--- title: "The Kent State Massacre: When the National Guard Murdered Students" description: "On the 4th of May 1970 the US National Guard opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University, killing four of them. This tragedy, which came to be known as the Kent State Massacre, further tore apart a nation already bitterly divided over its involvement in Vietnam. It was an event that will forever be a most horrific stain on America's history, but not one that should ever be forgotten, lest it ever be repeated.\n\nToday we will be presenting a comprehensive history of the massacre, examining its immediate and long term causes, looking at how the events themselves played out, analysing the aftermath, and above all else, memorialising the lives lost on that tragic day.\n\n## Background\n\nThe US' involvement in Vietnam was nothing new in 1970, with the country first putting boots on the ground back in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy sent 16,000 'advisors' to Vietnam. US involvement only expanded throughout the decade, and by 1968 over 500,000 US service personnel were deployed to the country. Despite these huge numbers however no victory proved forthcoming, and the increasing unpopularity of the war back home, which was increasingly being seen as pointless interventionism, saw President Richard Nixon take the victory in the 1968 presidential election, specifically due to his promise to end the war.\n\nThis promise proved to be a lie however. The US' commitment to the war only continued to increase, and with it, the war's unpopularity at home also only increased, spurred in particular by events such as the My Lai Massacre of 1968, in which US soldiers rampaged and slaughtered 504 Vietnamese civilians, and the introduction of the US' first draft lottery since World War II on the 1st of December 1969.\n\nThe unpopularity of the war reached an apex on the 30th of April 1970, when President Nixon announced the start of the so-called \"Cambodian Incursion\" — the invasion of Cambodia. Nationwide protests quickly erupted in response as many Americans viewed this latest expansion of the war to be an abhorrent violation of a neutral nation's sovereignty. The backlash was particularly fervent among young Americans, and as such college campuses across the nation became the centre points of these renewed protests. Kent State University was no exception.\n\nKent State University actually had quite the long history of hosting protests, and the initial peaceful events of April through May 1970 certainly wouldn't have been unfamiliar to both students and campus security personnel alike. The campus saw its first Vietnam War protest back in 1966, when students donned military gear and gas masks during the Homecoming Parade to make their feelings known. A couple of years later in 1968 the Students for a Democratic Society teamed up with Black Student Organizations on campus to host a sit-in to protest the presence of police recruiters on campus. Then the revoking of the Kent State Students for a Democratic Society's charter the following year saw a confrontation between police and students on campus that narrowly avoided flaring up into full blown violence. Finally, just before the Cambodian Incursion demonstrations the campus had large protests by the Youth International Party, these proved significantly more inflammatory than previous protests, with chants of \"kill your parents\" and threats to \"napalm a dog\" causing great concern among the campus security and local police forces, who failed to see the obvious hyperbole in these statements.\n\n## Rising Tensions\n\nAs previously mentioned the 'Cambodian Incursion' went down particularly poorly with the students of Kent State University. Protests began almost immediately, as a demonstration with more than 500 students was held on Kent State's Commons, a grassy knoll often used as an assembly point for rallies and protests the day after the new campaigns announcement to the public. This initial protest concluded promptly and peacefully, with the crowd voluntarily dispersing to attend classes a little after noon.\n\nThis was intended to be it for a while, no further protests were planned until the 4th of May, but events got ahead of themselves that night when tensions came to a head outside of a bar downtown. Police presence in the town was heavy; they knew that the students of Kent State were angry, and given that those emotions would be getting mixed with alcohol, the police deemed it prudent to keep an eye on the drinking holes frequented by Kent State's Students. This precautionary move by the police however achieved nothing but throwing a match onto a primed bonfire, as at closing time angry words directed towards the police crescendoed into the throwing of bottles and rocks — and soon enough, a crowd made up of 120 bikers, students, and locals had formed, and tensions were ready to explode.\n\nIn response the entire Kent Police Force, as well as supporting officers from surrounding counties were called into action, and the crowd was soon enough broken up and dispersed with teargas before the situation escalated into wholesale violence. But forcibly dispersing the crowd did little to suppress the emotions fuelling it, quite the opposite in fact, and tensions only continued to rise.\n\nThese rising tensions resulted in a bitter crescendo of emotion on both sides the following day. City officials and business downtown received threats in response to the following night's crackdown, stories of these threats were then fed through the establishment rumour mill, and soon enough city officials believed that revolutionaries in Kent were out to destroy both the city and the university.\n\nMore specifically, the rumour mill had informed Mayor LeRoy Satrom that the Reserve Officers' Training Corps building, the local army recruiting station, and the post office were all going to be targeted for destruction that night, and in response, Satrom called Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes to request the deployment of the Ohio Army National Guard to Kent. The National Guard arrived in town that evening, just as a large demonstration was underway on the campus.\n\nThe rumours proved to be not entirely unfounded as well, because back in downtown the Reserve Officers' Training Corps building was indeed burnt down during the evening, and the responding firefighters and police officers found themselves pelted by rocks as they attempted to bring the blaze under control. In response the National Guard deployed teargas to break up the crowd and began arresting curfew violators.\n\nThe following day, on the 3rd of May tensions only continued to escalate as Governor Rhodes denounced the whole movement as un-American and referred to them as revolutionaries in a fiery public address. He went on further to claim that he would drive these 'revolutionaries' out and eradicate the problem, but it is worth noting, that despite this clear escalation from the governor, he never actually obtained a court order declaring a state of emergency as he should have done.