Kent State University Protests

670 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social movement against vietnam war

Mischke 1

One of the most violent protests of the Vietnam War took place in May of 1970 at Kent State University in Ohio. Protests were common across America during the war but this was by far the most violent. On May 4, l970 members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of Kent State University protesters, killing four and wounding nine of the Kent State students. The event triggered a nationwide student strike that caused many colleges and universities to shut down . This deeply divided the country politically and made ordinary citizens take notice of the protests that were taking place across the nation’s college campuses.

Bringing the Ohio National Guard onto the Kent State University campus was related to america being involved in the Vietnam War. Richard Nixon was elected president of the United States in 1968 based in part on his promise to bring an end to the war. In late April of 1970 the United States invaded Cambodia and expanded the Vietnam War.

Protests occurred the next day, Friday, May 1, across United States college campuses where anti-war viewpoints ran high. At Kent State University, many speeches against the war and the Nixon administration were given. Satrom, the Mayor was fearful that local forces would be insufficient to meet the amount of protesters, and he called the Governor's office to make an official request for assistance from the Ohio National Guard for the protest on Monday. At noon on Monday May 4th, General Canterbury of the National Guard made the decision to order the protesters to clear out. A Kent State police officer standing by the Guard made an announcement using a bullhorn. When the protesters did not clear out, they drove across the Commons and started to tell eve...

... middle of paper ...

...vent changed the way protests were handled and many of the same laws apply to demonstrations today. There have been other protest that have gotten out of hand but none that compare to what happened at Kent State. New laws that require permits and specific places that protests can be held came into law after this event. Society today still holds protests over many things, the war in Iraq, the recession, and many other political ideas. This event showed me that their are many events in history that can change someones mind about the world. This event made me understand more of why people take sides in different ways. The senseless killing of these students reminds everyone that no matter what political view you have , you should have the right to protest peacefully as stated in the constitution. Everyone has the same rights and responsibilities as US citizens.

Show More
Related

  • Protests Against the Vietnam War

    1005 Words  | 3 Pages

    James A. Baldwin once said, “The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose” (BrainyQuote.com). In the 1960s, “the man” was youth across the country. The Vietnam war was in full force, and students across the country were in an outrage. Society needed an excuse to rebel against the boring and safe way of life they were used to; Vietnam gave them the excuse they needed. Teenagers from different universities came together and formed various organizations that protested the Vietnam war for many reasons. These reasons included protesting weapons and different tactics used in the war, and the reason the U.S. entered the war in the first place. These get-togethers had such a monumental impact on their way of life that it was famously named the Anti-War Movement. When the Vietnam War ended, The United States did not have a real concrete reason why; there were a bunch of theories about why the war ended. Through negative media attention and rebellious youth culture, the Anti-War Movement made a monumental impact in the ending of the Vietnam War.

    Read More

  • Four Dead in Ohio

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    The "Four Dead in Ohio" On Thursday, April 30, 1970, President Richard Nixon told the American people that they were sending troops into Cambodia. This upset many Americans because Nixon was brought into office due to his promise to end the war. In his first year of presidency it looked like the end of the war was near, but with this announcement the end of the war was not evident. This pro-war decision by Nixon upset many people and led to riots all over the country. How could the President make the decision to continue the war when he promised to end it?

    Read More

  • JFK and the Vietnam War

    1800 Words  | 4 Pages

    JOHN F. KENNEDY IN VIETNAM There are many critical questions surrounding United States involvement in Vietnam. American entry to Vietnam was a series of many choices made by five successive presidents during these years of 1945-1975. The policies of John F. Kennedy during the years of 1961-1963 were ones of military action, diplomacy, and liberalism. Each of his decision was on its merits at the time the decision was made. The belief that Vietnam was a test of the Americas ability to defeat communists in Vietnam lay at the center of Kennedy¡¦s policy. Kennedy promised in his inaugural address, Let every nation know...that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty. From the 1880s until World War II, France governed Vietnam as part of French Indochina, which also included Cambodia and Laos. The country was under the formal control of an emperor, Bao Dai. From 1946 until 1954, the Vietnamese struggled for their independence from France during the first Indochina War. At the end of this war, the country was temporarily divided into North and South Vietnam. North Vietnam came under the control of the Vietnamese Communists who had opposed France and aimed for a unified Vietnam under Communist rule. Vietnamese who had collaborated with the French controlled the South. For this reason the United States became involved in Vietnam because it believed that if all of the country fell under a Communist government, Communism would spread throughout Southeast Asia and further. This belief was known as the domino theory. The decision to enter Vietnam reflected America¡¦s idea of its global role-U.S. could not recoil from world leadership. The U.S. government supported the South Vietnamese government. The U.S. government wanted to establish the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), which extended protection to South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in case of Communist subversion. SEATO, which came into force in 1955, became the way which Washington justified its support for South Vietnam; this support eventually became direct involvement of U.S. troops. In 1955, the United States picked Ngo Dinh Diem to replace Bao Dai as head of the anti-Communist regime in South Vietnam. Eisenhower chose to support Ngo Dinh Diem. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brookline, Mass., on May 29, 1917. Kennedy graduated from Harvard University in 1940 and joined the Navy the next year.

