A Missed Stitch in Time: an essay on the Kent State Shootings

On Monday May 4, 1970 four young people were shot and killed by Ohio National Guardsmen. Another nine were wounded, one so badly as to be permanently paralyzed from his waist down. Between 61 and 67 bullets were fired by 29 of the 77 guardsmen who were at Kent State that day. In these 13 seconds of gunfire, only a few of the soldiers aimed at the students, most of the guardsmen shot at the ground or into the air (4Waysite).

In 1968 Nixon became president, and promised to bring an end to America's involvement in the Vietnam War. During Nixon's first year of presidency, America's involvement did indeed seem to be dwindling. However, in late April of 1970, the United States invaded Cambodia, widening the war. A national television and radio announcement was made on April 30, 1970, by Nixon himself, saying that the invasion of Cambodia's purpose was to attack the headquarters of the Viet Cong (Lewis).

Lewis and Weldon Borland

[Portrait of Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis, Cecil Pa...

Common Western Blue butterfly

On May 1, 1970, all across American college campuses, those in which the anti-war sentiment ran high, protests erupted. Kent State was no exception. The protests began innocently enough, but the events quickly escalated into violence between the protesters and local police. The exact cause of this outbreak of violence is still widely debated today, although, there were cases of bonfires being built in the streets, cars being stopped, police cars hit with bottles, and store windows broken. The entire Kent police force was called to duty, as well as officers from surrounding communities. Kent Mayor Leroy Satrom declared a state of emergency, as well as calling in backup and closing all the bars. This declaration only proved to increase the size of angry spectators, causing the police to resort to tear gas to disperse the crowd from the downtown...