The Kent State Massacre: The History and Legacy of the Shootings That Shocked America

“Suddenly, they turned around, got on their knees, as if they were ordered to, they did it all together, aimed. And personally, I was standing there saying, they're not going to shoot, they can't do that. If they are going to shoot, it's going to be blank.” – One eyewitness to the shootings

The Vietnam War was one of the most controversial events in American history, and political arguments over the war brought about massive cultural changes across the country during the 1960s. The war ultimately fueled the hippie counterculture, and anti-war protests spread across the country on campuses and in the streets. While some protesters spread peace and love, others rioted, and in August 1968, riots broke out in the streets of Chicago, leading to incredible scenes of National Guardsmen and police confronting 10,000 anti-war rioters during the Democratic National Convention.

By the end of the decade, Vietnam had left tens of thousands of Americans dead, spawned a counterculture with millions of protesters, and destroyed a presidency, but there was plenty more yet to come. Vietnam was already wildly unpopular by 1970, but when President Nixon announced the bombing of Cambodia on April 30, 1970, protests exploded across college campuses. Some of those protests took place at Kent State in Kent, Ohio, and the state’s governor replied by declaring a state of emergency and sending the Ohio National Guard to the campus.

On May 4, a Monday, thousands of Kent State students decided to attend protests instead of class. Jeff Miller and his friends had tear gas shot at them by the Ohio National Guard, and Miller picked up one of the tear gas canisters and threw it back at the Guardsmen. At 12:24 p.m., some of the Guardsmen opened fire with live rounds. Miller was instantly killed by a shot through the mouth, and three others lay dead. None of the people wounded or killed were within 70 feet of the Guardsmen, and in the commotion of the scene, photographer John Filo took a picture of Miller’s body, surrounded by confused bystanders and a kneeling girl holding up her hands as if to ask, “Why?” The photo would win the Pulitzer Prize that year.

The shootings of unarmed protesters rattled the nation and inevitably led to hardened feelings and further protests. In the aftermath, other college student protesters hung banners that read "They Can't Kill Us All," and hundreds of campuses were brought to a standstill by protesting. Later estimates concluded that 4 million students joined protests across the country, and a protest in Washington, D.C. attracted about 100,000 in the days following the shootings. While both supporters and opponents of the war continued to debate with each other, sometimes heatedly, the shootings at Kent State led to Nixon’s establishment of the President’s Commission on Campus Unrest, and that group’s report went on to claim, “Even if the guardsmen faced danger, it was not a danger that called for lethal force. The 61 shots by 28 guardsmen certainly cannot be justified. Apparently, no order to fire was given, and there was inadequate fire control discipline on Blanket Hill. The Kent State tragedy must mark the last time that, as a matter of course, loaded rifles are issued to guardsmen confronting student demonstrators.”

The Kent State Massacre chronicles the events that led up to one of the country’s most notorious campus shootings, and the watershed moment that it came to represent for America during the Vietnam War. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Kent State shootings like never before, in no time at all.