42 Years Ago: Four Dead in Ohio

In response to Richard Nixon’s offensive in Cambodia, begun on April 30, 1970, students all over the nation began  to protest.  In Kent, Ohio, the home of the state’s regional college, Kent State University, the protests were fierce.  Republican Governor James Rhodes, a “law and order” type, brought in the National Guard and personally oversaw operations there on May 2, 1970.  The tragedy occured two days later.  Four United States citizens were gunned down. 

Let us weep.  Here’s a good place to read all about it.  Kent State, 1970

As an aside, I was 13 years old when Kent State happened.  I lived 12 miles away in Hudson, Ohio.  Students often came to Hudson to play frisbee on our idyllic village green.  Our family had dear friends in Kent, and we went in the family station wagon to help them get out.  One of the most indelible memories I have is of National Guard snipers in the trees around the local school. 

Never forget.

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7 thoughts on “42 Years Ago: Four Dead in Ohio

  1. That’s the iconic image, what? Her name is Mary Ann Vecchio. She was a runaway, and knew one of the dead students, as well as one of the wounded.

  2. And one survivor remains paralyzed in a wheelchair to this day, while others among the injuried still suffer from the injuries — physically. Others of us still bear other sorts of scars and also annually mark this day for decades now. And we always will do so.

    Thank you for doing so, too. Never forget.

  3. Whenever I have heard “Ohio” over the years, the memories of Kent State have come flooding back, along with the tears, the anger, the outrage.

    I saw Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young perform it in concert in Oakland not too long after the song was released. It wasn’t just another rock star dalliance with current events. Neil Young’s anger and passion were palpable.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdVMGKOFIwY (an acoustic performance by Neil Young worth watching)

  4. Neil Young is God. OK, that is flippant. He lives a couple doors away from my sister-in-law. I’m going out there in September. Maybe I’ll go and knock on his door. No, I will carry no needle. I’m nore apt to invite him to the Bar Mitzvah.

  5. I was trying to get into Kent that night from Akron and the National Guard had the freeway shut off. This song is like a hymm to me. They sang it with a purpose not for money.

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