Last week I uploaded and discussed the song “Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. As I explained last week, Neil Young wrote this song in wake of the Kent State Massacre. The Kent State Massacre dates back to 1970 – during the height of the various culture wars and anti-war protests that occurred throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s. Much of the protests and activist endeavors were centered on college campuses. Young students rebelled against the traditions and values that characterized their parents’ generation and protested the current administration’s military and civil rights policies.
The series of protests that lead to the Kent State Massacre began on May 1st in response to President Nixon’s announcement that he planned to deploy troops in Cambodia. Angry students burned their draft cards and one student even burned a copy of the U.S. Constitution. As day turned to night the tension escalated and protestors vandalized bars, shops, lit fires in the street, and threw beer cans at police officers. Kent Mayor Leroy Stratom declared a state of emergency and ordered that all local bars close early. Over the next two days the crowd swelled to over a thousand protesters. The protestors grew more aggressive with each day, lighting the campus ROTC building on fire and continuing to hassle with policemen. In the midst of the tension and rumors of planned violence, Governor Rhodes summoned the Ohio National Guard to come to Kent.
On May 4th over 2,000 protestors gathered in front of Kent State University. The Ohio National Guard attempted to order the crowd to disperse and when this failed they resorted to tear gas. Tear gas also proved ineffective. At this point the story becomes hazy. The various witnesses interviewed offer slightly different accounts but the generally accepted story is that the National Guard advanced toward the protesters with their bayonets and the protestors continued to be hostile. At exactly 12:24 in the afternoon 29 of the 77 guardsmen fired their weapons. By the end of the 13 seconds of firing four students were dead and nine were injured. Two of those killed participated in the protest and the other two were simply walking by.
What actually happened that day is up for debate. Members of the National Guard claim that a protestor fired a sniper in their direction and that they were fearful for their lives. A number of students claim that they heard a guardsmen order his men to fire at the students. The only recording of the event is on a former communication student’s reel-tape recorder. However, the quality of the tape is extremely poor and cannot be used as a decisive account of what happened. The link I attached is an interview with the man who was Chief of Police and Director of Safety at Kent State University at the time of the shooting. He expressed the state of fear and paranoia that swept the campus. Unlike an account a protesting student may give, he attempts to rationalize the National Guard’s actions.
The Kent State Massacre is an example of how essential oral interviews are to recording history, but also how oral histories can be highly reflective of the individual’s personal stake in the event that they are recounting. This behavior can also be observed in similar protester or civilian verse officer situations like the Boston Massacre. Historians are faced with the difficult job of piecing together one cohesive and accurate narrative with material that often tells conflicting stories.
http://www.library.kent.edu//drc/oral_histories/item_detail.php?search=browse_roles&itemId=450
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