Kent State Shooting Essay

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The Kent State Shooting

On May 4, 1970 members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of Kent state students. The event triggered a Nationwide student strike that forced Hundreds of colleges and Universities to close. Haldeman 1978 states that the shootings at Kent State began the slide into Watergate, eventually destroying the Nixon administration Beyond the direct effects of the May 4th, the shooting have certainly come to symbolize the deep political and social divisions that so Sharply divided the country during the Vietnam war era.

On April 30, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon appeared on national television to Announce the invasion of Cambodia by the United States and the need to draft 150,000 more Soldiers for an expansion for the Vietnam war effort. This caused massive protests on campus Throughout the country, At Kent State University in Ohio, Protesters launched a Demonstration that consisted of setting fire to the ROTC building and making the governor of Ohio to dispatch 900 National Guardsmen to the campus.

As protests became more angry, the Ohio National Guard was summoned to Kent. These Guardsmen became the center of the controversy for their decision to fire into the crowd. Many Of these young men were no older than the student protesters and had joined the guard in order To dodge the draft. But the real story of what
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At the 1975 federal civil trial, General Robert Canterbury, the highest Official of the guard, testified that widespread consensus existed that the rally should be prohibited because of the tension that existed and the possibility that violence would again Occur, Canterbury further testified that Kent state president Robert White had explicitly Told Canterbury that any demonstration would the highly dangerous in contrast, White testified That He could recall no conversation with Canterbury regarding banning the