By Don Radebaugh — On May 4, 1970, at precisely 12:24 p.m., the Ohio National Guard open-fired on unarmed college students at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. The students at Kent State were protesting President Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia. Nixon had campaigned on a promise to end the war in Vietnam. Then on April 30, 1970, Nixon announced on national TV his plans to invade Cambodia. College campuses across the country erupted in protest.
Tension escalated across the Kent State campus over the three days leading up to May 4. Then, on a request for help from Kent’s Mayor, Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes decided to send in the Ohio National Guard.
Most of the students at Kent State thought the Guardsmen had blanks loaded in their M-1 rifles. There was really nothing to worry about. Besides, the Guard wasn’t about to fire real bullets into unarmed students. That just couldn’t and wouldn’t happen in America, certainly not on a college campus. But it did. After 67 rounds went off over 13 seconds, 4 students lay dead, or dying. Nine other students were hit but would survive; one, however, suffered paralysis.
The students who died are (left to right in the cover photo): Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, William Schroeder and Allison Krause. Schroeder and Scheuer were not participating in the protests; they were simply walking to their next class when they were struck down. Why the Guard began firing is still unclear to this day.
I’ve traveled to Kent State to tour the University several times; in fact my daughter will be graduating from Kent State this fall. I had always wondered how the University handled what happened there 48 years ago. Yes, I realize I could have just googled it; but I wanted to see for myself. Did they pretend it never happened, hoping it’d go away over time?…or would they embrace it and make it part of their culture? Thankfully, they chose the latter “course.”
I was so moved by everything I saw and felt. There is a beautiful granite memorial up on the hill next to Taylor Hall where everything went down. The memorial leads to a walking tour that helps further explain what happened there. There is even a Kent State University May 4 Visitors Center and Museum that provides “an accurate and balanced account of the history that happened there.” The museum tells the “story of an academic community that was and remains deeply committed to teaching the lessons of May 4, 1970, and applying them to make a positive difference in the world.” Beverly Warren, President
I had also wondered if there would be any markers where the four students fell. Indeed there are. In fact those hallowed spaces are clearly marked with personal memorials. Students, who still park in the same lot where Scheuer, Krause and Schroeder fell, maneuver in and out of the lot to this day, around the memorials of course. On the walking path where Miller fell, students navigate around his memorial; but not through it.
I was impressed with Kent State’s commitment to never forgetting what happened there. That’s the kind of University that students came be proud to attend and graduate from. In fact, if you are a student at Kent State University, part of the curriculum is taking a class on what happened on that fateful day. No…the University did not turn their heads away from what happened; they embraced it and turned it into a college course, an important history lesson that every student should learn.
No matter how well we ever understand what happened at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, those four students did not deserve to die; that much I know. So here’s to those four beautiful students who never got to tell their stories. Who never got to grow up and become all they could be…this one’s for you Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder. #NeverForgetMay4
“Tin soldiers and Nixon coming…
“We’re finally on our own…
“This summer I hear the drumming…
“Four dead in Ohio.”
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