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…

Watergate: A Redemption Story

Watergate does not bother me, does your conscience bother you? 

Tell the truth’

Those lyrics from ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd in response to Neil Young’s Southern Man. Ahhh…the battle of the bands!

Watergate broke in 1972 during Richard Nixon’s second term as president.  The break in occurred at the Democratic National Headquarters offices in the Watergate Hotel in Washington. It was and is an example of dirty politics:  an attempt to get information of the election campaign plans of the Democratic party through any means possible…even if illegal.

Watergate captured our attention.  I was 14 years old at the time and it was a topic of discussion in at least one class at high school.  

And it was impossible to escape news coverage.  

I wind you back to the media landscape in 1972:

• 3 US TV networks dominated the market
• Nightly newscasts at 6 pm were ‘must see TV’...Walter Cronkite anyone?
• 2 networks in Canada
• 2 daily newspapers, the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail
• Local radio

Watergate dominated the news in all media, especially TV.  It ushered in new phrases including ‘Deep Throat’ a particularly memorable one in reference to the source that gave the reporters much inside information.

‘Tricky Dick’ was another that was applied to President Richard Nixon…and it stuck for the rest of his life.

Along with probably his most memorable utterance, ‘I am not a crook’.

After the fact, the movie ‘All the President’s Men’ told the incredible story of the lies, duplicity and tactics that the President and ‘all his men’ told to defend themselves.

Watergate was also a two part story.  The first was the break in itself which was illegal.

The second part and the more interesting one was the ‘Coverup’ that escalated right up to the President himself in the process swallowing up everybody in the executive branch of his Presidency.  

A sidebar:  Richard Nixon was a Republican.  I can’t help but note with much interest that US politics since 2016 have taken place at the hands of Republicans.  But I digress…  

But the story that caught my interest concerned one of the Watergate conspirators, John Dean, chief counsel for President Nixon from 1970 until he was fired by in April 1973. 

He was involved in early strategy sessions discussing plans to bug the Democratic headquarters and later to photograph documents.

After the break in occurred and the coverup was in full swing, he was intimately involved in advising the President and team on defensive strategies.

But he smelled a rat!  And he was right.  He was being set up as a scapegoat for the entire affair and despite his deep involvement, decided to look after himself.  

‘United we stand, divided we fall’!

He decided to cooperate with the Senate Watergate Committee who were investigating the Watergate scandal.  He made a deal that resulted in him being found guilty at his criminal trial but with reduced jail time.  His testimony and subsequent trial was covered by all the news outlets, in particular TV.  They enjoyed massive ratings and we enjoyed front row seats to the biggest political drama we had seen.

Dean’s testimony was crucial in linking Richard Nixon to Watergate.  He resigned in disgrace and was forever tainted.  He never got redemption.

Dean on the other hand rose from the ashes and built a new life first as an investment banker (and why not), an author and lecturer.  

And that’s what we like isn’t it.  Redemption comes to the person who is contrite, takes responsibility for their actions and pays the price.  That strategy wipes the slate clean…you get to move on with your life.

But Watergate was just the beginning…

Watergate exposed the darker, corrosive nature of politics.  Today  with social media, politics has become a dismal game that preys on our basest fears.  

James Taylor captured the zeitgeist in this song about Nixon and Watergate:

I just now got the news; He seems to tell us lies

And still we will believe him; Then together he will lead us

Into darkness, my friends

Until next time…

Altamont: The end of the Age of Aquarius

When the moon is in the Seventh House

And Jupiter aligns with Mars

Then peace will guide the planets

And love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius

Can you get more optimistic than that classic from the 5th Dimension?

We remember the 1960s fondly:  The age of Aquarius.

It was a time of optimism and promise.  

US President John F Kennedy made the bold promise of successfully landing a man on the moon and bringing him home within the decade.  

This was most apparent in the music and broad hippie culture of peace and love…combined with protests over the Vietnam war.  

The 60’s came to a screeching halt on December 6, 1969 at the Altamont music festival in California. 

The Altamont Speedway Free Festival as it was called, was billed as Woodstock West in reference to Woodstock, the iconic event on Max Yasgur’s farm in New York a few months earlier.  