\n\n## The Massacre\n\nAnd so, with tensions in Kent at an all time high, the stage was set for the tragic events of the 4th of May. In light of ever escalating tensions, the follow up demonstration that had originally been planned three days earlier was formally banned by University officials, who distributed 12,000 fliers around campus to inform their students, but despite this, roughly 2,000 people gathered on the university's Commons, near Taylor Hall nonetheless.\n\nProceedings were initially peaceful, the crowd was made up of mostly university students, with its numbers being boosted by Kent State dropouts and a few high school students, but there were none of the bikers or outside agitators who had inflamed tensions on previous nights. The start of the protest was formally marked by the ringing of the campus's iron Victory Bell, and one person made a short speech denouncing both the Vietnam War, and the establishment's response to their demonstrations, but just as the second speaker was due to take to the podium, the military intervened.\n\nOrders to disperse were given by the Ohio National Guard units under the command of Brigadier General Robert Canterbury, which included Companies A and C of the 1-145th Infantry and Troop G of the 2-107th Armored Cavalry. He had obtained a megaphone from the University police department and attempted to use it to order the crowd to disperse, but the announcement was too faint and elicited no response from the crowd. In an attempt to deliver the message more clearly, campus patrolman Harold Rice, accompanied by three guardsmen, approached the crowd in a National Guard Jeep and used the megaphone to order the students to disperse once again. The students paid him no heed however, and instead responded with obscene gestures and chanting. A few rocks were eventually thrown at the Jeep as it drove by the crowd, with one rock striking the Jeep and a second one striking a guardsman, but without causing any injury.\n\nThe National Guard then escalated their methods and attempted to disperse the crowd with tear gas fired from M79 grenade launchers, which completely failed to break up the protest: some canisters fell short, others were made ineffective by the direction of the wind, and some were thrown back at the National Guard by the protestors. One last demand to disperse was then made over the megaphone, which received the exact same dismissive response as before.\n\nThen, with patience running short among the National Guardsmen, a group of 96 soldiers were ordered to fix bayonets, cock their weapons, and advance. These were not specialised less-lethal crowd control weapons either, they were combat proven M1 Garands, loaded with live ammunition.\n\nIn the face of the approaching wall of steel the students retreated up and over Blanket Hill, heading out of the Commons area, with the National Guardsmen pursuing them the entire way. The students then moved northeast along the front of Taylor Hall, with some continuing toward a parking lot in front of Prentice Hall. The guardsmen then broke off and headed toward an athletic practice field enclosed by a chain link fence. They remained there for about 10 minutes, unsure of how they should now proceed. The bulk of the students meanwhile regrouped, and assembled to the front and left of the National Guardsmen on the veranda of Taylor Hall, while others were scattered between Taylor Hall and the Prentice Hall parking lot.\n\nA number of the students who had retreated beyond the practice field fence then began pelting the National Guardsmen with rocks and other improvised projectiles, and in response they were ordered to shoulder their weapons and aim them towards the crowd. The exact number of rock throwers is unknown, but certainly small, no fewer than 10, and no more than 50. The guardsmen held their position in the athletic field for several minutes as missiles continued to trickle towards them, but then, at 12:24pm, tragedy struck; an unknown soldier flicked off the safety on his rifle, and emptied his six round magazine into the students, a most horrific chain reaction then followed, in which several other soldiers followed his lead and did the exact same thing.\n\nThe shooting lasted for 13 seconds, in which time 67 rounds were discharged, killing four students and wounding nine others.\n\nMany of the protestors initially did not react when the shooting began, at this point they were well accustomed to the deafening crack of discharging weaponry, having been on the receiving end of 40mm tear gas cartridges for the past several days. A few of the protestors reasoned that the National Guard must have been firing blanks out of their Garands, afterall, why would they respond to a few stones with live fire? Most of the protestors however, were simply unaccustomed to firearms, and had no reason to believe that the firearms the National Guard were carrying were any different to the less-lethal varieties they had encountered on previous days. Whatever ultimately motivated this initial confidence however, it was quickly shattered when their fellow protestors began falling to the ground around them.\n\nThe majority of the protestors fled the scene immediately, with a few brave souls remaining on the scene to attend to the casualties. It did not take long for this initial fear to pass in the survivors however, and it was replaced with a whole other emotion: anger. Within an hour a large group of students had gathered in the commons to demand an explanation from the National Guard and express their anger. But they were given no explanation, just an order: \"disperse immediately, or face another round of shooting.\"\n\nSeeing the grim writing on the wall Professor Glenn Frank, a Geology Professor at Kent State threw himself between the protestors and the National Guard and pleaded with the enraged crowd to heed the order and leave, desperate to avoid further tragedy, telling them:\n\n> \"I don't care whether you've never listened to anyone before in your lives. I am begging you right now. If you don't disperse right now, they're going to move in, and it can only be a slaughter. Would you please listen to me? Jesus Christ, I don't want to be a part of this ... !\"\n\nThanks to Professor Frank's intervention, the students eventually left and ambulances arrived to attend to the wounded, no doubt he saved many lives that day.\n\n## Why?\n\nThe reasons for the guardsmen opening fire have been a matter of controversy. Many guardsmen claimed they fired their weapons because they felt threatened, but these claims were challenged due to the distance between them and the students who were killed or wounded. The Guardsmen had various explanations for their perceived threat, including feeling surrounded, being pursued by the crowd, facing a threatening advance from the protesters, being pelted with rocks, or being targeted by a sniper. Some guardsmen said they fired because they heard others doing so and simply followed along, others claimed they had been ordered to fire warning shots into the air, but in reality, no such order was ever given.