the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) facility, which was located adjacent to the Commons. After several windows were broken out, a fire was started inside the facility. At 9:00 P.M., the fire department arrived. Their arrival was greeted by thrown rocks and numerous attempts to puncture fire hoses. The fire trucks retreated under this barrage, and at 9:30 P.M., campus police dispersed the crowd with tear gas. Shortly thereafter, the Ohio National Guard arrived on the Commons under orders to protect the ROTC facility. At this point, however, they could do little more than watch the facility continue to burn. Once the crowd had been dispersed from the Commons, there were no further incidents on Saturday night.

    On Sunday morning, Ohio Governor James Rhodes arrived at Kent State. After a brief tour and inspection of the ruins of the ROTC building, the governor denounced the student protestors in strong and inflammatory terms. Kent State President Robert I. White met briefly with the Governor; at 4:00 P.M., the university issued orders establishing a campus-wide curfew and prohibiting all forms of demonstrations, peaceful or otherwise.

    On Sunday evening, a few hundred students marched toward the center of downtown Kent. Members of the National Guard stopped the students before they could leave campus. The students then sat down in the street and asked to meet with University President White and, also, with the mayor of Kent. After approximately ninety minutes, guard members informed the students that they were in violation of a curfew, and tear gas was used to scatter students who refused to leave. The remainder of Sunday night was punctuated by the noise of helicopters and the flash of searchlights.

    On Monday morning, May 10, students returned to classes, and it seemed as if Kent State University might return to normal. At about 11:45 A.M., a crowd that eventually grew to three thousand students began to gather on the Commons. Although no organized protest or demonstration was attempted, some two hundred students began to taunt guard members who were positioned around the remnants of the ROTC facility. The students were informed they were in violation of Sunday's order prohibiting demonstrations. Tear gas was used to disperse the crowd.

    One group of students descended a shallow hill that led to a nearby football practice field. They were followed by about seventy armed National Guardsmen wearing gas masks. Other students remained in the general area of the Commons. The National Guardsmen essentially marched themselves onto a field that was enclosed on three sides--they could not go forward or to either side. Students began to throw rocks and chunks of dirt at the troops, who responded by firing tear gas canisters. Soon students were throwing the canisters back at the guard members. After tossing tear gas canisters back and forth for several minutes, the National Guard regrouped, knelt, and leveled their weapons at the students. Students responded with taunts and the chant, "Shoot, shoot, shoot." Abruptly, the troops marched off the field and back up the shallow hill. When they reached the hill's crest, at about 12:24 P.M., about two dozen members of the guard turned around and began firing. The firing lasted for thirteen seconds, and when it was over, four students--Jeffrey Miller, Allison Krause, William Schroeder, and Sandra Scheuer--were dead or dying, and nine others suffered wounds of varying degrees of severity.

    Once the firing stopped, some students began to cluster around the dying and wounded. Others began to regroup and move toward the National Guardsmen. The troops who had fired were immediately ordered from the area, and the remaining troops prepared to advance against the students a second time. For a brief moment, it appeared as if another clash was about to occur. Several faculty members moved between students and the National Guard. The faculty members pleaded with students to remain calm or leave the area; and, simultaneously, they pleaded with guard officers not to advance their troops against the remaining students. There was an uneasy standoff until ambulances started to arrive. After the dead and injured were removed, stunned and disbelieving students slowly vacated the area. Shortly thereafter, Kent State University was closed by order of President White for the remainder of the semester, and a new wave of protests and demonstrations swept college and university campuses throughout the United States.

Ernest G. Rigney, Jr.
Professor
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
College of Charleston