Young Eyes on the Past

BY OLIVER SEKORKY

I’ve always been interested in the Vietnam War era, as it was a time of change and conflict within the United States. During the Vietnam War, the generation gap started to divide the country: The younger generation was generally more liberal; the older, more conservative.

It was a time when the saying “You are either over 30 or under 30” was politically accurate. This polarization set the foundation for later conflict and tragedy. The Kent State shootings were one such tragedy, becoming one of the most influential events in modern American history.

I scoured the Kent State University Libraries May 4 Collection and visited the campus to hear Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham speak. I interviewed Joe Gunderman, the producer of WKSU’s radio play May 4th Voices, and began to see a common theme. Because of the lack of diplomacy, LeRoy Satrom, mayor of Kent, and James A. Rhodes, governor of Ohio, were responsible for this tragedy.

Turmoil Of The Vietnam War Era

During the Vietnam War, the tension between the political parties erupted. During this period, a prominent line was drawn through the American population, dividing it into the older (and generally conservative) group and the younger (more liberal) group. This division laid the foundation for the shooting.

NIXON SENDS GIs INTO CAMBODIA

On Jan. 20, 1969, Richard Nixon was inaugurated president of the United States on a promise to end the war in Vietnam. Going against his promise, Nixon announced a campaign that entailed troops crossing into Cambodia to make offensive strikes against North Vietnamese targets. This escalation of the American involvement caused outrage among those who were eligible for the draft. The “Invasion of Cambodia,” as it came to be known, was the main reason student protesters gathered in Kent in May 1970.

Peace And Violence

On May 1, 1970, at the Kent State University campus, students held a peaceful rally protesting and speaking in opposition to the Vietnam War. Though the morning demonstration was peaceful, violence erupted in the evening. Students from the campus rioted and vandalized businesses that they thought were tied to the war.

MAY 2, 1970: A FIRE IS SET

The next day, Satrom ordered the National Guard to Kent out of fear of other riots materializing. This order was made without any attempt to defuse the situation diplomatically. As the first group of guardsmen drove into the city, they witnessed the Kent State ROTC building in flames.

It’s unclear how the fire started, but witnesses support the theory that a small number of students started the fire, while the rest of the crowd simply accumulated out of curiosity. The National Guard defended firefighters from the demonstrators and pushed them back into their dormitories. This tension between guardsmen and students, set up by the government, established an attitude of intolerance for one another.

MAY 3, 1970:

Troops On Campus

On May 3, students woke up to find more than 1,000 National Guardsmen occupying their campus. This was ill-received by the students, who believed that armed guardsmen would make violence and conflict unavoidable. Throughout the day, confusion seemed to have washed over the government leadership.

Gov. Rhodes had a press conference and made two very important statements. First, he called campus protesters “the worst type of people in America,” and said that he would use “every force of law to deal with them.” He also announced that he would be pursuing a court order, hoping to impose a statewide state of emergency. (This statement was somehow misinterpreted as an official green light for martial law on the Kent State campus.) Rhodes effectively plunged the situation into further chaos by ordering a fully armed military onto a college campus whose occupants were filled with nothing but hate for the government.

MAY 4, 1970

Despite the campus-wide ban on demonstrations, more than 1,000 students congregated in the school commons. The protest was ordered to be halted despite the lack of any violence. When that happened, some students began to throw rocks at the National Guard while Troop G advanced on the protesters using tear gas and fixed bayonets.

The guardsmen moved the protesters over Blanket Hill and onto the university’s football field. After cornering them, the guardsmen began to retreat back over Blanket Hill. That’s when 28 of the soldiers turned and opened fire. In 13 seconds, 67 shots were fired. Thirteen students were hit, four of them were killed and one was paralyzed for life. The four students killed were Jeffrey Miller, Allison Krause, William Schroeder and Sandra Scheuer.

SHOTS HEARD ’ROUND THE COUNTRY

After the shooting, the country became even more divided. A national student strike of 850 college campuses across the country was organized in response to the “May 4th Massacre,” which led to the temporary closure of colleges across the United States. To this day, the tragedy is a reminder of the importance of using diplomacy and the dangers of abusing power.

Oliver Sekorky is a freshman at Hawken Upper School in Gates Mills. His interest in history was fostered by his middle school history teacher, Frank O’Grady, who made creating Oliver’s History Day documentary a great experience. Oliver is a senior patrol leader of his Boy Scout Troop #421 and spends as much time in nature as possible. At school, he is on the robotics team, enjoys Outdoor Leadership and plays soccer. In the future, he would like to pursue a career in environmental engineering.

LEARN

Kent State University Libraries, Special Collections and Archives, has put together an extensive list of selected books about the tragedy at Kent State that includes At the Heart of the Whirlwind by John P. Adams (1974); Death at Kent State: How a Photograph Brought the Vietnam War Home to America by Michael Burgan (2016); Thirteen Seconds: Confrontation at Kent State by Joe Eszterhas and Michael D. Roberts (1970); and, When Truth Mattered: The Kent State Shootings 50 Years Later by Robert Giles (2020). For the complete list and more detailed descriptions of the books, visit ohiohistory.org/KSU1

Young Eyes on the Past highlights work by Ohio students in grades 4–12 participating in regional, state and national History Day competitions organized annually by the Ohio History Connection and local sponsoring organizations statewide.