    Read More

  • Kent State Shootings

    1512 Words  | 4 Pages

    President Nixon created a public atmosphere in which students who opposed the war were fair game for those who supported the government. In the week following Kent State, construction workers rioted on Wall State, attacking antiwar protesters and sending many to the hospital, some permanently crippled. It was reported at the time, a day or two after the deaths, President Nixon called the parents of the only slain student known to be a bystander- he was a member of ROTC- to express condolences. The phone never rang in the other parents' houses. The message couldn't have been clearer: they had it coming.

    Read More

  • President Nixon and the Vietnam War

    2530 Words  | 6 Pages

    Nixon’s approach to the war was Birchesque. He campaigned for president in 1968 as a peace candidate by pointing out that he had been raised as a Quaker and promising to bring the troops home. His path to peace, however, entailed an escalated war. After his election as president, he unleashed a ferocious air assault on the Vietnamese and extended the ground war into Laos and Cambodia. When the anti-war movement criticized these measures, Nixon did what any Bircher would do: he decried the anti-war movement as a communist conspiracy that was prolonging the war and that deserved to be treated as an internal security threat.

    Read More

  • President Nixon's Secret Bombing of Cambodia

    2404 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the 1960s and 1970s, the most controversial war the United States had ever been involved in during its rich two-hundred year history would engulf the country, ultimately leading to the collapse of a president, and the division of a nation. The Vietnam War was a military struggle fought in Vietnam and neighboring countries from 1959-1975 involving the North Vietnamese and NLF (National Liberation Front) versus the United States and the South Vietnamese ("The Vietnam..."). In 1969, newly elected President Richard M. Nixon, aiming to achieve "peace with honor" in Vietnam, began to put his "Vietnamization" policy into place -- removing the number of American military personnel in the country and transferring combat roles to the South Vietnamese ("Speeches..."). But at the same time, Nixon resumed the secret bombing of North Vietnam and launched B-52 bombing raids over Cambodia, intending to wipe out NLF and North Vietnamese base camps along the border. The intensive secret bombing, codenamed Operation Menu, lasted for four years and was intentionally concealed from the American public; meanwhile, Nixon ordered the invasion of Cambodia by United States troops, arguing that it was necessary to protect the security of American units. This invasion into an allegedly neutral country was cause for much protest in the States, especially on college campuses such as Kent State University, where students rioted and held walk-outs. Ultimately, the secret bombing of neutral Cambodia was deliberately conducted without the consent of Congress, violating the articles outlined in the United States Constitution, and would have been grounds for impeachment had Nixon not resigned under the cloud of the Watergate scandal in August of 1974 ("Richard M....

    Read More

  • Kent State University Shooting Essay

    1360 Words  | 3 Pages

    What happened at Kent State University? This is a question that many Americans were asking following the crisis on the Kent campus. In the days preceding May 4, 1970, protests, disruption, and violence erupted on the university grounds. These acts were the students’ reaction to President Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia. The events surround the deaths of four students in Kent, Ohio are disorderly and violent. In the government’s investigation after the shootings, the officials made several recommendations to students of the future. As the massacre is looked back upon, there are several key events that set the tragic day into motion.

    Read More

  • Ain't Scared of your Jails

    1527 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the first documented incidents of the sit-ins for the civil rights movement was on February 1, 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee. Four college African-Americans sat at a lunch counter and refused to leave. During this time, blacks were not allowed to sit at certain lunch counters that were reserved for white people. These black students sat at a white lunch counter and refused to leave. This sit-in was a direct challenge to southern tradition. Trained in non-violence, the students refused to fight back and later were arrested by Nashville police. The students were drawn to activist Jim Lossen and his workshops of non-violence. The non-violent workshops were training on how to practice non-violent protests. John Lewis, Angela Butler, and Diane Nash led students to the first lunch counter sit-in. Diane Nash said, "We were scared to death because we didn't know what was going to happen." For two weeks there were no incidences with violence. This all changed on February 27, 1960, when white people started to beat the students. Nashville police did nothing to protect the black students. The students remained true to their training in non-violence and refused to fight back. When the police vans arrived, more than eighty demonstrators were arrested and summarily charged for disorderly conduct. The demonstrators knew they would be arrested. So, they planned that as soon as the first wave of demonstrators was arrested, a second wave of demonstrators would take their place. If and when the second wave of demonstrators were arrested and removed, a third would take their place. The students planned for multiple waves of demonstrators.

