4 Dead in Ohio (Kent State Shootings in 1970)

Run time: 03:07 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouCJ-hdMFyw   Posted on YouTube: February 28, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: September 25, 2009 By DU Member: Why Syzygy Views on DU: 899

 
I'm posting this for the little ones who weren't here in 1970. They are questioning the validity of protests.

The result: Nixon left office in disgrace. Congressional action to end funding. Vietnam War ended.

Wanted to post this one, but it's in the archives >
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OmZvyNrzAs

Movie trailer >
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piPqX90gYbY&feature=related


As foreseen by Secretary Laird, fallout from the incursion was quick in coming on the campuses of America's universities, as protests erupted against what was perceived as an expansion of the conflict into yet another country. On 4 May the unrest escalated to violence when Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four unarmed students (two of whom were not protesters) during the Kent State shootings. Two days later, at the University of Buffalo, police wounded four more demonstrators. On 8 May 100,000 protesters gathered in Washington and another 150,000 in San Francisco on only ten days notice.<61> Nationwide, 30 ROTC buildings went up in flames or were bombed while 26 schools witnessed violent clashes between students and police. National Guard units were mobilized on 21 campuses in 16 states.<62> The student strike spread nationwide, involving more than four million students and 450 universities, colleges and high schools in mostly peaceful protests and walkouts.

Simultaneously, public opinion polls during the second week of May showed that 50 percent of the American public approved of President Nixon's actions.<63> Fifty-eight percent blamed the students for what had occurred at Kent State. On both sides, emotions ran high. In one instance, in New York City on 8 May, pro-administration construction workers rioted and attacked demonstrating students. Such violence, however, was an aberration. Most demonstrations, both pro- and anti-war, were peaceful. On 20 May 100,000 construction workers, tradesmen, and office workers marched peacefully through New York City in support of the president's policies.

Reaction in the U.S. Congress to the incursion was also swift. Senators Frank F. Church (Democratic Party, Idaho) and John S. Cooper (Republican Party, Kentucky), proposed an amendment to the Foreign Military Sales Act that would have cut off funding not only for U.S. ground operations and advisors in Cambodia, but would also have ended U.S. air support for Cambodian forces.<64> On 30 June the United States Senate passed the act with the amendment included. The bill was defeated in the House of Representatives after U.S. forces were withdrawn from Cambodia as scheduled. The newly-amended act did, however, rescind the Southeast Asia Resolution (better known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution) under which Presidents Johnson and Nixon had conducted military operations for seven years without a declaration of war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_Campaign#Repercussions

I my opinion, the Kent State shootings were the catalyst that led to the anti war sentiments in older Americans. Up till then most anti war activists were young draft age men and women. Congress reacted to the increased anti war sentiment after young and older Americans joined together in the anti war movement.

I'm giving this as my evidence that opposition to the draft did not bring about the end of the war. Opposition to the draft was almost entirely by draft age persons before Kent State. The draft had been going on for 6 years by the time Kent State happened.

I'm saying this as someone who was drafted in 1966 and sent to Vietnam. I'm saying it in opposition to the idea that if we had a draft now we would end the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. I'm saying it because all the draft ever did was make it possible for more people to die. It made it easier to escalate the war because more people were available to send into war.

Just my opinion.

but it was four more horrifying killings of those times. You are probably right about the older people. Who wants to send their kid to college to get shot.

Wasn't it Ford who pardoned all the draft dodgers? How did you feel about that? I thought it was very necessary for us to heal; although we never have completely.

We all had a decision to make. I think that individuals are responsible for the outcomes of their actions. Maybe those who avoided the draft created some good karma and good outcomes. I think they did.

who were merely trying to speak out against a war crime.

who were merely trying to speak out against a war crime.

My family lives about 60 miles east of Kent Ohio. With my Dad being a Vietnam Vet who had done an op-ed somewhat critical of the protesters, I had to keep it kinda quiet.

I was struck by the sense that "We Gave Too"--there were folks who gave their lives for the cause of peace.

Here's a pic I took

:hi: Too bad about your dad. That's a shame. They were protesting on his behalf.

I think as the years went on, he realized that Vietnam was an unnecessary war.
What's odd was that when I was running my anti-war blog, I rarely ever posted troop causality counts.

I plan to watch that. It's so painful to know what we went through then and see what has happened now. My biggest objection to Bush's war was first hand knowledge of the damaged lives of American young people during VN.

The one sure thing is that evil is always out there.