\n\nThe FBI also investigated the massacre, and determined that many of the Guardsmen were lying about not firing their rifles, as the documents detailing the quantity of rounds turned in after the shooting, and by which Guardsmen had mysteriously disappeared. They also concluded that the claims of feeling threatened were fabricated after the event, as multiple Guardsmen were proven to have their backs turned to the protestors when the firing began, and not one single Guardsmen could prove they had actually been hit by any of the rocks being thrown at them.\n\nThe Adjutant General of the Ohio National Guard attempted to cover for his men, and claimed that a sniper had fired on the guardsmen, but this was debunked by another FBI investigation which concluded that the Guard was not under fire at any point. This was followed by the conclusions of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, which ruled that the Guardsmen were not under fire, making the firing of rifles into the crowd of students unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable.\n\nSo to cut a long story short… We don't know why the shooting started, and unless we get a deathbed confession from one of the Guardsmen involved, we likely never will. All we do know for certain, is that the Guardsmen were not under fire from any sniper, and that none of the rocks being thrown at them were even reaching them, much less actually doing any damage.\n\n## Victims of the Massacre\n\nWith that established, let us now take the time to give some attention to the most important part of the story: the victims.\n\n### Killed\n\nJeffrey Glenn Miller\n\nDistance from National Guard: 265 ft (81 m). Cause of Death: shot through the mouth; killed instantly.\n\nAllison B. Krause\n\nDistance from National Guard: 343 ft (105 m). Cause of Death: fatal left chest wound; dead on arrival.\n\nWilliam Knox Schroeder\n\nDistance from National Guard: 382 ft (116 m). Cause of Death: fatal chest wound; died almost an hour later in a local hospital while undergoing surgery.\n\nSandra Lee Scheuer\n\nDistance from National Guard: 390 ft (120 m). Cause of Death: fatal neck wound; died a few minutes later from loss of blood.\n\n### Wounded\n\nJoseph Lewis, Jr.\n\nDistance from National Guard: 71 ft (22 m). Injury: hit twice; once in his right abdomen and once in his lower left leg.\n\nJohn R. Cleary\n\nDistance from National Guard: 110 ft (34 m). Injury: upper left chest wound.\n\nThomas Mark Grace\n\nDistance from National Guard: 225 ft (69 m). Injury: hit in his left ankle.\n\nAlan Michael Canfora\n\nDistance from National Guard: 225 ft (69 m). Injury: hit in his right wrist.\n\nDean R. Kahler\n\nDistance from National Guard: 300 ft (91 m). Injury: back wound fracturing the vertebrae; permanently paralyzed from the chest down.\n\nDouglas Alan Wrentmore\n\nDistance from National Guard: 329 ft (100 m). Injury: hit in his right knee.\n\nJames Dennis Russell\n\nDistance from National Guard: 375 ft (114 m). Injury: hit in his right thigh and on his forehead; notably, he was wounded near the Memorial Gymnasium, well away from most of the other students.\n\nRobert Follis Stamps\n\nDistance from National Guard: 495 ft (151 m). Injury: hit in his right buttock.\n\nDonald Scott MacKenzie\n\nDistance from National Guard: 750 ft (230 m). Injury: hit in his neck.\n\nIt is important to note that none of those shot were closer than 71 feet to the Guardsmen, with the nearest fatal victim, Jeffrey Miller, being 265 feet away from the Guardsmen. Overall, the average distance from the guardsmen was 345 feet (105 m). Furthermore, all of the individuals who were shot were in good standing at the university, with no evidence having emerged that any of them had any connection to the more militant groups mentioned earlier.\n\nThere were initial reports that several National Guard members had been killed or seriously injured, however these claims proved to be the result of ignorant miss-reporting, or the product of pro-military apologists for the tragedy. In reality only one guardsman, Sgt. Lawrence Shafer, sustained any injuries warranting medical treatment. Sgt. Shafer was given a sling for his badly bruised arm and pain medication, injuries he sustained approximately 10 to 15 minutes before the shootings. It is also worth noting that an FBI memo from the 15th of November 1973 reported a conversation in which Sgt. Shafer bragged about shooting Jeffrey Miller, and while he later denied the 'bragging' aspect of this claim, he happily admitted to being the man who shot Jeffrey Miller, doing so publically in a 1986 ABC News documentary.\n\n## Aftermath\n\nThe events at Kent State had a significant negative impact on public opinion regarding the US' involvement in the Vietnam War generally, and the invasion of Cambodia specifically. John Filo, a photojournalism student at Kent State, captured an infamous image of Mary Ann Vecchio screaming over the dead body of Jeffrey Miller. This photograph, which won a Pulitzer Prize, became one of the most powerful images of the anti-Vietnam War movement. The shootings led to nationwide protests and strikes on college campuses, causing over 450 schools to close. On the 8th of May, there were violent confrontations between protesters and the National Guard at the University of New Mexico, and at a New York antiwar rally that became the Hard Hat Riot.\n\nThe Nixon administration's reaction to the shootings was perceived as insensitive by many in the anti-war movement. Press Secretary Ron Ziegler referred to the deaths as a result of \"dissent turning to violence.\" Nixon's chief speechwriter, Ray Price meanwhile, described the resulting demonstrations in Washington D.C. as \"civil war.\" During these protests at the capital Nixon was taken to Camp David for protection, and the 82nd Airborne was stationed in the basement of the executive office building.\n\nNixon himself treated student dissidents conducting a vigil at the Lincoln Memorial to a condescending monologue and saw those in the anti-war movement as pawns of foreign communists. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger had a very negative view of this response, claiming that the President was \"pretending indifference\", an opinion echoed by historian Stanley Karnow in his book: 'Vietnam: A History'. Note also, in a speech marking the 49th anniversary of the shootings, Bob Woodward, an American investigative journalist, revealed a 1971 recording of Richard Nixon discussing the Attica Prison riot and comparing it to the shootings at Kent State, considering that they might have a \"salutary effect\" on his administration. Woodward labelled the previously-unheard remarks \"chilling\" and among the \"most outrageous\" of the President's statements.\n\nThe American public themselves were split on the matter; a Gallup Poll taken the day after the shootings showed that 58% of respondents blamed the students, 11% blamed the National Guard, and 31% expressed no opinion. Note however, that as this poll was taken the day after the shootings, the facts of the matter likely had not had time to settle in the American zeitgeist, and that later polling would likely show different results. Notably however, students from Kent State and other universities often encountered negative reactions when they returned home from their studies. With the most extreme detractors telling them that more students should have been killed as a lesson to student protesters, and some students were even disowned by their families.