A new analysis of audiotape of the May 4, 1970, shootings that left four students dead at Kent State University has found evidence that shortly before Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on the antiwar protesters, there was a loud, violent confrontation nearby that culminated in four pistol shots, according to today’s Plain Dealer, a Cleveland newspaper. The commotion and the gunfire, if the new analysis is accurate, could help explain why the 28 Guardsmen were quick to pull the trigger after they received an order of “prepare to fire.” But the 70-second gap between the pistol shots and the Guardsmen’s own gunfire leaves it open to question whether the two episodes are connected at all, suggesting that the mystery surrounding this tragic event will remain unresolved.
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9 Responses to Violent Confrontation Preceded and May Have Prompted Kent State Shootings, Tape Suggests
11228563 - October 8, 2010 at 4:06 pm
this was a horrible incident that just as with the Vietnam War was a mistake from which we still have not yet learned.
bnmoore - October 8, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Kent State should just let this 1970 incident be history, but every few years the Kent State shootings mysteriously are brought back up.
occidentalir - October 8, 2010 at 4:34 pm
“Kent State should just let this 1970 incident be history”History is meant to be studied, and learned from. By your line of thinking, we should stop studying the Pelopennesian Wars too.
francishamit - October 9, 2010 at 2:50 pm
The tragedy would have been avoided if the National Guard troops on the scene had followed the US Army doctrine on riot control. This forbids loaded weapons,or the issuance of ammunition for crowd control. The exception is one soldier, who stands next to the unit commander to provide counter-sniper fire. That soldier is not just anyone, but a senior NCO with Expert marksman ratings. The four students were kiled by a volley of fire. This doctrine was not followed and the troops were under the control of the State of Ohio, rather than being Federalized. But the US Army got the blame. A friend of mine who was with the SDS during the Chicago Riots of 1968 told me that the SDS leadership directed their members to confront and try to provoke the authorieis (police, national guard, etc) into this kind of over-reaction. I suspect that is what happened at Kent State. The mere sound of gunshots would be enought to provoke a response from the ranks whether or not there was an order to “fire”. Which was the reason for that Army policy.
betsyboze - October 10, 2010 at 12:17 pm
When I came to Kent State University as an administrator, I was surprised by how much May 4 defines and is a part of Kent State. I had expected this tragic event to be something that everyone wanted to forget. This “ancient” history is from our students’ grandparents era (yes, it has been that long). It is important to pass agong the lessons from this defining moment of our generation.
bnmoore - October 11, 2010 at 9:09 am
In the city of Kent the day before, I saw a large crowd of students rioting..burning cars, buildings, etc. Anarchy. Folks forget why the National Guard were called to the campus for that fateful day of May 4. When I said in my earlier post that KSU should let it go, that didn’t mean ignore history, but that did mean to let it go. KSU is noted only for May 4, 1970, and not for academics, athletics, nor research…for such a large school. Every few years, in fact every year on May 4 at a minimum, events are held to observe that day…and those students’ deaths. LET IT GO, KSU.
khammond49 - October 11, 2010 at 11:07 am
The suggestion that students were rioting and burning cars the day before the Guard killed four and wounded nine is simply a lie. There were windows broken in the main downtown area of Kent on the evening of Friday, May 1, and of course the ROTC building, the most visible and resented symbol of the presence on campus of the military machine which was committing war crimes and atrocities on a daily basis in Vietnam, was burned down on the evening of Saturday May 2. On May 4, a couple of thousand students assembled peacefully on the Commons to protest the invasion of Cambodia. This demonstration was violently attacked by the National Guard with the encouragement of then Governor Jim Rhodes, a close crony of organized crime in Ohio. There were no pistol shots fired 70 seconds before the Guard opened fire. Those of us who were there saw members of the Guard conspire at the bottom of the hill before marching to the top, turning, and firing in one single, coordinated and pre-determined volley into the ranks of unarmed students far below them. This was not a panic stricken reaction by frightened young men, it was a deliberate act of state terrorism aimed at silencing the student movement against war, racism and injustice in America. Photo and video evidence abundantly illustrates the movements and actions of the troops.
ucdsari - October 11, 2010 at 12:48 pm
What happened to the Chronicle’s “Report As Spam” buttons on commentary threads? *sigh*
greenhills73 - October 11, 2010 at 2:52 pm
ucdsari – I was going to ask the same thing.