Kent State Shooting Research Paper

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On May 4, 1970, the shooting on the Kent State campus took place. The National guard shooting of the students at Kent State University occurred as a result of the students protesting the bombing of Cambodia, which caused the war to expand. The U.S president Nixon sent troops into Cambodia after he promised to withdraw them from Vietnam. On April 30, 1970, when Nixon gave a speech announcing the invasion of Cambodia, anti-war factions rose up across the United States. The speech caused a significant reaction from the American college student population and led into great controversy and heated debates.On May 2, 1970, several unknown students burnt down the ROTC building, which directly caused the military actions they were so vehemently protesting against. Also, more than a thousand protesters gathered …show more content…

After that on May 4th, four students were killed and nine were injured in this event and this caused a confrontation between the National Guard and group of students. There was a debate from two main perspectives: the government and the students.The government believed that the guardsmen fired in self-defense, and the shootings were therefore justified. But the students disagreed with this statement, they thought that the guardsmen were not in immediate danger, and therefore the shootings were unjustified.This event was called Kent State massacre, also known as the May 4th massacre.

The perspective from the students is that there was no immediate danger, therefore the shootings were unjustified. According to John Cleary, who was one of the nine injured students, and a person very much against the war, he still feels that the guards had no reason to fire upon the students. Students do not think their action was wrong. They were not supporting invasion in Cambodia and wanted to express their thoughts by protesting. So the guardsmen had no reason to shoot them and stop them unless the national government

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