Kent State Shootings and why they were significant to the Vietnam War: Amber McLaughlin

There were a lot of things going on during the Vietnam War but the Kent State shootings were some of the worse for many reasons. The main reason being because they were happening in the United States and so very close to home.

It all started on May 1st when the National Guard was called to the Kent State campus. They were called because there were people that were angry about Nixon's decision to invade Cambodia. Nixon claimed it was to stop the Viet Cong which had been using the Cambodia area for sanctuary. On May 1st is when the riots started. They were held in the commons which is a large grassy area. Speeches against Nixon were held and they even burned a copy of he constitution. The riots then moved to downtown Kent where the caught buildings on fire, broke people's windows with bottles, and broke store windows. The Kent mayor then panicked and called for a state of emergency, and demanded all the bars be closed down early. The bars closing early made the protesters even more mad. Finally, the Kent police and officers from the county and surrounding communities got things under control by tear gassing the protesters making them return back to campus. The next day, May 2, is when it was decided that more National Guard officers were needed. The mayor feared what could happen next and he wanted plenty of back up for whatever occurred. The businesses in the city of Kent also feared what could happen based on the happenings of the previous night.The other National Guard members arrived at around 10pm  that night and they arrived to the ROTC building in flames with around 1000 protesters around it. The next day, May 4, there was a rally and the rally had been banned by the Kent mayor and the Kent police informed the protesters that the rally had been banned but it did no good. The police then rode around in jeeps going around the commons telling the protesters that the rally was banned and they must return to their dorms. The protesters then started throwing rocks at the jeeps and the jeeps fled. The protesters then started moving across the campus to the football field and the guardsman followed them but they soon found themselves trapped and all the while the protesters are throwing rocks at the guardsmen so they started pointing their guns but no shots were fired. The guardsmen then started backing themselves back towards the campus and once they got to the top of the hill 28 of the more than 70 guardsmen started firing shots. Some fired into the air and others fired directly into the crowd. 61 to 67 shots were fired in a 13 second span. 4 Kent State students died. 9 Kent State students were injured in the 13 second span. The question that people have been asking for years is why did theu guardsmen all of a sudden start shooting, and they claim that they felt their lives were in danger so they did it for self defense but a lot of people don't agree with this statement.

This topic is important to me because i went to Kent State my freshmen year in college and the college was deeply affected by it, they require their freshmen to watch a video and have a test over what happened and why it is significant to the campus. Also a lot of teachers will cancel class on may 4 just for a day of recognition of the shootings and the lives lost that day,


In the aspect of the era this is important because the main reason these protesters started protesting is because they weren't happy with Nixon's decision to go to Cambodia. And this was the reason for the start of a lot of riots, this one just got a bit more out of hand than the rest, and ended  in more turmoil. It shows us that the government needs to think a little more about their decisions to go to war. Nixon said he was gonna end our part in Vietnam, but did he just make it a bigger part instead?

http://dept.kent.edu/sociology/lewis/lewihen.htm

The four students killed in the Kent State shootings.