The Kent State Massacre

Thesis

The Kent State Massacre involved many university student protesters and Ohio National Guard troops on May 4, 1970. The outcome of the Kent State Massacre ended with four tragic death and nine permanently paralyzed university students. The conflict between the student protesters and the National Guards became an iconic eye-opening symbol for America. It led America to reflect and see how divided we were as a nation.

Background

Before the Kent State shooting, the United State was already in a stir because of the Vietnam War that started in 1954. The involvement of the war damaged America in many different ways, one of them being the economy. Over 168 billion dollars were used towards military supplies and trade overseas that caused budget

They buried a copy of the Constitution, symbolizing that Nixon had killed it. It caused a riot leading to bricks being thrown at police, fires being set, and a bank window being smashed. Officials had to use tear gas to abolish the crowd. Following the next day, the wooden ROTC building on campus was burned to the ground by the evening. Although there were no evidence of who set the building on fire, protesters were held responsible because of their interference on stopping the extinguish of the building and cheering on the fire. Many were arrested that night. On May 3, 1,000 Ohio National Guardsmen occupied the campus. Governor Rhodes held a press conference that provoked many protesters, calling them “un-american, revolutionaries set on destroying higher education in Ohio”. On May 4, General Robert Canterbury wanted to ban the afternoon protesting rally because he believed that the tension and violence from previous days would rise. However, the plan failed to as soon as the rally took action. Tear gas canisters and rocks were being thrown back and forth from the guards and the protestors until things went out of hand. The National Guards opened fire at the rally for as long as 13 seconds. A total of sixty-seven shots were fired. When the long 13 seconds ended, nine students were down wounded, and four students killed. Two of the students who died were not a part of the rally and the other two were involved.

Short-Term Impact

The University was immediately shut down after three hours of the shooting. The school didn 't open until six weeks later to complete the semester. University faculties plead students to end the protest so less lives would be lost. Many colleges and universities across the United States cancelled classes for the remainder of the academic year in fear of violent protests erupting on their campuses.

Long-Term