\n\nEventually however, despite President Nixon's indifference he begrudgingly established the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, also known as the Scranton Commission, in June 1970. It was tasked with studying the dissent, disorder, and violence occurring on college and university campuses across the nation. The commission took only a few short months to render its verdict, and published its findings in September 1970 in a report that concluded that the Ohio National Guard shootings at Kent State on May 4, 1970 were completely unjustified. Specifically, it claimed that the Guardsmen's belief that they felt threatened was completely irrelevant, as no logical assessment of the situation on the ground could in any way come to the conclusions that a largely peaceful assembly of protests, with a few violent elements throwing stones could in any way warrant being dispersed with live fire. Furthermore, the report was also highly critical of the fire control discipline of the deployed Guardsmen, noting how one soldier exceeding his orders and choosing to open fire on the crowd, should have in no way led to a chain reaction of fire, instead, when no direct order to fire had been given, each soldier had a responsibility to critically assess the situation for themselves, and not just blindly open fire when other members of their platoon were doing so. The report concluded that the tragedy at Kent State must be the last time that guardsmen are issued loaded rifles as a matter of course when confronting student demonstrators.\n\n## Conclusion\n\nThe Kent State shootings were a tragic event that left a lasting impact on American history. Those dark events that unfolded on the 4th of May 1970 if nothing else exemplify the tensions and divisions that tore the US apart during the Vietnam War. But while we try to make sense of, process, and contextualise these events we must never lose sight of the human tragedy at the core of the story, because however we might intellectually dress it up, this was the story of four students who left home to express their constitutional right to speech, and never returned, and that, should never be overlooked or forgotten.\n\n## Key Takeaways\n\n- The Kent State Massacre occurred on May 4, 1970, when the National Guard fired on students protesting the Vietnam War, killing four and wounding nine.\n- The event was a result of escalating tensions over the Vietnam War and the Cambodian Incursion, with Kent State University being a hotspot for protests.\n- The National Guard's actions were deemed unjustified by the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, highlighting issues with their fire control discipline.\n- The massacre had a significant impact on public opinion, leading to nationwide protests and a shift in views on the Vietnam War.\n- The victims were unarmed students in good standing, with the closest fatality being 265 feet away from the guardsmen.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n### What was the Kent State Massacre?\n\nThe Kent State Massacre occurred on May 4, 1970, when the U.S. National Guard opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others.\n\n### What led to the protests at Kent State University?\n\nThe protests at Kent State University were sparked by President Nixon's announcement of the Cambodian Incursion, which was seen as an expansion of the Vietnam War into a neutral country.\n\n### How did the National Guard respond to the protests?\n\nThe National Guard initially attempted to disperse the crowd with tear gas and orders to disperse, but when these efforts failed, they advanced with fixed bayonets and loaded rifles, ultimately opening fire on the students.\n\n### What were the immediate causes of the shooting?\n\nThe immediate causes of the shooting are controversial. Some guardsmen claimed they felt threatened by the crowd, while others said they fired because they heard others doing so. The FBI and other investigations found no evidence of a sniper or significant threat to the guardsmen.\n\n### Who were the victims of the Kent State Massacre?\n\nThe four students killed were Jeffrey Glenn Miller, Allison B. Krause, William Knox Schroeder, and Sandra Lee Scheuer. Nine others were wounded, including Joseph Lewis Jr., John R. Cleary, Thomas Mark Grace, Alan Michael Canfora, Dean R. Kahler, Douglas Alan Wrentmore, James Dennis Russell, Robert Follis Stamps, and Donald Scott MacKenzie.\n\n### What was the public reaction to the Kent State shootings?\n\nThe public reaction was mixed. A Gallup Poll taken the day after the shootings showed that 58% blamed the students, 11% blamed the National Guard, and 31% had no opinion. However, the shootings led to nationwide protests and strikes on college campuses, causing over 450 schools to close.\n\n### What was the Nixon administration's response to the Kent State shootings?\n\nThe Nixon administration's response was perceived as insensitive. Press Secretary Ron Ziegler blamed the deaths on 'dissent turning to violence,' and Nixon himself saw student dissidents as pawns of foreign communists. He established the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, which concluded that the shootings were unjustified.\n\n### What was the impact of the Kent State shootings on the anti-Vietnam War movement?\n\nThe Kent State shootings had a significant negative impact on public opinion regarding the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The image of Mary Ann Vecchio screaming over the dead body of Jeffrey Miller became one of the most powerful images of the anti-Vietnam War movement.\n\n### What was the conclusion of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest?\n\nThe President's Commission on Campus Unrest concluded that the Ohio National Guard shootings at Kent State were completely unjustified. The report was highly critical of the guardsmen's fire control discipline and recommended that guardsmen should not be issued loaded rifles as a matter of course when confronting student demonstrators.\n\n### What was the long-term impact of the Kent State shootings?\n\nThe Kent State shootings left a lasting impact on American history, exemplifying the tensions and divisions that tore the U.S. apart during the Vietnam War. The event serves as a reminder of the human tragedy at the core of the story, with four students killed and nine wounded while exercising their constitutional right to free speech.\n\n## Sources\n\n- [Original Into the Shadows video: The Kent State Massacre: When the National Guard Murdered Students](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvfB2SisSbE)\n- [Hero image source](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Democratic_Rally%2C_University_of_Akron_%285324296499%29.jpg) by Dana Beveridge from Chicago, IL, USA / openverse, by.