Kent State University Protest: Were Students Armed?

On May 4, 1970, unarmed students at Kent State University in Ohio, USA, were shot by the National Guard during an anti-war protest against the Vietnam War. Four students were killed, and nine were wounded. The incident, also known as the Kent State massacre, provoked the biggest student strike in US history and brought to light the political and cultural divide in the country. The question of whether the students were armed during the protest is a subject of discussion, with some sources claiming that rocks were thrown at the National Guard. However, eyewitness accounts and investigations suggest that the students were unarmed and that the shooting was unnecessary and unprovoked.

The students were protesting against the Vietnam War

The Kent State University protest of 1970 was a demonstration against the Vietnam War. The students were protesting against the US invasion of Cambodia and the presence of the Ohio National Guard on their campus. The war in Vietnam was widening, and students across the country were becoming increasingly radicalised. The Kent State SDS chapter, established in 1968, was particularly militant, and its members intended to drive corporate recruiters from campus, abolish the Reserve Officer Training Corps, and end military-related university research.

The protest on May 4, 1970, was not the first of its kind at Kent State. In the fall of 1964, 25 students launched a peaceful picket against the war. In 1968, 250 black students walked off campus in a successful amnesty bid for protesters. In 1969, SDS members clashed with police while attempting to enter the administration building with a list of demands.

The 1970 protest was also not the first of its kind that year. On May 1, 500 students demonstrated against the Cambodian invasion. That evening, violence broke out in downtown Kent, with young people vandalising shops and clashing with police. The National Guard was called to the campus, and on May 4, approximately 3,000 people gathered to protest. The guardsmen ordered the protesters to disperse, but the order was ignored, and witnesses say rocks were thrown. After tear gas was fired, troops fired live rounds into the crowd, killing four students and wounding nine others.

The Kent State shootings, also known as the Kent State massacre, shocked the nation and symbolised the political and cultural divide across the US at the time. The incident provoked the biggest student strike in US history, involving hundreds of campuses nationwide. It also led to the establishment of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, known as the Scranton Commission, which studied the dissent, disorder, and violence on college campuses.

Four students were killed by the National Guard

On May 4, 1970, four students were shot and killed by the Ohio National Guard during an anti-Vietnam War protest at Kent State University in Ohio. The incident, now known as the Kent State shootings, shocked the nation and came to symbolise the political and cultural divide across the US at the time.

The four students who died were Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and William Schroeder. Nine other students were wounded, and one of them suffered permanent paralysis. The students had been protesting the expansion of the war into Cambodia, announced by President Richard Nixon, as well as the National Guard's presence on campus and the draft.

The events of that day were as follows: after an initially peaceful protest on May 1, violence broke out in downtown Kent, with confrontations between young people and the police. The city's mayor requested that the governor send the state National Guard to Kent. Demonstrations had been banned at the university, but students gathered anyway, and guardsmen ordered the protesters to disperse. The dispersal order was ignored, and witnesses say rocks were thrown. After tear gas was fired, troops fired live rounds into the crowd.

The National Guard's presence on campus and their use of live ammunition have been widely criticised. As one guardsman reflected, "We didn’t have training in how to deal with student protests. We had training in how to kill people." The Report of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest concluded that the shootings were "unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable." The incident provoked the biggest student strike in US history, involving hundreds of campuses nationwide. It also led to the establishment of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, known as the Scranton Commission, to study the dissent, disorder, and violence on college and university campuses.

Nine students were wounded

On May 4, 1970, students at Kent State University in Ohio, USA, protested against the expanding involvement of the Vietnam War into Cambodia by US military forces, as well as the National Guard's presence on campus and the draft. The National Guard had been called to the campus to quell demonstrations, and the university had banned rallies and ordered students to disperse. However, the students ignored the order, and witnesses say rocks were thrown. The guardsmen then fired tear gas and, later, live rounds into the crowd.

The events of that day left a deep impact, with the university faculty conducting research and contributing to press interviews and the Scranton Commission. The incident also brought to light the differences in opinions and reactions to the shootings, with some people expressing a lack of sympathy for the students and even stating that more students should have been killed.

The Kent State shootings provoked the biggest student strike in US history, involving hundreds of campuses nationwide. It also resulted in the establishment of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, known as the Scranton Commission, to study the dissent, disorder, and violence on college and university campuses.

The students were unarmed

On May 4, 1970, unarmed college students at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, protested against the expanding US military involvement in Cambodia and the National Guard's presence on campus. The National Guard had been called to the campus to quell the demonstrations.

The students' protest was part of a new wave of student activism against the Vietnam War. The students were also demonstrating against the National Guard's presence on campus and the draft. The protest followed President Nixon's announcement in April 1970 that he had authorised the US invasion of Cambodia to fight the Viet Cong, signalling a significant widening of the US war effort.

The National Guard's presence on campus was deeply controversial. The university had a history of student activism, with the Kent State SDS chapter, established in 1968, taking a more militant approach than earlier campus anti-war activists. However, the student body at Kent State was generally middle-class and apolitical, with only a small minority holding radical views.

On the day of the protest, approximately 3,000 people had gathered in the centre of the campus by late morning. The guardsmen ordered the protesters to disperse, but this order was ignored, and witnesses say rocks were thrown. The guardsmen then fired tear gas and, following a series of standoffs, fired live rounds into the crowd.

The shootings resulted in four students being killed and nine wounded. The students killed were Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and William Schroeder. The report of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest concluded that the shootings were "unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable." The events of that day shocked the nation and symbolised the political and cultural divides across the US at the time.

The protest followed an announcement by President Nixon

Kent State University, located in Ohio, had a student body that was generally middle-class and apolitical. However, a minority of students did not fit this mould, with some coming from union households or having parents who were members of the Communist Party during the 1940s and 1950s. In the fall of 1964, a small group of Kent State students launched a Free Speech Movement, and by 1968, the university's population had become increasingly radicalised in response to the escalating war in Vietnam.

On May 1, 1970, an anti-war rally was held on the Commons at Kent State University, with protestors calling for an end to the war and the National Guard presence on campus. The following day, the city's mayor requested that Ohio's governor deploy the state National Guard to Kent due to the escalating violence and confrontations between protestors and police. On May 4, despite a ban on demonstrations, approximately 3,000 people gathered on campus for another protest. The National Guard was present, and at midday, they ordered the protesters to disperse. However, the order was ignored, and witnesses reported that rocks were thrown at the guardsmen.

The guardsmen responded by firing tear gas and, following a series of standoffs, they fired live rounds into the crowd. Four students were killed, and nine others were wounded. This tragic incident, later known as the Kent State shootings or the May 4 massacre, shocked the nation and became a seminal moment in modern US history, symbolising the deep political and cultural divisions of the time.

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