    Read More

  • 1968 Chicago Riots

    800 Words  | 2 Pages

    Or that the racial tensions exploded into riots in many cities, particularly after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. In addition, frustrations with the political process mounted on both the left and right. Left-wing thinkers attributed problems to the underlying causes of the demonstrations, notably the continuing war in Vietnam and the Government's failure to address racial and social inequalities quickly enough. Right-wing politicians argued that the demonstrators themselves were the problem and blamed the confrontations on indulgent political officials, although most Americans fell between the two. There was a growing feeling that the government's Vietnam policy was not working and that many social injustices went unaddressed. (Chicago Riots Mar the Democratic National

    Read More

  • American Public Opinion of the Vietnam War

    1562 Words  | 4 Pages

    The taxpayers were upset because the cost of war was approximately $100,000,000,000 dollars and the American taxpayers had to pay for it. Students were against the war because of the African Americans. they were the next to be drafted. The students saw the Vietnam War as something they could fight against. They held peaceful Archer 10 demonstrations and protests at universities all across the country.

    Read More

  • The U.S. Contained Communism In Vietnam

    1513 Words  | 4 Pages

    The first United States involvement in Vietnam began in the late 1940's, long before it escalated to include the United States Military. Because of the basic terms or the Truman Doctrine, the United States was drawn into the Vietnam conflict. The Truman Doctrine dealt with fears of Communism, the domino theory, and a feeling there was a need for containment. All of Vietnam was in danger of falling into the hands of Communism. The threat of Communism that was unfolding could end with the United States worst fears coming true, or a successful effort of containment and the spread of democracy.

    Read More

  • The Vietnam War

    1443 Words  | 3 Pages

    There were many events that lead up the Vietnam War, it started in 1945 with the hostilities between the French and Vietminh. “Geopolitical Strategy, economics, domestic US politics, and cultural arrogance shaped the growing American involvement in Vietnam” (Anderson 1). As a matter of fact, the Vietnam War was several wars, but it was not until 1962 that America had their first combat mission, however, Americans were killed during ambushes by the Vietnamese before the first combat mission. There is much controversy over the reasons for the Vietnam War, supported by the several different books and articles written about the war. “The most famous atrocity occurred in a tiny hamlet called My Lai in March 1968” (Detzer 127). History shows that the reaction of many Americans to the attack by US soldiers on the village of My Lai during the Vietnam War was opposition, and the actions of the US soldiers during the My Lai Massacre will be forever remembered as a significant part of the Vietnam War and American History.

    Read More

  • President Lyndon. B Johnson and the Vietnam War

    1385 Words  | 3 Pages

    The conflict in Vietnam for the United States started when President Dwight D. Eisenhower went along with the domino theory and sent in military advisors in South Vietnam to stop the communist movement from taking place in South Vietnam. The Vietnam conflict was between the communist’s and the United States. North Vietnam was led by Ho Chi Minh, and Ho Chi Minh led the Viet Cong, a guerilla group to help spread communism. The United States were supporters of the South Vietnam because they wanted them to maintain their government rather than falling to the domino theory of communism. After Eisenhower’s term ended John F. Kennedy became president and took control of the situation of Vietnam but on November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated. Lyndon B. Johnson succeeded presidency and the problems of Vietnam were left to himself. In 1963, the Tonkin Gulf incident occurred where, the U.S.S Maddox was attacked by North Vietnamese naval ships on august 2 1964. Two days later an even more controversial attack happened where it was reported another ship was attacked again but has later been proven false. Johnson used these events to gain congressional approval to enter into Vietnam. However the Tonkin Gulf Incident was questioned to have even happened which makes the war undoubtedly questionable Immediately after the incident . Many troops were killed in Vietnam and the United States eventually lost the war and does not achieve their goal to stop communism. Despite the large amount of conflict in Vietnam that needed to be resolved, escalating the war was the wrong idea by Johnson, as the many consequences of the war for the United States outweighed the potential spread of communism.

    Read More

  • The Deaf President Now Movement At Gallaudet University

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to the videos I watched, not only were the students involved in the protests, but so were some of the faculty and alumni of Gallaudet University. The students demanded four things from the board:

    Read More

  • Radical Protest At VPI

    113 Words  | 1 Pages

    I am writing to you as a student and radical protester at VPI. I always participate in the protests that we have around campus, because I believe it’s important to voice what you believe in. Unlike the other groups around campus, the ones who chose not to get involved, I am willing to make a difference. It upsets me to see how the campus and the police have treated the 107 students that participated in the sit in. These students were simply standing up for their beliefs. We should be more focused on the war instead of an issue that caused no harm.

    Read More

More about Kent State University Protests

Open Document