\n\n## Related Coverage" url: https://intotheshadows.pub/article/the-kent-state-massacre-when-the-national-guard-murdered-students.md canonical: https://intotheshadows.pub/article/the-kent-state-massacre-when-the-national-guard-murdered-students datePublished: 2026-06-28 dateModified: 2026-06-28 author: - name: Simon Whistler url: https://intotheshadows.pub/author/simon-whistler publisher: Into the Shadows image: "https://media.intotheshadows.pub/cdn-cgi/image/width=1600,height=900,fit=cover,quality=80,format=auto/articles/VvfB2SisSbE/hero.jpg" type: Article contentHash: d5fdebb47397d7c80c9ae02c5ae32cc3a20acaf8533930df8aaeddff05196ec3 tokens: 7072 summaryUrl: https://intotheshadows.pub/article/the-kent-state-massacre-when-the-national-guard-murdered-students.md.summary.md --- On the 4th of May 1970 the US National Guard opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University, killing four of them. This tragedy, which came to be known as the Kent State Massacre, further tore apart a nation already bitterly divided over its involvement in Vietnam. It was an event that will forever be a most horrific stain on America's history, but not one that should ever be forgotten, lest it ever be repeated. Today we will be presenting a comprehensive history of the massacre, examining its immediate and long term causes, looking at how the events themselves played out, analysing the aftermath, and above all else, memorialising the lives lost on that tragic day. ## Background The US' involvement in Vietnam was nothing new in 1970, with the country first putting boots on the ground back in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy sent 16,000 'advisors' to Vietnam. US involvement only expanded throughout the decade, and by 1968 over 500,000 US service personnel were deployed to the country. Despite these huge numbers however no victory proved forthcoming, and the increasing unpopularity of the war back home, which was increasingly being seen as pointless interventionism, saw President Richard Nixon take the victory in the 1968 presidential election, specifically due to his promise to end the war. This promise proved to be a lie however. The US' commitment to the war only continued to increase, and with it, the war's unpopularity at home also only increased, spurred in particular by events such as the My Lai Massacre of 1968, in which US soldiers rampaged and slaughtered 504 Vietnamese civilians, and the introduction of the US' first draft lottery since World War II on the 1st of December 1969. The unpopularity of the war reached an apex on the 30th of April 1970, when President Nixon announced the start of the so-called "Cambodian Incursion" — the invasion of Cambodia. Nationwide protests quickly erupted in response as many Americans viewed this latest expansion of the war to be an abhorrent violation of a neutral nation's sovereignty. The backlash was particularly fervent among young Americans, and as such college campuses across the nation became the centre points of these renewed protests. Kent State University was no exception. Kent State University actually had quite the long history of hosting protests, and the initial peaceful events of April through May 1970 certainly wouldn't have been unfamiliar to both students and campus security personnel alike. The campus saw its first Vietnam War protest back in 1966, when students donned military gear and gas masks during the Homecoming Parade to make their feelings known. A couple of years later in 1968 the Students for a Democratic Society teamed up with Black Student Organizations on campus to host a sit-in to protest the presence of police recruiters on campus. Then the revoking of the Kent State Students for a Democratic Society's charter the following year saw a confrontation between police and students on campus that narrowly avoided flaring up into full blown violence. Finally, just before the Cambodian Incursion demonstrations the campus had large protests by the Youth International Party, these proved significantly more inflammatory than previous protests, with chants of "kill your parents" and threats to "napalm a dog" causing great concern among the campus security and local police forces, who failed to see the obvious hyperbole in these statements. ## Rising Tensions As previously mentioned the 'Cambodian Incursion' went down particularly poorly with the students of Kent State University. Protests began almost immediately, as a demonstration with more than 500 students was held on Kent State's Commons, a grassy knoll often used as an assembly point for rallies and protests the day after the new campaigns announcement to the public. This initial protest concluded promptly and peacefully, with the crowd voluntarily dispersing to attend classes a little after noon. This was intended to be it for a while, no further protests were planned until the 4th of May, but events got ahead of themselves that night when tensions came to a head outside of a bar downtown. Police presence in the town was heavy; they knew that the students of Kent State were angry, and given that those emotions would be getting mixed with alcohol, the police deemed it prudent to keep an eye on the drinking holes frequented by Kent State's Students. This precautionary move by the police however achieved nothing but throwing a match onto a primed bonfire, as at closing time angry words directed towards the police crescendoed into the throwing of bottles and rocks — and soon enough, a crowd made up of 120 bikers, students, and locals had formed, and tensions were ready to explode. In response the entire Kent Police Force, as well as supporting officers from surrounding counties were called into action, and the crowd was soon enough broken up and dispersed with teargas before the situation escalated into wholesale violence. But forcibly dispersing the crowd did little to suppress the emotions fuelling it, quite the opposite in fact, and tensions only continued to rise. These rising tensions resulted in a bitter crescendo of emotion on both sides the following day. City officials and business downtown received threats in response to the following night's crackdown, stories of these threats were then fed through the establishment rumour mill, and soon enough city officials believed that revolutionaries in Kent were out to destroy both the city and the university. More specifically, the rumour mill had informed Mayor LeRoy Satrom that the Reserve Officers' Training Corps building, the local army recruiting station, and the post office were all going to be targeted for destruction that night, and in response, Satrom called Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes to request the deployment of the Ohio Army National Guard to Kent. The National Guard arrived in town that evening, just as a large demonstration was underway on the campus. The rumours proved to be not entirely unfounded as well, because back in downtown the Reserve Officers' Training Corps building was indeed burnt down during the evening, and the responding firefighters and police officers found themselves pelted by rocks as they attempted to bring the blaze under control. In response the National Guard deployed teargas to break up the crowd and began arresting curfew violators. The following day, on the 3rd of May tensions only continued to escalate as Governor Rhodes denounced the