"I'm going down to Yasgur's Farm

Gonna join in a rock 'n' roll band

Got to get back to the land

Set my soul free"

Those lyrics are from ‘Woodstock’ by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.  It was their first live performance with that lineup and they defined Woodstock.

At Altamont only a few months later, Santana, Jefferson Airplane and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, The Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead were on the lineup. It was to be another celebration of peace and love!

By all accounts things were bad from the start.  “A bad vibe was in the air”. 

Planning was chaotic.  

The venue changed location at the last minute, the stage setup was problematic and to cap it off, the Hells Angels were hired to provide security.

Rowdiness and violence during the performances prompted 

The Grateful Dead to cancel their performance…and they were the main organizers!

When The Rolling Stones finally took the stage to close out  the event, all hell broke loose! 

Fans had been storming the stage and the Hells Angels played fast and loose with their interpretation of security.  There were multiple altercations with fans…fights broke out…lots of bruised heads.

The Stones stopped their set and pleaded for calm.

That’s when things got crazy.

Meredith Curly Hunter was among those who had been beaten back by the Hells Angels as he tried to get closer to the stage.  He took it badly, left and came back with a pistol, out for revenge for the bad treatment.  

He was killed in the ensuing melee.  Figuratively and in reality, the 60s died that day.  Best captured in the opening lyrics from the Rolling Stones, Gimmie Shelter:

A storm is threatening my very life today

If I don't get some shelter…I'm gonna fade away

Altamont symbolized the breakdown of the love and peace idealism of the 1960s and the potential dangers of large, poorly planned gatherings. 

It is remembered as a tragic and violent event that had a profound impact on the history of rock music festivals and the cultural perception of the 1960s.

The 1970s were marked by significant cultural movements, shifts in fashion and music, and pivotal moments in civil rights, feminism, and environmental awareness. 

However, it was also a decade of economic uncertainty and political turmoil, making it a complex and transformative period in history.

These lyrics from ‘One Tin Soldier’ by the Canadian band, The Original Caste speak to the boiling up 1970’s culture:

Go ahead and hate your neighbor, go ahead and cheat a friend

Do it in the name of heaven, you can justify it in the end

Until next time…

Culture shock: Growing up in the 1970's

The chorus from the Joni Mitchell hit, Big Yellow Taxi“ released in 1970 goes like this:

“Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone”. 

I grew up in the 1970s, the son of Jamaican immigrants.  It was a turbulent decade that mirrored the turbulence we experienced as a family beginning a new life in Canada.

The culture shock of immigrating to Canada from our home in Jamaica was just the first a cold reality after having spent many vacations in Canada in the years leading up to our big move. 

In 1967 we travelled to Canada for the first time. We were here to visit family and friends in and around Toronto.  That was exciting enough but an even bigger part of the trip was our planned visit to Montreal to take in Expo 67. 

Canada and certainly Montreal was buzzing that year in celebrating 100 years as a nation.  

I’ll always look back fondly on the road trip down the 401 to Montreal.  I got to ride on the top of the luggage in the back of a huge Ford ‘woodie’ station wagon.  Yes, those were the days before seat belts and airbags!

We spent 3 days touring Expo; going on the rides; visiting the pavilions; riding the monorail; stuffing ourselves with food.  On one of the days it rained…we splashed in the puddles and got soaked thoroughly.  That was a glorious day.

Montreal and Expo 67 began our love affair with Canada.

A few years later when the violence in Jamaica intensified, my parents made the decision to leave our homeland.  Canada was the choice; us kids didn’t push back.  

The 4 hour airplane trip transported us from the world we knew into one we thought we knew.  As is typical for most immigrants, we experienced the culture shock of moving from a visitor to a resident.  

And what a shock it was!

We dressed differently.  We spoke with a thick accent.  We looked different. We ate different food.  

Thankfully I liked rock music…I know, a kid from Jamaica who didn’t like Reggae?

Rock…that became my ticket to adapting and fitting in. 

And that’s what we did back then.  Fit in.  

I’ve liked rock for as long as I can remember. In Jamaica my early music collection included Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Jefferson Airplane and Led Zeppelin.  

In Canada I added The Guess Who and a little 3 piece heavy rock band called Rush.  A highlight of my mid-teens was seeing Rush play live very early in their career:  In Brampton in front of no more than 90 fans, they rocked the place!  I was hooked!

Until next time...