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Home > Reference > Education > Colleges and Universities > North America > United States > Ohio > Kent State University > May 4, 1970 Shootings

On May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in northeast Ohio, USA, a historic tragedy occurred under the noonday sun. Four students were killed and nine other students were injured during an anti-war confrontation when the Ohio National Guard fired 67 shots into an unarmed crowd of young protesters. Perhaps 1,000 Kent State University anti-war students were protesting the April 30 American military invasion of Cambodia as well as the National Guard invasion of the Kent State campus. The fateful incident was the culmination of four days of Kent State anti-war protests, demonstrations and confrontation. Militant anti-war protests created a situation where Ohio Governor James Rhodes ordered hundreds of Ohio National Guardsmen to the Kent State campus. At noon on May 4, 1970, approximately 75 guardsmen attacked a peaceful demonstation with tear-gas and chased the students over a hilltop. After a tense stand-off, the guardsmen seemed to retreat back up and over the hilltop. However, perhaps a dozen members of Troop G stopped, turned and fired 67 shots from the hilltop at 12:24pm. The closest student was 60 feet away. Most of the victims, including all of the fatalities, were located in the Prentice Hall parking lot at the bottom of the hill. Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder were shot to death by M-1 rifle bullets. Allison and Jeffrey were active protesters. Sandra and William were bystanders killed as they walked away to class. The students were killed at distances of 275 feet to nearly 400 feet away from the shooters who fired high-powered rifles. All of the victims killed and wounded were full-time students at Kent State University. American student demonstrators were also shot down and killed elsewhere before and after "Kent State". However, the May 4, 1970, tragedy was unique: Kent State was the only incident where female students were killed; Kent State was where the most students were killed (four); and the Kent State tragedy triggered the only nation-wide student stike in American history. Nearly 5,000,000 students joined the national student strike in May of 1970. Hundreds of colleges and universities were shut down by the massive wave of protests that were sparked by the Kent State killings and the US invasion of Cambodia. The expansion of the war from Vietnam into Cambodia provoked the Kent State situation. The Kent State tragedy provoked a monumental wave of student protests and crisis across America in May of 1970. The Kent State tragedy was a crucial turning point in American history. President Richard Nixon was pushed nearly to the point of collapse after the Kent State tragedy. Public opinion soon shifted against the US war in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. The government brought the war to a speedier conclusion. In response to the passionate cry of youth, the legal American voting-age was lowered from 21 to 18 in the months after the turmoil in May of 1970. Finally, Congress passed the War Powers Act which limits the power of Presidents to declare war without the support of Congress and the American people. The Kent State tragedy of May 4, 1970, remains recognized as one of the most significant and controversial events in modern American history. The official government FBI investigation concluded the shootings were "...unwarranted, unjustified and inexcuseable".

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