whole movement as un-American and referred to them as revolutionaries in a fiery public address. He went on further to claim that he would drive these 'revolutionaries' out and eradicate the problem, but it is worth noting, that despite this clear escalation from the governor, he never actually obtained a court order declaring a state of emergency as he should have done. ## The Massacre And so, with tensions in Kent at an all time high, the stage was set for the tragic events of the 4th of May. In light of ever escalating tensions, the follow up demonstration that had originally been planned three days earlier was formally banned by University officials, who distributed 12,000 fliers around campus to inform their students, but despite this, roughly 2,000 people gathered on the university's Commons, near Taylor Hall nonetheless. Proceedings were initially peaceful, the crowd was made up of mostly university students, with its numbers being boosted by Kent State dropouts and a few high school students, but there were none of the bikers or outside agitators who had inflamed tensions on previous nights. The start of the protest was formally marked by the ringing of the campus's iron Victory Bell, and one person made a short speech denouncing both the Vietnam War, and the establishment's response to their demonstrations, but just as the second speaker was due to take to the podium, the military intervened. Orders to disperse were given by the Ohio National Guard units under the command of Brigadier General Robert Canterbury, which included Companies A and C of the 1-145th Infantry and Troop G of the 2-107th Armored Cavalry. He had obtained a megaphone from the University police department and attempted to use it to order the crowd to disperse, but the announcement was too faint and elicited no response from the crowd. In an attempt to deliver the message more clearly, campus patrolman Harold Rice, accompanied by three guardsmen, approached the crowd in a National Guard Jeep and used the megaphone to order the students to disperse once again. The students paid him no heed however, and instead responded with obscene gestures and chanting. A few rocks were eventually thrown at the Jeep as it drove by the crowd, with one rock striking the Jeep and a second one striking a guardsman, but without causing any injury. The National Guard then escalated their methods and attempted to disperse the crowd with tear gas fired from M79 grenade launchers, which completely failed to break up the protest: some canisters fell short, others were made ineffective by the direction of the wind, and some were thrown back at the National Guard by the protestors. One last demand to disperse was then made over the megaphone, which received the exact same dismissive response as before. Then, with patience running short among the National Guardsmen, a group of 96 soldiers were ordered to fix bayonets, cock their weapons, and advance. These were not specialised less-lethal crowd control weapons either, they were combat proven M1 Garands, loaded with live ammunition. In the face of the approaching wall of steel the students retreated up and over Blanket Hill, heading out of the Commons area, with the National Guardsmen pursuing them the entire way. The students then moved northeast along the front of Taylor Hall, with some continuing toward a parking lot in front of Prentice Hall. The guardsmen then broke off and headed toward an athletic practice field enclosed by a chain link fence. They remained there for about 10 minutes, unsure of how they should now proceed. The bulk of the students meanwhile regrouped, and assembled to the front and left of the National Guardsmen on the veranda of Taylor Hall, while others were scattered between Taylor Hall and the Prentice Hall parking lot. A number of the students who had retreated beyond the practice field fence then began pelting the National Guardsmen with rocks and other improvised projectiles, and in response they were ordered to shoulder their weapons and aim them towards the crowd. The exact number of rock throwers is unknown, but certainly small, no fewer than 10, and no more than 50. The guardsmen held their position in the athletic field for several minutes as missiles continued to trickle towards them, but then, at 12:24pm, tragedy struck; an unknown soldier flicked off the safety on his rifle, and emptied his six round magazine into the students, a most horrific chain reaction then followed, in which several other soldiers followed his lead and did the exact same thing. The shooting lasted for 13 seconds, in which time 67 rounds were discharged, killing four students and wounding nine others. Many of the protestors initially did not react when the shooting began, at this point they were well accustomed to the deafening crack of discharging weaponry, having been on the receiving end of 40mm tear gas cartridges for the past several days. A few of the protestors reasoned that the National Guard must have been firing blanks out of their Garands, afterall, why would they respond to a few stones with live fire? Most of the protestors however, were simply unaccustomed to firearms, and had no reason to believe that the firearms the National Guard were carrying were any different to the less-lethal varieties they had encountered on previous days. Whatever ultimately motivated this initial confidence however, it was quickly shattered when their fellow protestors began falling to the ground around them. The majority of the protestors fled the scene immediately, with a few brave souls remaining on the scene to attend to the casualties. It did not take long for this initial fear to pass in the survivors however, and it was replaced with a whole other emotion: anger. Within an hour a large group of students had gathered in the commons to demand an explanation from the National Guard and express their anger. But they were given no explanation, just an order: "disperse immediately, or face another round of shooting." Seeing the grim writing on the wall Professor Glenn Frank, a Geology Professor at Kent State threw himself between the protestors and the National Guard and pleaded with the enraged crowd to heed the order and leave, desperate to avoid further tragedy, telling them: > "I don't care whether you've never listened to anyone before in your lives. I am begging you right now. If you don't disperse right now, they're going to move in, and it can only be a slaughter. Would you please listen to me? Jesus Christ, I don't want to be a part of this ... !" Thanks to Professor Frank's intervention, the students eventually left and ambulances arrived to attend to the wounded, no doubt he saved many lives that day. ## Why? The reasons for the guardsmen opening fire have been a matter of controversy. Many guardsmen claimed they fired their weapons because they felt threatened, but these claims were challenged due to the distance between them and the students who were killed or wounded. The Guardsmen had various explanations for their perceived threat, including feeling surrounded, being pursued by the crowd, facing a threatening advance from the protesters, being pelted with rocks, or being