The Kent State Massacre

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming

We're finally on our own

This summer I hear the drumming

Four dead in Ohio.

Brutal lyrics from the song, ‘Ohio’ by Crosby Stills Nash and Young about the shooting of 4 students at Kent State University in Ohio on May 4, 1970. Neil Young wrote the song as a direct reaction to the shootings. It was recorded and released within weeks of the incident. It is regarded as one of the greatest protest songs ever written. I can’t listen to it 53 years later without getting angry. University students protesting a senseless war in Vietnam. Protests over the Vietnam war had been escalating in the US throughout the 1960’s. In 1963 President Kennedy increased US involvement in the war sending in 16,000 advisors. Whatever that means… Once Lyndon Johnson had settled into his presidency following the assignation of Kennedy, he continued the escalation sending 100,000 troops in 1965. That grew to 500,000 combat troops by 1968. At home protests grew as the body count increased with no tangible results.

At Kent State, protests to the US involvement in the Vietnam war had been ongoing and growing since 1966. The core of the protesters were a group known as Students for a Democratic Society, SDS.

And it's 1,2,3 what are we fightin for?

Don't ask me, I don't give a damn, the next stop is Vietnam.

…And its 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates.

Well there ain't no time to wonder why...WHOPEE we're all gonna die.

That’s the chorus from the ‘Vietnam Song’ performed by Country Joe and Fish at Woodstock. It sums up the protest culture that was growing. Richard Nixon got elected in 1968. One of his campaign pledges was to end the conflict. But a couple of things transpired in 1969. First was exposure of the Mai Lai massacre where US troops slaughtered nearly 500 Vietnamese Villagers. Second was the re-introduction of the Draft Lottery. This eliminated deferments for college students and teachers. Anger in the US boiled over when Nixon instead of working to end the war, further escalated it by invading Cambodia. That occurred on April 29, 1970…barely 5 days before the campus shootings. SDS protests were turning ugly and University officials were concerned about the increasing aggressiveness and violence. Leading up to the May 4 shootings, demonstrations attracted increasing numbers of students. But more worrisome to University and City officials were the threats to destroy the city and university. Real or not, rumors of students with arms caches, plots to spike the local water supply with LSD and building tunnels to blow up downtown stores were rampant. The city called in the National Guard in response. By all accounts various protesting groups were active on campus May 4th. They resisted calls to disperse and in the immediate run up to the shootings were pelting the Guardsmen with rocks. They responded by opening fire:

• Allison Krause, 19.
• Jeffrey Glenn Miller, 20.
• Sandra Lee Scheuer, 20.
• William Schroeder, 19.
  Tin soldiers and Nixon coming
  We're finally on our own
  This summer I hear the drumming
  Four dead in Ohio.
  Why? In the aftermath, Guardsmen said they feared for their lives. Heavily armed and protected militia versus unprotected young students hurling rocks. Incredulous. America changed that day. The nation realized their elected governments could turn on citizens that coldly. Kent State accelerated cynicism over the concept of US Democracy. A lot of the 1970s movements gained momentum: Civil rights, Women's rights at the top. Movements paid in blood. That are being paid for still today. Until next time…