targeted by a sniper. Some guardsmen said they fired because they heard others doing so and simply followed along, others claimed they had been ordered to fire warning shots into the air, but in reality, no such order was ever given. The FBI also investigated the massacre, and determined that many of the Guardsmen were lying about not firing their rifles, as the documents detailing the quantity of rounds turned in after the shooting, and by which Guardsmen had mysteriously disappeared. They also concluded that the claims of feeling threatened were fabricated after the event, as multiple Guardsmen were proven to have their backs turned to the protestors when the firing began, and not one single Guardsmen could prove they had actually been hit by any of the rocks being thrown at them. The Adjutant General of the Ohio National Guard attempted to cover for his men, and claimed that a sniper had fired on the guardsmen, but this was debunked by another FBI investigation which concluded that the Guard was not under fire at any point. This was followed by the conclusions of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, which ruled that the Guardsmen were not under fire, making the firing of rifles into the crowd of students unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable. So to cut a long story short… We don't know why the shooting started, and unless we get a deathbed confession from one of the Guardsmen involved, we likely never will. All we do know for certain, is that the Guardsmen were not under fire from any sniper, and that none of the rocks being thrown at them were even reaching them, much less actually doing any damage. ## Victims of the Massacre With that established, let us now take the time to give some attention to the most important part of the story: the victims. ### Killed Jeffrey Glenn Miller Distance from National Guard: 265 ft (81 m). Cause of Death: shot through the mouth; killed instantly. Allison B. Krause Distance from National Guard: 343 ft (105 m). Cause of Death: fatal left chest wound; dead on arrival. William Knox Schroeder Distance from National Guard: 382 ft (116 m). Cause of Death: fatal chest wound; died almost an hour later in a local hospital while undergoing surgery. Sandra Lee Scheuer Distance from National Guard: 390 ft (120 m). Cause of Death: fatal neck wound; died a few minutes later from loss of blood. ### Wounded Joseph Lewis, Jr. Distance from National Guard: 71 ft (22 m). Injury: hit twice; once in his right abdomen and once in his lower left leg. John R. Cleary Distance from National Guard: 110 ft (34 m). Injury: upper left chest wound. Thomas Mark Grace Distance from National Guard: 225 ft (69 m). Injury: hit in his left ankle. Alan Michael Canfora Distance from National Guard: 225 ft (69 m). Injury: hit in his right wrist. Dean R. Kahler Distance from National Guard: 300 ft (91 m). Injury: back wound fracturing the vertebrae; permanently paralyzed from the chest down. Douglas Alan Wrentmore Distance from National Guard: 329 ft (100 m). Injury: hit in his right knee. James Dennis Russell Distance from National Guard: 375 ft (114 m). Injury: hit in his right thigh and on his forehead; notably, he was wounded near the Memorial Gymnasium, well away from most of the other students. Robert Follis Stamps Distance from National Guard: 495 ft (151 m). Injury: hit in his right buttock. Donald Scott MacKenzie Distance from National Guard: 750 ft (230 m). Injury: hit in his neck. It is important to note that none of those shot were closer than 71 feet to the Guardsmen, with the nearest fatal victim, Jeffrey Miller, being 265 feet away from the Guardsmen. Overall, the average distance from the guardsmen was 345 feet (105 m). Furthermore, all of the individuals who were shot were in good standing at the university, with no evidence having emerged that any of them had any connection to the more militant groups mentioned earlier. There were initial reports that several National Guard members had been killed or seriously injured, however these claims proved to be the result of ignorant miss-reporting, or the product of pro-military apologists for the tragedy. In reality only one guardsman, Sgt. Lawrence Shafer, sustained any injuries warranting medical treatment. Sgt. Shafer was given a sling for his badly bruised arm and pain medication, injuries he sustained approximately 10 to 15 minutes before the shootings. It is also worth noting that an FBI memo from the 15th of November 1973 reported a conversation in which Sgt. Shafer bragged about shooting Jeffrey Miller, and while he later denied the 'bragging' aspect of this claim, he happily admitted to being the man who shot Jeffrey Miller, doing so publically in a 1986 ABC News documentary. ## Aftermath The events at Kent State had a significant negative impact on public opinion regarding the US' involvement in the Vietnam War generally, and the invasion of Cambodia specifically. John Filo, a photojournalism student at Kent State, captured an infamous image of Mary Ann Vecchio screaming over the dead body of Jeffrey Miller. This photograph, which won a Pulitzer Prize, became one of the most powerful images of the anti-Vietnam War movement. The shootings led to nationwide protests and strikes on college campuses, causing over 450 schools to close. On the 8th of May, there were violent confrontations between protesters and the National Guard at the University of New Mexico, and at a New York antiwar rally that became the Hard Hat Riot. The Nixon administration's reaction to the shootings was perceived as insensitive by many in the anti-war movement. Press Secretary Ron Ziegler referred to the deaths as a result of "dissent turning to violence." Nixon's chief speechwriter, Ray Price meanwhile, described the resulting demonstrations in Washington D.C. as "civil war." During these protests at the capital Nixon was taken to Camp David for protection, and the 82nd Airborne was stationed in the basement of the executive office building. Nixon himself treated student dissidents conducting a vigil at the Lincoln Memorial to a condescending monologue and saw those in the anti-war movement as pawns of foreign communists. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger had a very negative view of this response, claiming that the President was "pretending indifference", an opinion echoed by historian Stanley Karnow in his book: 'Vietnam: A History'. Note also, in a speech marking the 49th anniversary of the shootings, Bob Woodward, an American investigative journalist, revealed a 1971 recording of Richard Nixon discussing the Attica Prison riot and comparing it to the shootings at Kent State, considering that they might have a "salutary effect" on his administration. Woodward labelled the previously-unheard remarks "chilling" and among the "most outrageous" of the President's statements. The American public themselves were split on the matter; a Gallup Poll taken the day after the shootings showed that 58% of respondents blamed the students, 11% blamed the National Guard, and 31% expressed no opinion. Note however, that as this poll was taken the day after the shootings, the facts of the matter likely had not had time to settle in the American zeitgeist, and that later polling would likely show different results. Notably however, students from Kent State and other universities often encountered negative reactions when they returned home from their studies. With the most extreme detractors telling them that more students should have been killed as a lesson to student protesters, and some students were even disowned by their families. Eventually however, despite President Nixon's indifference he begrudgingly established the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, also known as the Scranton Commission, in June 1970. It was tasked with studying the dissent, disorder, and violence occurring on college and university campuses across the nation. The commission took only a few short months to render its verdict, and published its findings in September 1970 in a report that concluded that the Ohio National Guard shootings at Kent State on May 4, 1970 were completely unjustified. Specifically, it claimed that the Guardsmen's belief that they felt threatened was completely irrelevant, as no logical assessment of the situation on the ground could in any way come to the conclusions that a largely peaceful assembly of protests, with a few violent elements throwing stones could in any way warrant being dispersed with live fire. Furthermore, the report was also highly critical of the fire control discipline of the deployed Guardsmen, noting how one soldier exceeding his orders and choosing to open fire on the crowd, should have in no way led to a chain reaction of fire, instead, when no direct order to fire had been given, each soldier had a responsibility to critically assess the situation for themselves, and not just blindly open fire when other members of their platoon were doing so. The report concluded that the tragedy at Kent State must be the last time that guardsmen are issued loaded rifles as a matter of course when confronting student demonstrators. ## Conclusion The Kent State shootings were a tragic event that left a lasting impact on American history. Those dark events that unfolded on the 4th of May 1970 if nothing else exemplify the tensions and divisions that tore the US apart during the Vietnam War. But while we try to make sense of, process, and contextualise these events we must never lose sight of the human tragedy at the core of the story, because however we might intellectually dress it up, this was the story of four students who left home to express their constitutional right to speech, and never returned, and that, should never be overlooked or forgotten. ## Key Takeaways - The Kent State Massacre occurred on May 4, 1970, when the National Guard fired on students protesting the Vietnam War, killing four and wounding nine. - The event was a result of escalating tensions over the Vietnam War and the Cambodian Incursion, with Kent State University being a hotspot for protests. - The National Guard's actions were deemed unjustified by the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, highlighting issues with their fire control discipline. - The massacre had a significant impact on public opinion, leading to nationwide protests and a shift in views on the Vietnam War. - The victims were unarmed students in good standing, with the closest fatality being 265 feet away from the guardsmen. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What was the Kent State Massacre? The Kent State Massacre occurred on May 4, 1970, when the U.S. National Guard opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others. ### What led to the protests at Kent State University? The protests at Kent State University were sparked by President Nixon's announcement of the Cambodian Incursion, which was seen as an expansion of the Vietnam War into a neutral country. ### How did the National Guard respond to the protests? The National Guard initially attempted to disperse the crowd with tear gas and orders to disperse, but when these efforts failed, they advanced with fixed bayonets and loaded rifles, ultimately opening fire on the students. ### What were the immediate causes of the shooting? The immediate causes of the shooting are controversial. Some guardsmen claimed they felt threatened by the crowd, while others said they fired because they heard others doing so. The FBI and other investigations found no evidence of a sniper or significant threat to the guardsmen. ### Who were the victims of the Kent State Massacre? The four students killed were Jeffrey Glenn Miller, Allison B. Krause, William Knox Schroeder, and Sandra Lee Scheuer. Nine others were wounded, including Joseph Lewis Jr., John R. Cleary, Thomas Mark Grace, Alan Michael Canfora, Dean R. Kahler, Douglas Alan Wrentmore, James Dennis Russell, Robert Follis Stamps, and Donald Scott MacKenzie. ### What was the public reaction to the Kent State shootings? The public reaction was mixed. A Gallup Poll taken the day after the shootings showed that 58% blamed the students, 11% blamed the National Guard, and 31% had no opinion. However, the shootings led to nationwide protests and strikes on college campuses, causing over 450 schools to close. ### What was the Nixon administration's response to the Kent State shootings? The Nixon administration's response was perceived as insensitive. Press Secretary Ron Ziegler blamed the deaths on 'dissent turning to violence,' and Nixon himself saw student dissidents as pawns of foreign communists. He established the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, which concluded that the shootings were unjustified. ### What was the impact of the Kent State shootings on the anti-Vietnam War movement? The Kent State shootings had a significant negative impact on public opinion regarding the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The image of Mary Ann Vecchio screaming over the dead body of Jeffrey Miller became one of the most powerful images of the anti-Vietnam War movement. ### What was the conclusion of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest? The President's Commission on Campus Unrest concluded that the Ohio National Guard shootings at Kent State were completely unjustified. The report was highly critical of the guardsmen's fire control discipline and recommended that guardsmen should not be issued loaded rifles as a matter of course when confronting student demonstrators. ### What was the long-term impact of the Kent State shootings? The Kent State shootings left a lasting impact on American history, exemplifying the tensions and divisions that tore the U.S. apart during the Vietnam War. The event serves as a reminder of the human tragedy at the core of the story, with four students killed and nine wounded while exercising their constitutional right to free speech. ## Sources - [Original Into the Shadows video: The Kent State Massacre: When the National Guard Murdered Students](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvfB2SisSbE) - [Hero image source](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Democratic_Rally%2C_University_of_Akron_%285324296499%29.jpg) by Dana Beveridge from Chicago, IL, USA / openverse, by. ## Related Coverage